Since no one can keep the law, what is its purpose?
Notes
Transcript
Handout
That we may know the holy nature and will of God, and the sinful nature and disobedience of our hearts; and thus our need of a Savior. The law also teaches and exhorts us to live a life worthy of our Savior.
That we may know the holy nature and will of God, and the sinful nature and disobedience of our hearts; and thus our need of a Savior. The law also teaches and exhorts us to live a life worthy of our Savior.
3:20 No one can earn justification by obedience to the law’s requirements. The law was never intended to be a means of salvation. A primary purpose of the law was to reveal sin in its full scope, thus pointing to humanity’s need for the gift of righteousness.
The New City Catechism Devotional (Gospel Coalition) . Crossway. Kindle Edition.
Blum, E. A. (2017). Romans. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 1785). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
The ESV Study Bible Chapter 3
Here in ch. 3 it refers to the morally right character of God that is clearly shown in his saving action by which human beings may stand in the right before God as the divine judge.
The ESV Study Bible Chapter 3
3:20 Works of the law is understood by some to refer only to the ceremonial law, i.e., those laws that separate Jews from Gentiles (such as circumcision, food laws, and Sabbath). But the context gives no indication of such a restriction, and therefore the phrase should be taken to refer to all the works or deeds required by the law. The law required perfect obedience to God’s will. All people sin and fall short of this standard, therefore no one is justified by the law. Justified is a legal term and indicates that no one will be declared to be righteous by God, who is the divine judge by virtue of his own goodness, since all violate and none fulfill God’s requirements (see note on Gal. 2:16).
The ESV Study Bible Chapter 3
3:21–4:25 The Saving Righteousness of God. Since no one can be righteous before God by keeping the law, Paul now explains that right standing with God comes through faith in the atoning work of Jesus on the cross.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Do we preach the law?
Do we preach the law?
The answer is yes.
for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
We preach it because where the law is taught and preached, it makes our offense known and our hopelessness apart from Christ grow.
We preach it because where the law is taught and preached, it makes our offense known and our hopelessness apart from Christ grow.
Only when this happens, do we properly understand Grace.
Only when this happens, do we properly understand Grace.
Hot verses cold, sweet verses sour and love verses hate.
The law of God helps us to know God, know ourselves, know our need, and know the life of peace and blessedness.
The law of God helps us to know God, know ourselves, know our need, and know the life of peace and blessedness.
It helps us to know God because it specifically reveals his character and his attributes, his holy will, what he’s like.
It helps us to know God because it specifically reveals his character and his attributes, his holy will, what he’s like.
We need to remember that the Bible is not primary a book about us. It is a Book about God.
We need to remember that the Bible is not primary a book about us. It is a Book about God.
Paul tells us in that everyone knows right and wrong. But
The New City Catechism Devotional (Gospel Coalition) . Crossway. Kindle Edition.
The law of God very specifically reveals to us God’s character and his own moral qualities.
The law of God very specifically reveals to us God’s character and his own moral qualities.
Morality is not arbitrary. God doesn’t tell us to do arbitrary things. God does not require us to do things that he is not prepared to do himself. So all morality is rooted in God’s character. And when we study the law, we see a display of God’s character.
We also see our character and our condition.
We also see our character and our condition.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The New City Catechism Devotional (Gospel Coalition) . Crossway. Kindle Edition.
The New City Catechism Devotional (Gospel Coalition) . Crossway. Kindle Edition.
Matthew
Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
“What’s it going to be? Your money, your possessions, or me, God?”
“What’s it going to be? Your money, your possessions, or me, God?”
The rich young ruler chooses something over/before God.
It helps us to understand our need.
It helps us to understand our need.
The New City Catechism Devotional (Gospel Coalition) . Crossway. Kindle Edition.
When we know who God is, and we know that we don’t measure up to his morality and character, when we know who we are, and we know the sinful inclinations of our hearts, it presses us to Jesus, because we know that we have need of a Savior.
The New City Catechism Devotional (Gospel Coalition) . Crossway. Kindle Edition.
Tell me a law of God that helps you to know these things?
Tell me a law of God that helps you to know these things?
The New City Catechism Devotional (Gospel Coalition) . Crossway. Kindle Edition.