As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one.
There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God.
They have all turned away. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not so much as one.”
“Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit.” “The poison of vipers is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood.
Destruction and misery are in their ways.
The way of peace, they haven’t known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19 10. As it is written, etc. He has hitherto…
10. As it is written, etc. He has hitherto used proofs or arguments to convince men of their iniquity; he now begins to reason from authority; and it is to Christians the strongest kind of proof, when authority is derived from the only true God. And hence let ecclesiastical teachers learn what their office is; for since Paul asserts here no truth but what he confirms by the sure testimony of Scripture, much less ought such a thing to be attempted by those, who have no other commission but to preach the gospel, which they have received through Paul and others.
There is none righteous, etc. The Apostle, who gives the meaning rather than the entire words, seems, in the first place, before he comes to particulars, to state generally the substance of what the Prophet declares to be in man, and that is — that none is righteous; he afterwards particularly enumerates the effects or fruits of this unrighteousness.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv17, 19 An innocent and peaceable life.
An innocent and peaceable life.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv10–19 10 As it is written, There is none righteous,…
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Ver. 10. As it is written] What the prophets had said of some particular people or person is here applied to the whole race of mankind, because by nature there is never a better of us. Κακοι μεν θριπες, κακοι δε και ιπες. (Eras. Adag.)
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19 As it is written; viz. in several places of…
As it is written; viz. in several places of Scripture, which he quotes in the following verses, giving us the sense, though not so strictly tying himself to the words; and this is a proper proof, to the Jews at least, whom he had called a little before the keepers of these oracles.
There is none righteous, no, not one: the more general proof with which he begins, is taken out of Psa 14:3, and Psa 53:1, upon which places see the annotations.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv10, 19 Observe here, How the apostle proves his assertion; namely,…
Observe here, How the apostle proves his assertion; namely, That both Jew and Gentile were under the guilt both of original and actual transgression, from the testimony of David, Psalms 14 where the state of corrupt nature is described, and the natural condition of all men declared, till they are either restrained or renewed by the grace of God: There is none righteous, no not one. Which words are true in several respects:
1. There is none originally righteous, no not one; none righteous in their first plantation in the world, until they are transplanted into the body of Christ, wrought and fashioned by his Holy Spirit.
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2. There is none efficiently righteous, no not one: None have a righteousness of their own making, but of God’s. The righteousness of justification and sanctification both are from Christ, not from ourselves; we are his workmanship, not our own.
3. There is none meritoriously righteous, no not one; none that can deserve or demand anything as a due debt at God’s hand; but the most rigorous and holy saints are but unprofitable servants.
4. There is none perfectly and completely righteous, no not one; but inchoatively only: None righteous in a strict and legal sense, but in a gospel and qualified sense only: He that doeth righteousness is righteous, in the account of God; and, as such, shall be accepted and rewarded by him.
Observe, 2. How the apostle proves the corruption of mankind in general, by an induction of particulars. He surveys him in all the principal faculties of his soul, and members of his body; his understanding, will and affections; his eye, hand, tongue, and feet all corrupted and depraved: Their mouth is full or cursing, and bitter speeches: Their heart an open sepulchre, gaping after, and devouring the good name of their neighbours, and belching out filthy, ill scented, and unsavoury words against them. They seek not God in anything they do, and there is no fear of God, no respect of God before their eyes.
The apostle suts up all with this, because want of the fear of God before our eyes, is the fountain from which all other evils do proceed and flow. The fear of God is the bridle and curb which restrains from sin; where that is wanting, all iniquity abounds; where that is present and prevalent, it keeps the soul close to God, I will put my fear in their hearts, and they shall not depart from me. Jer 32:32
We usually depart far, yea, run fast from those we fear; but the true fear of God will make us cleave close unto him, because love is intermixed with it, and renders it a delightful fear.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v19 From all this Paul infers that it is in…
From all this Paul infers that it is in vain to look for justification by the works of the law, and that it is to be had only by faith, which is the point he has been all along proving, from Rom 1:17, and which he lays down (Rom 3:28) as the summary of his discourse, with a quod erat demonstrandum - which was to be demonstrated. We conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law; not by the deeds of the first law of pure innocence, which left no room for repentance, nor the deeds of the law of nature, how highly soever improved, nor the deeds of the ceremonial law (the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin), nor the deeds of the moral law, which are certainly included, for he speaks of that law by which is the knowledge of sin and those works which might be matter of boasting. Man, in his depraved state, under the power of such corruption, could never, by any works of his own, gain acceptance with God; but it must be resolved purely into the free grace of God, given through Jesus Christ to all true believers that receive it as a free gift. If we had never sinned, our obedience to the law would have been our righteousness: "Do this, and live." But having sinned, and being corrupted, nothing that we can do will atone for our former guilt. It was by their obedience to the moral law that the Pharisees looked for justification, Luk 18:11. Now there are two things from which the apostle here argues: the guiltiness of man, to prove that we cannot be justified by the works of the law, and the glory of God, to prove that we must be justified by faith.
I. He argues from man's guiltiness, to show the folly of expecting justification by the works of the law. The argument is very plain: we can never be justified and saved by the law that we have broken. A convicted traitor can never come off by pleading the statute of 25 Edward III, for that law discovers his crime and condemns him: indeed, if he had never broken it, he might have been justified by it; but now it is past that he has broken it, and there is no way of coming off but by pleading the act of indemnity, upon which he has surrendered and submitted himself, and humbly and penitently claiming the benefit of it and casting himself upon it. Now concerning the guiltiness of man,
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1. He fastens it particularly upon the Jews; for they were the men that made their boast of the law, and set up for justification by it. He had quoted several scriptures out of the Old Testament to show this corruption: Now, says he (Rom 3:19), this that the law says, it says to those who are under the law; this conviction belongs to the Jews as well as others, for it is written in their law. The Jews boasted of their being under the law, and placed a great deal of confidence in it: "But," says he, "the law convicts and condemns you - you see it does." That every mouth may be stopped - that all boasting may be silenced. See the method that God takes both in justifying and condemning: he stops every mouth; those that are justified have their mouths stopped by a humble conviction; those that are condemned have their mouths stopped too, for they shall at last be convinced (Jde 1:15), and sent speechless to hell, Mat 22:12. All iniquity shall stop her mouth, Psa 107:42.
2. He extends it in general to all the world: That all the world may become guilty before God. If the world likes in wickedness (Jo1 5:19), to be sure it is guilty. - May become guilty; that is, may be proved guilty, liable to punishment, all by nature children of wrath, Eph 2:3. They must all plead guilty; those that stand most upon their own justification will certainly be cast. Guilty before God is a dreadful word, before an all-seeing God, that is not, nor can be, deceived in his judgment - before a just and righteous judge, who will by no means clear the guilty. All are guilty, and therefore all have need of a righteousness wherein to appear before God. For all have sinned (Rom 3:23); all are sinners by nature, by practice, and have come short of the glory of God - have failed of that which is the chief end of man. Come short, as the archer comes short of the mark, as the runner comes short of the prize; so come short, as not only not to win, but to be great losers. Come short of the glory of God. (1.) Come short of glorifying God. See Rom 1:21, They glorified him not as God. Man was placed at the head of the visible creation, actively to glorify that great Creator whom the inferior creatures could glorify only objectively; but man by sin comes short of this, and, instead of glorifying God, dishonours him. It is a very melancholy consideration, to look upon the children of men, who were made to glorify God, and to think how few there are that do it. (2.) Come short of glorying before God. There is no boasting of innocency: if we go about to glory before God, to boast of any thing we are, or have, or do, this will be an everlasting estoppe - hat we have all sinned, and this will silence us. We may glory before men, who are short-sighted, and cannot search our hearts, - who are corrupt, as we are, and well enough pleased with sin; but there is no glorying before God, who cannot endure to look upon iniquity. (3.) Come short of being glorified by God. Come short of justification, or acceptance with God, which is glory begun - come short of the holiness or sanctification which is the glorious image of God upon man, and have overthrown all hopes and expectations of being glorified with God in heaven by any righteousness of their own. It is impossible now to get to heaven in the way of spotless innocency. That passage is blocked up. There is a cherub and a flaming sword set to keep that way to the tree of life.
