Romans 3:9-20

 Scripture Verse

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.”

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ²⁰ Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

 No one righteous, not even one

Paul’s letter to the Romans applies to all of us Jews and Gentiles alike. Verse 9 states that Jews have no advantage over the Gentiles, we are all under the power of sin. Verse 10 clearly emphasize that “there is no one righteous, not even one” on both Jews and Gentile races. Personally, I am very much guilty as charged. Paul is saying that from God’s point of view no human beings have righteousness at all. We cannot possibly make ourselves acceptable to God by what we do. No one can satisfy or meet God’s standard of divine righteousness because by nature we cannot stop sinning having inherited it from our forefathers Adam and Eve but also from the bondage of human will. Verse 11 and 12 say human races do not understand, do not seek God but rather turned away from him and are considered worthless as no one does good in his sight (Romans 7:19, Galatians 5:17). What believers think of doing good does not equate to God’s meaning of goodness and righteousness. Many believers might think and say, “what are we doing then, aren’t we seeking God to have an intimate relationship with him”? Left on our own free will, and unaided by the supernatural work of God in our hearts, we cannot seek God (John 14:16, John 15:26 and 2 Timothy 2:19). This is true to me, I know and believe in my heart that if God has not or is not drawing me close to him, I will be as lost and astray as the many sinners alike. Verse 13 to 18 refers to the human race’s violent acts and no fear of God. We want to do good, especially as believers, but our sinful nature does the opposite (Matthew 12:34-35. Psalm 36:1). Paul concludes in verse 19 and 20 that no one is declared righteous in the sight of God by observing the law, rather the law makes us conscious or points us to our sin. The only way anyone will ever be saved is by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Reference from BSF Lesson 5: series II

Prayer:

Father, thank you for forgiving me of my sins and the world at large and for giving your only son Jesus as atonement so that we may have eternal life. We are forever grateful! In Jesus name we pray.