Quote:
Originally Posted by Poimen  “They prate that the ceremonial works of the law are excluded, not the moral works… [but] let us hold as certain that when the ability to justify is denied to the law, these words refer to the whole law.”
-Calvin’s Institutes, Book 3, Chapter 11.19 |
Of course the moral works of the law do not justify a person, but that is not what Paul is speaking of in Galatians. If Paul was speaking of the moral law, then he would be contradicting the rest of the NT, because Paul is arguing that we no longer have to observe the law. If Paul was speaking about the moral law, then Christians he would be telling Christians that they could live however they wanted, and that is absurd, Paul would never say that. He is specifically speaking about the observance of the ceremonial law, as a system of meritorious righteousness. The question is how is one made right before God. Is it by Christ and his work, received in faith, or by a system of Jewish merit, obligating all men to judaize in order to be accepted by God.