3. Further to drive us off from expecting justification by the law, he ascribes this conviction to the law (Rom 3:20): For by the law is the knowledge of sin. That law which convicts and condemns us can never justify us. The law is the straight rule, that rectum which is index sui et obliqui - that which points out the right and the wrong; it is the proper use and intendment of the law to open our wound, and therefore not likely to be the remedy. That which is searching is not sanative. Those that would know sin must get the knowledge of the law in its strictness, extent, and spiritual nature. If we compare our own hearts and lives with the rule, we shall discover wherein we have turned aside. Paul makes this use of the law, Rom 7:9, Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Observe, (1.) No flesh shall be justified, no man, no corrupted man (Gen 6:3), for that he also is flesh, sinful and depraved; therefore not justified, because we are flesh. The corruption that remains in our nature will for ever obstruct any justification by our own works, which, coming from flesh, must needs taste of the cask, Job 14:4. (2.) Not justified in his sight. He does not deny that justification which was by the deeds of the law in the sight of the church: they were, in their church-estate, as embodied in a polity, a holy people, a nation of priests; but as the conscience stands in relation to God, in his sight, we cannot be justified by the deeds of the law. The apostle refers to Psa 143:2.
II. He argues from God's glory to prove that justification must be expected only by faith in Christ's righteousness. There is no justification by the works of the law. Must guilty man then remain eternally under wrath? Is there no hope? Is the wound become incurable because of transgression? No, blessed be God, it is not (Rom 3:21, Rom 3:22); there is another way laid open for us, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested now under the gospel. Justification may be obtained without the keeping of Moses's law: and this is called the righteousness of God, righteousness of his ordaining, and providing, and accepting, - righteousness which he confers upon us; as the Christian armour is called the armour of God, Eph 6:11.
1. Now concerning this righteousness of God observe, (1.) That it is manifested. The gospel-way of justification is a high-way, a plain way, it is laid open for us: the brazen serpent is lifted up upon the pole; we are not left to grope our way in the dark, but it is manifested to us. (2.) It is without the law. Here he obviates the method of the judaizing Christians, who would needs join Christ and Moses together - owning Christ for the Messiah, and yet too fondly retaining the law, keeping up the ceremonies of it, and imposing it upon the Gentile converts: no, says he, it is without the law. The righteousness that Christ hath brought in is a complete righteousness. (3.) Yet it is witnessed by the law and the prophets; that is, there were types, and prophecies, and promises, in the Old Testament, that pointed at this. The law is so far from justifying us that it directs us to another way of justification, points at Christ as our righteousness, to whom bear all the prophets witness. See Act 10:43. This might recommend it to the Jews, who were so fond of the law and the prophets. (4.) It is by the faith of Jesus Christ, that faith which hath Jesus Christ for its object - an anointed Saviour, so Jesus Christ signifies. Justifying faith respects Christ as a Saviour in all his three anointed offices, as prophet, priest, and king-trusting in him, accepting of him, and adhering to him, in all these. It is by this that we become interested in that righteousness which God has ordained, and which Christ has brought in. (5.) It is to all, and upon all, those that believe. In this expression he inculcates that which he had been often harping upon, that Jews and Gentiles, if they believe, stand upon the same level, and are alike welcome to God through Christ; for there is no difference. Or, it is eis pantas - to all, offered all in general; the gospel excludes none that do not exclude themselves; but it is to epi pantas tous piseuonta, upon all that believe, not only tendered to them, but put upon them as a crown, as a robe; they are, upon their believing, interested in it, and entitled to all the benefits and privileges of it.
2. But now how is this for God's glory?
(1.) It is for the glory of his grace (Rom 3:24): Justified freely by his grace - dōrean tē chariti. It is by his grace, not by the grace wrought in us as the papists say, confounding justification and sanctification, but by the gracious favour of God to us, without any merit in us so much as foreseen. And, to make it the more emphatic, he says it is freely by his grace, to show that it must be understood of grace in the most proper and genuine sense. It is said that Joseph found grace in the sight of his master (Gen 39:4), but there was a reason; he saw that what he did prospered. There was something in Joseph to invite that grace; but the grace of God communicated to us comes freely, freely; it is free grace, mere mercy; nothing in us to deserve such favours: no, it is all through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. It comes freely to us, but Christ bought it, and paid dearly for it, which yet is so ordered as not to derogate from the honour of free grace. Christ's purchase is no bar to the freeness of God's grace; for grace provided and accepted this vicarious satisfaction.
(2.) It is for the glory of his justice and righteousness (Rom 3:25, Rom 3:26): Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, etc. Note, [1.] Jesus Christ is the great propitiation, or propitiatory sacrifice, typified by the hilastērion, or mercy-seat, under the law. He is our throne of grace, in and through whom atonement is made for sin, and our persons and performances are accepted of God, Jo1 2:2. He is all in all in our reconciliation, not only the maker, but the matter of it - our priest, our sacrifice, our altar, our all. God was in Christ as in his mercy-seat, reconciling the world unto himself. [2.] God hath set him forth to be so. God, the party offended, makes the first overtures towards a reconciliation, appoints the days-man; proetheto - fore-ordained him to this, in the counsels of his love from eternity, appointed, anointed him to it, qualified him for it, and has exhibited him to a guilty world as their propitiation. See Mat 3:17, and Mat 17:5. [3.] That by faith in his blood we become interested in this propitiation. Christ is the propitiation; there is the healing plaster provided. Faith is the applying of this plaster to the wounded soul. And this faith in the business of justification hath a special regard to the blood of Christ, as that which made the atonement; for such was the divine appointment that without blood there should be no remission, and no blood but his would do it effectually. Here may be an allusion to the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifices under the law, as Exo 24:8. Faith is the bunch of hyssop, and the blood of Christ is the blood of sprinkling. [4.] That all who by faith are interested in this propitiation have the remission of their sins that are past. It was for this that Christ was set forth to be a propitiation, in order to remission, to which the reprieves of his patience and forbearance were a very encouraging preface. Through the forbearance of God. Divine patience has kept us out of hell, that we might have space to repent, and get to heaven. Some refer the sins that are past to the sins of the Old Testament saints, which were pardoned for the sake of the atonement which Christ in the fulness of time was to make, which looked backward as well as forward. Past through the forbearance of God. It is owing to the divine forbearance that we were not taken in the very act of sin. Several Greek copies make en tēanochē tou Theou - through the forbearance of God, to begin Rom 3:26, and they denote two precious fruits of Christ's merit and God's grace: - Remission: dia tēn paresin - for the remission; and reprieves: the forbearance of God. It is owing to the master's goodness and the dresser's mediation that barren trees are let alone in the vineyard; and in both God's righteousness is declared, in that without a mediator and a propitiation he would not only not pardon, but not so much as forbear, not spare a moment; it is owning to Christ that there is ever a sinner on this side hell. [5.] That God does in all this declare his righteousness. This he insists upon with a great deal of emphasis: To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness. It is repeated, as that which has in it something surprising. He declares his righteousness, First, In the propitiation itself. Never was there such a demonstration of the justice and holiness of God as there was in the death of Christ. It appears that he hates sin, when nothing less than the blood of Christ would satisfy for it. Finding sin, though but imputed, upon his own Son, he did not spare him, because he had made himself sin for us, Co2 5:21. The iniquities of us all being laid upon him, though he was the Son of his love, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, Isa 53:10. Secondly, In the pardon upon that propitiation; so it follows, by way of explication: That he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth. Mercy and truth are so met together, righteousness and peace have so kissed each other, that it is now become not only an act of grace and mercy, but an act of righteousness, in God, to pardon the sins of penitent believers, having accepted the satisfaction that Christ by dying made to his justice for them. It would not comport with his justice to demand the debt of the principal when the surety has paid it and he has accepted that payment in full satisfaction. See Jo1 1:9. He is just, that is, faithful to his word.
(3.) It is for God's glory; for boasting is thus excluded, Rom 3:27. God will have the great work of the justification and salvation of sinners carried on from first to last in such a way as to exclude boasting, that no flesh may glory in his presence, Co1 1:29-31. Now, if justification were by the works of the law, boasting would not be excluded. How should it? If we were saved by our own works, we might put the crown upon our own heads. But the law of faith, that is, the way of justification by faith, doth for ever exclude boasting; for faith is a depending, self-emptying, self-denying grace, and casts every crown before the throne; therefore it is most for God's glory that thus we should be justified. Observe, He speaks of the law of faith. Believers are not left lawless: faith is a law, it is a working grace, wherever it is in truth; and yet, because it acts in a strict and close dependence upon Jesus Christ, it excludes boasting.
