Introduction

Romans 3 is broken down into 3 primary segments:

1) Paul explains God’s faithfulness and righteousness

2) He then illustrates through heavy Old Testament reference how far each and every one of us fall short of the righteousness of God (the effect of sin)

3) Finally he lands on the Gospel message and how we are are justified by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ

God’s faithfulness:

- In contrast to our own sinfulness, Paul starts out writing in Romans 3 about the faithfulness and righteousness of God. He discusses them in contrast to our own unfaithfulness and unrighteousness.

Romans 3:1-4: “What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. 3 What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”

- Paul is essentially having a hypothetical argument with someone in this passage in which he is illustrating the unfailing faithfulness and righteousness of God.

- Furthermore, this passage highlights how the root of all sin is disobedience. For the Jews, it was disobedience to the law that God had given them. Not that every single Jew had been disobedient, but Paul says this rather to show that the unfaithfulness of a few of His followers does not disprove the faithfulness of God. 

- In continuation, Paul breaks down some possible arguments which may be made to justify sinful living.

Romans 3:5-8: “5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” 8 Why not say - as some slanderously claim that we say - “Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!”

- How many times in our own lives do we try to justify sinning with something like this? We, as humans, display incredible creativity in the various ways we come up with to justify our sin!

- Rather than using ingenuity to justify our sin, we should come before God with humility to confess and repent for our sins. To make the argument that our sinfulness makes God look better is a flawed argument and is something which we must be careful to avoid. When Paul says “Let us do evil that good may result”, this is such backwards thinking and is a self-defeating argument. 

No one is righteous:

- In this next passage of Romans 3, Paul is laying out all of the ways that we fall short of the righteousness of God. He does so in an incredibly effective manner by shooting off numerous Old Testament references to drive home the point that we all fall under the power of sin. 

Romans 3:9-18: “9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” 13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” 14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

- Paul is talking here about us! He uses incredibly strong language to make his point clear: no one is righteous.

- In verse 12, what is translated as “they have together become worthless” is the Greek word achreioo (achreeos) which literally means to render useless. One of the uses of this word is in reference to milk which has gone sour. Human nature, without Jesus, is a soured and useless thing. 

- Verse 12 is a reference to both Psalm 14:1-3 and Psalm 53:1-3 “1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. 3 All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” 

1) This passage is repeated verbatim, word for word in 2 different places in the Psalms. 

2) In this context, a fool is simply someone who rejects God. A fool (someone who rejects God) is corrupt and evil because to deny God’s existence allows wickedness to prevail. 

- Verse 13 is a reference to Psalm 5:9 and Psalm 140:3

• Romans 13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
• Psalm 5:9 “Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies.”
• Psalm 140:3 “They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips.”

- Verse 14 references Psalm 10:7

- Verse 17 references Psalm Isaiah 59:7-8

- Verse 18 references Psalm 36:1

- This type of speaking was a very common method of Rabbinic preaching at the time called charaz, which translated means “string of pearls”. 

- People without Christ are characterized by ignorance, indifference, crookedness, and worthlessness, our tongues are destructive, deceitful, and malignant, and our conduct marks oppression, unfairness, and unrest. All of this is a result of disregard for God. 

- How often in our own lives does our character align with the description that Paul makes in these verses? 

• “Their tongues practice deceit” - Do we lie to cover up our own shortcomings? Do we lie because of embarrassment? There are countless reasons we lie, and often times we come up with justifications for them.
• “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness” - When that person cut you off in traffic, what was your response? That person who made you mad, how did you respond?
• “Their feet are swift to shed blood” - While we may not physically shed blood very often (although, it DOES happen in today’s world, just download the Citizens app), how often is our response to have a desire to harm someone else? Jesus said in Mark 7:20-23 “He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come - sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

- “There is no one righteous, not even one”…

Righteousness through faith

- Does Paul leave us in a state of hopelessness in this chapter? By no means! 

Romans 3:21-26 “21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood - to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

- The law is designed to show people their own weakness and their own sinfulness. Only by understanding our sin can we begin to understand that we can never satisfy the law, on our own power, we can never overcome the power of sin. It is simply not possible. How, then, can we find our way to a right relationship with God? 

- THAT is the beauty of the Gospel, which Paul is describing in these verses. The way to right relationship with God is not the way of the law (earning our forgiveness, there is nothing that we can possibly do to earn righteousness), but it is the way of grace; not the way of works, but the way of faith. 

- From a commentary on the book of Romans by William Barclay: “Paul is insisting that nothing we can ever do can win for us the forgiveness of God; only what God has done for us can win that; therefore the way to a right relationship with God lies, not in a frenzied, desperate, doomed attempt to win acquittal by our performance; it lies in the humble, penitent acceptance of the love and grace which God offers us in Jesus Christ.”