Works: Insufficiency of, for Salvation

No man can possibly redeem his brother or pay his ransom to God.

For the redemption of his soul is costly, and never can payment suffice,

A song of ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.

In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat—for He gives sleep to His beloved.

I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

Remind Me, let us argue the matter together. State your case, so that you may be vindicated.

I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not profit you.

Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.

They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will seem unclean. Their silver and gold cannot save them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their appetites or fill their stomachs with wealth, for it became the stumbling block that brought their iniquity.

Therefore, son of man, say to your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression; neither will the wickedness of the wicked man cause him to stumble on the day he turns from his wickedness. Nor will the righteous man be able to survive by his righteousness on the day he sins.’ …

Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion.

For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Which of you whose servant comes in from plowing or shepherding in the field will say to him, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? …

To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable: …

Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

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

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has discovered? …

For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,

So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

…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,

And if it is by grace, then it is no longer by works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal. …

…know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God.

I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. …

But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? …

Take notice: I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.

You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. What matters is faith expressing itself through love.

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is a new creation.

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God,

…not by works, so that no one can boast.

For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— …

If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations: …

He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began.

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,

He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

Now we who have believed enter that rest. As for the others, it is just as God has said: “So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’” And yet His works have been finished since the foundation of the world. …

Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith in God,

…instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. …

Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.