3:19-23 What do we learn from what Paul says here?
3:19-23 What do we learn from what Paul says here?
We learn from this that all that the law says is for the benefit of those who are subject to the law so that no one may have anything to say in self-defence. The law is meant to silence everyone and to bring all humanity under God's judgement (CP V19).
This is because no one can be justified in God's sight by keeping the law. All the law can do is make men aware of their sinfulness - it has no power to save them (CP V20).
However, independent of the law, God had a plan of salvation which was revealed in all the rites and ceremonies of the law, and predicted by the Old Testament prophets (CP V21).
God's plan involved His Son Jesus: the entire sacrificial system of the Old Testament pointed to the future sacrificial death of Jesus to appease and avert God's wrath and justice against sinners, so that all who believed on Jesus could be forgiven their sins and reconciled to God (CP He 9:11-15, 28; 10:5-10).
See also comments on Ro 4:1-5; He 9:15; 10:5-7 and 10:14 and author's study The Old Testament Day of Atonement and God's Plan of Salvation in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 1).
God does not distinguish between any member of the human race - all have sinned and fallen short of His ideal, and all can be saved by faith in Jesus if they so choose (CP Ro 3:22-23).
See also comments on Ro 1:16-17, 3:24-26(A) and Eph 2:8-10.