USING PROPER HERMENEUTICS FOR ROMANS 3:31 AND 7:21

By Colleen Tinker

This week a letter to Life Assurance Ministries asked that familiar question almost everyone has faced as they begin to question Adventism. The writer said:

“I have been listening to some of your messages on youtube; I find them to be very deep and informative. They have been a blessing. I would like to get your input on the meaning of Romans 3:31 and Romans 7:12.”

These two passages are Adventist proof-texts used to support the idea that the Ten Commandments binding on everyone. In short, the Adventist argument teaches that if one says the Decalogue has been made obsolete in the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, that person is in disobedience to God.

Before we discuss these two verses in context, let’s look at what they say:

Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law (Rom. 3:31).

So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good (Rom. 7:12).

Context is everything

Adventism has taken Romans 3:31 and 7:12 out of their contexts and uses them to say the Ten Commandments are binding on all people for all time. In fact, however, those verses have context, and they cannot be understood except inside their contexts—just like every other text. 

Adventism did not teach a proper biblical hermeneutic, or rules for reading and interpreting Scripture. Its method of approaching the Bible is “proof-texting” and allegorizing Scripture in the places the meanings seemed obscure. 

Because Adventism does not believe the Bible is not only infallible but also INERRANT in its original manuscripts and sufficient for all we need, Adventists approach it the same way they approach Ellen White: they believe it contains human errors, and they have to figure out which words and verses and chapters and books are flawed and cannot be believed as they are written.

Reading Scripture, however, requires that we approach it exactly as we would a normal book: the words mean what the words say, and context is everything. For example, we would never read a book of science or literature in the way Adventists taught us to read the Bible. In fact, sentences in books gain much of their meanings from what comes before and after them.

These two rules which I first learned from Elizabeth Inrig have come to represent to me the framework for understanding Scripture: “Words matter, and context is everything”. 

That being said, both Romans 3 and Romans 7 are part of Paul’s explanation of how the new covenant functions. In Romans 3 he follows his explanation of the utter depravity of all mankind (which ends in Romans 3:20 and began in Romans 1:18) with an explanation of justification by faith. He begins his carful explanation that our justification before God does not depend upon the law in any way, but the law actually “witnessed” to the righteousness of God which is APART from the law (Rom 3:20). 

Paul then proceeds through his statement that God publicly displayed His Son to be the propitiation for sin—the Sacrifice which would be the sufficient payment for human sin—and that by Jesus’ dying as the propitiation for our sin, he revealed Himself as Just. In other words, He cannot excuse sin but must demand a just penalty. Furthermore, He not only demands a just penalty, but He is the JUSTIFIER—the One in whom that penalty is paid (v. 25–26).

After explaining that God is perfectly just and also the the One in whom justice was satisfied, Paul continues by pointing out that no human is justified by works of the law. 

Then comes the text Adventists take out of context and use as a proof text: We do not overthrow the law, but establish it. 

What does “establish” mean?

We have to define what it means to “establish” the law. Establishing the law can’t mean something different from what the surrounding passage describe. Paul has already said no one is justified by the law, and the righteousness of God is apart from the law. Next, in chapter 4, Paul is going to explain that Abraham was counted righteous not by obedience to any law but by FAITH. 

In fact, Paul carefully constructs the argument that anything a person receives on account of working is received a wage—something he earns, but the person who doesn’t work but BELIEVES in God is credited with righteousness which is NOT a wage connected to work. It is a gift. 

Next the apostle develops chapter four by explaining that those under the law (Jews) and those not under the law (gentiles) all receive righteousness the same way: through believing in God’s word and promises by faith. In other words, Abraham, who was counted righteous before he was circumcised, became the father of faith for all people who would believe, both those under the law and those who are not. 

EVERYONE is saved the same way—and that salvation is not through obedience to the law. Establishing the law, then, means something OTHER than requiring its demands for all people.

Paul continues in Romans (including Romans 6 and 7, where he delves deeply into this subject) that the law was given to increase sin and to make people aware that they were actually sinners who could not avoid sinning (Rom. 7:4–11). 

In fact, Romans 5:13-14 explains that death came through Adam and reigned over ALL men, even before there was a law. In other words, death can only reign where people are sinners. Those before Moses, however, (Rom 5:14) were not under the law and did not have sin imputed to them, even though they were subject to death because they were sinners, spiritually dead, in Adam. 

The law, in other words, is a “mirror” that shows us our sin and reveals who we are. It was given to point out Israel’s complete inability to avoid sin by defining sins and making them see that they were hopelessly sinning. Additionally, it was given to explain that sin can’t be overcome but can only be atoned. They couldn’t pray enough to avoid sin. 

The law not only revealed sin but demanded blood sacrifices to cleanse Israel. Animals, of course, couldn’t cleanse them permanently, but they had to live in the midst of sins and sacrifices and blood so they would both know they needed a Savior and recognize Him when He came. No one but Jesus every fulfilled and realized every shadow of the law. Only the Lord JESUS did that!

Law confirms Jesus’ identity

Without the law, we would not be able to validate that Jesus is who He said He was. However, the law was so detailed and explicit—and it was so totally dependent upon the priesthood which administers the sacrifices and atonement—that when Jesus came, it was clear that He was the One to whom these shadows were pointing. 

We absolutely establish the law because it revealed our sin, and it witnessed to the work and the person of the coming Messiah. To this day, our study of the Old Testament confirms the identity of the Lord Jesus. In fact, Jesus systematically performed the miracles and ultimately offered the perfect Sacrifice on the Day of Atonement that should have signaled to the Jews that their Messiah had come. He fulfilled the more than 300 Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah. The Jews were without excuse! 

The law is holy and righteous and good because God gave it. It was a foreshadowing of the person and work of the Lord Jesus and a revelation of human depravity and helpless sinfulness. 

The law is a “living metaphor” lived out in the nation of Israel that revealed the nature of man, the nature of God and His justice, and the work of the Messiah that was needed in order to reconcile man to God. We “establish” the law not as a continuing requirement but as an eternal revelation of God’s purposes and promises that have been fulfilled in Jesus. 

Context shows that “establish” cannot mean to yank the Ten out of the whole law and require it for us. “Establish the law” refers to the ENTIRE law found in Genesis through Deuteronomy—the books of the Law. Moreover the book of Hebrews systematically explains how Jesus is better than the law and in Him every shadow of the law is completed. Hebrews 7:12 even says that with a change of the priesthood comes a change of the law; we now live under the Law of Christ (1 Cor. 9:21; Gal. 6:2). 

The Old Testament law, however, is still part of God’s eternal word showing us how God graciously revealed man’s nature to spiritually dead sons and daughters of Adam, how He revealed that blood had to be shed un order to effect forgiveness, and foreshadowing and confirming that He kept His promises by sending His Son to fulfill every shadow of the law (Heb. 10:1). †

Colleen Tinker
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