Romans 3:9–20
All Are Under Sin
Paul has been building his case carefully.
In Romans 1, he described the sin of the Gentile world.
In Romans 2, he turned to the Jew who possessed God's Law and showed that religious privilege did not remove accountability.
Then in Romans 3:1–8, Paul explained that Israel really had received great advantages, especially the privilege of being entrusted with God's Word.
Now Paul asks the question toward which everything has been moving:
“What then? Are we Jews any better off?”
— Romans 3:9
His answer is plain:
“No, not at all.”
Why?
Because:
“We have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin.”
— Romans 3:9
Paul has reached his conclusion.
Everybody is under sin.
“None Is Righteous”
Paul now begins a series of Old Testament quotations.
“None is righteous, no, not one.”
— Romans 3:10
He continues:
“No one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside;
together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
— Romans 3:11–12
Paul is not suddenly introducing a new subject.
He is supporting the case he has already made.
Jew and Gentile alike are sinners.
No group can stand before God and point to the sins of another group as proof of its own righteousness.
The problem is universal.
What Does “None Is Righteous” Mean?
These words can sound as if Paul is saying that no human being has ever done anything good.
But that is not his point.
Paul is talking about our standing before God.
No one can claim to be righteous enough to stand before God on the basis of his own goodness.
Paul has already shown why.
People know something of God, yet reject Him.
People judge the sins of others while committing sins themselves.
People possess God's Law but do not perfectly obey it.
Paul is not saying every person is equally wicked in every possible way.
He is saying that no one is righteous enough to save himself.
Sin Shows Up in Our Words
Paul continues his quotations:
“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
— Romans 3:13
Then:
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
And:
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
— Romans 3:14
Notice how much attention Paul gives to speech.
Sin is not only seen in dramatic acts of evil.
It appears in what people say.
Deception.
Bitterness.
Cursing.
Words meant to injure.
The mouth often reveals what is happening in the heart.
Sin Shows Up in What We Do
Paul moves from speech to actions:
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
— Romans 3:15–17
Human history gives more than enough evidence of this.
Violence.
Hatred.
Destruction.
Broken relationships.
War.
People have remarkable abilities to create, build, heal, and help.
But we also have a long history of hurting one another.
Paul's point is not difficult to see.
Something is wrong with humanity.
The Root Problem
Paul ends the chain of quotations with this:
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
— Romans 3:18
That statement reaches beneath the individual sins Paul has listed.
The deepest problem is our relationship with God.
When God is pushed aside, human beings begin deciding for themselves what is right and wrong.
That takes us back to Romans 1.
People knew God, but they did not honor Him as God.
So the problem Paul has been describing is not merely bad behavior.
It is a broken relationship with our Creator.
And that broken relationship produces sinful lives.
The Law Cannot Silence Someone Else
Paul now speaks directly about the Law:
“Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law...”
— Romans 3:19
A Jew might have been tempted to hear Paul's Old Testament quotations and think mainly about the wicked Gentile world.
But Paul will not allow that.
The Law speaks first to those who possess it.
Why?
“So that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.”
That is one of the strongest summaries of Paul's argument so far.
Every mouth stopped.
Nobody has grounds for boasting.
Nobody can stand before God pointing at somebody else.
Nobody can say:
“I was better than them.”
“I had the Law.”
“I belonged to the right group.”
“I knew the Scriptures.”
Paul has brought everyone into the same courtroom.
And the whole world is accountable to God.
What Can the Law Do?
Paul concludes:
“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight...”
— Romans 3:20
Why not?
“Since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
The Law can reveal sin.
It can identify what is wrong.
It can show us where we have failed.
But revealing the disease is not the same as curing it.
A mirror can show dirt on your face.
The mirror cannot wash your face.
In the same way, God's Law exposes sin.
But Paul says it cannot make a sinner righteous by perfect law-keeping, because no sinner has perfectly kept it.
That is the problem.
Why Paul Has Spent So Much Time on Sin
Someone might wonder why Paul has spent so much time talking about judgment, guilt, and sin.
The answer becomes clear in the next section.
Paul has been preparing us to understand why the gospel is necessary.
If human beings could make themselves righteous, we would not need a Savior.
If possessing God's Law could make us righteous, we would not need a Savior.
If being part of the right religious group could make us righteous, we would not need a Savior.
But Paul has now ruled out every one of those possibilities.
The whole world is accountable to God.
No one can justify himself.
And now, finally, Paul is ready to tell us what God has done.
“But Now...”
The next verse begins with two of the most important words in Romans:
“But now...”
— Romans 3:21
Paul has spent nearly three chapters explaining the human problem.
Now comes God's answer.
A righteousness from God has been revealed.
It is not something we achieve by pretending we have never sinned.
It is something God provides.
Romans 3:21–26 is where Paul's explanation of the gospel opens up in a remarkable way.
But we should not rush there too quickly.
First we need to hear the verdict of Romans 3:9–20:
All are under sin.
Every mouth is stopped.
The whole world is accountable to God.
And that means every one of us needs grace.
Before Moving On
Paul has removed every reason for human boasting.
The Gentile cannot boast.
The Jew cannot boast.
The moral person cannot boast.
The religious person cannot boast.
The Bible teacher cannot boast.
The Law does not give us a reason to congratulate ourselves.
It shows us how much we need God.
And now Paul is ready to show us something far better than human righteousness:
the righteousness God provides through Jesus Christ.
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