Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

An overview of chapter 3 before we go into the verse by verse study.

What does Romans Chapter 3 mean?

Romans 3 begins with a question-and-answer session, as if between Paul and an imagined opponent. Paul poses questions, much like those one would expect from someone taking issue with what Paul wrote in Romans chapter 2. This opponent asks what advantage there is to being a Jew, if the law can’t keep individual Jewish people from facing God’s judgment for their sin. Paul insists there is an advantage to Israel, as a nation, in that they have been given the “oracles”—the Word—of God. He then shows that God remains faithful to Israel in spite of her faithlessness. In fact, Israel’s unrighteousness only serves to further prove God’s righteousness. That does not mean, of course, that God wishes for people to sin more and more to make Him look better (Romans 3:1–8).

Next, Paul’s shadow questioner asks if Jews are better off than Gentiles. This time, Paul says no. Every single person, Jew and Gentile, is under sin. Having the law doesn’t change that. Paul strings together a series of quotes from the Old Testament Scriptures to show that God’s Word has always taught that all humans are sinful. He begins with “none is righteous, no, not one” from Psalm 14:1. Then he quotes several verses to show how humans have always used our bodies—our throats, tongues, lips, feet, and eyes—to express our sinfulness. Then Paul delivers his most damning and conclusive sentence, yet: No human being will be justified in God’s sight by following the works of the law. The law brings knowledge of sin but no hope of salvation (Romans 3:9–20).

Finally, though, Paul turns to the point of his letter to the Christians in Rome. The law can never justify us, but Paul reveals that there is a way to be declared righteous in the eyes of God apart from the law. It is available through faith in Christ for all who believe. True, all have sinned and fall short of being able to participate in God’s glory. But we can be justified—declared righteous before God—through God’s grace as a gift. This is something we could never earn. Salvation is possible through the atoning sacrifice of Christ’s blood when He died on the cross to pay for our sin. God is the one who put Christ forward to be sacrificed in this way to show His own righteousness. Our sin must be paid for. God’s just anger must be satisfied, and it was satisfied in Christ’s death. That allowed God to become not the executioner but the justifier of everyone who has faith in Jesus (Romans 3:21–28).

Paul closes out the chapter by emphasizing that this gift is available to be received by everyone, both Jews and Gentiles alike. Nobody can earn it. Nobody deserves it. All who come by faith may receive it (Romans 3:29–31).

Verse by Verse

Verse 1: Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?

Paul anticipates that some readers may take his words in the previous verses to suggest there is no advantage to being a member of God’s chosen people, Israel. After all, Paul wrote that all people, both the Jews and Gentiles, have earned God’s judgment with our sinfulness. Those under the law of Moses, the Jews, have all broken the law. The fact that they have the law and even that they are circumcised, as all male Jews were, will not keep them from answering to God for their own personal sin.

In that sense, Paul has said, there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles. So is there any advantage to being included in the Jewish people and being circumcised, as God has commanded? Paul answers this question using a sort of back-and-forth approach in the following verses. By posing these questions, and providing answers, Paul gives a very direct counter to anyone who might raise those points in objection to his teachings.

Verse 2: Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

Paul is asking a series of questions, ones to be expected from an opponent to his teaching in Romans chapter 2. There, he wrote that individual Jewish people will stand before God’s judgment for their sins. This will happen even though the people of Israel had been given the law, and even if they have been circumcised. This is because each of the Jews—individually—have broken God’s law, just as every Gentile has also sinned. So Paul raises the logical question in the previous verse: What’s the point, then, of being a Jew? Is there any advantage? Does it matter that they are circumcised?

Now he answers that question with a definite “yes.” There is “much advantage in every way.” God’s chosen people benefit in many ways, starting with this one: They were entrusted with the “oracles of God.” In other words, the Jewish people were given the enormous privilege of receiving and handing down the very words of God to all people.

Paul’s point in Romans 2 was not that belonging to Israel was of no value at all. His point was simply that Jewishness, itself, would not keep any person from answering to God’s judgment for his or her sin. Paul will list more of the benefits that come with being of the Jewish people in Romans 9:1–5.

Verse 3: What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?

