Some Key Words (6/25/00)

Know (eido [1492]):

to perceive with outward senses, to understand, to experience, to be acquainted with, esteem, regard, acknowledge, to know how - implying knowledge and inclination, consider, to know intuitively; to see, notice, discern, discover, to turn attention to a thing, to pay attention, observe, to see what must be done about something, to inspect, behold, experience, interview, visit, to know of, to understand, to be skilled in; to see, to know

Law (nomos [3551]):

the law as assigning each his own, or as administering by commanding and forbidding, the divine law given by Moses - the moral, ceremonial, and judicial together, a principle equivalent to a law; anything established by usage, a custom, law, command, the law of God, a precept or injunction, the rule of action prescribed by reason, Mosaic law, Christian religion; law, regulation, Mosaic law, principle

Accountable (hupodikos [5267]):

under judgement, justice, one who is judged guilty, one bound to suffer the imposed penalty of justice for neglecting to do right, one obliged to make compensation; one who lost his legal suit, a debtor, owing satisfaction to; under sentence, condemned

Works (ergon [2041]):

the result of employment, making, an object to which one may attain, the result of doing and working - requiring accumulated effort, calling or occupation, labor done for Christ; business, what one is occupied with, an enterprise or undertaking, any product, an act, deed, thing done - emphasizing the work required to do it; toil, an act

Justified (dikaioo [1344]):

to bring out the fact of a person's righteousness, to make one righteous, found or declared righteous; to render righteous, or such as one ought to be, to show one to be righteous, to pronounce one just; to show one innocent, or regard one as innocent

Sight (enopion [1799]):

in the presence of, before, before another's eyes; in the face of

Knowledge (epignosis [1922]):

clear and exact knowledge, knowledge thoroughly participated in, knowledge with powerful influence on the forms of religious life, knowledge that claims our sympathies, that influences us, knowledge that affects our blessings and determines the manifestations of our religious life; precise and correct knowledge of things ethical and divine; recognition, discernment, acknowledgement

Sin (hamartia [266]):

missing the true end and scope of our lives, an offense in relation to God - emphasizing the guilt; to be without a share in, to miss the mark, to be mistaken, to wander from the path of uprightness, from the law of God, that which is done wrong, an offense, a violation of divine law in thought or act; a sin

Paraphrase: (6/25/00)

19 We realize that the Law is written for those whom it is to rule, so that they will have no room for complaint, and everybody will become knowingly accountable to God. 20 After all, no one will ever be justified in His sight by the works of the Law, for it is through the Law that we come to know sin.

Key Verse: (6/25/00)

3:20 - No work of Law justifies.

Thematic Relevance: (6/25/00)	The purpose of the Law was to help us realize how impossible it is for us to avoid sin in our own power. Thus, it was a tool that brought an equality between the Jew and the Gentile, rather than a thing that declared the Jew more spiritually acceptable.
Doctrinal Relevance: (6/25/00)	Works will not justify us before God. Our accountability is to God.
Moral Relevance: (6/25/00)	We are accountable to God. Whether we are conscious of that or not, however we may treat that knowledge. We ought, therefor, to be doing our utmost to please Him by our lives, knowing that our works in the end cannot justify us, but only our faith in Him.
Questions Raised: (6/25/00)	How do we maintain a lively accountability to our Lord? What works do we try to justify ourselves by?

People Mentioned: (6/25/04)

N/A

Some Parallel Verses (6/25/00)

3:19

Jn 10:34 - The Law says "I said, you are gods." Ro 2:12 - Those who sin without the Law are judged without the Law, those who sin with it are judged by its rules. Ro 3:9 - All are under sin, both Jew and Greek.

3:20

Ps 143:2 - Pray that He not judge you for no man is righteous in His sight. Ac 13:39 - Belief in Christ frees us from all that the Law could not free us from. Gal 2:16 - Man is justified only by faith in Christ, not by works of the Law - no matter how well done. Even Paul - a Pharisee among Pharisees - knew he was justified only by faith. Ro 4:15 - The Law brings God's wrath because it brings knowledge of our violations. Ro 5:13 - Sin was always present in the world, but we weren't charged for it until the coming of the Law. Ro 5:20 - The Law brought an increase in transgressions [because it increased our awareness], but grace increased even more. Ro 7:7 - However, the Law is not sin, itself, but rather gave us to understand what sin was.

 

New Thoughts (6/25/00)

Indeed. Do we try to justify ourselves by works? It's such a fine line, and the heart may be wickedly deceitful in this area. In my times of study, do I hope somehow to cover my sinfulness? I don't think so, it's just been a hunger within me. In worship, do I try to show myself somehow just before God? No. There, the potential problem is of a different nature. In other works of the ministry - church attendance, parades and tents, dinners and events - are we being busy to show God how busy we are? Or are we truly in it to glorify His name? Here, if anywhere, is where I start to run into trouble. Lord, if any of this is being done to try and make myself somehow acceptable to You, help me to cease from it immediately, and be the more fervent in prayer. For I know that in the work of Your Son lies the only hope I have of being justified in Your sight. I know it, but has it yet changed my being?

And how to be accountable to You? Sure, these times of prayer and study are one way. Yet, they are a way that leaves me sadly free to return to my own foolish ways in such short order. Lord, You've brought before me again the idea of becoming accountable to a few of my brothers, yet that seems to be stymied. Do I look in the wrong place? I don't understand it, for You seemed so clear in directing me to them. Yet nothing seems to be coming of it. I will wait patiently for Your answer, oh God. For I know You care for me. But even more than the brotherly accounting, I need to come to that place, oh God, where I truly remember that I live before Your face daily. I know it, but I need for it to sink deep, oh Lord. I need that life-changing knowledge that You are there beside me all the day long, seeing all that I am and all that I do, longing to guide me if only I'd glance in Your direction rather than putting on the blinders and moving stubbornly along in my own wretched path. Oh God! Bring me to that place! Free me from anger, bitterness, and strife. Help me to truly believe Your Word, when it tells me that such as are angry and bitter shall not enter Your kingdom! Change me, oh God, for to live outside Your kingdom is too much for me. I could not bear to be apart from You through eternity. Bring me to that place where I cannot bear to be apart from You now.

Epignosis - A Brief Intermission (6/26/00-6/27/00)