From all this he draws this conclusion (Rom 3:28): That a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
III. In the close of the chapter he shows the extent of this privilege of justification by faith, and that it is not the peculiar privilege of the Jews, but pertains to the Gentiles also; for he had said (Rom 3:22) that there is no difference: and as to this, 1. He asserts and proves it (Rom 3:29): Is he the God of the Jews only? He argues from the absurdity of such a supposition. Can it be imagined that a God of infinite love and mercy should limit and confine his favours to that little perverse people of the Jews, leaving all the rest of the children of men in a condition eternally desperate? This would by no means agree with the idea we have of the divine goodness, for his tender mercies are over all his works; therefore it is one God of grace that justifies the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith, that is, both in one and the same way. However the Jews, in favour of themselves, will needs fancy a difference, really there is no more difference than between by and through, that is, no difference at all. 2. He obviates an objection (Rom 3:31), as if this doctrine did nullify the law, which they knew came from God: "No," says he, "though we do say that the law will not justify us, yet we do not therefore say that it was given in vain, or is of no use to us; no, we establish the right use of the law, and secure its standing, by fixing it on the right basis. The law is still of use to convince us of what is past, and to direct us for the future; though we cannot be saved by it as a covenant, yet we own it, and submit to it, as a rule in the hand of the Mediator, subordinate to the law of grace; and so are so far from overthrowing that we establish the law." Let those consider this who deny the obligation of the moral law on believers.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv10–19 There is none that understandeth,.... This is rightly concluded,…
There is none that understandeth,.... This is rightly concluded, from what the Psalmist says, Psa 14:2, "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men", on all the children of men, Jews and Gentiles, "to see if there were any that did understand"; and it appears, upon this survey of them, there was not one understanding person among them: man thinks himself a very wise and understanding creature, though he is born a very ignorant one: true indeed, he has not lost by sin the natural faculty of the understanding, so as to become like the horse and mule, which are without any; and it must be allowed, that natural men have some understanding of things natural, civil, and moral; though there is none that understands even these, as Adam did: but then they have no understanding of things spiritual; no spiritual knowledge of God; no true sense of themselves, their sin and misery; nor do they truly know the way of salvation by Christ; nor have they any experience of the work of the Spirit of God upon their souls; nor any experimental knowledge of the doctrines of the Gospel: no man can understand these of himself, by the mere strength of reason, and light of nature; nor can even a spiritual man fully understand them in this life; in consequence of this account and character of men it follows, that
there is none that seeketh after God; that worships him in Spirit and in truth, or prays to him with the Spirit, and with the understanding; who seek him chiefly, and in the first place, with their whole hearts, earnestly, diligently, and constantly; who seek him in Christ, and under the assistance of the Spirit; who seek after the knowledge of God in Christ, communion with him through the Mediator, or his honour and glory.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19 As it is written - That all men are…
As it is written - That all men are under sin appears from the vices which have raged in all ages. St. Paul therefore rightly cites David and Isaiah, though they spoke primarily of their own age, and expressed what manner of men God sees, when he "looks down from heaven;" not what he makes them by his grace. There is none righteous - This is the general proposition. The particulars follow: their dispositions and designs, ver. 11, 12; their discourse, ver. 13, 14; their actions, ver. 16-18. Psalm xiv, 1, &c.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 Verse 10. As it is written] See Ps 14:1-3;…
Verse 10. As it is written] See Ps 14:1-3; from which this and the two following verses are taken.
There is none righteous] This is true, not only of the Jews, but of the Gentiles; of every soul of man, considered in his natural and practical state, previously to his receiving the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no righteous principle in them, and, consequently, no righteous act can be expected from them; see on Ro 3:12. God himself is represented as looking down from heaven to see if there were any that feared and sought after him; and yet he, who cannot be deceived, could find none! And therefore we may safely conclude there was none to be found.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v19 Rom 3:19-20. Now what things soever the law saith…
Rom 3:19-20. Now what things soever the law saith — That is, the Old Testament, for these quotations are not made from any part of the five books of Moses, but from the Psalms and Prophets; it saith to them that are under the law — That is, to those who own its authority, to the Jews, and not to the Gentiles. The apostle quoted no scripture against them, knowing it would have answered no end to do so, as they did not acknowledge the authority of the Scriptures; but he pleaded with them only from the light of nature; that every mouth — Full of cursing and bitterness: Rom 3:14, and yet of boasting, Rom 3:27, may be stopped — And have nothing to plead; and the whole world — Not only the Gentiles, but the Jews also; may become guilty — May be fully convicted as guilty, and evidently liable to most just condemnation. These things were written of old, and were quoted by Paul, not to make men guilty, but to prove them so. Therefore by the deeds of the law — By works of complete obedience to the law of God, whether natural or revealed; there shall no flesh be justified — Or pronounced righteous. That the word law must here be taken in this extent, appears evidently from the conclusion which the apostle here draws, and from the whole tenor of his subsequent argument; which would have had very little weight, if there had been room for any to object: Though we cannot be justified by our obedience to the law of Moses, we may be justified by our obedience to God’s natural law. And nothing can be more evident, than that the premises from which this conclusion is drawn refer to the Gentiles as well as the Jews; and consequently that law has here, and in many subsequent passages, that general sense. “Every one failing,” says Locke, “of an exact conformity of his actions to the immutable rectitude of that eternal rule of right, mentioned Rom 1:32, will be found unrighteous, and so incur the penalty of the law. That this is the meaning of the expression here used, εργα νομου, works of law, is evident, because the apostle’s declaration is concerning πασα σαρξ, all flesh. But we know the heathen world were not under the law of Moses.” For by the law — By that written on man’s heart, as well as by that revealed, is the knowledge of sin — Of our sinfulness and guilt, of our weakness and wretchedness. This strongly implies the broken and disordered state of human nature; in consequence of which, the precepts which God gives us, even the moral precepts, serve only, or at least chiefly, to convict us of guilt, and not to produce an obedience by which we can finally be acquitted and accepted. Whereas, were we not fallen and depraved creatures, by his holy law we should have the knowledge of our being righteous; for when weighed in the balance of it, we should not be found wanting.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv10–19 As it is written - The apostle is reasoning…
As it is written - The apostle is reasoning with Jews; and he proceeds to show from their own Scriptures, that what he had affirmed was true. The point to be proved was, that the Jews, in the matter of justification, had no advantage or preference over the Gentiles; that the Jew had failed to keep the Law which had been given him, as the Gentile had failed to keep the Law which had been given him; and that both, therefore, were equally dependent on the mercy of God, incapable of being justified and saved by their works. To show this, the apostle adduces texts to show what was the character of the Jewish people; or to show that according to their own Scriptures, they were sinners no less than the Gentiles. The point, then, is to prove the depravity of the Jews, not that of universal depravity. The interpretation should be confined to the bearing of the passages on the Jews, and the quotations should not be adduced as directly proving the doctrine of universal depravity. In a certain sense, which will be stated soon, they may be adduced as bearing on that subject. But their direct reference is to the Jewish nation. The passages which follow, are taken from various parts of the Old Testament. The design of this is to show, that this characteristic of sin was not confined to any particular period of the Jewish history, but pertained to them as a people; that it had characterised them throughout their existence as a nation. Most of the passages are quoted in the language of the Septuagint. The quotation in Rom 3:10-12, is from Psa 14:1-3; and from Psa 53:1-3. Psa 53:1-6 is the same as Psa 14:1-7, with some slight variations.
(Yet if we consult Psa 14:1-7 and Psa 53:1-6, from which the quotations in Rom 3:10-12 are taken, we shall be constrained to admit that their original application is nothing short of universal. The Lord is represented as looking down from heaven, (not upon the Jewish people only, but upon the “children of men” at large, “to see if there were any that did understand and seek God);” and declaring, as the result of his unerring scrutiny, “there is “none” that doeth good, no, not one.”
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That the apostle applies the passages to the case of the Jews is admitted, yet it is evident more is contained in them than the single proof of Jewish depravity. They go all the length of proving the depravity of mankind, and are cited expressly with this view. “We have before proved both Jews and Gentiles,” says Paul in Rom 3:9, “that they are all under sin.” Immediately on this, the quotations in question are introduced with the usual formula, “as it is written,” etc. Now since the apostle adduces his Scripture proofs, to establish the doctrine that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin,” we cannot reasonably decide against him by confining their application to the Jews only.
In Rom 3:19 Paul brings his argument to bear directly on the Jews. That they might not elude his aim, by interpreting the universal expressions he had introduced, of all the pagan only, leaving themselves favorably excepted; he reminds them that” whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them that were under it.” Not contented with having placed them alongside of the Gentiles in Rom 3:9; by this second application of the general doctrine of human depravity, to their particular case, he renders escape or evasion impossible. The scope of the whole passage then, is, that all people are depraved, and that the Jews form no exception. This view is further strengthened by the apostle’s conclusion in Rom 3:20. “Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his (God’s) sight.”
