Thus the question is answered—“How should man be just with God?” Sinners are “justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law.” This is the key-stone of the gospel, and the strength of the arch of salvation. The only way to obtain acceptance with God is by grace; “and if by grace, then it is no more of works.” In the justification of the sinner, Divine grace and human works can no more be mixed together than oil and water, for they belong to different covenants. Christ came into the world, not to repair the old covenant, but to be the mediator of a new covenant, established upon better promises—not to mend the leaky and sinking vessel of the law, but to build and launch a new ark of salvation, and rescue the shipwrecked and the drowning. The law could not save. The law is holy, but we are unclean. The law is spiritual, but we are carnal. The law is righteous, but we are guilty. The law is good, but every imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man is evil, and only evil, and that continually. The law will not consent to a compromise with the sinner, will not relax its claims upon him, nor in any way accommodate itself to his fallen condition. Its power to condemn is commensurate with its authority to command. Thus we see how it is that no man can be justified by the deeds of the law. We are not under the law, but under grace. Were we under the law, the deeds of the law would be sufficient for our justification. The law demands obedience; obedience satisfies the law. Between obedience and the law there is perfect correspondence and harmony; the one gives what the other asks. There is also a perfect agreement between grace and faith. Grace bestows freely, without money and without price; and faith, having nothing to pay, receives humbly and thankfully. Grace, by bestowing, acquires great glory; faith, by receiving, obtains great happiness. God confers blessings according to the riches of his grace; sinners receive according to the strength of their faith. Faith and the law cannot agree at all, for both are seeking and receiving; neither can works and grace agree, for both live by communicating. Therefore “by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ye are justified through the righteousness and merit of Christ, who became your substitute, and both obeyed the law and suffered the penalty in your stead.