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Public-domain commentary
Matthew Henry
From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry comments on passages, not single verses — this entry covers Romans 3:19–31. His four-level outline is real structure in the source text, so it is rendered as structure.
From all this Paul infers that it is in vain to look for justification by the works of the law, and that it is to be had only by faith, which is the point he has been all along proving, from Rom 1:17, and which he lays down (Rom 3:28) as the summary of his discourse, with a quod erat demonstrandum - which was to be demonstrated. We conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law; not by the deeds of the first law of pure innocence, which left no room for repentance, nor the deeds of the law of nature, how highly soever improved, nor the deeds of the ceremonial law (the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin), nor the deeds of the moral law, which are certainly included, for he speaks of that law by which is the knowledge of sin and those works which might be matter of boasting. Man, in his depraved state, under the power of such corruption, could never, by any works of his own, gain acceptance with God; but it must be resolved purely into the free grace of God, given through Jesus Christ to all true believers that receive it as a free gift. If we had never sinned, our obedience to the law would have been our righteousness: "Do this, and live." But having sinned, and being corrupted, nothing that we can do will atone for our former guilt. It was by their obedience to the moral law that the Pharisees looked for justification, Luk 18:11. Now there are two things from which the apostle here argues: the guiltiness of man, to prove that we cannot be justified by the works of the law, and the glory of God, to prove that we must be justified by faith.
I.He argues from man's guiltiness, to show the folly of expecting justification by the works of the law.
The argument is very plain: we can never be justified and saved by the law that we have broken. A convicted traitor can never come off by pleading the statute of 25 Edward III, for that law discovers his crime and condemns him: indeed, if he had never broken it, he might have been justified by it; but now it is past that he has broken it, and there is no way of coming off but by pleading the act of indemnity, upon which he has surrendered and submitted himself, and humbly and penitently claiming the benefit of it and casting himself upon it. Now concerning the guiltiness of man,
1.He fastens it particularly upon the Jews; for they were the men that made their boast of the law, and set up for justification by it. He had quoted several scriptures out of the Old Testament to show this corruption: Now, says he (Rom 3:19), this that the law says, it says to those who are under the law; this conviction belongs to the Jews as well as others, for it is written in their law. The Jews boasted of their being under the law, and placed a great deal of confidence in it: "But," says he, "the law convicts and condemns you - you see it does." That every mouth may be stopped - that all boasting may be silenced. See the method that God takes both in justifying and condemning: he stops every mouth; those that are justified have their mouths stopped by a humble conviction; those that are condemned have their mouths stopped too, for they shall at last be convinced (Jde 1:15), and sent speechless to hell, Mat 22:12. All iniquity shall stop her mouth, Psa 107:42.
2.He extends it in general to all the world: That all the world may become guilty before God. If the world likes in wickedness (Jo1 5:19), to be sure it is guilty. - May become guilty; that is, may be proved guilty, liable to punishment, all by nature children of wrath, Eph 2:3. They must all plead guilty; those that stand most upon their own justification will certainly be cast. Guilty before God is a dreadful word, before an all-seeing God, that is not, nor can be, deceived in his judgment - before a just and righteous judge, who will by no means clear the guilty. All are guilty, and therefore all have need of a righteousness wherein to appear before God. For all have sinned (Rom 3:23); all are sinners by nature, by practice, and have come short of the glory of God - have failed of that which is the chief end of man. Come short, as the archer comes short of the mark, as the runner comes short of the prize; so come short, as not only not to win, but to be great losers. Come short of the glory of God.
(1.)Come short of glorifying God. See Rom 1:21, They glorified him not as God. Man was placed at the head of the visible creation, actively to glorify that great Creator whom the inferior creatures could glorify only objectively; but man by sin comes short of this, and, instead of glorifying God, dishonours him. It is a very melancholy consideration, to look upon the children of men, who were made to glorify God, and to think how few there are that do it.
(2.)Come short of glorying before God. There is no boasting of innocency: if we go about to glory before God, to boast of any thing we are, or have, or do, this will be an everlasting estoppe - hat we have all sinned, and this will silence us. We may glory before men, who are short-sighted, and cannot search our hearts, - who are corrupt, as we are, and well enough pleased with sin; but there is no glorying before God, who cannot endure to look upon iniquity.
