Justification Before God: Under Law: Man Cannot Attain To

“Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?

If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.

Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty.

How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?

If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand?

Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.

Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

…but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.

Why not? Because their pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,