Romans 3:20, commentary and pictures

No one can be made right with God by keeping the law, because its work is to give the knowledge of sin, not to justify. It is God's great standard of righteousness, a mirror that measures life and character to reveal guilt and defects, reaching even to thoughts, motives, desires and affections and demanding perfect love to God and to neighbor. It has no power to pardon, cleanse or save, and no humiliation, penance, good works or best human effort can lessen guilt or produce justification. The righteousness that justifies is God's righteousness without the law, given freely by grace through faith in Christ, who obeyed the perfect law in the sinner's place and suffered its penalty to satisfy justice. Conviction by the law is the first step toward reconciliation, acting as a schoolmaster to drive the condemned, penitent sinner to Christ for pardon and to true conversion that turns from breaking the law to obeying it through faith.

Law Exposes Sin

By the law comes the knowledge of sin, and the first step toward reconciliation is conviction produced by that knowledge. The law is God's great standard of righteousness, a faithful mirror of perfection and of the divine statutes against which life, actions and character are tested to see guilt and discover defects. It acts as the royal law that measures character and as a detector that exposes sin and makes it known, so that people are not deceived but put their sins away. It exposes sin but provides no remedy; while it promises life to the obedient it declares death for the transgressor, and pardon and a renewed life in harmony with the law come only through the gospel, through repentance toward God whose law was broken and faith in Christ as atoning sacrifice. Those exposed by it are drawn to Jesus by His love shown in humbling Himself to die a shameful death on the cross, that fallen men deceived into taking Satan's side may be conformed to the image of the Son and, given Christ's righteousness, be loved even as the Son is loved.

Sin is transgression of the law, and that is the only definition of sin; where there is no law there is no transgression. Without the law sin would be dead to understanding and could not be recognized as transgression, so people must learn what sin is from the law's principles before they can desire freedom from it. If that moral standard is rejected there is no reliable means of detecting sin, and replacing it with a human standard cannot establish true righteousness or sanctification. Those who disregard it are deceived about their spiritual condition and may falsely hope for heaven, and its role in exposing sin is not made unnecessary by belief in Christ.

Its claims reach beyond outward profession and outward acts to the spirit of the law, to intents, thoughts, desires, dispositions, motives, will and affections. It demands perfect obedience, supreme love to God and love to neighbor as self, so that the least neglect or willful deviation is sin and exposes the sinner to wrath, and even violations of its spirit are revealed when life, actions and character are honestly compared with it singly and as a whole. Jesus applied the law directly to the soul and laid will, desires, works, thoughts and feelings under its jurisdiction, requiring holiness of heart and not mere outward correctness. Without sincere self-examination against it even advocates and teachers of the law fail to understand its claims and live in daily transgression, and they need practical understanding of it and of the atonement, and conversion themselves, before they can convert sinners.

The law itself is not sin and is not the cause of death, but is holy and just and good, spiritual and exceeding broad. It was given to teach and to govern the world, demanding perfect obedience from rich and poor, high and low, binding upon angels and all human intelligences and upon all mankind, who will be judged by it according to opportunity to know it by reason, tradition or the written word. It prohibits every evil thing, takes hold of secret thoughts, purposes and motives, brings judgment, will and affections under its control, and requires love to God and man so that outward compliance without love is not accepted. As the standard of Christian character it teaches exactness in judgment and correctness in spiritual discernment, makes watchful against temptation, and conformity to it brings happiness.

It makes sin known in particulars to the conscience, so that lust would not be known as sin except that the law says not to covet; when the commandment comes home sin is revived and exposed, deceiving and slaying the sinner though ordained to life. It remains the perfect standard for testing human character, and outward observance of religious ceremonies is not true obedience when the law is not kept in the heart. By marked contrast it shows human deformity, sinfulness and selfishness against the spotlessness of Christ, and the perils to which sin has exposed sinners. Not to see oneself in its light is self-deception, self-righteousness and blindness to the beauty of Christ and the meaning of redemption; the clearer and fuller the conviction, the humbler the view of self and the greater the appreciation of Christ and gratitude for deliverance, while Christ cleanses from all sin but does not save in disobedience, and right action in harmony with the law reveals right decision. The gospel upholds that standard by presenting Christ in contrast with human failure.

