Paul raises the objection his own teaching invites. If no one is justified "by the deeds of the law" (Romans 3:20, 28), someone could conclude that the law no longer matters. Barnes calls it an objection "which would naturally be made; and which has thousands of times been since made, that the doctrine of justification by faith tends to licentiousness" (living without moral restraint). Barnes takes "the law" here as the moral law, not only the books of the Old Testament. Paul had already heard his message twisted into "Let us do evil, that good may come" (Romans 3:8), so he answers the charge before anyone can press it.

Paul answers at once: "God forbid: yea, we establish the law" (Romans 3:31). He does not stop with a denial. He turns straight to Abraham and to what "the scripture" says (Romans 4:1-3), showing that the law itself bears witness to righteousness by faith, just as he said the law and the prophets do (Romans 3:21). Matthew Henry puts Paul's answer this way: "we establish the right use of the law, and secure its standing, by fixing it on the right basis."

The verb translated "make void" is katargeo. Thayer places this verse under the sense "to cause to cease, put an end to, do away with, annul, abolish" and notes that Paul uses the word 25 times, while the rest of the New Testament has it only twice. The verb translated "establish" (histanomen) means to make stand or uphold. Gill says the law "is made to stand, is placed on a sure basis and firm foundation, as the words used signify."

"God forbid" renders the Greek me genoito, literally "may it never be," Paul's usual way of rejecting a wrong conclusion (also Romans 3:4, 6). Gill draws a careful line: the law "is indeed abolished as a covenant of works, and in this sense is made void to believers," yet it still stands as God's unchanging rule.

This question guards the character of God. Paul has just said that God justifies sinners freely "that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:26). Grace does not mean God has lowered His standard. Barnes explains that God showed respect to the law "in being unwilling to pardon sinners without an atonement," and that Christ came "to magnify it, and to make it honorable."

Paul returns to related questions: "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" (Romans 6:1), "shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?" (Romans 6:15) and "Is the law sin?" (Romans 7:7). Each time the answer is the same. The gospel does not tear down the law. It accomplishes what the law asked for, so that "the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us" (Romans 8:4).