A SUSTAINED ANALYSIS
Opening Prayer
Patient One, I thank You for Your wise and loving care. Today, may Your Spirit lead me, and Your shield protect me.
Read ROMANS 3:9–20
No One Is Righteous
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.”[a]
13 “Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”[b]
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”[c]
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”[d]
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.”[e]
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”[f]
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.
Footnotes
- Romans 3:12 Psalms 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Eccles. 7:20
- Romans 3:13 Psalm 5:9
- Romans 3:13 Psalm 140:3
- Romans 3:14 Psalm 10:7 (see Septuagint)
- Romans 3:17 Isaiah 59:7,8
- Romans 3:18 Psalm 36:1
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
Take time today to confess your sins and to receive grace to help you in time of need.1
Think Further
Paul states the seriousness of the situation: we have all yielded to the power of sin. We have turned from the source of life (vs 12,18) and vandalized our own lives and the peace of creation (vs 15–17) by turning from what is good. In the process we have spread abroad ruin and misery (v 16). Before rejecting these words as an exaggeration, we should reflect. Researchers indicate that between 60 and 100 billion human souls have so far lived and died on this planet. How many of these people have led the kind of righteous, worthy lives that God intends (v 12)? Sin is universal, corporate, individual and destructive. By now we may conclude that Paul has made his point. Whether we think of the Law given to Israel or the law that is given in our consciences,2 we are all accountable to God (v 19); and we all fail (v 20).
The word ‘law’ is difficult to interpret in Paul’s writings because he uses it in different ways at different points. On this occasion, and others, the law has a negative function: it exposes us. It itemizes the ways in which we fail to do right. Yet it fails to empower us to become righteous. It offers no remedy – but another remedy does lie at hand.
Apply
‘We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way’.3
Closing prayer
Forgive me Lord, for rebelling against You, my rightful and loving King. Forgive me for the disappointment I have caused You.
1 Heb 4:16 2 Rom 2:14,15 3 Isa 53:6
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