Romans 4:15 clearly states that βthe law worketh wrath,β but so many people, it seems, do not wish to see this. Even some clergymen tell us that God gave the Law to help us to be good, when God Himself says the very opposite; that it was given to show us that we are bad and need a Savior.
βThe law worketh wrath.β Every criminal knows this and every sinner should know it, for the Bible has much to say on the subject. Rom. 3:19,20 declares that the Law was given βthat every mouth may be stopped, and that all the world may be brought in guilty before God,β and this passage goes on to say:
βTherefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sinβ (Rom. 3:20).
II Cor. 3:7,9 calls the Law βthe ministration of condemnationβ and βthe ministration of death.β Gal. 3:10 says that those who are βof the works of the law,β i.e., who seek to make themselves acceptable to God by keeping the Law, βare under a curse,β because the Law can only condemn them.
Those who approach God, expecting eternal life in return for βgood worksβ are offering Him their terms β which He will never accept. God will not sell justification to those already under condemnation for sin. But He does offer sinners complete justification by grace because:
βChrist hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written; cursed is every one that hangeth on a treeβ (Gal. 3:13).
Thank God, those who trust in Christ, βhaving redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His graceβ (Eph. 1:7), βbeing justified, freely by His [Godβs] grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesusβ (Rom. 3:24). source
