Romans 3:9-20: "We are All Guilty"

Paul has been building his case with his Jewish readers to show that they had been relying on false security to get into the kingdom. He had exposed their hypocrisy and false hope in their works for salvation. Earlier Paul had explained that Gentiles who obeyed the Law were considered circumcised to God while disobedient circumcised Jews were condemned under the Law. He has also exposed man's accountability to God based on His creation and our consciences. All of this climaxes in vv. 9-20 as Paul explains ultimately that we all stand before God guilty and condemned. That we are all depraved and in the same hopeless state. This had been mentioned indirectly in the previous sections, but now it decisively laid out for the Jews to digest. Everything he had said before was leading up to this conclusion. All of this was said by Paul in order to help them understand that we ALL need Christ, and He is our only hope for salvation.

Paul starts his case with a question that some of the Jews might have been thinking. He asks, "what then? Are we better than they?" Looking through this it is not explicitly clear who the "we" is. However, it seems pretty straight forward that Paul would mean 'we Christians'. MacArthur explains, "It seems better to take this we to refer to himself and his fellow believers in Rome, both Jew and Gentile." Because Paul has condemned the numerous groups of people mentioned from Ch. 1:18 until now, and pulled the rug out from under the self righteous Jews, he is confronting the issue that they might misconstrue that he is saying that Christians are somehow inherently superior. Paul quickly and emphatically answers this question with a , "not at all". Paul continues his answer with, "For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin." Paul had tried to make them finally understand that every person born, no matter there heritage or good deeds, was under the bondage of sin. MacArthur writes, "Such an idea was preposterous to most Jews. In his rebuke of Peter for succumbing to the Judaizers, Paul referred to the common belief of Jews that they were righteous before God simply by virtue of being Jewish, members of His chosen race. On the other hand, Jews believed just as strongly that Gentiles - commonly called Greeks because of the prevalence of Greek culture and language even under Roman Rule - were naturally sinful simply by virtue of being non-Jewish." The irony of this is that to truly be a Christian one must humble themselves enough to understand their wickedness and depravity, and recognize this to repent. The very thing that the Jews may have felt Paul was saying (that as a Christian -he was somehow better than them) was in fact the opposite. It was only because Paul knew his innate sinfulness that he repented.

To further his argument Paul quotes from the Old Testament to show the universality of sin and fallen man. "There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one." This shows the hopeless state of man apart from Christ. We are born into sin and are a slave to sin. We are shown in Heb. 11:6, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." Paul knew at this time that many of the Jewish people were not seeking God, but instead trying to please Him with their works, or simply by their heritage. The verse in Hebrews clearly shows that they are in fact unable to please Him with anything they do. This dire description of man makes Eph 2:8 all the more amazing and understandable. "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." It also gives us a better understanding of ourselves described in Eph. 1:1-3, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly live in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." This is clearly understood by Paul as he is trying to get the Jewish readers to understand their standing before God.

Paul continues his description of the unbeliever before Christ, "Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness." It is no easier to know what someone is like then to listen to them talk for awhile. Matt. 15:18, "The things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart." Prov. 10:31-32, "The mouth of the righteous flows with wisdom, but the perverted tongue will be cut out. The lips of the righteous bring forth what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked, what is perverted." And lastly, James 3:2-5, "For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. Now if we put the bits into the horses mouths so that they may obey us, we direct their entire body as well . . . So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things." Man will continually curse man and curse God with his tongue and their is no better evidence of man's depravity than his tongue.

Not only will man's tongue give away his fallen nature, but his actions will also. "Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace have they not known." The unredeemed man are quick to take part in evil. Man's intentions are murderous. Remember, we are told in the Sermon on the Mount that even if we have been angry with someone before we have committed murder in our hearts. Man is constantly trying to stir things up and selfishly do whatever it takes to get what they want.

The main cause for all of these evil behavior can be attributed to the fact that "there is no fear of God before their eyes." MacArthur writes, "The motive for man's sinfulness is his built-in godlessness. The basic sinful condition of men and of their spiritual deadness is evidenced by the fact that, for the unsaved, there is no fear of God before their eyes. The full text of Ps. 36:1, from which Paul here quotes, reads: "Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes." Because men's ears are attuned to the lies of sin rather than to the truth of righteousness, they have an inadequate concern about and no fear of God." Anytime that we sin we are treading upon the mercy of God. If we truly had a healthy fear and respect for God and understood His power, we would never take sin lightly. It is those times we rationalize our sin and do not fear God that we will fall into sin.

Vs. 19-20 gives us God's verdict on mankind based on his deplorable condition. Paul says, "Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law." Every man is under the Law and every man will be judged under the Law. The Law is God's perfect way and no man can attain it, in fact, "every mouth may be closed" when faced with God's perfect standard. No one will be able to say they did not break one law from God's Word and when they are guilty of one they are guilty of all. This being the case the verdict is that "the world may become accountable to God, because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight". No man can stand up to God's perfect standard. We have seen that every man is unrighteous, they continually do evil. Their whole bent is towards sin and when their deeds are held up to that standard none will be justified except those who have Christ. Paul concludes with the statement that through the Law "comes the knowledge of sin." The Law exposes us for what we are and that is evil and wicked. Because God has given us his clear testimony in His creation and through the law written on our hearts (spoken of earlier) we have an understanding and knowledge of sin, and where there is sin there must be sacrifice. We then have the decision: will that sacrifice be our eternal lives or the sacrifice God offered us in His Son?