(3.)Come short of being glorified by God. Come short of justification, or acceptance with God, which is glory begun - come short of the holiness or sanctification which is the glorious image of God upon man, and have overthrown all hopes and expectations of being glorified with God in heaven by any righteousness of their own. It is impossible now to get to heaven in the way of spotless innocency. That passage is blocked up. There is a cherub and a flaming sword set to keep that way to the tree of life.
3.Further to drive us off from expecting justification by the law, he ascribes this conviction to the law (Rom 3:20): For by the law is the knowledge of sin. That law which convicts and condemns us can never justify us. The law is the straight rule, that rectum which is index sui et obliqui - that which points out the right and the wrong; it is the proper use and intendment of the law to open our wound, and therefore not likely to be the remedy. That which is searching is not sanative. Those that would know sin must get the knowledge of the law in its strictness, extent, and spiritual nature. If we compare our own hearts and lives with the rule, we shall discover wherein we have turned aside. Paul makes this use of the law, Rom 7:9, Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Observe,
(1.)No flesh shall be justified, no man, no corrupted man (Gen 6:3), for that he also is flesh, sinful and depraved; therefore not justified, because we are flesh. The corruption that remains in our nature will for ever obstruct any justification by our own works, which, coming from flesh, must needs taste of the cask, Job 14:4.
(2.)Not justified in his sight. He does not deny that justification which was by the deeds of the law in the sight of the church: they were, in their church-estate, as embodied in a polity, a holy people, a nation of priests; but as the conscience stands in relation to God, in his sight, we cannot be justified by the deeds of the law. The apostle refers to Psa 143:2.
II.He argues from God's glory to prove that justification must be expected only by faith in Christ's righteousness.
There is no justification by the works of the law. Must guilty man then remain eternally under wrath? Is there no hope? Is the wound become incurable because of transgression? No, blessed be God, it is not (Rom 3:21, Rom 3:22); there is another way laid open for us, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested now under the gospel. Justification may be obtained without the keeping of Moses's law: and this is called the righteousness of God, righteousness of his ordaining, and providing, and accepting, - righteousness which he confers upon us; as the Christian armour is called the armour of God, Eph 6:11.
1.Now concerning this righteousness of God observe,
(1.)That it is manifested. The gospel-way of justification is a high-way, a plain way, it is laid open for us: the brazen serpent is lifted up upon the pole; we are not left to grope our way in the dark, but it is manifested to us.
(2.)It is without the law. Here he obviates the method of the judaizing Christians, who would needs join Christ and Moses together - owning Christ for the Messiah, and yet too fondly retaining the law, keeping up the ceremonies of it, and imposing it upon the Gentile converts: no, says he, it is without the law. The righteousness that Christ hath brought in is a complete righteousness.
(3.)Yet it is witnessed by the law and the prophets; that is, there were types, and prophecies, and promises, in the Old Testament, that pointed at this. The law is so far from justifying us that it directs us to another way of justification, points at Christ as our righteousness, to whom bear all the prophets witness. See Act 10:43. This might recommend it to the Jews, who were so fond of the law and the prophets.
(4.)It is by the faith of Jesus Christ, that faith which hath Jesus Christ for its object - an anointed Saviour, so Jesus Christ signifies. Justifying faith respects Christ as a Saviour in all his three anointed offices, as prophet, priest, and king-trusting in him, accepting of him, and adhering to him, in all these. It is by this that we become interested in that righteousness which God has ordained, and which Christ has brought in.
(5.)It is to all, and upon all, those that believe. In this expression he inculcates that which he had been often harping upon, that Jews and Gentiles, if they believe, stand upon the same level, and are alike welcome to God through Christ; for there is no difference. Or, it is eis pantas - to all, offered all in general; the gospel excludes none that do not exclude themselves; but it is to epi pantas tous piseuonta, upon all that believe, not only tendered to them, but put upon them as a crown, as a robe; they are, upon their believing, interested in it, and entitled to all the benefits and privileges of it.
2.But now how is this for God's glory?
