Romans 3:9-20

In this section, we finally reach the conclusion of Paul's initial argument, coming to the dark and disturbing consummation of the picture from chapter 1. The first three chapters of Romans can basically be written under the heading of verse 10: “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Both the Jews and the Gentiles had God's law (though the Jews had had a much fuller revelation of it) and both Jews and Gentiles had broken that law and had come into sin. Whatever advantages the Jews had, those advantages did not change this fact—that they had broken God's law just like the Gentiles and therefore “they are all under sin.” God had looked down on earth, looking a righteous man but found instead the ungodliness and unrighteousness of man. That is the picture of the first three chapters of Romans.

Paul expands this picture in verses 11-18 by stringing together a series of OT quotations regarding the wickedness of man. Paul pictures man as being corrupt (1) in his heart. Verse 11 says that there is none that understands or seeks after God. In his very heart, man does not understand God's law and requirements; he may have heard them and be able to repeat them, but he doesn't truly have them written on his heart nor does he care enough about God to seek after him. Man, on his own devices, cannot and does not even take the first step towards God. 

But not only is he lost in his heart but (2) in his conduct. Verse 12: “They are all gone out of the way.” In the walk of their life, they have strayed from the safe path. And because of that “they are together become unprofitable.” The Greek word translated unprofitable means to go bad, to spoil like milk left in the hot sun which is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the foot of man. The picture is of complete corruption; man had become useless for all purposes because of his sin. This wasn't some abstract matter but very practical, because in practical affairs “there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”

And not only was mast lost in his conduct but (3) in his speech. This is a side note, but it is really interesting how much the Bible emphasizes this matter of speech. It fills the Psalms (from which Paul quotes here) and the prophets and the book of Proverbs and even many of the NT books. Man is the only creature in the world that can talk intelligently and in this, he resembles his maker who is the Word. But because of sin that gift of speech became like an open grave, rotten and corrupt, full of poison and deceit, spewing out cursing and bitterness. The word for curse literally means a prayer and comes from a word meaning “to lift up” as we look up to Heaven to pray. The concept of prayer is something very precious and sacred. But because of sin, the only prayer man prays are prays of bitterness and hatred, calling down curses on others.

And moreover, man had become corrupt (4) in his desires. Verse 15: “Their feet are swift to shed blood.” The picture isn't of someone committing some terrible crime under the pressure of the moment or out of unfortunate circumstances. They were eager to do it. Their desire was to do it. Have you ever been so anxious to go somewhere that you couldn't stand still? That is the picture: man's desire was to sin, he was itching for the chance to sin.

And obviously, all this leads to man being lost (5) in his results. Verses 16-17 describe the results of this lifestyle. Wherever sinners go, there also goes destruction and misery, as surely as smoke follows fire. The way of peace, of tranquility, of spiritual or even social wholeness and health is completely unknown.

All of this can be summarized by saying that man was lost (6) in his religion. Verse 18: “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Whatever religious professions man may have made, he was not truly living for God or he would not have been living this way. Man's heart was not set on God but on something else. And it really doesn't matter what else man did set his heart on, because anything other than God is an idol—and is also a very bad substitute.

This is the picture of the ungodliness and unrighteousness of man. This is what man is on his own devices. And the point to remember is that all these quotations come from the Old Testament. As Paul says in verse 19: “What things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped.” These words were written by Jews in Hebrews to be read by Jews and, in some of the cases, at least, specifically talking about Jews. In other words, by the very Jewish scriptures, it was clear that the Jews were no better than the Gentiles in regard to this. Instead, all the world is guilty before God. This picture remains unchanged. Man is unrighteous and ungodly and therefore the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against him.

If you have ever worked in food services, you may have heard this term: TCS foods. The abbreviation TCS stands for Time and Temperature Controlled for Safety. Take an apple. You can leave an apple sitting out on your counter for a couple days and it will be perfectly fine. But there are other foods, especially meat, which you don't want to leave sitting out. (I think I'm explaining this right.) This is because meat often contains dangerous micro-organisms. And from the moment the animal is slaughtered, its meat basically becomes a ticking time bomb, because those bacteria will begin to multiply. There is a seed of corruption working from inside that slab of meat which will make it become corrupt and deadly. That is why it has to be kept under 34* F because at that temperature bacteria will not grow quickly—and even at that, it can't be kept very long unless it is frozen which completely stops the growth of bacteria. But once you pull it out of the freezer, the bacteria will begin to multiply again.

In other words, keeping meat cold will keep it safe for a while but it doesn't actually change anything. The bacteria is still there and it will cause it to go bad.

