Through the Bible in One Year

Day 253

Romans 3:9-20

In chapters 1-2, Paul has shown that all people, Jews and non-Jews (aka “Gentiles”) alike, are in spiritual slavery to sin.  In the first eight verse of chapter 3 Paul digresses a little to deal with some important objections, but still keeping with that same theme that he has been developing from the very beginning of Romans, that all people are in spiritual slavery to sin and, therefore, God shows no favoritism, because God views all mankind as being slaves to their sinful nature.  In Romans 3:9-20, Paul explains why as he teaches that all people possess a sinful nature—a nature that they are born with that is constantly pulling them toward sin and evil.  The result is that all are guilty before God and deserve the greatest penalty: death (Romans 3:23) and permanent separation from God.  But God’s loving response to this tragic situation is to provide a way of restoring us to a right relationship with himself.  For this reason, he offers grace, forgiveness, spiritual salvation and eternal life to all who accept the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus, and yield their lives to the One who died to pay the price for our sin (Romans 3:21-26).

What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;

there is no one who understands;

there is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away,

they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,

not even one.”

“Their throats are open graves;

their tongues practice deceit.”

“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”

“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

ruin and misery mark their ways,

and the way of peace they do not know.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.  Romans 3:9-20

Now let’s break this key passage down so that we can better understand what Paul is telling us.  And in order to do that we are going to break it up into two sections.  The first section is vv. 9-18 where Paul is essentially presenting his closing argument for the fact that “there is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10).  The second section is vv. 19-20 where Paul delivers the ultimate judge’s verdict that all alike are sinful, without excuse and guilty before God, which serves as the conclusion of the first main section of Romans (1:18-3:20) that has been dealing with God’s wrath against human sin.

What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;

there is no one who understands;

there is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away,

they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,

not even one.”

“Their throats are open graves;

their tongues practice deceit.”

“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”

“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

ruin and misery mark their ways,

and the way of peace they do not know.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”—3:9-18

After the digression in verse 1-8 to deal with important objections, in verse 9 Paul resumes the argument begun in Romans 2:1 that the person who judges others is just as guilty as the person being judged.  Jews therefore do not have any advantage.  Paul has already made the charge that they, along with Gentiles, are all under sin.  The evidence for that charge came in Romans 2:17-24; the ongoing Jewish exile was proof of disobedience.  Now in Romans 3:9-20 Paul shows more evidence.  His list of quotations from Scripture in verses 13-18 can be contrasted with the Song of Songs, where the lovers are described as beautiful or handsome, and the lovers describe each other’s perfect body parts.  Here Paul recounts how gruesome the body politic of society is: their throats are open graves, their tongues are deceitful, their lips conceal snakebites, their mouths are full of cursing, their feet are murderous on their wretched journeys, and their eyes are arrogantly unblinking before the majesty of God (Romans 3:13-18).  Paul has conclusively proved total depravity for all Jews and Gentiles.  They do not merely have a few human weaknesses.  Every part of people’s lives is contaminated with sin.  The evidence against the one who judged in Romans 2:1 is now all in, and we await the verdict to come.

In other words, these verses reveal the facts about human nature.  All people in their natural state are sinners, separated from God and prone to go their own way.  Our entire being has been affected by sin.  Apart from God we are drawn toward the evil and rebellious ways of the world, the devil and the selfishness of our human nature.  All are guilty of rejecting Godliness and embracing selfishness.

Why does the disgraceful condition of humanity continue?  Because “there is not fear of God before their eyes.”  To fear God means to have a deep wonder and reverence for him, which keeps us aware of our accountability to the Almighty God.  If people had a true fear of God, they would have desired to be restored to God and to make peace with him.  “Through the fear of the Lord a man avoids evil” (Proverbs 16:6).

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.—3:19-20

The aim of the evidence was to show that the one who judged in Romans 2:1 was guilty.  The evidence from the quotations of Scripture in Romans 3:10-18 was specifically addressing those who are under the law (Romans 3:19a), targeting Paul’s Jewish contemporaries who may have thought they were morally superior to the immoral pagans portrayed in Romans 1:18-32.  Paul draws the conclusion that every mouth is muzzled and the whole world is guilty (Romans 3:19b).  The ultimate purpose of the Law, Paul explains in verse 20, was to highlight sin, not to provide a means to become righteous before God.  This fact of God’s will has been demonstrated in the public domain because the nation of Israel (which was entrusted with the Law given on Mount Sinai) has proved to be just as sinful as the Gentile nations who did not receive it.  The fist main section of Romans (1:18-3:20) concludes with the judge’s verdict that all alike are sinful, without excuse and guilty before God.  But thankful things do not end there because as we will see tomorrow God has provided a way for sinful man to overcome our sinful nature to become “righteous” in God’s sight.

Tomorrow’s Bible Readings:

Isaiah 8-9, 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, Psalm 55:1-23 and Proverbs 23:4-5