(1.)It is for the glory of his grace (Rom 3:24): Justified freely by his grace - dōrean tē chariti. It is by his grace, not by the grace wrought in us as the papists say, confounding justification and sanctification, but by the gracious favour of God to us, without any merit in us so much as foreseen. And, to make it the more emphatic, he says it is freely by his grace, to show that it must be understood of grace in the most proper and genuine sense. It is said that Joseph found grace in the sight of his master (Gen 39:4), but there was a reason; he saw that what he did prospered. There was something in Joseph to invite that grace; but the grace of God communicated to us comes freely, freely; it is free grace, mere mercy; nothing in us to deserve such favours: no, it is all through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. It comes freely to us, but Christ bought it, and paid dearly for it, which yet is so ordered as not to derogate from the honour of free grace. Christ's purchase is no bar to the freeness of God's grace; for grace provided and accepted this vicarious satisfaction.
(2.)It is for the glory of his justice and righteousness (Rom 3:25, Rom 3:26): Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, etc. Note,
[1.]Jesus Christ is the great propitiation, or propitiatory sacrifice, typified by the hilastērion, or mercy-seat, under the law. He is our throne of grace, in and through whom atonement is made for sin, and our persons and performances are accepted of God, Jo1 2:2. He is all in all in our reconciliation, not only the maker, but the matter of it - our priest, our sacrifice, our altar, our all. God was in Christ as in his mercy-seat, reconciling the world unto himself.
[2.]God hath set him forth to be so. God, the party offended, makes the first overtures towards a reconciliation, appoints the days-man; proetheto - fore-ordained him to this, in the counsels of his love from eternity, appointed, anointed him to it, qualified him for it, and has exhibited him to a guilty world as their propitiation. See Mat 3:17, and Mat 17:5.
[3.]That by faith in his blood we become interested in this propitiation. Christ is the propitiation; there is the healing plaster provided. Faith is the applying of this plaster to the wounded soul. And this faith in the business of justification hath a special regard to the blood of Christ, as that which made the atonement; for such was the divine appointment that without blood there should be no remission, and no blood but his would do it effectually. Here may be an allusion to the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifices under the law, as Exo 24:8. Faith is the bunch of hyssop, and the blood of Christ is the blood of sprinkling.
[4.]That all who by faith are interested in this propitiation have the remission of their sins that are past. It was for this that Christ was set forth to be a propitiation, in order to remission, to which the reprieves of his patience and forbearance were a very encouraging preface. Through the forbearance of God. Divine patience has kept us out of hell, that we might have space to repent, and get to heaven. Some refer the sins that are past to the sins of the Old Testament saints, which were pardoned for the sake of the atonement which Christ in the fulness of time was to make, which looked backward as well as forward. Past through the forbearance of God. It is owing to the divine forbearance that we were not taken in the very act of sin. Several Greek copies make en tēanochē tou Theou - through the forbearance of God, to begin Rom 3:26, and they denote two precious fruits of Christ's merit and God's grace: - Remission: dia tēn paresin - for the remission; and reprieves: the forbearance of God. It is owing to the master's goodness and the dresser's mediation that barren trees are let alone in the vineyard; and in both God's righteousness is declared, in that without a mediator and a propitiation he would not only not pardon, but not so much as forbear, not spare a moment; it is owning to Christ that there is ever a sinner on this side hell.
[5.]That God does in all this declare his righteousness. This he insists upon with a great deal of emphasis: To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness. It is repeated, as that which has in it something surprising. He declares his righteousness, First, In the propitiation itself. Never was there such a demonstration of the justice and holiness of God as there was in the death of Christ. It appears that he hates sin, when nothing less than the blood of Christ would satisfy for it. Finding sin, though but imputed, upon his own Son, he did not spare him, because he had made himself sin for us, Co2 5:21. The iniquities of us all being laid upon him, though he was the Son of his love, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, Isa 53:10. Secondly, In the pardon upon that propitiation; so it follows, by way of explication: That he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth. Mercy and truth are so met together, righteousness and peace have so kissed each other, that it is now become not only an act of grace and mercy, but an act of righteousness, in God, to pardon the sins of penitent believers, having accepted the satisfaction that Christ by dying made to his justice for them. It would not comport with his justice to demand the debt of the principal when the surety has paid it and he has accepted that payment in full satisfaction. See Jo1 1:9. He is just, that is, faithful to his word.
