’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. 20.  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. 21.  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22.  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:  23.  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God:  24.  Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; 25.  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; 26.  To declare, I say, at this time His righteousness; that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.’—­Romans iii. 19-26.

Let us note in general terms the large truths which this passage contains.  We may mass these under four heads: 

I. Paul’s view of the purpose of the law.

He has been quoting a mosaic of Old Testament passages from the Psalms and Isaiah.  He regards these as part of ‘the law,’ which term, therefore, in his view, here includes the whole previous revelation, considered as making known God’s will as to man’s conduct.  Every word of God, whether promise, or doctrine, or specific command, has in it some element bearing on conduct.  God reveals nothing only in order that we may know, but all that, knowing, we may do and be what is pleasing in His sight.  All His words are law.

But Paul sets forth another view of its purpose here; namely, to drive home to men’s consciences the conviction of sin.  That is not the only purpose, for God reveals duty primarily in order that men may do it, and His law is meant to be obeyed.  But, failing obedience, this second purpose comes into action, and His law is a swift witness against sin.  The more clearly we know our duty, the more poignant will be our consciousness of failure.  The light which shines to show the path of right, shines to show our deviations from it.  And that conviction of sin, which it was the very purpose of all the previous Revelation to produce, is a merciful gift; for, as the Apostle implies, it is the prerequisite to the faith which saves.

As a matter of fact, there was a far profounder and more inward conviction of sin among the Jews than in any heathen nation.  Contrast the wailings of many a psalm with the tone in Greek or Roman literature.  No doubt there is a law written on men’s hearts which evokes a lower measure of the same consciousness of sin.  There are prayers among the Assyrian and Babylonian tablets which might almost stand beside the Fifty-first Psalm; but, on the whole, the deep sense of sin was the product of the revealed law.  The best use of our consciousness of what we ought to be, is when it rouses conscience to feel the discordance with it of what we are, and so drives us to Christ.  Law, whether in the Old Testament, or as written in our hearts by their very make, is the slave whose task is to bring us to Christ, who will give us power to keep God’s commandments.