Saul thought he was zealously keeping the moral law, but when his spiritual vision was opened by its light he saw his true condition as a sinner, even a sinner of sinners. That conviction produces repentance, which is death to sin, and leads to obedience to the law of God, faith in Jesus as Saviour, baptism and earnest preaching of Jesus. The moral law that convicts remains binding, distinct from the typical law of sacrifices that met its antitype in Christ's death.

The law is the sin detector and moral standard giving intelligent knowledge of what constitutes sin, and it points to Christ while Christ points to the law. Its far-reaching nature is seen only in Christ upon the cross as the atoning sacrifice for broken law, commanding supreme love to God and love to neighbor as self with life promised to obedience at a time when the broken law is almost universally made void. The extent of man's fallen, degraded condition and the depths to which he has sunk are discerned only in the light of God's law as exhibited at Calvary, and only by beholding the wondrous chain of redemption in the mission and death of Christ is the truth as it is in Jesus revealed. Whoever fully grasps Christ's infinite sacrifice for the sins of the world and by faith takes Christ's righteousness as his own sees holiness, beauty and glory in the law and loves it.

Law Cannot Justify

By works of law no flesh is made right in God's sight, for the office of the law is to give knowledge of sin, not to make anyone right with God. The righteousness that justifies is imputed, the righteousness of God without the law now manifested and witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all who believe, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and there is no difference, being justified freely by grace through redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood for remission of past sins. Keeping the law cannot justify because the law reveals sin and convicts of guilt, and faith in Christ who obeyed the perfect law in the sinner's place releases from debt and enables obedience without making further sin excusable. Relief of mind and blessed assurance come not by deeds of law but by yielding the will to the Holy Spirit's guidance and opening the heart to welcome the lowly Jesus. The sinner comes with no conditions to meet, drawn by Christ lifted up on Calvary, seeing there that the law has been broken and that Christ died because it was broken, and salvation is received by living faith laying hold wholly and entirely on the merits of the blood of the crucified and risen Saviour.

While the law promises life to the obedient, to those fallen through sin it speaks condemnation and death, declaring the transgressor guilty and leaving wrongdoers accountable to God. It serves as God's great standard of righteousness and a mirror of the divine statutes where the sinner tests character to see guilt and discover defects, revealing sin such as failure to love neighbor as self, but it provides no remedy or justification. The gospel of Christ alone frees from sin's condemnation and defilement, through repentance toward God whose law was broken and faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice bringing forgiveness and renewed life in harmony with the law. Pardon from condemnation comes through repentance and faith in his blood, with Christ as humanity's advocate before the Father, and those pardoned can thereafter obey by his grace. Christ perfectly fulfilled the law whose holiness and character it expresses, yet the law itself does not pardon or answer how to be saved.

The law has no pardoning quality and no power to save, cleanse, heal, remove defects, set right, or free from condemnation and defilement; it exposes and convicts but provides no remedy. Like a mirror it exposes moral defects but cannot remove them, showing spots of character and wounds sin has made without cleansing them or healing them. It is the great moral standard of character and a sin detector measuring life and character and exposing transgression, showing the need for a Saviour, while practical faith in Jesus alone saves and his blood alone cleanses. If the law could pardon, Christ could have remained in the royal courts, and sinners would have been left helpless and undone had he not come to earth and lived the law, passed over the ground where Adam fell, redeemed Adam's transgression by perfect obedience, and as propitiation for sins opened a door through which every sinner can approach God for pardon. Knowing the law while continuing to transgress it is incompatible with being saved, and true conversion turns from breaking God's law to obeying it.

