Romans 3:1 - Meaning and Application

Here the apostle answers several objections that might be raised, so he can make his case clear. No truth is so plain that wicked minds and corrupt hearts will not argue against it. But God’s truth must be defended against such complaints.

**Objection 1:** If Jews and Gentiles stand on the same level before God, what advantage does the Jew have? God often spoke of the Jews with special honor, calling them a unique people (Deuteronomy 33:29), a holy nation, a special treasure, and Abraham’s descendants, Abraham being God’s friend. He also gave them circumcision as a sign of membership in his covenant people and a seal of their relationship with him. So does this teaching erase their privileges and make circumcision seem useless and empty?

**Answer:** The Jews were, even so, a people with great privileges and honors. They had many means of grace and help, though those blessings did not save everyone who had them (Romans 3:2). The door of salvation stands open to Gentiles as well as Jews, but the Jews had a better path toward that door because of their church privileges, which should not be treated lightly, even though many who had them still perished because they did not use them well. Paul lists many Jewish privileges in Romans 9:4-5, but here he names one that stands for them all, that God entrusted them with his oracles, meaning the Scriptures of the Old Testament, especially Moses’ law, called the living oracles (Acts 7:38), along with the types, promises, and prophecies pointing to Christ and the gospel.

Scripture is God’s oracle, his divine word, coming from heaven with perfect truth and lasting importance. The Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, even uses a word meaning “oracles” for the Urim and Thummim, the priestly instruments of judgment. In the same way, we should come to Scripture for direction, as we would come to an oracle. The gospel is also called the oracles of God (Hebrews 5:12; 1 Peter 4:11). These oracles were entrusted to the Jews because the Old Testament was written in their language, and Moses and the prophets were from their nation and first spoke and wrote to them. They were given the Scriptures as trustees for later generations and for the whole church.

The Old Testament was placed in their hands so they could guard it carefully, keep it pure, and pass it on to future generations. In that sense, the Jews were the church’s keepers of the library, entrusted with a holy treasure first for their own good, then for the good of the world. In preserving the wording of Scripture, they were faithful to their trust and did not lose a single letter or stroke. We should see in that God’s kind care and providence. The Jews had the means of salvation, but not the only access to salvation. Paul calls this their chief privilege, and rightly so. Having God’s word and worship is a people’s greatest blessing, to be placed first among their advantages (Deuteronomy 4:8; Deuteronomy 33:3; Psalm 147:20).

**Objection 2:** Some might say that if the Jews had such great blessings in the living oracles, why did so many of them not believe? What good were the oracles if many of those who had them still stayed apart from Christ and against his gospel? Some did not believe (Romans 3:3).

**Answer:** It is true that many, even most, of the Jews at that time did not believe in Christ. But does their unbelief cancel the faithfulness of God? Paul recoils from the thought: God forbid. The Jews’ unbelief and stubbornness could not nullify the prophecies about the Messiah that were contained in the Scriptures given to them. Christ will still be glorious, even if Israel is not gathered in (Isaiah 49:5). God’s words will be fulfilled, his purposes carried out, and his plans completed, even if a generation tries by its unbelief to make God a liar.

Let God be true, and every man a liar. We must hold to this: God is true in every word he has spoken, and none of his promises or warnings will fail, even if that means exposing human falsehood. Better to question every person in the world than to doubt God’s faithfulness. What David said in a moment of alarm (Psalm 116:11), that all men are liars, Paul here says calmly and firmly. Lying is part of the old sinful nature we are all born with. People are changeable, unstable, and full of vanity and falsehood (Psalm 62:9; Psalm 39:5). Compared with God, all people are liars.

This is a comfort when we find that human trust fails, for then we can rest in God’s faithfulness. When people speak lies and empty words to one another, it is still a comfort to remember that the Lord’s words are pure words (Psalm 12:2, Psalm 12:6). To support this, Paul quotes Psalm 51:4, “That you might be justified,” meaning that God preserves his honor in the world despite human sin, and that it is our duty to justify God, that is, to agree that he is right, just, and good in all he does. David confessed his own sin heavily so that God’s justice would stand clear.

So here the point is this: let human reputation take care of itself. Whether it rises or falls is not the main issue. We must hold fast to this truth, however strong the argument against it may seem, that the Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works. God is justified when he speaks and cleared when he judges, or, as the words can also mean here, when he himself is judged. When people dare to argue with God and his ways, we can be sure the verdict will be on God’s side.

