Faith vs. Works: A Tug-of-War Through Time
Today I read Romans 1–3, and my attention was on Paul’s focus on faith and works. In these chapters, he makes the case that no one can achieve righteousness through following the law alone. Instead, he emphasizes that people are made right with God by faith. Since I’m approaching this as someone outside the framework of belief, what struck me was less the theological claim itself and more what it reveals about human behavior and culture.
Falling Short is a Full-Time Job
Romans 3:23 is often quoted: “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (NLT). Even without the religious context, the idea is relatable. No matter how hard people try, they fall short—of expectations, of ideals, of what they think they “should” be. The pursuit of perfection, whether in morality, career, relationships, or society at large, is endless and exhausting. Paul’s framing of this gap between effort and reality felt very familiar, even if I interpret it differently than someone within a faith tradition might.
Then there’s Romans 3:20: “For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.” From a secular perspective, this reads almost like a critique of rule-based systems. Rules can highlight mistakes, but they don’t necessarily change the underlying problem. Modern life echoes this: workplaces with endless policies, legal systems that can’t catch every injustice, or social codes that highlight missteps without offering solutions. Rules expose failure but don’t always transform people.
So, What’s the Alternative?
Paul’s alternative—faith—raises questions for me. If rules aren’t enough, what fills the gap? In his framework, it’s trust in God’s grace. Outside of that framework, it’s harder to pin down. Is there something in human life that functions as “faith”? Maybe it’s trust in other people, in systems, or even in oneself. But all of those can falter too. Reading Paul, I wonder if he’s identifying a tension that still exists: people are constantly searching for a foundation beyond effort and achievement.
Romans 3:28 says, “So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.” Stripped of the religious layer, this makes me think about how societies wrestle with measuring worth. Many systems—schools, workplaces, even social networks—measure people by output, compliance, or achievement. But most people also crave some sense of value that isn’t dependent on meeting every expectation. That tension between external measurement and intrinsic worth feels very current.
Everybody’s in the Same Boat
What I appreciated in reading these chapters is how Paul doesn’t let anyone off the hook. He insists that everyone—religious or not—falls short. At the same time, he suggests that worth isn’t ultimately determined by works. Whether or not I adopt his solution, I can see the universality of the problem he names. Effort alone doesn’t solve everything, and no rulebook can close the gap between who we want to be and who we actually are.
In the end, what lingers for me is the question of how people today—religious or not—navigate the limits of effort and the desire for something more solid than achievement. Paul offers one answer, but even outside of belief, the tension he describes still feels recognizable.