Romans 3:1-20

3:1-2 | God blessed the Jews by making them the custodians of His special revelation, a privilege that had been given to no other nation (9:4; Deut. 4:5-8; Ps. 147:19). Has any gift been overlooked by humankind and taken for granted by the church as much as the availability of the Holy Scriptures?

3:3 | The religious Jews had been entrusted with the truth but refused to be transformed by it (Heb. 4:2). Paul anticipates them accusing him of saying God has abandoned them, that they are no longer His chosen, privilege people.

3:4 | To answer the Jews, Paul uses David’s words. When David committed adultery and had Uriah murdered (2 Sam. 11-12), God sent the prophet Nathan to confront him. When Nathan accused David of being guilty of sin, David knew it was God speaking through the prophet. Rather than deny the sin and make it seem as though God is a liar, David confessed. David says he has done evil in God’s sight – that is, he agreed with God – “That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged.” (Ps. 51:4). Paul wants the Jews to know God is faithful both when He rewards people and when He judges them.

3:5 | Paul (I speak as a man) anticipates the Jews’ retort: Because their unfaithful ness highlights and magnifies God’s faithfulness (2 Tim. 2:13), they shouldn’t be judged. People can be creative when rationalizing what is clearly sin.

3:6 | The Jews should have learned from genesis 18:25: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? God is just and will exercise justice even when it means judging His chosen people. He does not need Israel to sin to display His righteousness; it is dependent upon nothing outside Himself.

3:8 | Let us do evil that good may come is called Antinomianism, meaning those who are released by grace may reject the law. But the end does not justify the means when the means are sinful, evil, or unrighteous.

3:9-12 | These OT words (from Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and Isaiah) destroy any hope people might have apart from God. Not even one person can earn righteous standing in God’s eyes. All humanity – Jew and Gentile alike – is incapable of doing what is right on its own.

3:11 | It is an error to call any non-Christian a “seeker.” It is not within the character of the natural man (one who is not regenerate) to seek after God. But the Holy Spirit’s omnipotence means that no work of His may be thwarted, so those He stirs to seek, He will save (8:30).

3:12 | When people turned aside to go their own way instead of repenting, they went further astray in the process.

3:13-18 | Every aspect of man has been twisted and corrupted by the Fall. People are, to paraphrase Augustine, corrupt and corrupting. Verse 18 summarizes the corruption by affirming that fallen people have no fear of God (Ps. 36:1), and so live contrary to His character and will.

3:15-17 | In human depravity, people use limbs and organs to harm others and express rebellion against God by death (15); destruction (16); and division (17).

3:19-20 | Everyone is without excuse before God, under accusation with no possibility of defense, condemned because of both open, rebellious and private, secret sins. They are guilty because of what they say, do, and are. People can only act within the confines of their character, and without the regeneration of the Spirit, it is not possible for them to live without sin (Gal. 2:16).