Romans 3:20 : Because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin. Had they kept the law perfectly, they would have been justified by the law; but Paul had proved by their own Scriptures that they had not so kept the law. He had shown them to be guilty of many and grievous sins; "for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin." That which might have been the means of their justification had, on ac-count of their sins, become the means of their convic-tion. This conviction, this feeling of sinfulness, did not come to them through some direct operation of the Holy Spirit, but through the plain statements of in-spired men. One Point Established. In the portion of the letter that we have considered, Paul showed that the Gen-tile, while relying upon natural law as his human wisdom interpreted it, had plunged into all sorts of sin. He had not even lived up to the law of nature. Paul also showed that the Jew, instead of living up to the demands of the law of Moses so as to be justified by it, had so transgressed the law as to be condemned by it. All, both Jews and Gentiles, were condemned sinners, and were lost, unless some plan could be presented that would make righteous men out of sinners. The law would justify a man, if he kept it perfectly but it could not justify one after he had transgressed the law.