The Works of the Law

In Romans, 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 now, death and wrath later. No one is exempt from the penalty of sin. Death waits for all of us. However, what did Paul mean when he referred to ‘works’ in his discussions about our justification? Good deeds and human efforts, 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. For example, what did Paul have in mind when he discussed “works”? Works in general or something more specific?

[Law Books - Photo by Chris Lawton (Bristol, UK) on Unsplash]

A key point often missed in Reformation theology 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).

• “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. To the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in it is revealed a righteousness of God from faith for faith. As it is written, BUT THE RIGHTEOUS ONE WILL LIVE FROM FAITH” - (Romans 1:16-17. Romans 1:16-17. Note the allusion once more to Habakkuk 2:4).

• “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 his 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.

The distinction between Jew and Gentile is at the heart of Paul’s teachings about “justification.” If a man’s acquittal of the penalty of sin is based on the requirements of the Torah, how can a non-Jew be put in right relationship with God, since it is the Jewish nation that possesses the Law?

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 is not that basis.

• “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, therefore, is the question of the works required by the Law. And in his letter to the Romans, the Apostle to the Gentiles 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.

“As many things as the law speaks, to those in the law it speaks, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may come under judgment to God. Wherefore, no flesh will be declared innocent before Him on the basis of the works of law. For through law is the knowledge of sin” - (Romans 3:19-20).

THE FUNCTION OF THE LAW

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 through Moses, but our acquittal before God was never the function of the law. There is another “law” by which we are declared innocent of the penalty of sin, the “Law of Faith”:

• “Where is the glorying? It is excluded. From what sort of law? From works? No, but from a law of faith. We reckon, therefore, that a man is declared innocent on the basis of faith, and apart from the works of the law” - (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.”

The Letter to the Romans presents 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.”

Abraham was accounted righteous by God before he was circumcised, and before the Law was given to Israel at Mount Sinai; 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 sin on the basis of the works of the Law of Moses or through the faith of Jesus Christ.

Paul’s answer is unequivocal: NO. 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 pivotal question is whether the source of our salvation is the Law - the works and rituals specified by the Torah - or the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, especially his death and resurrection.

Reformation theology is correct. Our reconciliation of God is based on His grace and faith rather than works. However, we are mistaken when we expand Paul’s category of “works of the law” to include all good works and even human attempts to do the right thing.

What counts is not the act of faith itself, but the person, content and target of that faith. It is not my exercise of faith that saves me, but the death and resurrection of Jesus. I can do no more than accept and embrace what God has graciously provided.

We are “justified” before God, declared innocent of the penalty of sin, because of the sacrificial death of Jesus, his faithful act of “obedience unto death.” Jesus is the only human being who ever “achieved the purification of sins,” and therefore he now reigns supreme as our faithful high priest. We respond to his faithful act with repentance and faith in what God has done in and through His Son – (Hebrews 1:1-3).

• “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).

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[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’]

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SEE ALSO:

• Justified from his Faith - (Paul presents the points of agreement and disagreement with his Judaizing opponents in Galatia – Galatians 2:15-21)

• Life from the Dead! - (Paul presents his Gospel message, starting with humanity's plight due to sin and concluding with the resurrection of the dead)

• Salvation and Wrath Revealed - (Paul presents his Gospel to the assemblies of Rome, a message about God’s righteousness or wrath for all men, Jews and Gentiles alike)

• As obras da Lei - (Em Romanos, as referências à justificação das obras têm em vista uma categoria específica de obras, as obras exigidas pela Lei Mosaica)