How to read this page

An Intertextuality Pair — one connection between two passages, shown as linked verse cards: the Later text and the Earlier text it quotes, alludes to or echoes. The Significance essay explains why the link matters and where it points in Christ.

Reference Type— how explicit the link is: Quotation, Allusion, or Echo
Connection Method(s)— how it carries meaning: e.g. Typology, Promise-Fulfillment, Analogy, Longitudinal Theme
Found via— where the connection was identified, e.g. the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge or an Anchor-Text Network

Graph View — tap the constellation icon in the top bar to see this page's connections as a web of light: gold points are passages, and the coloured threads are the connection types. Click any type in the graph's own legend to filter it in or out, and use the expand control for the full-screen night sky.

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Intertextuality Pair

Galatians 2:16 → Psalm 143:2

Quotation

Later text

Galatians 2:16BSB

know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Earlier text

Psalm 143:2BSB

Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.

+ 3 more earlier texts

Earlier text

Psalm 143:1BSB

A Psalm of David. O LORD, hear my prayer. In Your faithfulness, give ear to my plea; in Your righteousness, answer me.

Earlier text

Job 4:17BSB

‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?

Earlier text

9:2BSB

“Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?

Walk the Square · a single-voice walk of this pair around the Clowney square8:23

Significance

Though lacking the formal introduction "it is written," Paul clearly appeals to Psalm 143 as evidence for his justification doctrine. The crucial phrase "works of law" is Paul's addition, making explicit the application to the Galatians controversy. The psalm context is crucial: this penitential lament has the psalmist appealing not to his own innocence but to God's mercy, denying "the possibility of a man's being justified on the basis of his deserts." Paul's appeal confirms "works of law" designates obedience to commandments in toto, not merely ceremonial practices. The appeal also lends distinctly eschatological force—the future judgment is in view. Present justification by faith is grounded in that final judgment, making our assurance not psychological strategy but a proleptic manifestation of God's righteous verdict.

Found via: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Direct Quotation
Connection Method(s): Contrast