“If the words,” says President Edwards, “which the apostle uses, do not most fully and determinately signify an universality, no words ever used in the Bible are sufficient to do it. I might challenge any man to produce any one paragraph in the scriptures, from the beginning to the end, where there is such a repetition and accumulation of terms, so strongly, and emphatically, and carefully, to express the most perfect and absolute universality, or any place to be compared to it.” - “Edwards on Original Sin, - Haldane’s Commentary.”
There is none righteous - The Hebrew Psa 14:1 is, there is none that doeth good. The Septuagint has the same. The apostle quotes according to the sense of the passage. The design of the apostle is to show that none could be justified by the Law. He uses an expression, therefore, which is exactly conformable to his argument, and which accords in meaning with the Hebrew, “there is none just,” δίκαιος dikaios.
No, not one - This is not in the Hebrew, but is in the Septuagint. It is a strong universal expression, denoting the state of almost universal corruption which existed in the time of the psalmist. The expression should not be interpreted to mean that there was not literally “one pious man” in the nation; but that the characteristic of the nation was, at that time, that it was exceedingly corrupt. Instead of being righteous, as the Jew claimed, because they were Jews, the testimony of their own Scriptures was, that they were universally wicked.
(The design of the apostle, however, is not to prove that there were few or none pious. He is treating of the impossibility of justification by works, and alleges in proof that, according to the judgment of God in the Psa 14:1 Psalm, there were none righteous, etc., in regard to their natural estate, or the condition in which man is, previous to his being justified. In this condition, all are deficient in righteousness, and have nothing to commend them to the divine favor. What people may afterward become by grace is another question, on which the apostle does not, in this place, enter. Whatever number of pious people, therefore, there might be in various places of the world, the argument of the apostle is not in the least affected. It will hold good even in the millennium!)
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv10, 17, 19 There is not any man just, viz. virtue either…
There is not any man just, viz. virtue either of the law of nature, or of the law of Moses; but only by faith and grace. (Challoner) --- The apostle here adduces a series of passages from the ancient Scripture, to convince both Jews and Gentiles, that not one amongst them was just, nor had any title to glory, on account of his good works. Not that a just man could not be found under the old law, or even before the law; an infinite number of passages of Scripture will shew the contrary: but he must be understood as speaking of man left to himself, as a son of Adam, conceived in sin, and brought forth a child of wrath. (Calmet) --- These crimes, enumerated by the apostle, are not mentioned as if found in each individual, but some of this black catalogue of crimes were found in one man; some in another; yet so that all had become infected with sin and iniquity, all had deserted the path of virtue. There was none just, none found, who feared or sought after God. (Estius) --- These texts of Scripture, though formerly, even before the times of St. Jerome and St. Augustine, they were found together in some Latin editions, viz. Psalm xiii. cannot be found united either in the Hebrew text, or Septuagint version, as St. Jerome affirms, in Præf. lib. xvi. commentar. in Isai. This, he says, all the Greek commentators allow. He says, that those who were ignorant of this apostle’s art in uniting together the texts of different pasts of Scripture, upon finding no part where they were all together, placed them, without any authority, in that psalm whence the first part of the citation is taken. The words, an open sepulchre, are taken from Psalm xiii. (Hebrew text xiv.) the verse "Their throat is an open sepulchre, with their tongues they have dealt deceit fully," from Psalm v. "The venom of asps is under their lips," from Psalm cxxxix. "Whose mouth is full of curses and bitterness," from Psalm ix. "Their feet are swift," &c. as far as, there is no fear, from Isaias chap. lix. "There is not the fear of God before their eyes," from Psalm xxxv. (Estius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19 As it is written, &c.-- (Psa 14:1-3; Psa 53:1-3).…
As it is written, &c.-- (Psa 14:1-3; Psa 53:1-3). These statements of the Psalmist were indeed suggested by particular manifestations of human depravity occurring under his own eye; but as this only showed what man, when unrestrained, is in his present condition, they were quite pertinent to the apostle's purpose.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19 10. Not one—Not that none are regenerate and so…
10. Not one—Not that none are regenerate and so righteous, but that none in nature’s condition are so.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv10, 13, 19 10. There is none, &c.] In Rom_3:10-18 we have…
10. There is none, &c.] In Rom_3:10-18 we have a chain of Scripture quotations. The originals are found, verbally or in substance, in Psa_5:9; Psa_10:7; Psa_14:1-3; Psa_36:1; Psa_140:3; Pro_1:16; Isa_59:7. In the Alexandrine MS. of the LXX. of Psalms 14 (LXX. 13):3, appears a singular phenomenon: the Gr. is much ampler than the original Hebrew (for Which see E. V.), and is verbatim the same as the Gr. of Rom_3:12-18 of this chapter. There can be little doubt that this was the work of a copyist acquainted with this passage of St Paul.—Rom_3:10 would better read: as it is written that there is none righteous, no, not one. The precise quotations would then begin at Rom_3:11. The words of Rom_3:10 are not found in the O. T., and read rather as a summary of what is to follow.
The awful charges of Rom_3:10-18 are specially pointed at the Jews: see Rom_3:19. The passages quoted are descriptive of Israelites, some of them of Israelites of the best days of Israel. What at least they establish is that the root of sin was vigorous in Jewish hearts, and that its fruits in Jewish lives were abominable in the sight of God. Meantime we must not narrow the reference too closely. The Apostle’s doctrine of human sinfulness (see e.g. Tit_3:3) is that the worst developments of individual sin only indicate the possibilities of the sinful heart in general. Passages like those cited here thus prove, not only what certain men were, but what man is. See Jer_17:9.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 18, 19 (12) They are together become unprofitable.—Here the adjective is…
(12) They are together become unprofitable.—Here the adjective is used to express a state of moral corruption and depravity. “Together” means “altogether;” “the whole mass of mankind, with one consent, has fallen to ruin.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv10, 19 Vers. 10-18. As it is written, There is none…
Vers. 10-18. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are altogether become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (Ps 14 or Ps 53) Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they hays used deceit; (Psa_5:9) the poison of asps is under their lips: (Psa_140:3) whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: (Psa_10:7) their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known: (Pro_1:16 and Isa_59:7) there is no fear of God before their eyes. (Psa_36:1) These texts are from various unconnected passages of the Old Testament, quoted from the LXX, though not all accurately. They seem to be put together from memory by way of showing the general scriptural view of human depravity. It may be said that they do not establish the apostle"s position of all men being guilty; for that they are for the most part rhetorical rather than dogmatic, that most of them refer only to certain classes of men, and that the righteous are spoken of too, and this in the sequence of even the most sweeping of them all (that from Ps 14 or lift.), which does, literally understood, assert universal sinfulness. Any such objection to the cogency of the quotations may be met by regarding them as adduced, not as rigid proofs, but as only generally confirmatory of the apostle"s position. See, he would say to the Jew, the picture your own Scriptures give you; observe their continued testimony to human depravity: and the main point of all the quotations is that which is brought out in the next verse, viz. that they had reference, not to the Gentile world, but to the chosen people themselves.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v19 Now we know that what things soever the law…
Rom_3:19-20
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law.
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The law
I. Its claims--are universal.
II. Its teachings--distinct and authoritative.
III. Its effects--condemnation, complete and without exception. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Law and the law
For the most part the word law refers to the general principle Do this and live; the words the law, to the historical and literary form in which this principle took shape in the ears, eyes, and thoughts of the Jews. (Prof. J. A. Beet.)
The convincing Tower of the law
1. The things which the law saith--its holy precepts, solemn sanctions, awful sentences--constitute the instrument of its power. They are the hand which grasps, the arm which conquers the transgressor.
2. The extent of their operation is to all those who are under the law. Are they obedient? Then it is a means of life and peace. Are they disobedient? Then it is the instrument of their condemnation and death.
3. Its convincing power is displayed either in the day of grace to bring to Christ, or in the day of judgment to banish from Him.
4. It is the agency of the Holy Spirit. In His hands it is living and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, but in itself it is a dead letter.
I. The things of which the law is made to convince the sinner. It saith--
1. Do this, and thou shalt live; but whosoever offendeth in one point is guilty of all. The law claims an entire, perpetual, and spotless obedience, and in the exercise of its convincing power it compares the sinners life with the strictness of its demands. It thus brings to view his obliquity by laying down its perfect and unbending rule upon the crookedness of all his conduct. It accuses him of--
(1) Presumptuous sins.
(2) Sins of inadvertence and ignorance.
(3) Secret sins, corrupt thoughts, unholy desires.
(4) Omission of holy duties.
