“For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.”
Romans 3:20 (NLT)
Paul tells us that the law was written to hold the world accountable to God. It makes us all silent when it comes time for judgment because we are all sinners. The law was intended to remove any excuses for someone to think they can be good apart from God. It reveals God’s standard and makes us aware of how much sin we really have.
We cannot be justified, or made right with God, just by knowing what we did wrong. Partial obedience reveals that we haven’t met God’s whole standard and are still guilty. That is where Galatians 2:16 comes in. We can be made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, His perfection, and His blood shed for us. The law was ultimately given to reveal our need for Jesus.
So, the law is not our savior. Jesus is. Jesus fulfilled the law rather than abolishing it, and being made right with God doesn’t remove our call to obedience. The Holy Spirit helps us have power beyond our sinful nature to conquer sin and accomplish God’s standard of living. Our faith in Jesus removes our identity as sinner and makes us a child of God. Believers become saints who still struggle with sin, but no longer accept it as a way of living.
Today we must recognize that being made right with God isn’t so we can stay the same. We were restored to relationship with the Father to do His work and follow His standard in the same manner that Jesus did on earth. Being set apart and different from the world requires us to be aware of our sin by knowing God’s standards, written in His Word. We depend on our savior, Jesus Christ, to make us right with God and our helper, the Holy Spirit, to empower us to live in obedience.