(3.)It is for God's glory; for boasting is thus excluded, Rom 3:27. God will have the great work of the justification and salvation of sinners carried on from first to last in such a way as to exclude boasting, that no flesh may glory in his presence, Co1 1:29-31. Now, if justification were by the works of the law, boasting would not be excluded. How should it? If we were saved by our own works, we might put the crown upon our own heads. But the law of faith, that is, the way of justification by faith, doth for ever exclude boasting; for faith is a depending, self-emptying, self-denying grace, and casts every crown before the throne; therefore it is most for God's glory that thus we should be justified. Observe, He speaks of the law of faith. Believers are not left lawless: faith is a law, it is a working grace, wherever it is in truth; and yet, because it acts in a strict and close dependence upon Jesus Christ, it excludes boasting.
From all this he draws this conclusion (Rom 3:28): That a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
III.In the close of the chapter he shows the extent of this privilege of justification by faith, and that it is not the peculiar privilege of the Jews, but pertains to the Gentiles also; for he had said (Rom 3:22) that there is no difference: and as to this,
1.He asserts and proves it (Rom 3:29): Is he the God of the Jews only? He argues from the absurdity of such a supposition. Can it be imagined that a God of infinite love and mercy should limit and confine his favours to that little perverse people of the Jews, leaving all the rest of the children of men in a condition eternally desperate? This would by no means agree with the idea we have of the divine goodness, for his tender mercies are over all his works; therefore it is one God of grace that justifies the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith, that is, both in one and the same way. However the Jews, in favour of themselves, will needs fancy a difference, really there is no more difference than between by and through, that is, no difference at all.
2.He obviates an objection (Rom 3:31), as if this doctrine did nullify the law, which they knew came from God: "No," says he, "though we do say that the law will not justify us, yet we do not therefore say that it was given in vain, or is of no use to us; no, we establish the right use of the law, and secure its standing, by fixing it on the right basis. The law is still of use to convince us of what is past, and to direct us for the future; though we cannot be saved by it as a covenant, yet we own it, and submit to it, as a rule in the hand of the Mediator, subordinate to the law of grace; and so are so far from overthrowing that we establish the law." Let those consider this who deny the obligation of the moral law on believers.
Historical interpretation
Three Centuries of Reception
8 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.
Select a marker to jump to its quote. Markers stagger vertically where authors wrote within a few decades of each other.
How, then, is the law still said to be not good by certain heresies that clamorously appeal to the apostle, who says, "For by the law is the knowledge of sin? ".
Well, the body tills the ground, and hastes to it; but the soul is raised to God: trained in the true philosophy, it speeds to its kindred above, turning away from the lusts of the body, and besides these, from toil and fear, although we have shown that patience and fear belong to the good man. For if "by the law is the knowledge of sin".
as those allege who disparage the law, and "till the law sin was in the world; "
The law did not create sin; it revealed it.
Let us see in what way knowledge of sin comes through the law. It comes insofar as we learn through the law what to do and what not to do, what is sin and what is not sin. It is not, as the heretics claim, that God’s law is a bad root or a bad tree through which a knowledge of sin comes. Rather the law is like a medicine through which we perceive the true nature of our disease.… The medicine itself is good, not least because it enables us to isolate the disease and seek to cure it.
Paul never says that they will not be justified before God because they have not kept the law of righteousness in the commandments but because they have refused to believe the sacrament of the mystery of God, which is in Christ. For God has declared that they should be justified by Christ and not by the law, which may justify for a time, but not before God. Therefore those who keep the law are justified in time, not before God, because faith, by which they are justified before God, is not in them. For faith is greater than the law. The law pertains to us but faith pertains to God. The law has a temporary righteousness, but faith has an eternal one. When Paul says “all flesh” he means every human being … but when he says “in the flesh” he means those who are bound by sin. For just as righteousness makes them spiritual, so also sins make them carnal, and they take the name from the deed.By faith the law is abolished, and faith then follows. What then is this law through which he says that sin is made known? Made known how? It is evident that long before Moses the patriarchs were not ignorant of sin. Joseph was thrown into prison, albeit by the wickedness of others, and both the butler and the baker of Pharaoh were in prison because of their sins. In what way then did sin lie dormant?
