3:9-20

(9) What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

M –Paul has just pointed out that the Jews really did have a special privilege in that they did have the words of God. So Paul says, are we (Jews) better than they (the gentiles)? Not at all. Both Jews and Gentiles are sinners.

(10-18) As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one.; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit’; The poison of asps is under their lips’; ‘Who’s mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’

M –Paul quotes several OT passages to show how often scripture speaks of the universal sinfulness of man. This would have been a powerful proof to the Jew that they also were guilty since most of the scriptures referred to the Jewish people.

‘There is none righteous, no, not one.’ –Sinfulness is a universal problem that every human has and has had with the only exception being Jesus.

‘There is none who seeks after God.’ –John 6:65 says ‘No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.’ No one seeks God without Him first drawing on them.

‘They have together become unprofitable.’ When we walk in sin, we become useless to serve God’s purpose and to truly bless each other. We are no good for the purpose we were created when we sin. To sin means ‘to miss the mark.’

‘Their throat is an open tomb.’ –Seems to paint a picture of the sinful person being dead inside. Ephesians 2 talks about how the unsaved person is dead in their sins.

“With these references from the Psalms, Paul calls virtually every part of man’s body into guilt: throat, tongue, lips, mouth, feet, eyes are all shown to be filled with sin and rebellion against God.” -David Guzik

‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’ –Seems to be a summary of the sinfulness. People don’t fear God as they should and so they do what they want.

(19) Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

M –What the Jewish law says it said to those who were under it (the Jews). The law has a purpose –that every mouth would be stopped and it becomes clear that all the world is guilty before God. No one can brag about how good they are because the law proves that they can’t keep God’s standard.

A –When we see God’s standard in the law, it doesn’t make us better, but shows us how far off we are from God’s standard. The sermon on the Mount (matthew 5-7) makes it even more clear that we’ve failed to keep God’s standard because it shows that the thoughts are judged just as much as the actions by God.

(20) Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

M –No one is going to get on good terms with God by trying to keep the law because it is the law that makes people even more knowledgeable of their sin.