(5) Deficiencies in the spirit which prompts to action.
(6) A corrupt nature in a state of rebellion against God.
2. Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. By this it convinceth the sinner of his exposure to the wrath of God. The condemnation of the ungodly is not future but present. The transgressor is dead already, and though, like a convict in his cell, he has a respite before execution, his case is to be regarded as altogether disposed of. He may be ignorant of his condition, and may deny it; but this is one of the things that the law saith, and its work is to make the sinner believe it, and behold his danger. But though under this operation he groans in anguish, he is no more in condemnation than before. He was asleep, but is now awakened. The lightning which makes a benighted traveller see the precipice in front of him does not make the danger, it only reveals it.
3. Moses describeth the righteousness which is by the law, that the man which doeth these things shall live by them. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. By these things the law convinces of the impossibility of self-justification.
(1) It proposes but two possible methods whereby man shall be just with God: it offers life to those who have perfectly obeyed its precepts; it presents liberty to all who have fully endured its penalties. Under which can there be hope for man?
(a) He can never obtain acceptance by his obedience--for there is imperfection and defilement in every duty.
(b) He cannot be justified by making satisfaction for disobedience, for no satisfaction can be received short of the entire penalty--everlasting death.
(2) The convinced sinner sees this hopeless state, and is compelled to renounce all effort at legal justification. A knowledge of pardon and life must come from the revelation of a Redeemer who, as the sinners surety, has obeyed the precepts and endured the penalty.
II. The persons to which it must be applied. To them that are under the law--the Jew, of course, but all mankind are born under the obligations of the law, and the things it saith, it saith to the whole family of man. And if there be not an individual who is released from the obligation of loving God with all his heart, there is not one who is not justly accused of transgression, and therefore condemned. All have sinned, etc. The proper operation of the law as a convincing power is, therefore, upon every human being.
III. The result to which it leads.
1. That every mouth may be stopped. Unconvinced sinners complain of the unreasonable strictness and severity of the Divine commandments, and invent a thousand excuses for sin and pleas of exemption from punishment. But when the law discharges its convincing office, the justice of God became so apparent, guilt so clear, that they are incapable of complaint or excuse.
2. And all the world become guilty before God--consciously and penitently. (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)
Appeal to the law
The new Collector of the Port of New York is not harassed by disputes as his predecessors were. He has had all the books regulating the customs service placed within his reach, and when appealed to for his decision his clear grey eyes brighten as he replies: The law says so and so about that question, does it not? He is generally answered in the affirmative, and without more ado he dismisses his visitor, saying: The law on the subject was made for me to follow, and follow it I shall. (Christian Herald.)
The authority of the Scriptures
I feel profoundly that that word authority is a vital word in all considerations about the Scriptures. There are controversies about inspiration and its mode, controversies which are legion, but they may circle, like waves around a rock, round the question of authority. That which separates the Bible from all other books, however elevating, is, after all, not so much that it contains such treasures of historic information, of poetic beauty, of moral analysis, as that it contains the authority of God and the certainty of His Word. Yes, it is this, after all. There are other books, for which God be thanked, written in other ages, which have had their influence on the elevation of man, but the difference between them and this Book is, that no conceivable amount of information or influence from them, as such, is binding on the conscience; but we claim for this Book that when we have once ascertained the meaning of it, it binds us. It is not merely attractive and elevating--it is all this--but it is binding upon us; it says in the name of a greater than itself, Believe this, because I say it; do this, because I command it. (H. G. C. Moule, M. A.)
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified.--
Justification by works impossible
I. The assertion of the text is, that our whole race is incapable of ever being justified on the ground of having kept the requirements of the moral law of God.
1. This may be easily illustrated by a reference to Scripture.
(1) It declares that the moral law, under which we have been created, commands us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and to love our neighbour as ourselves.
(2) It also asserts that man is destitute of that love; and that, in the place of it, he cherishes a spirit of enmity to his Maker; and the constitution of civil society everywhere proceeds upon the assumption that men are selfish, faithless, violent, and cruel, and laws are everywhere made to counteract those hateful tendencies.
(3) It reveals to us that our first parents disobeyed God, and transmitted a sinful taint to their posterity. Thus we see that sin is not an accident to, but a universal fact in, human nature. By one man, sin entered into the world, etc. Such are the declarations of Scripture, and to the truth of them our own consciousness bears undoubted testimony. As soon as any one of us begins to compare himself with the law under which he is created, or even with the imperfect moral standard held forth by his own conscience, he acknowledges himself a sinner, coming short of the praise of God. Nor does anyone find himself alone in this condition. He is surrounded by just such beings, an inhabitant of a world lying in wickedness.
II. But here the question arises, since we cannot be justified on the ground of innocence, may we not by some works of our own? This question, from the beginning, has deeply agitated the human soul.
1. The first expedient, which seems universally to have suggested itself, was the offering of expiatory victims. But such an expedient as this inevitably loses its efficacy as soon as man listens to the voice of his own consciousness. He then feels that guilt is a personal thing, and that he himself is a sinner. It is he, in his own person, that must answer at the bar of offended justice. Guilt cannot be transferred to a brute, nor can it at will be laid upon the conscience of another. Hence the worshipper returned from the sacrifice unsatisfied and unblessed. The Jew confessed that it was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. The pagan retired from the flowing libation and the smoking hecatomb bearing about within him a conscience still burdened with the guilt of unpardoned sin.
2. Another expedient has been to offer reparation to the violated law by repentance and reformation. But if this doctrine be true--
(1) It must proceed upon an entire change of the moral law. The law which the Scriptures have revealed is, that the wages of sin is death. To declare, however, that if a man repents, he is entitled to justification, is to introduce another law, and to declare not that sin of itself is deserving of death, but only sin unrepented of. Now, I ask, where do we find the authority for announcing such a law? Revelation does not teach it. No government on earth could be administered upon this principle.
(2) It would lead to new views of Divine justice. If a sinner can claim justification at the hands of God in virtue of repentance, then there would seem but little distinction to exist between innocence and guilt. He who had kept the whole law without fault, and he who had broken every commandment through life, and at last repented, would both stand in the same moral condition before God; both, on the ground of their own doings, being entitled to be treated as innocent.
(3) It would lead us to believe that God Himself entertained no moral displeasure against sin, but only against sin unrepented of. The announcement of His law would seem to be, that holiness and sin repented of were equally lovely in His sight, inasmuch as they were by His law entitled to the same reward. The Deity would thus seem to entertain less abhorrence to sin than the penitent himself.
(4) It would defeat its own object; for, were this the law, repentance would be impossible. Repentance can only arise from a conviction of the moral turpitude of sin; it is an abhorrence of the act purely on account of its moral wrong, But, upon the supposition in question, sin itself is not wrong, or odious in the sight of God, but only sin unrepented of. But, if the act itself be not morally detestable, of what is there for us to repent? We are to be penitent not for the act, but for our impenitence, while penitence itself is impossible, because the act is not in itself worthy of condemnation. To me, then, the Scriptures seem to assert that repentance can offer no atonement for sin. If the law be holy, and just, and good, it is holy, and just, and good, that it be enforced. If a man repent of his sins, this is right; but under a system of law, this can make no reparation for past transgression. The man confesses that the law is just; but this confession does not render it less just. He acknowledges that he deserves to perish; but this does not alter his desert. Therefore, by the deeds of the law can no flesh be justified, etc.
III. The gospel is an offer of universal pardon through the mediation of Christ.
1. To reveal this great and astonishing truth is the great design of revealed religion. Natural religion intimated to us our sin, and dimly foreshadowed our doom. But from natural religion itself no news of reconciliation could proceed. It is the gospel alone that brings life and immortality to light.
2. For the announcement of this great central truth, the whole previous history of our world was one magnificent preparation.
3. Although, then, by the deeds of the law no flesh can be justified, yet we may not despair, for our help is laid upon One that is mighty, One who is able to save to the uttermost everyone that believeth. (F. Wayland, D. D.)
Legal justification impossible because
I. Man is flesh.
1. Depraved by original corruption.
2. Obnoxious by actual transgression.
II. The best obedience to the law that he can perform is imperfect.
III. All that he does or can do is a due debt he owes to the law.
1. He owes all possible obedience to the law as a creature.
2. But by performing all his debts as a creature he can never pay his debts as a transgressor.
3. Christ alone is able to justify him. (W. Burkitt, M. A.)
Works cannot justify
No matter how much he (Luther) studied and prayed, no matter how severely he castigated himself with fasting and watching, he found no peace to his soul. Even when he imagined that he had satisfied the law, he often despaired of getting rid of his sins and of securing the grace of God.
