Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

3:9 Even though God has promised to fulfill his saving promises to the Jewish people (vv. 1-4), they do not possess any inherent advantages, for they too are under the power of sin. Greeks here refers to the entire Gentile world in contrast to the Jews.

3:10-12 Paul focuses on the sinfulness of every human being, citing Ps. 14:1-3 and perhaps echoing Eccles. 7:20. When Paul says none is righteous, no one seeks for God, and no one does good, he means that no human being on his own seeks for God or does any good that merits salvation. Paul does not deny that human beings perform some actions that conform externally to goodness, but these actions, prior to salvation, are still stained by evil, since they are not done for God's glory (Rom. 1:21) and do not come from faith (14:23).

3:13-14 Paul zeros in on sins of the tongue, quoting from Ps. 5:9 and 10:7. The reference to the grave highlights either the corruption of the heart or the deadly effects of sin. Human beings deceive through flattery or lying, and the venom of asps points to the poisonous effect of one's speech. Nor is evil speech merely occasional, for people's mouths are full of evil, so that cursing and malice characterize their lives before salvation.

3:15-17 Next Paul considers the impact of evil in terms of actions and in society, modifying and abridging Isa. 59:7-8. Human history is littered with murder and warfare. Sinners leave in their wake devastation, ruin, and misery. Instead of knowing peace (see note on Rom. 1:7) they have sown disorder and confusion into the world.

3:18 This citation from Ps. 36:1 identifies the root cause of sin as the failure to fear and honor God. Any society that commonly assumes that God will not discipline sin in this life or judge it in the next will have no fear of God and will therefore give itself increasingly to evil.

3:19-20 These verses represent the culmination and conclusion of vv. 9-18 and all of 1:18-3:20, showing that all, without exception, are sinners.

3:19 The law here, as is typically the case in Romans, refers to the Mosaic law. Those under the law are the Jews. But why is every mouth left without excuse and condemned before God if the law is addressed only to the Jews? Paul's logic is that if the Jews, who are God's special covenant people, cannot keep the law, then it follows that Gentiles, who are taught much of the law by their consciences, will not avoid God's condemnation either.

3:20 Works of the law is understood by some to refer only to the ceremonial law, i.e., those laws that separate Jews from Gentiles (such as circumcision, food laws, and Sabbath). But the context gives no indication of such a restriction, and therefore the phrase should be taken to refer to all the works or deeds required by the law. The law required perfect obedience to God's will. All people sin and fall short of this standard, therefore no one is justified by the law. Justified is a legal term and indicates that no one will be declared to be righteous by God, who is the divine judge by virtue of his own goodness, since all violate and none fulfill God's requirements (see note on Gal. 2:16).