No human effort can lessen guilt or produce justification, not humiliation, penance, bodily affliction, purchased pardons, good works, or even working to the very best of human ability, which cannot produce a single virtue in self. Sin is offensive in character and no one by own works can lessen its guilt or evade its punishment, for grace cannot be bought or earned but is a free gift, and peace and joy come by looking away from self in faith to the crucified Redeemer. Even rigorous self-denial and attempts at outward correctness cannot make a person just before God or free from condemnation or break sin's power, since the law reaches thoughts as well as words and actions and reveals need for holiness of heart. Only the righteousness of Christ laid hold of by living faith can cleanse from sins and transgressions, and when clothed with it the believer receives imparted power so he does not want to sin, though mistakes and errors may still occur.

God will never lower the law to man's fallen standard, and man in his own strength can never lift himself to meet its claims of perfection. It is not the province of the law to save or pardon but to stand firm, point to its holy precepts, condemn and convict, demanding perfect obedience and unchangeable in meeting man in his fallen condition. Even utmost effort to keep the law after transgression cannot save, for if man could be saved that way Christ need not have died and man could stand on his own merits saying he is sinless. God's justice cannot be satisfied and his favor obtained by works, so the sinner must go to the One who paid the ransom, trusting Christ's complete atonement that satisfied justice and opened the way to the throne of grace. People cannot obey the perfect law or obtain pardon by relying on own strength and righteousness, but are accepted and receive pardon and strength to obey only through faith in Christ and reliance on the merits of the promised Saviour, who in human flesh lived perfect obedience so the repenting believing sinner may stand justified and accepted, clothed in spotless righteousness.

Abolishing the law would not help the sinner and would remove the need for a Saviour to take away sin, since it is the law that identifies transgression. The law is not itself sin or the cause of death, but holy, just, good and spiritual, making sin recognizable and exposing its deadly effect. Christ's death did not extinguish or set aside the law but vindicates God's justice and testifies that the law is immutable and changeless, so that abolishing even one part would nullify the whole. Its conviction is meant to drive the humble penitent condemned by the law to God for pardon to Jesus Christ the righteous Advocate, who takes sins, imputes his righteousness, and is claimed by faith in his merits as crucified and risen Saviour whose shed blood washes, makes whole and heals, saving not in sins but from sins unto sanctification and righteousness and redemption.

Where the law is not made the standard of character, miserable traits, depravity, overflowing profligacy and destructive delusion follow. If that moral standard by which sin is recognized is rejected, there is no reliable means of detecting sin, and replacing it with a human standard cannot establish true righteousness or sanctification. Without it there is no standard by which to condemn the guilty or justify the obedient, and setting it aside removes restraint and opens the way for evil. Satan works with pleasing fables upon minds of professed Christians to make the law of no effect, and faithful men must press firmly against his wiles and urge truth against destructive errors and delusions.

Righteousness Through Christ Alone

Paul's contention is that no one is made right with God by law-deeds, since the law's work is to give knowledge of sin, while the justifying righteousness is the righteousness of God without the law, manifested and witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all who believe, for all have sinned and come short of glory, being justified freely by grace through redemption in Christ Jesus set forth as propitiation through faith in his blood for remission of past sins. That righteousness comes another way than deeds, received by yielding the will to the Spirit and opening the heart to welcome Jesus, bringing relief of mind and blessed assurance not found in law-works. Sinners are saved from sins, not in sins, only through shed blood and imputed righteousness received by faith, which makes obedience possible and acceptable through Christ as substitute and surety.

Christ obeyed the perfect law in the sinner's place, and faith in Him releases from debt and enables obedience, while His death upholds the law's authority and shows the justice of God's claims and the law's sacred character rather than excusing further sin. The law's province is not to save or pardon but to stand firm, point to holy precepts, condemn and convict, demanding perfect obedience that fallen man in his own strength cannot meet or change to suit himself. The sinner must therefore go for help to the One who paid the ransom, trusting Christ's complete atonement that satisfied justice and opened the way to the throne of grace, receiving cleansing and strength from Him who in human flesh lived perfect obedience where Adam fell, redeemed Adam's transgression, and enables the repenting believer to stand justified, accepted, and clothed in spotless righteousness. Even utmost effort to keep the law after transgression cannot save, for if it could Christ need not have died and man could claim sinlessness on his own merits, since God will never lower the law to man's standard nor can man lift himself to its perfection. Christ came to pay the sinner's debt, suffer the penalty for transgression, and satisfy justice, so the sinner may by faith claim Christ's righteousness as his own, seeing on Calvary that he is a sinner because the law is broken and that Christ died because the law was broken. Christ perfectly fulfilled every precept and stands as substitute and surety ready to pardon, so that through faith the repentant seeker of obedience to the Ten Commandments has Christ's perfection imputed to cover transgression.

