This same understanding of the human moral condition appears clearly in the letters of Paul. In Romans, Paul pauses his explanation of the Gospel to give a careful description of humanity’s condition apart from it — both Gentiles and Jews alike. In Romans 1:18–32, he explains that God made Himself known to the Gentiles through creation, so that they would have no excuse for their sin. Their moral collapse, he says, shows God’s righteous anger against them for turning away from that revelation and embracing idolatry instead.
In Romans 2, Paul turns to the Jews. He insists that everyone will be judged by their actions and that possessing the Law does not guarantee escape from judgment. The Law promises life only to those who actually obey it. By the time Paul reaches Romans 3:9, he concludes that both Jews and Greeks are equally under sin. He supports this claim by quoting Psalm 14:1–3 and other Old Testament passages describing human wickedness. These quotations, which Paul refers to collectively as “the Law,” were written, he says, to silence every excuse and bring the whole world before God’s judgment seat. The point is unmistakable: all have sinned.
That makes sense. Any ruler must treat those who break his laws as enemies. From that perspective, sinners must regard God as their enemy — though, paradoxically, even in His opposition He remains their true friend. In Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul describes people as once “dead” in their sins, following destructive influences, alongside all humanity — including himself — and therefore living under God’s righteous anger.
The rest of the New Testament echoes this same teaching. John the Baptist’s call to a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins assumes universal guilt. Jesus Himself repeatedly assumes the same reality. When Jews objected to His promise of freedom by claiming they had never been enslaved, He replied bluntly: “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). That statement only makes sense if all people are, in fact, sinners.
This understanding matches our own experience. And because of that, there is no need to argue for it at length. If we do not already feel guilt within ourselves, no argument will convince us. A deep awareness of moral ruin is the necessary starting point for truly understanding the Gospel. Only those who recognize their sin and feel the weight of God’s judgment are prepared to welcome the message of forgiveness proclaimed by Christ and Paul.
To people burdened by past guilt and powerless to obey in the future — people who therefore needed both forgiveness and moral freedom — God gave, as Paul firmly believed, a written form of the Law that was already woven into their moral nature. That written Law stood, in Paul’s day, as the condition for receiving God’s favor. And in its essential outlines, it still stands today, appealing directly to our moral conscience and claiming ultimate authority over human life.
Consider, then, what actually happens when such a Law is given to such people. For those with a strong moral sensitivity, the Law first produces intense and painful effort to obey. The external commands awaken the inner moral law already written on the heart. But every sincere attempt to do right only exposes an opposing force within — one that pushes the person back into wrongdoing. The result is helplessness and fear, as if standing beneath a voice of thunder with no way to escape. Earnest effort collapses into moral despair.
Others, with a weaker moral sense, respond differently. Recognizing their inability to obey, they simply give up and surrender themselves to sin. Still others pick and choose—obeying parts of the Law they find manageable and hoping that partial obedience will be enough to secure God’s favor. In every case, the outcome is the same: the Law fails to save. And this failure is unavoidable when a spiritual Law is given to people enslaved by sin.
Does that mean the Law itself failed? If so, it was a failure God foresaw. God knew exactly who He was giving the Law to, and He fully understood the result it would produce. With deep reverence we ask: Why would God give people in need of salvation something that could not save them? The only answer is that beyond this apparent failure lay a greater purpose—one for which the failure itself was meant to prepare the way. Even in our moral despair, a faint hope begins to shine. The great Lawgiver does not mock His helpless creatures.
Paul states this purpose plainly. In Romans 3:19, he says that the Law was designed to bring about precisely this result: a universal awareness of guilt. In Paul’s own life — and in many others — that goal was clearly achieved. Human literature confirms that the same effect has appeared wherever people have taken the Law seriously, whether through Israel’s written code or through the inner moral law that condemns them.
Why was such preparation necessary? That will become even clearer once the nature of salvation itself is explained. After promising blessing to Abraham for all nations, but before fully revealing those blessings in Christ, God gave the Law at Sinai and made obedience its condition. He did this to expose humanity’s absolute need for a salvation far beyond anything human effort could achieve. Only by understanding this need can people truly appreciate the wisdom and love displayed in God’s saving work. The Law, then, serves as a dark backdrop against which the brilliance of the Gospel shines.
We can now see that the Law — written into human conscience and later given to Israel in written form — does nothing directly to relieve the need for forgiveness and moral freedom. In fact, it intensifies that need. At the same time, the Law reveals God’s deep concern for humanity and His desire that people choose what is right. That concern awakens hope that God will provide a solution equal to our need.
We also notice that God’s promises to Abraham came before the Law and therefore cannot be nullified by it (Galatians 3:17). Moreover, the Law itself — and the prophetic writings held in equal authority — contain clear promises of salvation (compare Deuteronomy 6:5 with 30:6; see also Ezekiel 36:25-27). For the help we need, which the Law cannot give directly, and for the fulfillment of these ancient hopes, we now turn to the Gospel — the message Paul proclaimed as “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”
This post is based upon Lecture X from J. A. Beet's book Through Christ to God: A Study in Scientific Theology (1893), re-written with the assistance of Microslop CoPilot. The original text may be found at the Internet Archive here: Through Christ to God.
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