I would like to do an inline commentary on these chapters in an attempt to follow systematically Paul's exposition of his doctrine of justification in order to expound a basic understanding of this doctrine, and also to compare St. Paul's teaching with both the Catholic and the historic Protestant doctrine of justification.
As I proceed with my inline commentary, I will especially focus on elements in Paul's text which have a substantial bearing on questions relating to the doctrine of justification. I may comment on other things as well, but I will feel free to pass by or to address only very briefly less centrally relevant points.
My text is taken from the KJV text on the Bible Gateway website, tweaked and formatted to fit my purposes in this article. I will skip St. Paul's introductory material at the beginning of chapter 1, and begin with verse 18. For smoother reading, I have removed chapter and verse numbers.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Paul comments on the state of the world of mankind in general. It is in a state of evil and rebellion against God.
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? If you think you're exempt from this blanket condemnation of mankind in general, you're not, Paul says, for you're in the same boat. Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; but glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.
God will judge the world, and the criterion of judgment is simple. Those who lived evil lives will be condemned, and those who lived good lives will be rewarded with eternal life. Where man ends up is a matter of justice, as God gives to men's deeds what they deserve, what it is fitting for them to receive. (Of course, a question is raised at this point. If everyone is evil, as Paul seemed to be saying a moment ago, then how is this judgment thing going to work out well for anyone?)
For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Everyone has the moral law of God. Some, like the Jews, have it in written form, delivered by a special revelation from God. Others, the Gentiles, have it in their conscience. Both Jews and Gentiles alike will be judged by the moral law. Only those will be justified--that is, vindicated, or pronounced righteous--who keep the law in whatever form they have access to it. As Paul said earlier, God will give to each man's deeds what those deeds deserve in his righteous judgment.
Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Apparently Paul thinks the Jews might try to claim special privilege and exemption from God's moral judgment by virtue of the fact that they have been given the law in a special revelation and have been circumcised (a sign of their special covenant with God). But Paul pulls the rug out from under any such idea. Jews will not be treated with favoritism. They will be treated the same as the Gentiles, each judged according to the law as they have access to it. The Gentiles don't know about circumcision because they don't have the special revelation, but God won't count that against them if they obey the law in their conscience. And if Jews disobey the law, their circumcision will count for nothing. It won't save them from the righteous judgment of God against their sins.
What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, "That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged." But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
Paul clears up a misconception. He's not saying that Jews have no advantages over Gentiles in any way. Of course it is an advantage to have the "oracles of God" and to be God's special people. The fact that the Jews turned out to be unrighteous and faithless to the law of God they were given doesn't make God's plan pointless, as he uses evil for his good purposes. But none of this justifies Jewish unrighteousness. In terms of moral judgment, Jews are in the same boat as the Gentiles--they will be judged by the law of God.
What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, "There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes."
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 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.
Paul here reaches his first big conclusion. He's shown that God will judge the world by his moral law. He's shown that the world of man in general has really blown it in terms of being righteous, and is thus condemned by the law. The Jews tried to escape by claiming to be the special people of God, but Paul showed that the Jews will also be judged by the law of God just like the Gentiles and their special position will not save them from unrighteousness, and it turns out that the Jews are evil just like the Gentiles. So it looks like God will judge the whole world according to his moral law, and nobody is righteous according to that moral law. So everyone's condemned. Well, this is depressing. Fortunately, Paul doesn't stop here. He's going somewhere more positive with all of this ultimately. But, for now, the main point is that everyone is condemned by God's moral law.
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Now Paul begins discussion of the good news. Even though we're all condemned by the moral law of God, we can still be saved. Even though we don't have a righteousness of our own that can satisfy God's law, we can still get right with God by means of the redemption of Christ and faith in him. Christ made a propitiation, or an expiation, or an atonement, by his blood and his death, and through that atonement and faith in that atonement we can attain a state of righteousness as a gift of God's grace. (But a question arises here: How is this possible? Can God justify the ungodly? That is, can he accept the ungodly as if he is godly?)
Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
There is no boasting in this way of salvation. We cannot be justified--made right with God--by our own righteousness. We can only be justified through faith in Christ's atonement. So it is Christ's works and not ours which save us.
And not only does this way of justification through faith reconcile us all to God, but it brings Jews and Gentiles together, for there is a way of salvation given that is apart from the requirements of the law given to the Jews, which included the requirement of being circumcised and thus joining the Jewish people of God. Paul said earlier that Gentiles who didn't have the specially revealed law given to the Jews would be judged by the law they had been given--the law written in their conscience. But even so, it is to the Jews that God gave his special revelation, and so the Gentiles have not been on equal ground with the Jews. To gain the fullness of all that God has given, including access to the advantages of having the specially revealed law of God and being his special people, they had to embrace the Jewish law. But now we have a way of salvation above and beyond the Jewish law, although that law bore witness to it. It is the way of faith, open to Jews and Gentiles on the same basis--faith in Christ and his redemption.