And that's the same thing with the picture we see here in Romans. Obviously, this picture is not completely accurate in every respect. Not every sinner fully and completely fits this picture. You will meet sinners who do some good, who are honest in their words, who are not anxious to shed blood. And that's because of God's prevenient. The word prevenient means to-go-before, and prevenient grace refers to that grace which God gives all people, even to sinners even before salvation. We already mentioned God giving his law, which was one form of prevenient grace. The ordination of human society which, for all its faults, does help to curb sin is another form. But from the very instant of the Fall, God's grace was working in man's heart preventing sin from taking its full effect. That is like putting meat in the refrigerator to keep it from going bad. Because of God's grace, no sinner living in this world has fully and completely known the effects of sin. That is only in the next world. But none of that changes the essential character of what sin is and none of that can permanently solve the problem of sin. Romans 3:11-18 describe what sin is and what it makes men to be. Some men have gone more fully in this direction than others; some are able to retain more of goodness, though not by their own power. But still the cold fact remains that this is what sin is. On the boat of sin, some are groveling in the hold, while others are living somewhat comfortably on the deck. But they are all in the same boat, and that boat is sinking. 

And finally, in verse 20, all of Paul's theological chickens for the last three chapters come home to roost: “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” This verse may sound familiar since Paul says almost exactly the same thing in Galatians and in both cases he is quoting from Psalm 143:2. 

But to make clear what he's saying, I want to look at a different psalm. The first several verses of Psalm 19 describe God's work in creation and specifically talks about the Sun which is who the Psalmist is referring to at the beginning of this quotation: “His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.” (Psalm 19:6-7)

This is a very familiar psalm and perhaps so familiar that we may not immediately realize how odd it sounds. But it really is a little strange when you think of it, as the writer goes immediately from talking about God's work in nature to God's word. There is no obvious connection between verse 6 and verse 7. Of course, both have to do with God's work so they have that connection. But there is another connection. Here is C. S. Lewis's comment on this psalm: the psalmist talks about the sun, and specifically 'of its heat; not of course the mild heats of our climate but the cloudless, blinding, tyrannous rays hammering the hills, searching every cranny. The key phrase on which the whole poem depends is “there is nothing hid from the heat thereof”. It pierces everywhere with its strong, clean ardour. Then at once, in verse 7 he is talking of something else, which hardly seems to him something else because it is so like the all-piercing, all-detecting sunshine. The Law is “undefiled”, the Law gives light, it is clean and everlasting, it is “sweet”. No one can improve on this and nothing can more fully admit us to the old Jewish feeling about the Law; luminous, severe, disinfectant, exultant.' (Reflections on the Psalms, 64)

God's law is like the light of the sun. It reveals and unmasks. God's law shows us what is right and wrong, like when the full light of the sun shines into a dirty room. I believe it is true that the heat and radiation of sunlight can actually destroy some bacteria—just as the mere presence of God's law in the world does do some to curb the power of sin. But God's law, on its own, cannot (and was never intended) to destroy the power of sin, any more than opening the window on a dirty room will make it clean. In fact, sometimes the opposite happens. Leaving milk or raw meat in direct sunlight will cause it to go bad more quickly; and sometimes the effect of God's law is to encourage and drive men to sin, a fact Paul will discuss more fully later in the epistle. Law brings knowledge, but knowledge, in itself, cannot actually change anything. A degree in criminology, in itself, will not stop a single crime. A degree in medicine, in itself, will not cure a single disease. A degree in theology, in itself, will not stop a single sin.

That doesn't mean that God's law or knowledge of it isn't important. We already talked about how important God's law is. As the psalmist said, the Law of the Lord converts the soul and makes the wise the simple. But it has this effect only if we follow it.  The law shows us what is right and what we ought to do; it does not make us do what is right. And we see this from the quotations Paul gave in verses 11-18. Those were descriptions of mankind as taken from the law. They showed the sinful nature of the people. But even though those words existed in the law, they did not make men better.

Suppose a man had committed a murder. As long as there was no evidence of his guilt, being brought to trial wouldn't be that big of a problem, since he would probably be acquitted. But suppose he knew that there was definitive evidence of his guilt out there somewhere—maybe there was a witness or the murder weapon with his fingerprints. Given the existence of that evidence, the man is going to do everything he can to prevent being brought to trial. And certainly, the one thing he would do would be to do everything humanly possible to keep that piece of evidence from showing to the court, even if it meant risking a new crime to get rid of it. The absolute stupidest thing he could do would be to bring that conclusive evidence into court himself and claim that it proved his innocence.

But that is exactly what some people do. God's law is the final, definitive, and conclusive testimony to the fact of our sin. And yet some people try to claim justification through the law. And what Paul is saying, somewhat more elegantly, is that that's a little silly.

At the end of the day, the picture from Romans 1 remains unchanged. God's remains righteous; that is the universal constant. Man is sinful. Both Jew and Gentile had been guilty of violating God's law and whatever could be said for either side here, none of it can alter the reality of their sin. God's law reveals and rebukes man's sin, but it cannot remove sin. And therefore the wrath of God continues to be revealed from heaven against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of man. Nothing has changed between Romans 1 and Romans 3, and nothing has changed between Romans and today. This essential problem still remains. The problem of sin is as pressing and as practical a problem today as it was then.