Apart from the Law

Paul’s references to justification from works have a specific category of works in view, the works required by the Mosaic Law.

Sin is the Great Leveler that places everyone in the same predicament: Bondage to sin now, and death and divine wrath later. No one is exempt from the penalty of sin, but God has graciously provided a way to avoid the everlasting effects of our sinful acts.

But what did Paul mean when he referred to ‘works’ in his discussions about our deliverance from this situation? Works and human effort in general, or something more specific?

Our understanding of the Gospel proclaimed by Saint Paul will remain incomplete if we do not understand the terms he uses in his letters to the churches of Rome and Galatia.

[Photo by Look Up Look Down Photography (Auckland) on Unsplash]

A key point often missed is that the controversy addressed by Paul in his Letter to the Romans is not human effort and meritorious works (versus unmerited grace), but the “works of the law” as opposed to the “faith of Jesus Christ.” The Apostle’s term is clear and specific.

• “But now, apart from the law, God’s righteousness has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD through the faith of Jesus Christ, FOR all those WHO BELIEVE” - (Romans 3:21-22. Note the allusion to Habakkuk 2:4 and the echo of Paul’s opening comments in Romans 1:16).

• “To be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is from the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ” - (Philippians 3:9).

• “We, being Jews by nature, and not sinners of the nations, yet knowing that a man is not acquitted on the basis of the works of the law except through the faith of Jesus Christ, we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be declared innocent on the basis of the faith of Christ, and not on the basis of the works of the law; because no man will be acquitted on the basis of the works of the law” - (Galatians 2:15-16).

In the Letter to the Romans, the repeated phrase, “to the Jew first, and also to the Greek,” indicates the context of the controversy; namely, tensions and conflicts between Jewish and non-Jewish believers. Since Christianity was the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant and the promises to Israel, questions and disagreements about specific requirements of the Torah were inevitable. Circumcision, for example.

The distinction between Jew and Gentile is central to Paul’s teachings about “justification.” If a man’s acquittal of the penalty of sin is based on his fulfillment of the requirements of the Torah, how can a non-Jew be put in right relationship with God? It is the Jewish nation that possesses the Law (“For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law…” – Romans 2:4. Compare Deuteronomy 4:7-8).

The Mosaic Legislation consists of more than moral codes and precepts. It includes a comprehensive sacrificial system, dietary rules, regulations concerning ritual purity, circumcision, and so forth. One of the functions of the Torah was to keep Israel distinct and separate from the surrounding nations.

If God declares Jews and Gentiles innocent of the penalty of sin on the same basis, then the Law of Moses cannot be that basis. The Torah and its required works and rituals must serve a different purpose or purposes.

• “What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God” – (Romans 3:1-2).

• “Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also. If so be that God is one, and he will declare the circumcision innocent by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith” – (Romans 3:29-31).

Central to the issue of “justification,” therefore, is the question of the works required by the Law. And in Romans, Paul identifies exactly what category of works he has in view:

• “For as many as have sinned without law, they will also perish without the law. And as many as have sinned under the law, they will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are declared innocent before God, but those who do the law will be acquitted” – (Romans 2:12-13).

The works and rituals required by the Law of Moses are under discussion, not good deeds in general. Since the Law was given to Israel, the Jewish people are “under the law.” The nations, by definition and historical fact, do not have the Torah, and therefore, they are “without the law” – outside of the jurisdiction of the Mosaic Law.

However, God did not leave the nations without any witness. Many Gentiles keep the precepts of the law “by nature” regardless of their ignorance of the written legal code. Therefore, they will be held accountable for or acquitted of their sin on the day of wrath, at least if judgment is based on the requirements of the Mosaic Law. Ignorance of the Law is not sufficient to excuse us from the penalty of sin.

Both Jews and Gentiles are in the same situation. Jews and Greeks are all under sin. “There is none righteous, no, not even one.” The Jews know the Law but sin all the same, and the Law continues to bear witness against their disobedience. The Gentiles violate their conscience and even revel in their sin.

THE LAW’S PURPOSE

The Law was given to expose sin for what it is, the transgression of God’s commandment, and to testify against sinful humanity. Therefore, no one is declared innocent before God based on the requirements of the Mosaic Law.

We are judged according to the Law of God given by Moses, but our acquittal before God has never been the function of the law. There is another “law” by which we are declared innocent of the penalty of sin, “the law of faith” - (Romans 3:27-28).

Paul is not opposed to the principle or rule of law, nor does he criticize or mock human efforts and good deeds. His point is specific: Men are not acquitted from the sentence of death through the works of the Law, that is, the deeds and rituals required by the Torah. Instead, we are reconciled with God on the basis of the “law of faith.”

Abraham as the great exemplar of faith. If he “was declared innocent on the basis of works, he has something of which to glory.” However, the Patriarch believed the promise of God, “and it was accounted to him as righteousness,” and God did this before Abraham was circumcised, and before the Law was given to Israel. Therefore, the basis of this declaration was not the deeds and rituals required by the Torah, but “through the righteousness of faith” - (Romans 4:1-13).

Paul certainly believed that salvation is an act of divine grace, but the issue in Rome was not good works in general or human effort versus unmerited grace, but whether Jews and Gentiles are acquitted by God of the penalty of their sins on the basis of the works of the Torah or through the “faith of Jesus Christ.”

Paul’s answer is clear. We are declared innocent by God because of the “faith of Jesus Christ.” That is the only basis on which men and women are reconciled with their Creator and acquitted of the sentence of death, the faithfulness of Jesus, especially his sacrificial death, his “obedience unto death” - (Romans 3:21-23).

• “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross” – (Philippians 2:8).

• “Though he was a Son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered; and having been made complete, he became for all those who obey him the author of everlasting salvation” – (Hebrews 5:8-9).

The question is whether the source of our salvation is the Mosaic Law - the works and rituals required by the Torah - or the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection.

• “Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was reckoned to Abraham, but for our sake also, unto whom it shall be reckoned, who believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification” - (Romans 4:23-25).

The “obedience unto death” of Jesus Christ secured salvation and all that it includes for us. All we can do is accept and embrace what God has graciously provided through the sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth.

• “Therefore, having been declared innocent on the basis of faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” – (Romans 5:1-2).

-----

[Citations of Old Testament passages in this article are based on the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint. Text printed in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS represents quotations and verbal allusions from the Old Testament. The Septuagint is represented by the Roman numeral for ‘seventy’ or LXX based on the Latin name of the translation, ‘Interpretatio septuaginta virorum’]

[PDF Copy]

SEE ALSO:

• One New Man - (By his death, Jesus formed one covenant community - One New Man - based on faith in him, not ethnicity or nationality – Ephesians 2:11-22)

• The Age of Salvation - (Jesus came upon the last of these days to provide salvation to men, women, and children of every nation, and life in the coming age)

• To the Ends of the Earth - (The Good News announced by Jesus of Nazareth offers salvation and life to the men and women of every nation)

• Aparte de la Ley - (Las referencias de Pablo a la justificación a partir de las obras tienen una categoría específica de obras a la vista, las obras requeridas por la Ley Mosaica)