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. Paul begins to get here at the question we asked earlier: How can we be justified by faith? How can God justify the ungodly? Wouldn't this be "to call evil good"? The new way of faith establishes rather than makes void the law both in that it is testified to by the law and fulfills what the law pointed to and that it provides a righteousness which satisfies the law--though in a different way from the way of works. What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."
What we want is to be accepted as righteous before God. That is, we want to be "justified" before God. Our problem is that we simply do not have the righteousness necessary to attain that acceptance. We therefore cannot be "justified by works"--that is, we cannot be righteous enough in ourselves and in our own choices and actions to offer up to God from these a righteousness that will satisfy his moral law and gain us acceptance as righteous.
But now Paul lays out another way whereby we can attain justification before God: the way of faith and not of works. God makes a gracious offer to us: Instead of demanding that we produce and offer to God from our own efforts a righteousness sufficient to satisfy his moral law, God proposes to accept our faith in place of righteousness. That is, he says, "If, having no righteousness of your own, you have faith in Christ, I will count that faith as your righteousness and accept you as righteous."
But how can that work? How can that be consistent with God's justice? The answer is that faith unites us to Christ and to his propitiatory atonement. It's an acceptance of God's gift of salvation to us in Christ. As Paul said earlier, Christ, in his sacrifice on the cross, has satisfied the justice of God and earned redemption for men. His atonement has wiped out our sins and purchased a restoration for us to a state of righteousness. His death has produced or worked out for us a righteousness that can satisfy the moral law of God. Our faith links us to this righteousness. In the act of faith, we give up on trying to produce a righteousness from our own power or resources, and instead we turn and put our trust in Christ and his atonement, receiving from him what we do not and cannot have in ourselves. So the way of faith contrasts fundamentally with the way of works. In the way of works, the matter of justification is straightforward: Be righteous and do righteous deeds, and God will reward you with the declaration that you are righteous and accept you as such. The way of faith is surprisingly different: Give up trying to earn the reward. Instead, admit you can't do it, trust in Christ who can, and receive from him the righteousness you need. Since faith connects us to this righteousness flowing from Christ's atonement, faith is acceptable to God and he counts it as our righteousness, and we receive the reward of justification.
Obviously, there is no place for boasting in this way of salvation, as there would be if we had earned God's favor by our own righteousness produced from ourselves.
Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.
Abraham was the father of the Jews, as is illustrated by his being circumcised, but Abraham's justification did not come through keeping the ceremonies of the Jewish law given later, but his justification was through faith. His circumcision was a symbol of his faith. In his being justified by faith above and beyond the Jewish law, Abraham showed himself to be the father not only of the Jews who would receive that law but of all peoples who, along with the Jews, can be justified by faith. So we see again how justification by faith both reconciles sinful men to God and also binds Jews and Gentiles together.
For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Abraham was promised that he would be the father of many nations, even of the whole world. But this was not through the Jewish law, but through faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. If Abraham's destiny was established through the law, this would not only divide Jews from Gentiles, but it would also destroy any hope of salvation, for we are all sinners and so cannot be saved by the law. We don't have the righteousness it requires. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written," I have made thee a father of many nations,") before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, "So shall thy seed be." And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Paul links Abraham's faith in God to give him a child with faith that brings justification. There is an obvious analogy here. Abraham and Sarah had no power on their own to produce a child, as Sarah was barren and they were both far too old. But God can do what men cannot. He is the Creator, who "calleth those things which be not as though they were." If he called the world into being out of nothing, he could surely give Abraham a son in his old age, and he can surely justify the ungodly by giving them a righteousness they do not possess on their own.
Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Jesus died and rose again, overcoming sin and death. Through his sacrifice and his victory, we are saved from our sins and made right with God. Our trust must be in him for all of this.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
We have been made right with God by God's grace through Christ. We therefore have all the benefits of being right with God. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We can even glory in our troubles, for God, by his grace, uses them to help us grow. God has shed abroad his love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
Paul highlights the graciousness of our justification. It is Christ who has saved us, and not we ourselves. We were sinners and enemies of God. Since Christ died for us when we were nothing but sinners and enemies, he will certainly give us all that we need to attain to full salvation.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.) But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul makes a comparison between Adam's sin and Christ's righteousness. There is a parallel here. The reason we are all sinners, and as sinners doomed to death, is because of Adam's sin. His sin constituted us all sinners. From him we have inherited sin and all that sin brings with it, including death. Similarly, if we are to be made righteous, it must be through Christ. Just as Adam's sin constituted all men sinners and so brought all men to condemnation and death, so Christ's righteous obedience and redemption constitute all who are in him righteous and so brings them to a state of justification and thus to eternal life.