**Objection 3:** Carnal hearts might use this teaching to excuse sin. Paul had said that the guilt and corruption of all mankind gave occasion for God’s righteousness to be shown in Jesus Christ. So someone might say, if our sin only serves to display God’s honor, and if his purposes are still safe, then is it really fair for him to punish sin and unbelief so severely? If the Jews’ wrongdoing opened the way for the Gentiles and so increased God’s glory, why are the Jews blamed so much? If our unrighteousness makes God’s righteousness shine more, what should we say? What conclusion should follow from this (Romans 3:5)? Is God unrighteous, who takes vengeance? Unbelieving hearts are quick to use any excuse to question God’s justice and blame the One who is perfectly right (Job 34:17). “I speak as a man” means, I am putting forward the kind of argument that carnal hearts make, a vain and foolish objection from proud human thinking.

**Answer:**

God forbid. Far be it from us to imagine such a thing. Ideas that dishonor God, especially his justice and holiness, should make us recoil, not debate with them. “Get behind me, Satan” is the right answer to such a thought. We must never entertain it.

If God were not perfectly just, how could he judge the world? That is Paul’s point in Romans 3:6. Abraham asked the same thing: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). Of course he will. If God were not infinitely righteous, he would be unfit to judge anyone, much less the whole world. Job says the same: “Shall even he who hates right govern?” (Job 34:17). See also (Job 34:18, Job 34:19).

Sin never becomes less evil just because God brings glory to himself through it. Sin only serves God’s righteousness in an indirect way. The sinner gets no credit for that, because he never intended such a result. Thinking about God as the judge of the world should silence all our doubts about his justice and fairness. We have no right to put God on trial. The sentence of the highest court, from which there is no appeal, is not for us to question.

Paul then repeats the objection in Romans 3:7-8, because proud hearts do not easily let go of false excuses. But by stating the objection plainly, he already shows how foolish it is. The objection goes like this: if my lie, meaning my sin, has led to the more clear display of God’s truth and faithfulness, why should I be judged as a sinner? Why should I not keep sinning so that grace may increase? That thought is so dark that it seems almost too evil to say out loud. Yet daring sinners often take God’s goodness as a reason to boast in evil (Psalm 52:1). “Let us do evil that good may come” is often in the sinner’s heart, even when it is not spoken aloud.

Paul also notes, in passing, that some people accused him and his fellow ministers of teaching this very thing: “Some slanderously report that we say so.” It is no new thing for God’s best people and ministers to be accused of teaching what they hate most. Even Jesus was accused of being in league with Beelzebub. Satan still uses the same trick, piling on lies so that some of them may stick. The best people and the best truths are often slandered.

Bishop Sanderson pointed out that the word for this kind of slander is close to blasphemy, which in Scripture usually means speaking evil in the highest way, especially against God. To slander a minister and his regular teaching is more than ordinary slander. It is a serious wrong, not because of the man himself, but because of his calling and work (1 Thessalonians 5:13).

Paul’s answer is brief. Those who excuse themselves by saying that God may gain glory from their sin will still be justly condemned. Some take this as a judgment on the slanderers themselves. Others, more likely, think Paul means the people who encourage themselves in sin by using God’s glory as a cover. Anyone who deliberately does evil so that good may come of it will not escape by hiding behind that excuse. In fact, that excuse makes them more guilty, because it shows both a wicked will and a twisted mind, one that chooses evil and then tries to dress it up as good.

So their condemnation is just. None of those excuses will stand on the great day. God will be shown to be right in all his dealings, and all proud human boasting will fall silent before him. Some think Paul is also pointing ahead to the coming ruin of the Jewish church and nation, which their stubborn unbelief and self-justifying spirit were bringing on quickly.

Paul then returns to his main point, that all mankind is guilty and corrupted, both Jews and Gentiles, Romans 3:9-18. “Are we better than they?” he asks, speaking of the Jews, to whom God had given his words. Does that give them a claim on God’s favor? Does it make them righteous? No, not at all. Or if we speak of Christians, Jews and Gentiles together, are any of us naturally better than the unbelieving world so that we have earned grace? Again, no. Before free grace made the difference, Jews and Gentiles were all alike corrupted.

They are all under sin. That means they are under its guilt, as if under a sentence. They are under its power, like people bound by a heavy debt or a crushing load that will carry them down to ruin. They are also under sin’s rule, like slaves under a harsh master. They are sold into the service of wickedness. Paul says he has already proved this charge. In legal language, he means, “We have brought the charge against them, and we have made it good. We have proved the case and established their guilt.”

He now supports that charge with several Old Testament passages that describe the corrupted condition of all people, unless grace restrains or changes them. In these verses, we can see our own natural state as in a mirror. Romans 3:10-12 comes from (Psalm 14:1-3), repeated also in (Psalm 53:1-3). The rest of the passage comes from the Greek Old Testament as it was then known, though Paul may have drawn it from other Scripture passages that are also being echoed there. Later copies of the Greek text may have added these lines into (Psalm 14:1-7) because of Paul’s use of them here.