The law serves as God's great standard, mirror, and detector of guilt and defects, promising life to the obedient but declaring death for the transgressor, revealing sin yet providing no remedy, justification, cleansing, or freedom from condemnation and defilement. Pardon comes only through the gospel, by repentance toward God whose law was broken and faith in Christ as atoning sacrifice, advocate, and substitute, whose merits, blood, and imputed righteousness are laid hold of by living faith to give forgiveness and renewed life in harmony with the law. Conviction is the first step in genuine conversion, for without seeing failure none truly repent or join Christ, however they may join the church, and the penitent looks to God rather than the broken law for forgiveness, sanctification, and healing. The law cannot pardon, cleanse, save, remove defects, or heal sin's wounds, so abolishing it would not help; its condemnation drives the humble penitent to God for pardon to Jesus the righteous Advocate, who takes sins, imputes His righteousness, and by His merits as crucified and risen Saviour washes, makes whole, and heals, saving from sins unto sanctification, righteousness, and redemption and enabling pardoned ones thereafter to obey.

The faith that receives this justification does not make void the law but establishes it, and grace does not excuse continuance in sin but upholds the law as changeless in character. Faith in Christ releases from debt and enables obedience to God, showing that further sin is not excusable and that God's claims remain just and sacred. The imputed righteousness received by faith makes obedience to the commandments possible and acceptable through Christ as substitute and surety, covering transgression while calling the repentant to keep the Ten Commandments.

The sinner exposed by the royal law is drawn to Jesus by love shown in humbling Himself to a shameful death, that fallen man deceived into Satan's side may be conformed to the Son's image and, given Christ's righteousness, be loved as the Son is loved. Lifted up on Calvary with no conditions to meet, Christ draws the convicted sinner to see the broken law and the cost of its breaking, and salvation is received by living faith laying hold wholly on the merits of the blood of the crucified and risen Saviour as the only cleanser from sins and transgressions, since even best human effort cannot produce a single virtue in self. As His love, life, and perfection are contemplated, sin appears more sinful, human deformity, selfishness, and peril stand in marked contrast to His spotlessness, and the beholder is drawn toward His likeness and transformed to His image. The clearer and fuller the conviction, the deeper the humility and sense of peril, the more clearly Christ is appreciated, the more grateful the heart for deliverance, and the more sin is hated as the transgression that caused His suffering. Not to see oneself in the law's light is self-deception, self-righteousness, and blindness to Christ's beauty and redemption's meaning, while right action in harmony with the law reveals right decision, for Christ saves by cleansing from all sin but not in disobedience.

Those clothed with that righteousness receive imparted power and strength so they do not want to sin and cannot sin while Christ works with and by them, being saved from sins unto sanctification and redemption. Even then mistakes and errors may occur, yet they will hate the sins that caused the Son's suffering as transgressions of God's law and go on to work works of righteousness.

From Conviction to Conversion

Conviction of sin through the law is the first step in reconciliation to God and in every genuine conversion, for by the law comes the knowledge of sin. Without that conviction there is no true repentance, no felt need of Christ as Saviour and physician, and no true joining to Christ, though many may join the church. The law is God's great standard of righteousness and a mirror of the divine statutes, by which the sinner must test character to see guilt and discern defects. Its claims reach even to intents, thoughts, desires, dispositions and motives, demanding perfect obedience, supreme love to God and love to neighbor as self, so that the least neglect or willful deviation is sin exposing the sinner to wrath, and eternal welfare depends on rightly understanding its holy character and readily obeying it. This knowledge reveals men as sinners and as spiritually sick, awakening need for the atoning blood; when kept from recognizing this they do not see need for a Saviour and may reject salvation purchased at infinite cost, and the gospel does not replace this work of the law.

