Romans 3:9-20
by:
Dan Hill, PhD
Pastor, Southwood Bible Church
7655 South Sheridan Avenue
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74113
E-Mail: hill918@aol.com
Paul presents this summary like the opening argument in a court case. He
makes a charge in verse 9 and then follows it up with a fourteen count indictment.
In verse 19 there is even an opportunity given for the accused to give a
defense but every mouth is closed, the defense has nothing to say.
Finally then, in verses 19b and 20 the verdict is announced:
All the world is accountable to God, because by the works of the Law no
flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge
of sin.
Romans 3:9
What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged
that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;
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WHAT THEN: The interrogative with the inferential indicates that Paul is
now going to draw a conclusion regarding what has been said.
ARE WE BETTER THAN THEY? This looks back at verse 1 in which Paul asks if
there is any advantage to being a Jew.
While there is advantage in what God has made available, this advantage
is lost without application by faith. Without applying the provision of
God by faith the advantage of position is nullified.
So Paul answers his own question: Not at all; for we have already charged
that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.
CHARGED is a legal term used in the courts to level a criminal charge.
All are under sin is an infinitive phrase indicating that man's position
under sin is a result of something. The result is the fall of man not our
personal acts of sin.
We sin because we are sinners ... we are not sinners because we sin.
THREE TYPES OF SIN
1. Imputed sin. The entire human race was counted guilty when Adam sinned,
1 Cor 15:22; Rom 3:23b, 5:12, in Adam all die.
2. Inherent sin, Romans 5:12a.
a. When Adam sinned he acquired an old sin nature. Therefore
the old sin nature was brought into existence by Adam.
b. The human race inherits the old sin nature through physical birth through
the chromosomes of the father, Psalm 51:5.
c. Every member of the human race retains the old sin nature after salvation.
d. Therefore Adam is a sinner and saved through grace just as any other
member of the human race.
3. Personal sin is a manifestation and result of having an old sin nature,
I John 1:8-10. There are two kinds of personal sin: known sins and unknown
sins, or sins we commit in cognizance and ones committed in ignorance.
PERSONAL ACTS OF SIN CAN BE DIVIDED INTO THREE CATEGORIES:
1. Mental Attitude Sins: Thinking sins, this can be mental attitude hatred,
adultery, vindictiveness.
As in Jesus' day with the religious crowd, we today often over look the
mental attitude.
2. Sins of the Tongue: Gossip, lying, slander, maligning. Making false statements,
exaggerations (other then hyperbole as a teaching method).
Described in James 3:2-10. The tongue is unruly, evil, full of deadly poison.
3. Overt sins: That which you do which is counted as sin in the Scriptures.
Sins listed in the Bible: Galatians 5:17-21, Romans 1:29-31, Proverbs 6:16-19,
I Corinthians 6:9-10 and other passages
CONCLUSION: All are under sin, all are sinners, all sin.
Topic: SIN
Romans 3:10-18
As it is written, there is no one righteous, no, not one.
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Paul will develop a fourteen count indictment from the Old Testament: Psalm
5, 14, 36, 53, 59, 140 are all quoted as part of this indictment:
The indictment can be divided into three categories:
First, the extent of sin: Romans 3:10-12
1. There is none righteous, not even one: Paul quotes from Psalm
14:1 and then adds the word, "not even one". There is a dramatic
absoluteness about this negative. God's perfect righteousness is the criterion
by which sin is judged and no man can produce the righteousness of God from
his flesh.
2. There are none who understand: This conclusion was made by God Himself
in Psalm 53. From the flesh no one will seek after God to understand Him
or His will.
The best man can do is come up with religion and ritual which is a feeble
attempt to understand the vast magnificence of God.
3. There is none who seek for God: Man from the flesh will eventually conclude
that God is not worth seeking after.