A moralist condemned
Dr. Rogers, of Albany, gives an account of the conversion of a moralist by a dream. The man thought he died, and, coming to the door of heaven, saw over it, None can enter here but those who have led a strictly moral life. He felt perfectly able on that condition, but was stopped by one and another whom in some way he had wronged. He was in despair, till the words over the door gradually faded away, and in their place came, The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. He awoke, and realised that without forgiveness through an atonement there was no hope for man. (Seeds and Sheaves.)
In His sight.
Man in the Divine judgment
In the judgment of God--an addition of solemn import! The all-searching Eye will try our inward as well as outward acts. None can stand out of Christ the Divine scrutiny. The world may canonise and immortalise, extol and deify her heroes; but God will perceive in a moment their defects, like the artist who, when a piece of marble had been selected as perfectly suitable for his sculpturing, in an instant detected a slight flaw that had escaped all notice, rendering, in his eyes, the block useless; and he refused to employ his time and his tools, his pains and his genius, upon it. (C. Neil, M. A.)
For by the law is the knowledge of sin.--
The knowledge of sin by the law
I. The nature of the law.
1. Sin has no existence but in relation to the law; for where there is no law, there is no transgression. The law may be compared to a straight rule. Sin is the deviation from this rule, and the enormity of the sin may be measured by the degree of obliquity in any act.
2. Laws are of different kinds, according to the nature of their subjects. The universe is under taw, for the Creator is a God of order. But our inquiry relates to the law given to man, as an accountable moral agent. This law was originally written on the human heart, but, as through the prevalence of ignorance and error, this law has been greatly defaced; it pleased God to make a full revelation of it, under two great commandments, enjoining love to God and our neighbour. But as the spiritual and perfect nature of the law was misapprehended by the Jews, and many of the precepts were set aside by false glosses, our Lord gave its true interpretation.
3. Many entertain very inadequate ideas of the nature and obligations of the law.
(1) By some it is believed that its strictness is now relaxed, and that a more indulgent rule has succeeded. But no conclusion is more certain than the immutable nature of the law. It arises from the nature of God, and the relation of man to Him. As God is infinitely holy, He never can require less holiness in His creatures than they are capable of. The idea of bringing down the law to adapt it to the ability of fallen man is absurd.
(2) Antinomians hold, that in consequence of Christs perfect obedience, the law has no demands on those in whose place He obeyed. This is a gross abuse of a cardinal doctrine. And if the thing were true, it would be no privilege, but a real detriment to the believer; for he finds that the keeping of the commandments of God is attended with a great reward.
(3) Others, again, entertain the opinion that the law was altered and improved by our Lord; and they refer to the Sermon on the Mount. But the alteration is not in the law itself, but in the interpretation of the law. Reason dictates that a rational, choosing agent should employ all his faculties, and direct all his actions, to the glory of his Creator; and as this end can in no other way be attained than by obeying the will of God, therefore the manifestation of the Divine will must be the law of all rational creatures.
4. That the law of God requires perfect obedience is self-evident. To suppose that any law could be satisfied by an imperfect obedience involves the absurdity that the law requires something which it does not require. If it should be alleged that uniform perfection of obedience ought not to be insisted on, since man is a fallible, erring creature, I would reply, that if any indulgence to sin be allowed, there can be no limit fixed to which it should be extended. Such a principle would destroy the obligation of the moral law. Again, these frailties belong not to our nature, as it came perfect from the hand of the Creator, but belong to our sinful nature, to which a holy law can show no indulgence. The ground of difficulty is in our depraved nature, which has lost all relish for the service of God. To a soul rightly constituted, the most intense exercise of holy affection is so far from being felt as a burden or task, that it affords the sweetest pleasure of which we ever partake. To be perfectly obedient to the commandments of God is to be completely happy. Surely no one ought to complain of being required to pursue his own greatest happiness.
II. By the law is the knowledge of sin.
1. If our actions had always been conformable to the precepts of God, the closest application of that law would produce no conviction of sin. And that such perfection of obedience is possible to human nature is manifest by the example of Christ.
2. Human nature may be compared to a complicated machine, which has within it powerful springs to keep it in operation. But such a machine requires a balance or regulator, which may preserve all the parts in their proper places, and give due energy and direction to every part. If the balance wheel be taken away, the machine loses none of its power, but its action becomes irregular, and no longer subserves the purpose for which it was put in motion. It moves, it may be, more rapidly than before, but to its own ruin. So it is with man. He is an agent, possessing powers, appetites, affections, and passions which require to be regulated and properly directed; otherwise, their most powerful action will be of a ruinous character. Two things are necessary to give harmony and a right direction to the complex faculties and affections of man. The first is, light; the second, love--an enlightened conscience, and uniform and constant love to God. But when sin was introduced, the mind was blinded, conscience misdirected, and the love of God in the soul was extinct.
3. Although the mind of man has fallen into an awful state of blindness and disorder, yet conscience is not obliterated: as far as it has light, it still remonstrates against sin. Happily some actions are intuitively seen to be morally wrong; but in regard to a large part of sinful acts, or omissions, most men remain ignorant of them, because they know not the extent and spirituality of the law. Mere theoretical knowledge of the law is not sufficient: it requires the convincing light of the Holy Spirit to shine in upon the conscience, and to cause the mind to view itself, as it were, in the mirror of Gods holy law. This conviction by the law is the common preparatory work before mercy is bestowed.
Conclusion:
1. Let us endeavour to get clear views of the extent, spirituality, and purity of the moral law, in order that we may know something of the multitude and malignity of our sins. And, as all true spiritual knowledge is from the Holy Ghost, we should incessantly pray for this inestimable blessing.
2. As the law convicts every man of sin, justification by it is impossible; for even one sin would render it impossible for the transgressor to receive a sentence of acquittal; how much more impossible is it when our sins are literally innumerable!
3. If the law discovers sin of every kind to be a base and odious thing, we should be solicitous to be cleansed from its defilement; and, in order to this, should come often to the fountain for sin and uncleanness, opened by the death of Christ.
4. A spiritual knowledge of the law is the true source of evangelical repentance.
5. The knowledge of sin, produced by the law, will have a tendency to make the true penitent desirous of the perfect holiness of heaven.
6. The most important benefit of the knowledge of sin, by the law, is, that it shows us our absolute need of a better righteousness than our own, and impels us to look for salvation to the Cross of Christ. (A. Alexander, D. D.)
The knowledge of sin by the law
Sin, in the New Testament, means, literally, missing that which is aimed at. A sin done for the sake of happiness never brings happiness; and if mans true aim is the glory of God, certainly no sin ever reaches that mark. Sin is the transgression of the law, for if there were no law, there would be no transgression. Transgression is a stepping over a certain line, and the only line is the law.
I. There are many laws.
1. The natural law of conscience. By this the heathen are governed--for they, having not the law, are a law unto themselves, etc. The transgressors of this law will be beaten with few stripes.
2. The Old Testament law, which is chiefly negative. Do not. This law is higher than the law of nature, more clear, minute, stringent.
3. But above both there is the law of love--the law of the gospel. God loves you, love Him back, and show your love by obedience.
II. As these laws rise in their character, so do they also in their obligation upon us; and the sins committed against them grow in the same proportion. By the higher standard we shall be judged! Now I do not speak of the grosser sins forbidden by the Ten Commandments, but of such as appear, to some, almost to be no sins at all, but which, measured by the law of the gospel, are perhaps most grievous to God. As is the light, so is the shadow; and the comparatively small sin of a son grieves a father more than the greatest sin of a stranger.
From this point of view, then--
1. It must be a sin in a Christian not to be happy. For this must be because you do not trust the Father, who has said that your sins were blotted out.
2. Or, if believing that you love and are loved by God, you are anxious, you not only disobey a command, but question a Fathers care and promise.
3. Or, if your religion is only a religion of fear, obedience without affection, it is in Gods sight worth nothing, for Love is the fulfilling of the law. Therefore it is sin.
4. Or, if you love the world as much as you love God, how can the great God who says, Give Me thy heart--not a part of it--be satisfied? And if He is not satisfied that is a sin.
