I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.
Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to 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, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.”
and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
“How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.
Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.