Why It Is Impossible To (Directly) Follow the Law

As I indicated here, a person is in fact justified by faith and not by any deed of righteousness he may do. There is a practical reason for this: because it is impossible to follow the law directly in a successful manner (Romans 9:30-33). Note also the following scripture:

Romans 7

18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
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22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law;
23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

The scripture above indicates that though someone who has faith may want to do good deeds directly, it is impossible for him to do so, because his sinful nature prevents this from happening. The question then arises, "How does someone go about doing good deeds?" The answer is, by having faith. When someone has faith, that person receives the Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:14), and the Holy Spirit destroys the deeds that person is compelled to do because of his sinful nature:

Romans 8

13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,

Someone may next ask, how does all of this work? When someone has faith, that person winds up being controlled by the Spirit (Romans 8:9). However, the person is also controlled by his sinful nature at the same time (Romans 7:24-25). A conflict actually arises between the (Holy) Spirit and the person's sinful nature (Galatians 5:17), with the Spirit increasingly destroying or eliminating the deeds caused by that person's sinful nature, as that person continues to have faith (Romans 8:13, 2 Corinthians 3:18). A very important point of all of this, is that a person cannot do good deeds or the deeds attributed to the Spirit directly. A person has to be compelled or forced by the Spirit into doing good deeds - given the fact that a person becomes a slave of God's law when he has the Spirit in him:

Romans 7

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Therefore a person really has only two choices. He can decline to have faith, and be entirely controlled by his sinful nature - which compels or forces him to act sinfully. Or a person can have faith, and have the Spirit enter him, who increasingly compels or forces him to act righteously. A person never has direct, ultimate control over his actions (though it may seem that way at times). A person only has the choice of having faith and having the Spirit control him, or not having faith and having his sinful nature control him. (In the first case, the person behaves increasingly righteously in a natural way. In the second case, the person behaves unrighteously in a natural way.)

The above is why it is impossible for someone to achieve righteousness by directly pursuing it / the law, and why the only way a person can achieve righteousness is by having faith.   

Justification by Faith

I believe it is important to clarify that a person is in fact saved and justified by faith, and not by works of righteousness, as indicated in the following scriptures:

Ephesians 2

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Romans 3

28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

Romans 4

1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter?
2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God.
3 What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.
5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."

In addition, the following scripture indicates that if someone attempts to achieve justification by works of righteousness (the law), that person will forfeit his salvation:

Galatians 5

4 You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

The question then arises, what about the following scripture?

(NIV)

James 2

17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

(NASB)

James 2

17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

In spite of the impression many people get from the NIV version of the above scripture, the NASB (also the RSV) versions of the scripture indicate more clearly, that it is not that if someone does not perform works of righteousness along with having faith, then that person's faith is dead: but rather if a person's faith does not produce or cause righteous behavior to be seen in him, then that person's faith is dead.

James 2:17 is harmonious with the following scriptures.

Philippians 3

8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

Romans 9

30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.
32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone."
33 As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

The 2 scriptures immediately above, indicate that real faith causes righteous behavior to be seen in a person - even when that person does not (directly) pursue it. Therefore it can be seen from the scriptures immediately above (along with James 2:17), that we are saved by a faith, that causes righteous behavior to be seen in us - even though we do not directly pursue righteousness.

There are those who say that even though we should not directly pursue the law, we should directly pursue righteousness none-the-less, in order to achieve it. However, isn't righteousness outlined in the law (e.g. "... love your neighbor as yourself ..." [Leviticus 19:18])? And if we directly pursue righteousness, we directly pursue the law? Therefore it is impossible to directly pursue righteousness without pursuing the law.

Even if someone was to say that we should achieve righteousness by following Christ's commandments directly, but not the law, we would still run into the problem of directly pursuing the law (if we followed that person's advice), because one of Christ's commandments is that we love each other (John 15:17) - which is outlined in the law (Leviticus 19:18). Further, Christ commanded in Matthew 5:17-20 that we teach others the law, as well as uphold the law. Therefore it is impossible to follow Christ’s commandments by directly pursuing them but not the law, because to do so, we must also directly pursue the law.

It is important to point out that the issue is not whether we should follow or uphold the law: the issue is how we are supposed to go about doing so. We are not to directly follow the law: but rather we are supposed to indirectly follow the law by having faith. The fact that real faith causes someone to achieve righteousness (James 2:17, Philippians 3:9, Romans 9:30), and the fact that only those who obey the law will be declared righteous (Romans 2:13), means that having faith causes someone to obey or act consistently with the law - and this is the only legitimate means by which someone can follow the law. That is what the following scripture (and Galatians 2:15-16) mean:

Romans 3

21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

The scripture above indicates that the righteousness that is produced by faith, which does not come from directly following the law, is the same righteousness that is outlined in the law, and which the prophets spoke about.

(Please read here, why it is impossible for someone to achieve righteousness by doing good deeds directly / following the law.)

Therefore a person can really only achieve righteousness by faith, and should never attempt to do so directly.

Why We Are Here? What is The Meaning of Life?

All of this world has been constructed, in order to determine who among men and women will to become God (in a vastly elevated state in the new creation [Matthew 13:43; (Volume) 2 Esdras, 4 Esdras 7:97, 55(125); Book of Enoch 104:2-3, 108:11-15]). Why the obfuscation of this primary goal for humanity? It is part of the test. It all started when Adam, the first human (who originally belonged to the Godhead and was God [Gospel Of Bartholomew 4:52-55]), broke God's single law that he not eat fruit from a certain tree (Genesis 3:6-24). This caused the penalty of confusion and death to result for everyone who came after him (Romans 5:12-14).

Adam's error, though it plunged mankind into a precipitous situation, where many people will actually wind up being condemned, provided an opportunity for God to test mankind. Those who manage to have faith correctly, and successfully endure odds, will be rewarded by coming into a state of being far, far richer than the state in which Adam was originally created (Gospel of Thomas verse 85). Therefore though it is not readily apparent, we are all eligible for being restored from our current state to being God, and do become gods/God (John 10:34) when we have faith. When a person has faith, that person will begin to see for himself/herself that this is true. (See here for more information on the Godhood of Man.)