Question:
Please explain Romans 3:20. What are the deeds of the law spoken of here?
Answer:
The deeds of the law spoken of in Romans 3:20 are efforts that man puts forth to save himself. Verse 19 declares that all the world is guilty before God, and verse 9, that Jews and Gentiles are all under sin. Therefore no deeds they can do will meet the requirements of the law; for they are as imperfect as the mortal, sinful man who does them. Thus man can not be justified by his imperfect deeds. He can only be justified by One who has wrought perfect righteousness for him and that One is our Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord places His righteousness upon us for all the sins of the past and His righteousness within us to change us from sin so that we may walk above sin by the same grace in the future. Sin has dominion over us when we are transgressing God’s law and sinning, and so only. God desires that His grace shall so fill our hearts, not simply for forgiveness of the past, but for strength to live for Him in the future, “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:4).
