The Law

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. Romans 3:20 (NIV)

This short statement tells us a lot. First of all it is affirming the "saved by faith through grace" aka "faith not works" doctrine. This tells us that nothing we can do in and of ourselves can give us salvation. But it also tells us the purpose of the law, so to as not disregard it. Which is awesome. The purpose of the law is to show us where we fall short, to show us our need. Otherwise we may go on sinning against God and others not knowing our weakness. Its like if you have a job where they never give you evaluations. How would you know where you are falling short. Then one day you get canned and wonder what it was you did wrong. Wouldn't it have been easier to be given the standard and shown where you were falling short? So this is what the law does for us, it makes us concious of sin. How much more horrid would we be if we were not aware of this?

This quote shows us that the whole world will be declared guilty based on the law. The whole world. Everyone who exists. If noone who exists can be innocent by the law, what makes us think that we can work our salvation out? I have noticed that most of the other religions have some form of works based salvation: the jews, the muslims, the jehovah witnesses, etc. But even if we could follow the law from here out (which we couldn't) it wouldn't erase our past sin or the sin we were born into.

People often question how one man could save everyone. But it was also by one man (adam) that we were condemned. So it is rightly so that one man could save us.

Everyone seems to be aware of our lack of righteousness before God. With the law we are able to better see sin and our separation from God and his expectations. The law is powerless to save us, only to show us where we need saving. It seems that many unbelievers are tied up in thinking that christianity = law and binding and lack of freedom, but its the freedom end the fulfillment of the law that Christ brings us.

This was also to point out the sin of the Jews. The Jewish tradition taught that the gentiles were the evil sinfilled ones, unknowing that they too fell short of the law, at least how God sees the law. So here Paul is pointing out that all who will be judged by the law will be guilty pointing also at the jews in particular here.

I think that it actually is a comfort to know that I don't have to live up to a law and that Christ already did that for me. I love him and not only does he fill the hole in my heart that was shaped for Him, but he also fills the gap between me and righteousness so that I may live here and eternally as God intended.