In fact, the law has three aspects to it. The first concerns the mystery of God’s divinity. The second is what is fitting according to natural law, which forbids sin. And the third is the deeds of the law, e. g., sabbaths, new moons, circumcision, etc. Here Paul refers to the natural law which was partly reformed and partly confirmed by Moses, which made sin known to all who were bound in wickedness.… The law shows the coming judgment of God and that no sinner will escape punishment, in case someone who has escaped for a time thinks that the law is an illusion. This is what the law shows: that sin will be dealt with by God.
"For by the Law is the knowledge of sin." He springs upon the Law again, with forbearance however (for what he says is not an accusation of it, but of the listlessness of the Jews). Yet nevertheless he has been earnest here with a view (as he was going to introduce his discourse about faith) to show its utter feebleness. For if thou boastest in the Law, he means, it puts thee to the greater shame: it solemnly parades forth your sins before you. Only he does not word it in this harsh way, but again in a subdued tone; "For by the Law is the knowledge of sin." And so the punishment is greater, but that because of the Jew. For the Law accomplished the disclosure of sin to you, but it was your duty then to flee it. Since then you have not fled you have pulled the punishment more sorely on yourself, and the good deed of the Law has been made to you a supply of greater vengeance. Now then having added to their fear, he next brings in the things of grace, as having brought them to a strong desire of the remission of their sins, and says,
By the works of the law Paul means circumcision, the sabbath and the other ceremonies, which had less to do with righteousness than with carnal pleasure. Through the law comes neither forgiveness nor sin itself but rather recognition of sin. Through the law a man realizes what sin is, either because the natural law had been forgotten or because before the written law was given, the lesser sins [i.e., the sins which were more harmful to oneself than others, like lust, drunkenness, etc.] were not recognized as sins.
Some think that statements like this are an attack on the law. But they must be read very carefully, so that neither is the law condemned by the apostle nor is free will taken away from man. Therefore, let us distinguish the following four states of human existence: before the law, under the law, under grace and at rest. Before the law we follow the lust of the flesh. Under the law we are dragged along by it. Under grace we neither follow it nor are dragged along by it. At rest there is no lust of the flesh.Prior to being addressed by the law, we do not struggle, because not only do we lust and sin, we even approve of sinning.
Under the law we struggle but are defeated. We admit that what we do is evil and that we do not want to do it, but because there is as yet no grace, we are defeated. In this state we discover how far down we lie, and when we want to rise up and yet we fall, we are all the more gravely afflicted. The law is good because it forbids what ought to be forbidden and requires what ought to be required. But when anyone thinks he can fulfill the law in his own strength and not through the grace of his Deliverer, this presumption does him no good but rather harms him so much that he is seized by an even stronger desire to sin and by his sins ends up as a transgressor. So when the man who has fallen realizes that he cannot raise himself, let him cry to his Deliverer for help.
Then comes grace, which can pardon previous sins, give aid to the struggling, supplement justice with love and take away fear. When this takes place, although fleshly desires continue to fight against our spirit in this life and try to lead us into sin, yet our spirit does not give in to these desires because it is rooted in the grace and love of God and ceases to sin. For we do not sin by having these perverse desires but by giving in to them.
These desires arise from the mortality of the flesh, which we inherit from the first sin of the first man, which is why we are born carnal. Nor will they cease until, by the resurrection of the body, we shall obtain the transformation which has been promised to us. Then we shall be in the fourth state, where there is perfect peace. Perfect peace is the state in which nothing will resist us because we do not resist God. Free will existed perfectly in the first man, but in us, prior to grace, there is no free will which would enable us not to sin but only enough that we do not want to sin. But grace makes it possible not only for us to want to do what is right but actually to do it not in our own strength but by the help of our Deliverer, who at the resurrection will give us that perfect peace which is the consequence of good will.
The purpose of the law, says Paul, is to give us a knowledge of sin not only to forbid the doing of things which are inappropriate but also to punish those who do such things.
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Summary
Romans 3:20 serves as a pivotal summary statement in Paul's argument concerning universal human sinfulness and the inability of the Mosaic Law to justify. It powerfully declares that no human being can achieve righteousness before God through perfect adherence to the Law's demands. Instead, the Law's primary function is to reveal and make known the pervasive reality of sin, thereby exposing humanity's desperate need for a divine solution to their moral fallenness.
