Paul really brings home the message in chapter three that (Rom 3:20) "...by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."
This tends to be the source of a lot of misunderstanding between the Messianic (Hebrew Roots / Torah) community, and the mainstream church. The church wants to say that because we are not justified by the Law, the Law is no longer valid in our lives. The Messianic believers recognize this, and we obey Torah not for justification, but out of obedience. We are not justified by the Law; to this we all agree. Paul says that the Law "is the knowledge of sin". Knowing that we are not justified by the Law does not make the Law void though - Paul just said that it shows us what sin is! We are to become like Yeshua, who was without sin right? Of course; Christ's likeness is the goal. None of us are without sin.
Romans 3:23 says that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Paul said that justification comes through faith in what Christ did on the cross, without the deeds of the Law (Romans 3:28).
I am repeating myself because I think that we tend to miss the distinction between the two.
Paul asks in Romans 3:31: Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
See that? God forbid; we establish the Law. Does the Law justify us? Not at all. Are our sins forgiven because we obey Torah? Nope; on the contrary, as Paul said, that same Law points out our sin.
Knowing that it points out our sin, yet does not justify us, are we exempt from doing the Law? Paul said "God forbid... yea, we establish the Law".
As a father, if I want to establish a rule in my house, how successful will I be at it if I disregard the same rule in front of my family? Establishing a thing takes action. A business is not established by ignoring it, but rather by actively working at it. In the same way, a law is not established unless law abiding citizens obey it.
We establish the Law. Do we obey it because it saves us, and gives us special standing with the Lord? Hardly. Is it because we are forgiven of our sins by obeying Torah? Not at all.
We do these things because the Law points out sin - and we are not called to be sinners. A basic goal of the Christian is to become like the Messiah. We are saved by faith in His atoning work on the cross - nothing more, nothing less... but because we know that we Christ was without sin, and our goal is to be like Him, and His Word explicitly tells us that the Law tells us what sin is, then logic would tell us that we should be obeying that Law.
Again, not because we are justified by it, or because we are given special accolades for doing it, but because as a disciple of Christ, we want to be just like Him.
What you will find when you start looking into this "perfect Law of Liberty" is that when you begin to actively establish / obey it, you will find things that are thought to be given only to the Jewish people, and rightfully so, because our Master is a Jewish Rabbi.
I would encourage any believer in Christ to look into the Law that Christ obeyed - the same Law that He was required to obey down to the smallest "jot and tittle", but be careful! When you start looking at that Law, you are going to find quickly that it does indeed point out our sin!
I caution you because biblical definition doesn't exactly match up to the definition that the church gives.
...which one has more authority in your life?
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