The law acts as a schoolmaster to bring sinners to Christ that they might be justified by faith. Its conviction is meant to drive the humble penitent, condemned by the law as transgressor and shown to have failed to love neighbor as self, to God for pardon and to Jesus Christ the righteous Advocate. It measures life and character and exposes transgression like a mirror or detector, but it cannot save from penalty, cleanse spots of character, remove defects, heal wounds, or free from bondage; abolishing it would not help. All who comprehend its spirituality to expose sin find themselves helpless and hopeless unless they accept the atonement in the remedial sacrifice of Christ who makes at-one-ment with God, claimed by faith in His merits as crucified and risen Saviour whose shed blood washes, makes whole and heals, saving not in sins but from sins unto sanctification and righteousness and redemption, through repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. To those who obey its precepts it becomes a law of life and not of death, and practical faith in Jesus alone saves and cleanses.

The verse calls for sincere and earnest self-examination of the whole life, acts and character, singly and as a whole, against the sacred and holy law to see errors, sins and the motives prompting them. Its claims reach to the spirit of the law and not mere outward profession, and without such examination even advocates of the law fail to understand its claims and live in daily transgression. Rightly understood it gives practical knowledge of personal guilt, of weakness and failure to develop perfect character, and of need for conversion and for the atonement of Christ, which gives clearer knowledge of self. Even those who teach the law may lack this practical understanding of its claims and of the atonement, and need conversion themselves before they can convert sinners, for knowing sin through the law does not justify. Examining oneself by that standard makes guilt and defects apparent, though some remain unwilling to see them.

Teaching that obedience to God's law is not necessary to salvation and that men have only to believe in Jesus to be safe leaves them without conviction and without true knowledge of what sin is. Not seeing their lost condition as violators of God's law, they feel no need of repentance or of the atoning blood as their only hope, do not recognize God's purity and holiness or their own guilt and uncleanness, and may accept salvation without deep change of heart or reformation of life while falsely hoping to enter heaven. When the law's claims are rejected, sin seems less sinful, so that even fornication and adultery may appear acceptable; the law has not been abolished, and those who acknowledge the Ten Commandments as binding are to live by all its principles. Pardon through the sufferings and shameful death of Jesus cannot be received until a person feels he is a sinner and realizes how sinful sin is, feels that without the pardoning blood he must perish, sincerely repents, casts himself in wretchedness wholly upon Christ's mercy, yields will and way, and pleads for Jesus to control will and actions, and then he can receive and appreciate forgiveness. Human righteousness cannot recommend anyone to God nor adopt any into His family, and forgiveness comes only to those who thus rely wholly on mercy.

True conversion turns from breaking God's law to obeying it, for the law reveals sin and convicts and condemns but cannot pardon, cleanse or save, and the sinner is justified only through repentance toward God and faith in Christ's blood and merits with Christ as Advocate. Pardon brings grace by which the pardoned can thereafter obey, yet Christ does not save in disobedience, and right action in harmony with the law reveals right decision. Not to see oneself in the light of the law is self-deception, self-righteousness and blindness to the beauty of Christ and the meaning of redemption; the law shows human deformity, selfishness and peril by marked contrast with Christ's spotlessness, and the degree of love for God depends on the clearness of conviction, the more humble the view of self and the more seen of sin's perils the more clearly Christ is appreciated in grateful deliverance. Saul thought he was zealously keeping the moral law, but when spiritual vision was opened in its light he saw himself a sinner, even a sinner of sinners, and that conviction produces repentance which is death to sin and leads to obedience, faith in Jesus as Saviour, baptism and earnest witness. That convicting moral law remains binding, distinct from the typical law of sacrifices that met its antitype in Christ's death, and justification requiring perfect obedience is possible only through faith in Christ and His atoning sacrifice, for every human has transgressed and cannot overcome alone.