²⁸ For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

Pointed to the max, Paul doesn’t get any clearer than this. To our pluralistic, ecumenical, tolerant society, his succinct statement in one fell swoop, concluding two and a half chapters of tightly reasoned argumentation, cuts the legs out from under all religious systems other than the gospel of grace. The works of the Law represent thinking that centers on human effort to merit a right standing before God. Indeed, all religions of the earth attempt to regulate man’s approach to his life and purpose on earth, and to his intangible connection to the universe, with the onus being squarely on humans to achieve whatever goal, however stated it may be.

This human effort is what separates one person from another and allows the inevitable ranking of bad, better and best, the incessant drive to do something that will give one the edge that will somehow result in achieving a better state than he or she was born with. This is true whether the goal is a “oneness” with the ultimate or pure Truth (as espoused by the ancient Gnostics or the more esoteric religions of Eastern mysticism) or harmony and tolerance (by secular humanism) to achieve an understanding of our experience of the world around us. Formal religions simply provide a more open platform for displaying human endeavors. Yet, they are all wrong in their most fundamental notion, the assumed axiom that everything depends on human behavior and how to modify it. Such is all earthly religion.

Paul’s teaching is not a religion of the earth, but is otherworldly. We say this because first and foremost it cuts across what seems to be absolutely assumed and obvious to earth-bound people. It is ludicrous, they think, to say that human effort does not account for anything. But that is the rub. It does account for everything—the fundamental truth that all have failed. There is no possibility for human effort to achieve what humans want—to be found to be right. The reality is simply there, with no denying it. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23).

So Paul repeats himself in different words, because the point is so important. Justification (that is, to be right before the Creator God of the universe) comes by a different route than through human efforts of keeping the Law. And that is the route of faith (Acts 13:39, Eph 2:8-9). A person cannot justify himself, but it must be done to him (notice the passive voice of the verse), and this action takes place completely separate from the law, having nothing to do with it at all. Nothing could be clearer in Paul’s teaching than this.

Lord, thank You so much for showing that You are just by justifying me.