Why can no one be saved or justified by the law?
No one can be saved or justified by the law because Scripture says that by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified. The law’s function is to give the knowledge of sin, not to produce salvation. It cannot bring anyone into salvation; justification must come by another means.
Les explains that in Romans chapter 3, Paul writes to the church at Rome and to believers today, predominantly Gentile, that “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified.” The reason is that the law’s purpose is not to save but to give “the knowledge of sin.” Les emphasizes that even though the law could not do a thing to bring someone into salvation, verse 21 introduces the “but now” contrast: there is something that does bring salvation. The law exposes sin, but it cannot justify anyone.
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
More Questions
Why can't a person be justified by the deeds of the law?
Doing the law's deeds cannot justify anyone in God's sight because the law gives knowledge of sin, not knowledge of salvation or a way to heaven.