Context
Literary Context
Romans 3:20 concludes Paul's extensive argument in Romans 1-3 that all humanity—both Gentiles and Jews—stands guilty before God. In Romans 1:18-32, Paul demonstrates the sinfulness of the Gentile world, which suppressed the truth of God and engaged in idolatry and immorality. He then turns to the Jews in Romans 2:1-29 and Romans 3:1-8, showing that possession of the Law and circumcision do not grant them an exemption from God's judgment, as they too failed to keep the Law. Paul culminates this argument by quoting a series of Old Testament passages in Romans 3:9-19 to prove that "all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin" (Romans 3:9). Verse 20, therefore, acts as a definitive theological conclusion, setting the stage for the glorious revelation of God's righteousness through faith in Christ, which begins in Romans 3:21.
Historical & Cultural Context
Paul is writing to a diverse church in Rome, comprising both Jewish and Gentile believers. The Jewish believers, in particular, would have held a deep reverence for the Mosaic Law, viewing it as a divine gift that distinguished them and provided the path to righteousness. The concept of "works of the law" (ἔργων νόμου) was central to Jewish identity and piety, often understood as the means by which one demonstrated covenant faithfulness and achieved justification. Paul's radical assertion that "no flesh will be justified by works of the law" directly challenges this deeply ingrained understanding, necessitating a fundamental shift in their theological framework. His argument is not against the Law itself, which he elsewhere affirms as "holy, and just, and good" (Romans 7:12), but against the misconception that human performance of the Law could earn divine approval or remove the stain of sin.
Key Themes
This verse powerfully contributes to several overarching themes in Romans. Firstly, it underscores the theme of Universal Sinfulness, reiterating that all humanity, regardless of their background or access to divine revelation, is inherently sinful and falls short of God's glory, as stated in Romans 3:23. Secondly, it establishes the Inability of the Law to Justify, a foundational Pauline doctrine that distinguishes Christianity from other religious systems that emphasize human merit. The Law, while revealing God's perfect standard, cannot provide the power to meet that standard or to atone for failure. Thirdly, it clarifies the Purpose of the Law, demonstrating that its true function is not to save, but to bring "the knowledge of sin," acting as a mirror that exposes humanity's spiritual bankruptcy and thus points to the desperate need for a different means of righteousness. This prepares the reader for the revelation of God's righteousness through faith in Christ, a theme that dominates the subsequent chapters, particularly in Romans 4.
Exposition and Analysis
Key Word Analysis
Meaning "to render (i.e. show or regard as) just or innocent." In a theological context, it signifies being declared righteous by God, acquitted of guilt, and brought into a right standing with Him. Paul's emphatic statement "no flesh shall be justified" (οὐ δικαιωθήσεται πᾶσα σάρξ) highlights the absolute impossibility of human effort through the Law achieving this divine declaration.
Meaning "toil (as an effort or occupation); by implication, an act." This refers to human actions, particularly those performed in an attempt to fulfill the commandments of the Law. Paul explicitly states that these "deeds of the law" (ἔργων νόμου) are ineffective in obtaining justification, contrasting them with God's gracious act of justification through faith.
Meaning "recognition, i.e. (by implication) full discernment, acknowledgement." This is not a mere intellectual awareness but a profound, experiential recognition. The Law provides a clear and undeniable "knowledge of sin" (ἐπί_gnōsis_ ἁμαρτίας), meaning it fully reveals the nature, extent, and guilt of humanity's transgression against God's holy standard.
Verse Breakdown
"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight:"
This opening clause serves as a conclusive summary of Paul's preceding argument. The word "Therefore" (G1360, dióti) indicates that what follows is a direct consequence of the universal sinfulness established in Romans 1-3:19. The phrase "by the deeds of the law" (ἐξ ἔργων νόμου) specifies the means being negated. "No flesh" (οὐ πᾶσα σάρξ), meaning no human being, regardless of their background or effort, can be "justified" (δικαιωθήσεται), or declared righteous, "in his sight" (ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ), that is, before God's holy and discerning judgment. This is a categorical denial of salvation by human merit.
"for by the law is the knowledge of sin."
