If this promise (of being made righteous) is based on "earning it", then faith is nullified and God "owes" salvation to people. But trying to live up to the Mosaic code actually produces greater offense and guilt in people, for where there is no clear standard, there is no clear violation.
Commentary:
Like in chapter 3, Paul alludes, in the briefest of ways, to a revolutionary view of God's primary purpose for encoding His law and giving it so clearly to Israel through Moses. It was never given to make people righteous, but to expose how far short we fall of His perfections if we are left to our mere human powers. In preparing humanity (and human hearts) to be receptive to His ingenious divine rescue mission in Christ, God desired to create a "relief map" that showed starkly the difference in "altitude" between His righteousness and ours. Paul even reveals the agonizing and frustrating irony that the harder we try in our own strength to "prove" to God, others or ourselves how obedient we are to His law, the more miserably we fail to obey it in the depths of our being.
We need a Savior and we have to come to the end of our own religious strength (not to mention our moral weakness!) in preparation for humbling our hearts to receive the free gift of God's righteousness in Jesus in such a way that we will be forever amazed by His grace and eternally grateful for His kindness. Paul will expand on this theme in chapter 7.
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