Rom. 3:20--"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh
be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of
sin." "Therefore" implies that a judicial trial has taken place
and a judgment pronounced. At the bar of God no man can be counted
righteous in His sight because of his obedience to law. The burden
of the Epistle to the Romans is to set forth this great truth. As
a means of establishing right relations with God the law is totally
insufficient. There is no salvation _by_ character. What men
need is salvation _from_ character.
The reason why the law cannot justify is here stated: "For by the
law is the knowledge of sin." The law can open the sinner's eyes
to his sin, but it cannot remove it. Indeed, it was never intended
to remove it, but to intensify it. The law simply defines sin, and
makes it sinful, yea, exceedingly sinful, but it does not emancipate
from it. Gal. 3:10 gives us a further reason why justification
cannot take place by obedience to the law. The law demands perfect
and continual obedience: "Cursed is every one that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them."
No man can render a perfect and perpetual obedience, therefore
justification by obedience to the law is impossible. The only thing
the law can do is to stop the mouth of every man, and declare him
guilty before God (Rom. 3:19, 20).
Gal. 2:16, and 3:10, Rom. 3:28, are very explicit in their denial
of justification by law. It is a question of Moses or Christ, works
or faith, law or promise, doing or believing, wages or a free gift.
2. POSITIVELY: BY GOD'S PEEE GRACE--THE ORIGIN OR SOURCE OF
JUSTIFICATION.
Rom. 3:24--"Being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus." "Freely" denotes that it is
granted without anything done on our part to merit or deserve it.
From the contents of the epistle up to this point it must be clearly
evident that if men, sinful and sinning, are to be justified at
all, it must be "by his free grace."