What are the works of the law (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16)?

It must be carefully noted that the works, upon which James so strenuously insists in these verses are the works of faith. Having noted this we shall do well to turn at once to Romans 3 and 4, and also to Galatians 3, where the Apostle Paul so convincingly demonstrates that our justification is by faith and is not of works. These works however which Paul so completely eliminates are the works of the law.

A great many people have supposed that there is a clash and a contradiction between the two Apostles on this matter, but it is not so. The distinction we have just pointed out largely helps to remove the difficulty that is felt. Both speak of works, but there is an immense difference between the works of the law and the works of faith.

The works of the law, of which Paul speaks, are works done in obedience to the demand of the law of Moses, by which, it is hoped, a righteousness may be wrought that will pass in the presence of God. "This do, and thou shalt live," said the law, and the works are done in the hope of thereby obtaining the life — life upon earth — that is proffered. No one of us ever did obtain this abiding earthly life by law-keeping, since as James has just told us we became wholly guilty directly we had transgressed in one point. Hence we all lie by nature under the death sentence, and the works of the law are dead works, though done in the effort to obtain life.

What is meant by ‘works of the law’ (Rom. 3:20)?

Works of the law are not only works aimed at keeping the law of Moses but works aiming at keeping any kind of law (literally: ‘works of law’). The people of Israel proved this in the case of the law of Moses. But it is a general principle. There are no works, there is nothing that man can do, which would make him just or righteous before God.

Thus all stand inexcusable in their guilt before God; and this, because law-works cannot justify — still less of course the works that man's mind suggests, or that the will of others may extort. If any works could justify anybody, those of God's law must be the surest benefit to the Jew. But the truth is that no flesh shall be justified from any such source in His sight; for contrariwise law never produces holiness but is only the means of arriving at a full knowledge of sin.

So fatal a point was this, if allowed, that Paul says to Peter before them all, "If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, how compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" What had Peter been about? He had not, in any wise, maintained the law as a rule for the Jewish believers. Why, then, did he yield to an act which implied it among the Gentiles? If it was not so in Jerusalem, where God had of old bound it upon their conscience, what a turning away from the truth, that one who knew his deliverance should practically insist upon it at Antioch! This was the serious matter for which Paul rebuked Peter. And now he reasons upon it: "We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles," (the force of "we," as compared with "you," is necessary to be remarked in this epistle and elsewhere,) "knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Bear in mind, also, that when the Apostle Paul dwells upon law, he does not confine his remarks to the Jewish law, but reasons abstractedly. He says and means not merely that you cannot be justified by the works of the law, but by no law at all. If there was a law that could justify, it must be the law of God divulged by Moses. But Paul goes farther, and insists that "by works of law" you cannot be justified. The law-principle is opposed to justification instead of being the means of it. He takes up the fact, that by these works of law no flesh can be justified.

The law came in, what to do? To make manifest what man was. He did not know himself. But it did not put him right. Men were in utter ruin by nature and departure from God before the moment that the law came in, but "sin is not imputed when there is no law" (Rom. 5:13). Again the law brings in wrath, for it is written, "Because the law works wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression" (Rom. 4:15). God did not give it with the view of justifying. He says distinctly, "By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight" (Rom. 3:20). The object of the law then was not to justify. It was to make manifest where man was and what he was, that he might learn his own helpless ruin, and then turn to God to learn what He is. I believe the giving of the law was distinctly what I may call a retrograde action on the part of God. In the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I find God coming down and talking with these men in the most simple way possible. But when He raises with man the question of righteousness, He has to retire into thick darkness. Notice, the promise of God, which is pure grace, is one thing, and the law is quite another. The apostle Paul works that out in Galatians.

A serious issue is raised here. Paul contrasts "the works of the law" to "the hearing of faith" (v.2). Works and hearing are here opposed to each other. Hearing supposes quietness and attention, therefore ceasing from works. How good to be subdued and to listen to the voice of our God rather than to be busily engaged in seeking to show our ability or importance. Faith is connected with hearing, law with works. Faith attributes everything to God, nothing to the flesh, but he who clings to the Law claims the opposite and ignores the Spirit altogether.

(V. 20) Moreover the law, that brings all under judgment to God, holds out no possibility of man removing the judgment by any efforts of his own. "By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight". The law, indeed, convicts of sin, "for by the law is the knowledge of sin", but it cannot remove the sins, or deliver from the power of sin. The law is but a plumb-line to show the crookedness of the wall. It would be as foolish to think that a crooked wall could be made straight by holding a plumb-line against it, as to think that a guilty sinner could be justified by the law. Thus the law convicts us of, not only being sinners before God, but also of being helpless sinners. Our ruin is total, and irretrievable, as far as we are concerned. Man is not only a fallen creature driven out from Paradise, he cannot find his way back. The law which was given for life, if a man kept it, has become a ministration of death and condemnation.

331 Thus, as the beginning of the argument proved the Gentiles ruined, so does the end the Jews: the result is, every mouth stopped and all the world under judgment to God. What is His sentence? Is there no mercy? There is His righteousness by Christ Jesus, righteousness which justifies the believer. Doubtless by works of law no flesh shall be justified, for by law is knowledge of sin, the very reverse of sins forgiven or of righteousness.

Instead of justifying men it condemned them, for while it is good and justly demands goodness, men were utterly bad, they would not nor could bring forth any good. So we read, "By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20). It exposes and convicts the sinner and leaves him entirely hopeless as to being right with God on the ground of his own works. That is its work and it does it truly and well.

Yet Gentiles, while not required, as Israel, to keep this law, could as easily learn one thing from it. That it condemned mankind was plain: no one could dare open his mouth in the face of it. If the Jews were condemned by it so that their mouths were stopped before God's judgment throne, could the Gentiles fare any better if they attempted to assert their own righteousness?No indeed: their mouths were as effectively stopped: the law made it clear that all the world, being guilty, is under judgment to God. Blessed, though humbling, is the moment in our history when first our mouths are stopped! Only then are we prepared to listen undividedly to God — prepared to receive blessing. So that the very object of the law was to close every mouth and to place all the world under judgment to God. Can it then justify anyone? Impossible! “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight.” Its very character demands the opposite. “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” It exposes sin: it cannot cover it. It condemns the sinner: it cannot justify him.