4. All turn aside: This is from Psalm 14:3 and 53:4. The verb means to incline
towards, to lean against. In the negative as here it means that man in the
flesh is inclined away from God, leaning by his tendencies and patterns
of the OSN away from God.
5. All have become useless: The word USELESS is used in Matthew and Luke
and in secular Greek for an unworthy salve. It was also used for damaged
products and spoiled fruit. We are damaged, we are rotten creatures, we
are unworthy of God's presence.
6. There is none who does good: The inability of man from the flesh to produce
that which is acceptable to God.
Second, Paul looks at the depth of the involvement of sin: Romans 3:13-17.
Figures of speech: Throat, tongue, lips, mouth, feet, eyes are used to show
how man is totally engulfed in sin.
1. The throat is an open grave: In the simple analogy the open
grave gives off a stench. Here we can also see the analogy of Jeremiah 5:16
where the open grave is a pit, waiting for someone to fall in. Out of the
throat comes corruption and decay ready top swallow up the victim.
2. The tongues keep deceiving: In the Hebrew there was an idiom that refereed
to the smoothed tongues which were filled with sweet words but intent upon
deception. The verb DECEIVING is from DOLIOW which was a word used for fish
bait intended to lure the fish so it could be caught.
3. Poison under the lips: This is parallel to the asp, the deadly snake
of Egypt and is a quote from Psalm 140:3.
4. Mouth full of Cursing and Bitterness: Psalm 10:7. This is to speak a
curse on someone, to damn them, to malign them with intense animosity.
5. Feet Swift to shed Blood: From Isaiah 59:7-8. The feet carry the whole
body towards sin. Here the idiom looks not only at literal murder but the
thought of murder.
How many of us have given others those Looks that could kill.
6. Destruction and Misery in their Paths: This is a picture of someone running
over others, crushing them, bringing misery to others who are in their path.
Third we have the source of sin: Romans 3:18.
1. And the path of peace they have not known: They are in darkness,
living out anger, fear, and shame. And peace is far from them.
As seen in the prophets, the people call for peace, peace, but there is
no peace.
2. There is no fear of God before their eyes . . .
Proverbs 1:7, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
Fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Without the fear of the Lord there is no knowledge, there is no wisdom,
there is no instruction.
So it is something not known and something not possessed that is the source
that intimates sin for the unbeliever. They do not know the peace and they
do not have a fear of God. For the believer we might ask ... what is our
excuse?
Romans 3:19
Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under
the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable
to God;
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"Now we know" - A known principle in the minds of the Jews.
The Gentiles were very unconcerned about the Law of Israel, the Law of Moses.
It was in its inception, given to a nation. The ones under the Law are the
Jews.
Topic: LAW OF MOSES
But because it reveals the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man, it
also speaks to the whole world by way of judgment.
The word JUDGMENT is UPODIKOS and is a legal word used for the person who
has been found guilty or who has lost his civil suite. He is judged and
found guilty with no course of appeal.
The verb MAY BECOME is an aorist tense and is a MIDDLE voice and that means
that this judgment is of benefit to the world because it puts the world
under condemnation.
Here we begin to see a logical thread that Paul employs throughout Romans.
Man is condemned and that is good because in his helplessness he then must
depend upon the greater work of God.
PRINCIPLE: If there was any merit in man whatsoever, he could depend upon
that rather than upon God.
Romans 3:20
Because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight;
for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
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The OT Law was never intended to justify man. It was intended to condemn
man.
Yet no sooner was it given that Israel started trying to do it:
Exodus 24:7, "Then he (Moses) took the book of the covenant and read
it in the hearing of the people; and they said, All that the Lord has spoken
we will do, and we will be obedient!"
The word JUSTIFIED is used seven times in this chapter and then eight additional
times in the remainder of Romans. It is, along with faith, one of the major
themes of Romans.
How is man justified? Romans 3:26 God is the one who justifies us, the one
who have faith in Jesus.
Topic: JUSTIFICATION
End Lesson 13
Grace Notes
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