But the parallel breaks down, because Christ's righteous obedience is much greater than Adam's sin. One sin of Adam brought us all into the position of being sinners, but Adam's sin and all our sins became the basis for Christ being sent into the world to take away our sins and to bring us salvation. Christ's righteous obedience not only parallels Adam's sin, but it responds to it and overcomes it, bringing deliverance from sin.
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So if we're saved by God's grace, and our sin has called forth from God such a wonderful response of mercy, should we just continue to live in sin so that more and more mercy will be called forth from God?
No, of course not! That would be absurd, because the whole point of justification by faith is that we have been set free from sin! If we have been set free from sin, how can we continue to live in it? Jesus died for our sins once for all, and now he has overcome sin and has been raised from the dead and dies no more. So if we are united to him (as we have been united with him in baptism), we are united to both his death and his resurrection. We have thus been set free from sin and are now alive to a new life of righteousness.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Again, if we have been set free from sin, we should live accordingly. That is, we should live as those freed from sin and made righteous.
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul combats here a false conclusion that some might make from his doctrine of justification by faith. Some might think that if we are justified by a gift of grace and not by our own righteousness, that means we don't need to be righteous anymore. God has accepted us as righteous as a gift through our faith in Christ, and so now we can live in sin with impunity, with no fear of punishment.
But this is completely false. As Paul said earlier, Christ's atonement did not do away with the moral law; rather, it fulfilled the moral law. Faith in Christ's atonement does not free us from the demands of the moral law, or make it so that sin no longer brings death and righteousness is no longer required to attain life. Rather, Christ's atonement, and justification by faith, have made it so that we can become righteous and so meet the demands of the moral law. It is not that God has declared us righteous by faith and so we don't have to be righteous. It is that, through faith, God has united us to Christ and his atonement, and by means of that union he has changed us and made us righteous, and so we can now be righteous and live righteously and so can attain to eternal life. God does not give us a mere declaration of righteousness without actually giving us righteousness and making us righteous. That would indeed be to do away with the moral law! Faith in Christ, by uniting us to Christ and his atonement, gives us access to the righteousness we need, but don't have on our own, to be justified before God, and that is why faith justifies.
Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
Paul uses an analogy of marriage to describe our life under the law compared to our life under grace. Before, we were "married" to the law. This brought death, because we were sinful. No one obeyed the law, and so the law brought only condemnation. Since we couldn't meet the law's demands, being sinful, we were in a hopeless state. But now, through faith, we have become dead to the law and "married" to Christ. Now, unlike our previous marriage, this is a fruitful union, because Christ's grace enables us to live lives of righteousness through the power of the Spirit. We can thus bear proper fruit unto God and therefore be on the way to eternal life.
Note that being "dead to the law" does not mean we are no longer obligated to obey the law. We are dead to the law not in terms of moral obligation, but in terms of a way to attain righteousness. In Christ, we attain righteousness not through our own efforts in our own strength to obey the law but through the power of the Spirit given to us.
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, "Thou shalt not covet." But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
The problem was not in the law. It was in us. The law is perfectly good and just, but we are sinners. That's why the law couldn't save us. On the contrary, the law made matters worse for us, because it showed up our sins, like suddenly shining a flashlight into a room full of rats or cockroaches (I owe this image to a former pastor of mine).
What Paul says here parallels his comments earlier when he said that from Adam until Moses, sin was not imputed, because the law had not yet been given. Paul doesn't mean that no one from Adam until Moses was a sinner, or that we aren't sinners until we hear the specially revealed moral law. We saw earlier that the Gentiles are still responsible to God even though they haven't received the special revelation of the law given to the Jews because they have God's moral law written on their conscience. What Paul is saying here is not that we weren't sinners at all until we heard the law, but that it was through the hearing of the law that our sin was shown clearly and explicitly and dramatically to be the evil that it naturally is. The clarity of the law brings out our sin by its dramatic contrast.
