Galatians 3:11 - The Faulty Default

"But that in law no one is being justified with God [is] evident; since 'the righteous out of faith will live'."

-Nobody’s perfect.  That is a universally understood truth, but if one would avoid The Curse, one is not allowed to make even one mistake (James 2.10).  And that is definitely the bad news - nobody can make it.  Nobody can keep the entire law.  Nobody can make themselves perfect.  No not one.  The most selfless loving person still falls way short of the holiness of God, comes short of His divine perfections, and that really is the most important point.  Anyone can compare themselves favorably to the poor shmuck next to them, but we are not engaged in a contest with our neighbor, trying to outdo them in good deeds.  It is not as if we are trying to escape from an angry bear and merely need to outrun the person next to us.  No, we are trying to [re]gain right standing with our Maker, to be right in His eyes.

-The truth is that the law came in in order that sin might become utterly sinful (Romans 7.13), and in doing so the curse became truly curse-ful.  And we can observe basically two fundamental approaches whereby people attempt to gain right standing with God - one is the way of works, and the other is the way of faith (which of course is the way of Abraham, and the Way made possible only through Jesus).  The former approach is entirely ineffectual, and thus is the way of the curse.  By works of law no flesh will be justified (made right or perfect) in His sight (Romans 3.20), and yet this is not only the standard approach of every major world religion, sect, cult, and worldview besides Christianity, it is also the faulty default position of humanity in general.  Even those who appear to be irreligious are generally under the assumption that they are good enough in themselves (or can be) to satisfy the minimum requirements of any religious law which might otherwise be binding on them.

-But no - if one truly aspires to gain right standing before God, the only way to do that is not by law but rather by faith.  Faith speaks to the idea of trust, and the critical question is, where (or in what) do I put my trust?  Paul is quoting Habakuk 2.4, where the righteous is contrasted with those proud and haughty people who are putting their trust in themselves, in their own abilities, in their own strength, in their own efforts.   In fact, everybody trusts in something.  Everybody has faith - it is the object of my faith which makes all the difference.  If the object of my faith is the law and in my efforts to keep the entirety of it, I will fall way short...