Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

ROMANS 3:20

"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

In biblical symbolism, this verse describes the limit of the lower nature and the function of the Law as a revealer, not a redeemer.

It is not about legal guilt but about the incapacity of the lower self (“flesh”) to rise into the higher planes by its own power.

“No flesh is justified”

“Flesh” here is the outer personality, the conditioned nature:
- the mind bound to forms
- the desire‑nature seeking its own ends
- the qualities still operating on the lower planes

The “deeds of the law” are the mechanical actions of the lower nature — duty, obedience, moral effort, discipline — all necessary in their place, but incapable of producing spiritual consciousness.

The lower cannot lift itself into the higher.

Justification — alignment with the Divine — is an inner transformation, not an outer performance.

“For by the law is the knowledge of sin”

“Sin” is misalignment, the condition of the qualities when they are turned outward rather than upward.

The Law reveals:
- the limits of the lower nature
- the contrast between the conditioned and the unconditioned
- the gap between the personality and the Spirit

The Law is therefore diagnostic, not curative.

It shows the soul its own incompleteness, preparing it for the higher revelation.

The physical reveals its own insufficiency, driving the soul toward the inward Life.

The Inner Movement

Romans 3:20 marks the moment when:
- the lower nature reaches its limit
- the Law has completed its revealing work
- the soul becomes ready for the Christ‑principle, the inner Life that alone transforms

The Law awakens;
the Spirit accomplishes.

The Esoteric Message.....
The outer nature cannot justify itself; the Law reveals its limitation so the soul may turn inward to the Spirit, where true transformation begins.

See Also

Romans 8:6