By the way, some scholars have argued that the "works of the law" that cannot save us that Paul talks about in this letter to the Romans are only ceremonial works of the Jewish law, like circumcision, and do not include moral works of the law, like not coveting or not stealing. I don't want to spend a lot of time examining this question in particular, but I want to briefly point out that our study thus far has shown the falsity of this viewpoint. The works of the law that cannot save us include the entirety of the law of God, including both its ceremonial and its moral aspects. We saw that Gentiles could not be saved by the law and were condemned by it. This must refer to the moral aspects of the law, because they didn't even have the ceremonial aspects, only having the law written in their conscience. We saw that our problem--all of us, Jews and Gentiles--is that we are sinners and do not have the righteousness to live up to the law of God. This makes no sense if Paul is meaning to exclude the moral components of God's law from his discussion. It is precisely the moral aspects of the law we cannot do which make us sinners! The ceremonial components of the law are important in Paul's discussion as well, since Paul is not only concerned with our reconciliation with God but also with the relationship between Jews and Gentiles, but Paul does not separate out the ceremonial from the moral components. And we see here once again, in the section we are now commenting on, that it is the moral aspect of God's law that causes us trouble as sinners, for "Thou shalt not covet" certainly belongs to the moral and not to the ceremonial aspect of God's law. The "works of the law" that cannot save us include all the works of the law of God, both ceremonial and moral, for we are saved not by the moral law as opposed to the ceremonial law but by Christ and his redemption and faith as opposed to obedience to the law. In short, to limit the "works of the law" that Paul says cannot save us to only the ceremonial as opposed to the moral law is to miss Paul's fundamental message, which is that we are not saved by our own righteousness but only by the righteousness of God given to us as a free gift. We cannot fulfill the moral law on our own, but fulfillment of that law is given to us as a gift of grace through faith in the atonement of Christ.
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Paul once again here outlines our fundamental moral problem. The law is good and just, but we are not. We know very well how we ought to be, but we find ourselves driven to act other than our conscience says we ought to act. Left to ourselves, therefore, we are doomed. That's why we need Christ.
There has been a controversy among Paul's interpreters as to whether Paul is describing here in this section of Romans 7 the condition of a person without Christ or a person with Christ but who has not yet been made perfect. I think the basic answer is that the former view is correct. As we have seen already and as we will see again in the next section, Paul wants to contrast our hopeless state without Christ with our hopeful state in Christ. It would be very incongruous, then, to read Paul's pitiful description here as intended to describe a man saved by Christ. When Paul refers to the inward self that delights in God's law and wants to obey it and contrasts this with the "law of the members" which drives him to sin, I do not think he is referring to the battle of the soul renewed in Christ with remnants of the now-conquered sinful nature. Rather, the "inward man" here probably refers to our conscience, on which the law of God is written, and by which we know and agree that the law is good. The "law of the members" refers to us in our sinful condition as we fail to live up to what our conscience declares we ought to do. (However, having said all of this, I will grant that Paul may have partially and secondarily had in his mind his own experience as a regenerated soul struggling against remaining sin, for it is true that we are not yet made perfect. Paul will make that very point in the next chapter. So it may be that while Paul's primary point here is to describe the wretched condition of sinful man under the law without Christ, he may be mixing in with this description some language reminiscent of the regenerate soul's struggle against remaining sin.)
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. We see here clearly that man as saved by Christ is contrasted with the man described in the previous section--man as wretched without Christ. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
In these paragraphs, Paul sums up his entire message regarding salvation. We could not be saved by the law because we are sinners. But Christ, through his atonement, has purchased for us a righteousness to be given to us as a free gift, a righteousness that fulfills the requirements of the moral law. God grants this righteousness to us through faith, and it is infused into us through the power of the Holy Spirit, who enables us to put to death our sinful lives and to live lives of righteousness which are pleasing to God. This is how we can attain to eternal life. If we continue to live in sin, we shall die, for sin always brings death, for it cannot please God. But, through Christ, we are enabled to live lives of righteousness which please God, resulting in eternal life. And not only this, but in being united to Christ we are made children of God, sharing Christ's Sonship and his relationship with the Father. We receive the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Sonship, who makes us righteous and pleasing to God and who also makes us God's children and cries out within us, "Abba, Father!"
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Our salvation, while fully accomplished in Christ, is not yet completed in us. We still await the fullness of perfection.
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
The whole of our redemption is by the grace of God from start to finish. It is all the outworking of God's eternal plan of predestination. (But I'll leave that concept be for now, lest it take us into a whole new field of inquiry!)
Paul brings the whole discussion to a dramatic conclusion:
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Let me end with a few comments regarding how Paul's doctrine of justification compares with the Catholic and with the Protestant doctrines of justification.
