Empty Hands and Mouth

Tim Keller on Romans 3.19&20 (Romans For You):

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.

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight

by the works of the law;

rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Romans 3.19,20

The law is not a checklist we keep; it is a benchmark we fail. “Through the law we become conscious of sin.” Whenever someone reads God’s law, however loyal, kind, thoughtful, generous or loving they are, their response can only be: I am a sinner. I have nothing to say to God— no defense to make or offer to make. I am in desperate trouble. This is a bleak truth; but hard truth is better than sweet deceit. And it makes sense of what we see in and around us.

A silent mouth is thus a spiritual condition. It is the condition of the person who knows that they cannot save themselves. As John Gerstner explains:

“The way to God is wide open. There is nothing standing between the sinner and his God. He has immediate and unimpeded access to the Savior. There is nothing to hinder. No sin can hold [you] back, because God offers justification to the ungodly. Nothing now stands between the sinner and God but the sinner’s ‘good works.’ Nothing can keep him from Christ but his delusion … that he has good works of his own that can satisfy God … All they need is need . All they must have is nothing … But alas, sinners cannot part with their ‘virtues.’ They have none that are not imaginary, but they are real to them. So grace becomes unreal. The real grace of God they spurn in order to hold on to the illusory virtues of their own. Their eyes fixed on a mirage, they will not drink real water. They die of thirst with water all about them.” 

(Theology for Everyman, page 72-73)

 “In the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed” (1: 16). All we need do is come to Christ with empty hands and receive his righteousness. What keeps people from salvation is not so much their sins, but their good works. If we come to God telling him that we are good, offering him the works of our hands as our righteousness, we cannot take the righteousness he gives by grace. We need to give up our goodness, and repent of our religiosity as well as our rebellion. We need to come with empty hands, and silent mouths, and receive.