It is worth noticing that, to prove the corruption of human nature, Paul quotes texts that speak about the sins of particular people, such as Doeg, a wicked man in David’s time (Psalm 140:3), and the Jews in Isaiah’s day (Isaiah 59:7, Isaiah 59:8). This shows that the sins of one person are rooted in the nature we all share. David’s and Isaiah’s days were among the better times in Israel’s history, yet Paul still points to them. What (Psalm 14:1-7) says is spoken of all human beings, and it is based on God’s own inspection. The Lord looked down, as he once did on the old world before the flood (Genesis 6:5).

And this judgment of God was in line with the truth. The God who, after creating everything, looked at all he had made and said it was very good, now sees that man has spoiled everything, and rightly judges it to be very bad.

Let us look at the details. First, there is what is habitual, what is true of people in a settled way. There is a total lack of everything good. “There is none righteous,” meaning there is no one who has a truly good moral heart, or who is ruled by such a heart. No one still has the image of God in the form of righteousness, the righteousness with which man was created. Not even one. If there had been one, God would have found him. When the whole world was corrupt, God still had his eye on one righteous man, Noah. Even those who, by grace, are justified, made right with God, and sanctified, set apart for God, were not righteous by nature. No righteousness is born with us. David, the man after God’s own heart, admits that he was conceived in sin.

“There is none that understands” (Romans 3:11). The problem lies in the corruption of the mind. It is blinded, spoiled, and twisted. Religion and righteousness are so reasonable that if people had real understanding, they would live better. But they do not understand. Sinners are fools. There is also “none that seeks after God,” meaning no one has true concern for God or any real desire for him. We can fairly say that anyone who does not seek God has no real understanding. The sinful mind is not only unwilling to seek God, it is hostile to him.

“They are all together become unprofitable” (Romans 3:12). Those who leave God soon become useless, like burdens lying on the earth. People in a state of sin are the most unprofitable creatures under the sun. Then comes the final point: “There is none that does good, no, not one.” Even the best actions of sinners have a flaw at the root, in the motive or the goal, so it can still be said that none do good in the full sense. Any defect is enough to spoil the act.

Second, there is a steady turning to evil. “They are all gone out of the way.” It is no surprise that people miss the right path when they do not seek God, who is the highest goal. God made man upright and placed him in the right way, but man has left it. The corruption of mankind is a turning away from God.

What good can be expected from such a fallen race? Paul gives examples. He begins with their words (Romans 3:13, Romans 3:14). First is cruelty: “Their throat is an open grave.” They are ready to swallow up the poor and innocent, always looking for a chance to do harm, like the old serpent who seeks to destroy. Even when they do not openly show this cruelty, they still mean harm in secret. “The poison of asps is under their lips” (James 3:8), the most deadly poison. With it they attack a neighbor’s good name through insults, and even seek his life through false witness. These words are taken from (Psalm 5:9) and (Psalm 140:3).

Second is deceit: “With their tongues they have used deceit.” This shows them to be children of the devil, because he is a liar and the father of lies. They have used deceit, which means they make a habit of lying. It is their regular practice, especially when they slander the ways and people of God.

Third is cursing: speaking against God and blaspheming his holy name, and also wishing harm on other people. “Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” This is one of the great sins of the tongue (James 3:9). But those who love cursing will have plenty of it themselves (Psalm 109:17-19). Many who are called Christians prove by these sins that they are still under sin’s rule, still living in the state they were born in.

Paul then speaks of their ways (Romans 3:15-17). “Their feet are swift to shed blood,” meaning they work hard to carry out cruel plans and are quick to seize any opportunity. Wherever they go, destruction and misery go with them. They bring ruin and sorrow to God’s people, to the place where they live, to the nation, and finally to themselves. Even before the end of their path, destruction and misery already lie in the path itself. Sin punishes itself. A person needs nothing more to be miserable than to be a slave to sin.

“The way of peace they have not known.” They do not know how to keep peace with others, or how to find peace for themselves. They may speak of peace, a peace like what is found in the devil’s palace while he keeps it, but they are strangers to true peace. They do not know the things that make for peace. These words come from (Proverbs 1:16) and (Isaiah 59:7, Isaiah 59:8).

Finally, Paul gives the root of all this: “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:18). The fear of God stands for all practical religion. It means a serious and reverent regard for God’s word and will as our rule, and for God’s honor and glory as our goal. Wicked people do not keep this before their eyes. They do not guide themselves by it. They follow other rules and aim at other ends. This is quoted from (Psalm 36:1). Where there is no fear of God, no good can be expected. The fear of God would restrain our hearts and keep them in order (Nehemiah 5:15). Once fear of God is thrown off, prayer is stopped (Job 15:4), and then everything quickly falls into ruin.

So here we have a short account of the general corruption of mankind. We may say, “O Adam, what have you done?” God made man upright, but man has sought out many schemes.