Paul states in Romans 3, “Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.”

Many read this out of context without seeing the full picture that is being presented. The previous verse states, “For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.” And again a few verses before that he states,”But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.” One minute Paul is telling us we are justified apart from the law and then in the very next he is trying to say we still uphold the law? What gives?

It is simple really. When he states that we uphold the law he is not saying that we live by or that we rely on in it in any sense but he is simply stating that the law has its proper place. Just like something lurking in the shadows has its proper place but once a light is shined into the shadows what is lurking is clearly seen and understood. They are two separate realities and they cannot coexist. The only connection they have is that the true substance casts the shadow. Now a shadow can be interpreted as many different types of figures: to one person the shadow can appear as a Christ-like figure to another as a devil and to another as an ice cream cone. That says nothing about the true substance other than that it is impossible to interpret by means of a shadow. Paul states in Galations 4, “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace.” There you have it.

Bottom line is they do not and cannot co-exist. To mix law with grace is to end up with a stiff cold hard drink of nothing but law. So for reason of misinterpretation and misunderstanding of this verse, I will say we do NOT uphold the law and neither do we uphold grace. Grace upholds us.