The particle "for" (G1063, gár) introduces the reason or explanation for the preceding statement. Paul clarifies the true, divinely intended purpose of the Law. It is not a path to righteousness, but rather, "by the law" (διὰ νόμου), through its commands and prohibitions, humanity gains "the knowledge of sin" (ἐπί_gnōsis_ ἁμαρτίας). The Law acts as a perfect standard that illuminates and exposes human failure and transgression, making sin evident and undeniable. It functions as a mirror, revealing the true spiritual condition and need for a different solution.
Literary Devices
Paul employs several effective literary devices in Romans 3:20. The verse functions as a powerful Summary Statement, drawing a definitive conclusion from the preceding extensive theological argument about universal sin. The use of Antithesis is central, contrasting the inefficacy of "deeds of the law" for justification with the Law's true purpose of providing "knowledge of sin." This stark contrast highlights the fundamental difference between human effort and divine grace. Furthermore, the phrase "no flesh" (πᾶσα σάρξ) is a powerful Synecdoche, where "flesh" represents all of humanity, emphasizing the universal scope of the Law's inability to justify. The Law itself can be seen as a Metaphorical Mirror, reflecting humanity's sinfulness rather than providing a means to cleanse it.
Theological and Thematic Connections
Romans 3:20 is a cornerstone of Pauline theology, asserting the fundamental truth that human works, even those performed in obedience to God's Law, cannot achieve righteousness or justification before a holy God. This verse dismantles any notion of salvation by merit, instead laying the groundwork for the radical concept of justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. It underscores humanity's utter inability to meet God's perfect standard and thus highlights the absolute necessity of God's gracious intervention. The Law's role is not to save, but to convict, to expose the depth of human sin, and to drive humanity to seek a righteousness that comes from outside themselves. This pivotal theological statement prepares the reader for the glorious revelation of God's righteousness, freely given to all who believe.
Reflection and Application
Romans 3:20 is a profoundly liberating verse for those who understand its implications. It frees us from the exhausting and ultimately futile burden of trying to earn God's favor through our own performance, good deeds, or adherence to religious rules. The Law, in its divine perfection, serves a crucial purpose: it holds up a mirror to our souls, revealing the pervasive reality of our sin and our utter inability to perfectly keep God's commands. This "knowledge of sin" is not meant to condemn us to despair, but rather to lead us to a profound humility and a recognition of our desperate need for a Savior. It compels us to abandon self-righteousness and to embrace the only path to true righteousness—the one God Himself provides through faith in Jesus Christ. Understanding this truth allows us to rest in God's grace, not our own efforts, and to live lives of gratitude and love, motivated by His unmerited favor rather than a desire to earn what can only be freely given.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Does Romans 3:20 mean that the Law is bad or useless?
No, Romans 3:20 does not imply that the Law is bad or useless. Paul explicitly states elsewhere that "the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good" (Romans 7:12). The Law is a perfect reflection of God's character and His righteous standards. Its purpose, as clarified in this verse, is not to provide a means of justification, but rather to reveal the depth of human sinfulness. It acts like a diagnostic tool, exposing our spiritual illness and demonstrating our inability to heal ourselves. By bringing "the knowledge of sin," the Law serves to highlight humanity's desperate need for a different path to righteousness, one provided by God Himself.
Christ-Centered Fulfillment
Romans 3:20, by unequivocally stating the Law's inability to justify, perfectly sets the stage for the glorious revelation of God's righteousness found in Jesus Christ. If "no flesh" can be justified by works of the Law, then humanity is left without hope, condemned by their sin, which the Law so clearly reveals. This dire predicament magnifies the necessity and brilliance of God's solution in Christ. The very next verses, Romans 3:21-26, introduce Christ as the one "apart from the law" through whom God's righteousness is now revealed. Jesus, as the perfect Lamb of God, fulfilled the Law's righteous demands and bore its curse on our behalf, becoming "our righteousness" (1 Corinthians 1:30). His atoning sacrifice on the cross fully satisfied the Law's requirements for justice, allowing God to be both "just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:26). Thus, Romans 3:20 is not a message of despair, but a necessary prelude to the good news of the Gospel, compelling us to look away from our own insufficient efforts and to embrace the complete and perfect righteousness freely given through faith in Christ, who is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Romans 10:4).