III. If you would measure sin, calculate it in Eden, or on Mount Calvary. In Eden, one bit of forbidden fruit ruined the world! On Calvary, it needed the death of the Son of God to repair the wreck. Remember this the next time you are tempted to sin. Think--If I do that sin, it will cost the blood of the Son of God to wash it out. That is the law of heaven; and by that law we know sin. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The office of the law
The wife of a drunkard once found her husband in a filthy condition, with torn clothes, matted hair, bruised face, asleep in the kitchen, having come home from a drunken revel. She sent for a photographer, and had a portrait of him taken in all his wretched appearance, and placed it on the mantel beside another portrait taken at the time of his marriage, which showed him handsome and well dressed, as he had been in other days. When he became sober he saw the two pictures, and awakened to a consciousness of his condition, from which he arose to a better life. Now, the office of the law is not to save men, but to show them their true state as compared with the Divine standard. It is like a glass, in which one seeth what manner of man he is. (D. L. Moody.)
The knowledge of sin by the law
When we are told what we ought to do, we learn that we are not doing as we ought.
1. The faintest spark of natural conscience in a savage bosom serves this end at least, that the barbarians grosser acts of treachery or cruelty seem evil even to himself. The educated conscience of an old Greek or Roman imposed on him a severer standard and made him ashamed of less flagrant crimes. Moses nobler code, given by Jehovah Himself, trained the Hebrew people by degrees to regard as sinful practices which neighbouring nations called innocent, and exalted every instinctive vice of the blood into the express transgression of a recorded statute. The New Testament morality has made the modern conscience quicker than ever to detect, and louder than ever in condemning what is false, dishonourable, impure, and ungenerous. Thus each addition to revealed law widens mens knowledge of what is sinful, and pushes forward the frontier of the forbidden a little nearer to that ideal line which Gods nature prescribes.
2. Again, when a law has succeeded in educating ones conscience to recognise that what is forbidden is in itself evil, that what is commanded is right, there follows a certain desire to keep that law--an effort even after keeping it. We cannot approve what is good and not wish to pursue it. The moral pressure thus put upon a mans natural likings serves, in many an instance, to reveal to himself his moral impotence. The good he fain would do in his better moods he fails to do in the moment of temptation; and when the recoil comes, and desire has burnt itself down to white cold ash, and the law awakes afresh within the conscience to judge the man for that weak and wicked yielding to an improper desire, then comes a new and very bitter knowledge of sin. It is the knowledge of sin as a strong thing, stronger than I am--a hateful, hostile power, an alien despot, that has entrenched itself within my nature, and lords it there over everything that is wholesome in me.
3. Suppose, further, that a man is become so far a creature of the law that through long education he has been trained to walk contentedly within its close fences--he has got used to curb his temper and choke down his passions, and always to wear a smooth decorous face; suppose he is thus all that the law can make him, irreproachable in the presence of society, fair spoken, scrupulous, as touching the law blameless--why then he is only on the road to a still more profound knowledge of Sin. For such a man, if he is honest and thorough, will admit to himself, that deep down beneath this blameless exterior the old passions will not be quenched, nor the old self-will slain. He will admit that in doing violence to his tastes he has not changed them. He has merely drilled himself into outward prosperity, but at the root remains ungodly. Is it unfair to say that such righteousness is little better than a mask, useful in society, but sure to be detected by the judgment of Heaven? that the heart of such men resembles a volcano over which the lava has in the meantime cooled? What a terrific knowledge of sin is here! What a discovery of the incurableness of the hearts evil! What a revelation of the impotence of law and the unattainableness of genuine righteousness under any system of legal repression! Surely by the law, do as you will, there is no path to a satisfying righteousness in the sight of God, but only to a deeper and ever deeper knowledge of sin! (J. Oswald Dykes, D. D.)
The law the standard
When Chicago was a small town it was incorporated and made a city. There was one clause in the new law that no man should be a policeman who was not a certain height--five feet six inches, let us say. When the Commissioners got into power, they advertised for men as candidates, and in the advertisement they stated that no man need apply who could not bring good credentials to recommend him. I remember going past the office one day, and there was a crowd of them waiting to get in. They quite blocked up the side of the street; and they were comparing notes as to their chances of success. One says to another, I have got a good letter of recommendation from the mayor, and one from the supreme judge. Another says, And I have got a good letter from Senator So-and-so. Im sure to get in. The two men come on together, and lay their letters down on the Commissioners desk. Well, says the officials, you have certainly a good many letters, but we wont read them till we measure you. Ah! they forgot all about that. So the first man is measured, and he is only five feet. No chance for you, sir; the law says the men must be five feet six inches, and you dont come up to the standard. The other says, Well, my chance is a good deal better than his. I am a good bit taller than he is. He begins to measure himself by the other man. That is what people are always doing, measuring themselves by others. Measure yourself by the law of God, and if you will do that you will find that you have come short. He goes up to the officers and they measure him. He is five feet five inches and nine-tenths. No good, they tell him; youre not up to the standard. But Im only one-tenth of an inch short, he remonstrates. Its no matter, say they, theres no difference. He goes with the man who was five feet. One comes short six inches, and the other only one tenth of an inch, but the law cannot be changed. And the law of God is, that no man shall go into the kingdom of heaven with one sin on him. He that has broken the least law is guilty of all. (D. L. Moody.)
The knowledge of sin only by the law
All that the law does is to show us how sinful we are. Paul has been quoting from the sacred Scriptures; and truly they shed a lurid light upon the condition of human nature. This light can show us our sin; but it cannot take it away. The law of the Lord is like a looking glass. Now, a looking glass is a capital thing for finding out where the spots are on your face; but you cannot wash in a looking glass, you cannot get rid of the spots by looking in the glass. The law is intended to show a man how much he needs cleansing; but the law cannot cleanse him. The law proves that we are condemned, but it does not bring us our pardon. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, 19 10–18. As it is written. Psalms 14:1–3 and 53:1–3.…
10–18. As it is written. Psalms 14:1–3 and 53:1–3. Paul quotes the Jewish Scriptures to confirm his statement. None righteous. None absolutely free from sin.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv10–19 10. “As has been written, that there is none…
10. “As has been written, that there is none righteous, no, not one,” i. e., not a single one of the above classes, i. e., Jews and Greeks who are all under sin, i. e., all church members of all ages and nations so far as the efficacy of membership, water baptism, church rites and legal obedience are concerned. Since these things, though all right in their places, never did have any power to justify a soul; therefore they leave all their votaries in their sins both actual and original, on the same plane with the unregenerate heathen.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v19 Rom 3:19 - Rom 3:26.
Romans
WORLD-WIDE SIN AND WORLD-WIDE REDEMPTION
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Rom 3:19 - Rom 3:26.
Let us note in general terms the large truths which this passage contains. We may mass these under four heads:
I. Paul’s view of the purpose of the law.
He has been quoting a mosaic of Old Testament passages from the Psalms and Isaiah. He regards these as part of ‘the law,’ which term, therefore, in his view, here includes the whole previous revelation, considered as making known God’s will as to man’s conduct. Every word of God, whether promise, or doctrine, or specific command, has in it some element bearing on conduct. God reveals nothing only in order that we may know, but all that, knowing, we may do and be what is pleasing in His sight. All His words are law.
But Paul sets forth another view of its purpose here; namely, to drive home to men’s consciences the conviction of sin. That is not the only purpose, for God reveals duty primarily in order that men may do it, and His law is meant to be obeyed. But, failing obedience, this second purpose comes into action, and His law is a swift witness against sin. The more clearly we know our duty, the more poignant will be our consciousness of failure. The light which shines to show the path of right, shines to show our deviations from it. And that conviction of sin, which it was the very purpose of all the previous Revelation to produce, is a merciful gift; for, as the Apostle implies, it is the prerequisite to the faith which saves.
As a matter of fact, there was a far profounder and more inward conviction of sin among the Jews than in any heathen nation. Contrast the wailings of many a psalm with the tone in Greek or Roman literature. No doubt there is a law written on men’s hearts which evokes a lower measure of the same consciousness of sin. There are prayers among the Assyrian and Babylonian tablets which might almost stand beside the Fifty-first Psalm; but, on the whole, the deep sense of sin was the product of the revealed law. The best use of our consciousness of what we ought to be, is when it rouses conscience to feel the discordance with it of what we are, and so drives us to Christ. Law, whether in the Old Testament, or as written in our hearts by their very make, is the slave whose task is to bring us to Christ, who will give us power to keep God’s commandments.
Another purpose of the law is stated in Rom 3:21, as being to bear witness, in conjunction with the prophets, to a future more perfect revelation of God’s righteousness. Much of the law was symbolic and prophetic. The ideal it set forth could not always remain unfulfilled. The whole attitude of that system was one of forward-looking expectancy. There is much danger lest, in modern investigations as to the authorship, date, and genesis of the Old Testament revelation, its central characteristic should be lost sight of; namely, its pointing onwards to a more perfect revelation which should supersede it.
