Romans 3:20

God's Word

Not one person can have God’s approval by any effort to follow the laws in the Scriptures. These laws show what sin is.

Cross References

Job 15:15

If God doesn’t trust his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight,

Psalm 130:3

O Lord, who would be able to stand if you kept a record of sins?

Psalm 143:2

Do not take me to court for judgment, because there is no one alive who is righteous in your presence.

Acts 13:39

However, everyone who believes in Jesus receives God’s approval.

Romans 2:13

People who merely listen to the laws in Moses’ Teachings don’t have God’s approval. Rather, people who do what those laws demand will have God’s approval.

Romans 3:28

We conclude that a person has God’s approval by faith, not by his own efforts.

Romans 4:13

So it was not by obeying the laws in Moses’ Teachings that Abraham or his descendants received the promise that he would inherit the world. Rather, he received this promise through God’s approval that comes by faith.

Romans 4:15

The laws in Moses’ Teachings bring about anger. But where those laws don’t exist, they can’t be broken.

Romans 5:13

Sin was in the world before there were any laws. But no record of sin can be kept when there are no laws.

Romans 5:20

The laws in Moses’ Teachings were added to increase the failure. But where sin increased, God’s kindness increased even more.

Romans 7:11

Sin, taking the opportunity provided by this commandment, deceived me and then killed me.

Romans 9:32

Why? They didn’t rely on faith to gain God’s approval, but they relied on their own efforts. They stumbled over the rock that trips people.

1 Corinthians 15:56

Sin gives death its sting, and God’s standards give sin its power.

Galatians 2:16

Yet, we know that people don’t receive God’s approval by any effort to follow the laws in the Scriptures, but only by believing in Jesus Christ. So we also believed in Jesus Christ in order to receive God’s approval by faith in Christ and not by our own efforts. People won’t receive God’s approval by their own efforts.

Galatians 2:19

When I tried to obey the laws in the Scriptures, those laws killed me. As a result, I live in a relationship with God. I have been crucified with Christ.

Galatians 5:4

Those of you who try to earn God’s approval by obeying his laws have been cut off from Christ. You have fallen out of God’s favor.

Hebrews 7:19

Moses’ Teachings couldn’t accomplish everything that God required. But we have something else that gives us greater confidence and allows us to approach God.