Romans 3:19-20

Romans 3:19-20 - Daily Devotion - 19 June 2026 St Barnabas Anglican Church Fairfield & Bossley Park 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.REFLECTIONSWritten by TK NguyenIt has been a while since I’ve read Romans, so even though the passage is short, I had to read it a few times for me to understand it. At the end of verse 19 Paul says that the whole world will be “held accountable to God” – absolutely! We are not perfect by any means. We are sinners. Paul talks about the law, and that makes me think straight away of the Ten Commandments. God has told us in the Bible how we should live and what a godly life looks like.However, in verse 20 Paul says, “no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law.” No matter how many good deeds we do in our lives it will not make us right before God.The laws in the Bible are still important for us as a guide from God. They still show us how we should live. But they also make us aware of our sin and in doing so they bring us back to God to ask for his forgiveness.As I reflect on these verses, I remember that I can’t simply follow the “law” and expect my works to justify me before God. The most important step is to turn to him, confess that I am a sinner and I can’t make myself right with him, and trust in what he did in sending Christ to save us. That leads to a life of striving to live like Christ. Pray that God would help each of us not to rely on our own efforts but to trust wholeheartedly in what Jesus has done on the cross for us, and that he would continue to grow our faith in Jesus as we read the Scriptures. ABOUT THE AUTHORTK is a member of our Fairfield Evening congregation.