II. Paul’s view of universal sinfulness.
He states that twice in this passage {Rom 3:20 - Rom 3:24}, and it underlies his view of the purpose of law. In Rom 3:20 he asserts that ‘by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified,’ and in Rom 3:23 he advances from that negative statement to the positive assertion that all have sinned. The impossibility of justification by the works of the law may be shown from two considerations: one, that, as a matter of fact, no flesh has ever done them all with absolute completeness and purity; and, second, that, even if they had ever been so done, they would not have availed to secure acquittal at a tribunal where motive counts for more than deed. The former is the main point with Paul.
In Rom 3:23 the same fact of universal experience is contemplated as both positive sin and negative falling short of the ‘glory’ {which here seems to mean, as in Joh 5:44, Joh 12:43, approbation from God}. ‘There is no distinction,’ but all varieties of condition, character, attainment, are alike in this, that the fatal taint is upon them all. ‘We have, all of us, one human heart.’ We are alike in physical necessities, in primal instincts, and, most tragically of all, in the common experience of sinfulness.
Paul does not mean to bring all varieties of character down to one dead level, but he does mean to assert that none is free from the taint. A man need only be honest in self-examination to endorse the statement, so far as he himself is concerned. The Gospel would be better understood if the fact of universal sinfulness were more deeply felt. Its superiority to all schemes for making everybody happy by rearrangements of property, or increase of culture, would be seen through; and the only cure for human misery would be discerned to be what cures universal sinfulness.
III. So we have next Paul’s view of the remedy for man’s sin.
That is stated in general terms in Rom 3:21 - Rom 3:22. Into a world of sinful men comes streaming the light of a ‘righteousness of God.’ That expression is here used to mean a moral state of conformity with God’s will, imparted by God. The great, joyful message, which Paul felt himself sent to proclaim, is that the true way to reach the state of conformity which law requires, and which the unsophisticated, universal conscience acknowledges not to have been reached, is the way of faith.
The message is so familiar to us that we may easily fail to realise its essential greatness and wonderfulness when first proclaimed. That God should give righteousness, that it should be ‘of God,’ not only as coming from Him, but as, in some real way, being kindred with His own perfection; that it should be brought to men by Jesus Christ, as ancient legends told that a beneficent Titan brought from heaven, in a hollow cane, the gift of fire; and that it should become ours by the simple process of trusting in Jesus Christ, are truths which custom has largely robbed of their wonderfulness. Let us meditate more on them till they regain, by our own experience of their power, some of the celestial light which belongs to them.
Observe that in Rom 3:22 the universality of the redemption which is in Christ is deduced from the universality of sin. The remedy must reach as far as the disease. If there is no difference in regard to sin, there can be none in regard to the sweep of redemption. The doleful universality of the covering spread over all nations, has corresponding to it the blessed universality of the light which is sent forth to flood them all. Sin’s empire cannot stretch farther than Christ’s kingdom.
IV. Paul’s view of what makes the Gospel the remedy.
In Rom 3:21 - Rom 3:22 it was stated generally that Christ was the channel, and faith the condition, of righteousness. The personal object of faith was declared, but not the special thing in Christ which was to be trusted in. That is fully set forth in Rom 3:24. We cannot attempt to discuss the great words in these verses, each of which would want a volume. But we may note that ‘justified’ here means to be accounted or declared righteous, as a judicial act; and that justification is traced in its ultimate source to God’s ‘grace,’-His own loving disposition-which bends to unworthy and lowly creatures, and is regarded as having for the medium of its bestowal the ‘redemption’ that is in Christ Jesus. That is the channel through which grace comes from God.
‘Redemption’ implies captivity, liberation, and a price paid. The metaphor of slaves set free by ransom is exchanged in Rom 3:25 for a sacrificial reference. A propitiatory sacrifice averts punishment from the offerer. The death of the victim procures the life of the worshipper. So, a propitiatory or atoning sacrifice is offered by Christ’s blood, or death. That sacrifice is the ransom-price through which our captivity is ended, and our liberty assured. As His redemption is the channel ‘through’ which God’s grace comes to men, so faith is the condition ‘through’ which {Rom 3:25} we make that grace ours.
Note, then, that Paul does not merely point to Jesus Christ as Saviour, but to His death as the saving power. We are to have faith in Jesus Christ {Rom 3:22}. But that is not a complete statement. It must be faith in His propitiation, if it is to bring us into living contact with His redemption. A gospel which says much of Christ, but little of His Cross, or which dilates on the beauty of His life, but stammers when it begins to speak of the sacrifice in His death, is not Paul’s Gospel, and it will have little power to deal with the universal sickness of sin.
The last verses of the passage set forth another purpose attained by Christ’s sacrifice; namely, the vindication of God’s righteousness in forbearing to inflict punishment on sins committed before the advent of Jesus. That Cross rayed out its power in all directions-to the heights of the heavens; to the depths of Hades {Col 1:20}; to the ages that were to come, and to those that were past. The suspension of punishment through all generations, from the beginning till that day when the Cross was reared on Calvary, was due to that Cross having been present to the divine mind from the beginning. ‘The judge is condemned when the guilty is acquitted,’ or left unpunished. There would be a blot on God’s government, not because it was so severe, but because it was so forbearing, unless His justice was vindicated, and the fatal consequences of sin shown in the sacrifice of Christ. God could not have shown Himself just, in view either of age-long forbearance, or of now justifying the sinner, unless the Cross had shown that He was not immorally indulgent toward sin.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv10–19 as it is written, There is none righteous, no,…
as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one ;
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv10, 19 (See Scofield "Rom 10:10").
righteous
(See Scofield "Rom 10:10").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v19 A special word to the Jews:
A special word to the Jews:
v. 19. Now we know that what things so ever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law, that every mouth maybe stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.
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v. 20. 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.
In the previous passage the apostle had spoken of men in general, both Jews and Gentiles, giving a full and detailed description of their natural condition. He now applies the thought to the Jews in particular, to those that were under the Law in a special sense. So we know, it is a fact generally conceded, it is a statement which may be assumed at once, without further proof. Whatever things, all the things which the Law tells, it speaks with reference to the Lawgiver and to the purpose of His will, to them that are under the Law, who made their boast of the Mosaic Law, whose entire life, down to the minutest details, was regulated by its provisions. But the purpose of the Law and of all instruction in the Law is that every mouth should be silenced, and that the entire world should become guilty before God. In the case of the heathen the deeds of their depravity were evidently culpable. But the Jews, in whose case the vices and transgressions were often covered with a certain external righteousness and show of sanctity, were equally guilty before the Law of God. Not one mouth can be opened in a plea of innocence and righteousness, but the whole world, regardless of race and nationality, should stand convicted of guilt, be liable to punishment on account of sin. And why will all the world become guilty before God? Because by the deeds of the Law will no flesh be justified before Him. It is impossible for any person, by means of the works which are demanded by the Law, to stand before God, to be accepted by Him, as a just person; no sinner can fulfill the Law in its real requirements, actually keep all its demands in regard to omission and commission. For through the Law, by the Law, is the knowledge of sin. The Law convicts us of sin; it shows us our manifold transgressions; it condemns us by bringing home the fact that our sin deserves the wrath of God; and this knowledge is full and accurate. "Through the Law my conscience grows and fills me with wrath against the Law and against God that has given the Law, the sin thus becoming exceedingly sinful through the commandment. " (Luther.) To justify a sinner, to pronounce him just in the sight of God, that is not the purpose of the Law; for that it was never intended. Note: This purpose of the Law is utilized by the Christians every day in examining their lives; for, as in a mirror, it reveals the sins and shortcomings of man, it convinces him of his guilt and damnation.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11, 13, 15, 19 There is no one who understands
There is no one who understands
There is no one who understands what is right. AT: "No one really understands what is right" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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There is no one who seeks after God
Here the phrase "seeks after God" means to have a relationship with God. AT: "No one sincerely tries to have a right relationship with God" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
They have all turned away
This is an idiom that means the people do not even want to think about God. They want to avoid him. AT: "They have all turned away from God" (See: Idiom)
They together have become useless
Since no one does what is good, they are useless to God. AT: "Everyone has become useless to God" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
God
turn
good
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10, 13, 15, 18, 19 3:10-18 The six quotations in these verses, drawn from…
3:10-18 The six quotations in these verses, drawn from various parts of the Old Testament, all address human sinfulness. Paul follows the practice of rabbis who gathered together Old Testament texts on similar themes in a practice called pearl-stringing.
3:10-12 This quotation from Pss 14:1-3; 53:1-3 directly supports the argument that all people are under the power of sin.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.