As I've discussed elsewhere (here and here) I think we can read the Protestant doctrine in what I would consider a more positive way or in a more negative way. The positive way of reading it puts it in line with Catholic teaching fundamentally. The negative reading makes it contrast fundamentally with the Catholic doctrine. Protestant doctrine is a bit hazy in a way that allows these two readings to be possible, and I think that both ways of looking at the doctrine tend to affect Protestant thinking in general. Looking at Protestant theology from the perspective of contrast with the Catholic doctrine, we can summarize the Protestant doctrine of justification as the idea that we are made right with God entirely by the satisfaction and righteousness of Christ imputed to us in such a way that this process excludes any input from the infusion of righteousness into us or any moral transformation in our lives. Protestants (at least some of them, like the historic Reformed) believe that internal moral transformation happens and is necessary, but they exclude it from the idea of justification and make it a completely separate issue (they call it "sanctification" to contrast it with "justification"). So, in this view, we are made right with God solely by the imputation of righteousness as opposed to any infusion of righteousness into us or internal moral transformation.
The Catholic view, by contrast, teaches that we are indeed made right with God by the righteousness of Christ given to us as a free gift and not by our own righteousness, but that in order for us to actually come into a right relationship with God, this righteousness must be not only imputed to us but also infused within us, making us internally righteous.
So which of these views would St. Paul agree with, based on what he says in Romans 1-7? I think the answer is clear. He would agree with the Catholic view. For St. Paul, our justification is a free gift of grace and nothing we can boast about, but justification by grace through faith does not annul the moral law's requirement that we ourselves be actually righteous. Sin leads to death, and righteousness leads to eternal life. It cannot be otherwise. God cannot simply impute Christ's righteousness to us and on that basis alone, regardless of our internal moral condition, consider us righteous. He cannot treat us as righteous unless he actually makes us righteous, and this is what he does when he justifies us. He grants Christ's righteousness to us as a free gift, but he also infuses it within us, and so we are reconciled to him and enabled to be pleasing to him and acceptable to his moral law.
It would be worthwhile to do a similar inline commentary on Paul's letter to the Galatians, as he contributes substantially to these themes there as well. I will probably do this sometime in the future, and when I do I will link to that article here. It would also be useful to bring in other passages of Scripture and see if they further confirm our systematic analysis of Romans 1-8 and its application to the question of the Protestant and the Catholic doctrines of justification. I have done this to a great degree already in this article.
Published on the feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus.
ADDENDUM 2/6/18: Here is an inline commentary I have now done on the Book of James, and here is one on Galatians.
ADDENDUM 4/14/21: It occurs to me that one of the major reasons Protestants often think that St. Paul supports their viewpoint is because, in Romans 3-4, Paul describes justification from a legal vantage point and uses legal categories to talk about it. We have no righteousness of our own, so God counts Christ's righteousness as our own through faith. What is not ours originally becomes ours through God's declaration.
The error would be in thinking that, because Paul describes justification from a legal perspective in Romans 3-4, he must intend to exclude anything other than this legal aspect from being a part of how justification works. But that goes beyond what Paul actually says in these passages. It makes an unwarranted leap.
It could be that, in using legal categories in Romans 3-4, Paul intends to limit justification to the purely legal. But it may be that, while there is a legal aspect to justification, this is not all there is to it. Since Christ’s righteousness is not ours originally but is given to us as a free gift, one can see why St. Paul might approach the topic from a legal point of view to bring that out more clearly. He pictures us sinners standing before the bar of God’s judgment with no righteousness with which to appease the Judge. But then God graciously imputes Christ’s righteousness to us when we trust in him, so that, because of this act of grace, we can pass God’s judgment with a righteousness not our own.
However, none of this answers the question of how Christ’s righteousness comes to make us acceptable to God. It may be that the legal imputation is, in itself, completely sufficient, without any infusion of Christ’s righteousness into us or any moral transformation in us as a result of that. That's the (Anti-Augustinian) Protestant view. Or it may be that this imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us comes to actual fruition by means of such infusion and moral transformation. Christ’s righteousness is declared ours legally, but, in our actual experience, we come into possession of it and reap its benefits (such as reconciliation with God and acceptability to his moral law) by means of that righteousness being infused into us, transforming us inwardly so that we become inwardly righteous (and then manifest that inward righteousness in good deeds). That's the Augustinian and Catholic point of view.
St. Paul doesn’t really address this how question in Romans 3-4. Protestants read their own answer to that question into what Paul says, but it isn’t really there. When Paul does get around to directly addressing the question of how moral transformation (sanctification) and good works fit into our righteousness and our reconciliation with God (such as in Romans 6-8), he emphasizes the necessity of such transformation and good works, and the rest of the Pauline corpus and the Scriptures in general echo that viewpoint. Paul, and the Scriptures in general, take the Augustinian rather than the Protestant point of view, as I’ve argued above and here.
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