Paul is staging a question-and-answer session between himself and an imagined critic of his words in chapter 2. Now he asks the next logical question: “What if some were unfaithful?” By this, Paul seems to be pointing to what he said in the previous chapter. The Jewish people were given God’s law, but they did not keep it. As a nation and as individuals, every Jewish person had sinned. Nobody can keep the law perfectly, and even those who had been “entrusted with the oracles of God” (Romans 3:2) were not immune to sin.

Paul’s questioner follows by asking, does the unfaithfulness of some of the Jewish people nullify God’s faithfulness to His people? Does their sin make His faithfulness pointless? In other words, does the fact that those under the law broke the law, that they sinned as all people do, mean that God will no longer be faithful to them?

In the following verse, Paul will answer this question with a loud and emphatic “no.”

Verse 4: By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words,and prevail when you are judged.”

In the previous verse, Paul imagined someone asking a pointed question: If the Jewish people broke the law of God, does that mean He will no longer be faithful to them?

Paul answers with one of his favorite emphatic phrases. In modern English, this might be stated, loudly, as “no way!” In Greek, it reads “mē genoito,” literally meaning “let it not be” or “may it never be so.” English translations use the phrases such as “God forbid,” “Not at all,” and “By no means!” This exclamation is repeated many times in Romans.

Paul insists that God’s faithfulness does not depend on human faithfulness. The sentence, “God will be true even if every man is a liar” may come from Psalm 116:11. “I said in my alarm, “All mankind are liars.”” Then Paul quotes directly from Psalm 51:4 ” Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” to describe this aspect of God’s character: “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”

In other words, God always keeps His word and remains faithful to His people no matter what they do. That’s why His words and judgments are justified. He never ever breaks His side of any covenant agreement.

Verse 5: But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)

For the third time in a row, Paul asks a question of himself, as if challenging his own statements at the end of Romans chapter 2. There, he wrote that all people, both Gentiles and Jews, will be judged by God for their sin. Jews will not be spared God’s judgment because they have the law or have been circumcised. Those things matter, but all Jews have broken the law just as all Gentiles have been sinful.

Now Paul’s imagined questioner asks a more pointed question. In essence, he asks, “If God’s righteousness is revealed by our unrighteousness—by our sinfulness—why would God inflict His anger on us? Isn’t that unfair? In fact, doesn’t that make God Himself unrighteous?” Put another way, “If our being bad makes God look good, why is God angry with us? Why would He punish us, especially those of us in His chosen people Israel?”

Paul includes an aside here, clarifying that he is speaking from a purely human perspective, using a human argument. Many translations put that last sentence in parenthesis to show that Paul is breaking character from this questioner to make it clear to his readers just how ridiculous this question is. This is also intended, by Paul, to clarify that this is not a statement or teaching which he, himself, is making. Rather, this is a point Paul is posing simply to clarify what he is not saying in this letter.

Paul will answer this imagined question with a resounding “no” in the following verses.

Verse 6: By no means! For then how could God judge the world?

Paul is asking and answering a series of questions. These are challenges he supposes someone would ask in response to his teaching at the end of Romans chapter 2. In the previous verse, the question discussed the fairness of God’s anger and judgment on human sin. If God’s righteousness is revealed by humanity’s unrighteousness, isn’t that good, in a way? Doesn’t that make God’s righteousness all the more impressive? How can He be justified in judging us in His anger, then—especially those of us who are His chosen people Israel? Doesn’t that make Him unrighteous, to condemn us for the very thing that makes His righteousness apparent?

Paul now returns to his own voice to shout, in a sense, “No!” Again, he uses the Greek words “mē genoito“: “may it never be.” Paul answers this idea with a logical counter-question, “How could God judge the world if He were in any way unrighteous?” God’s role as judge over all of mankind requires that God be above judgment Himself by being perfect in His righteousness. God is the standard of judgment, in the first place.

At first this sounds like a circular argument: Is God unfair to judge human sin? No, because He must be fair to judge human sin! However, a closer look shows the circle is moving in the opposite direction: Because God is righteous, He is rightfully the judge. Because He is the judge, He must express His justified anger against the sinfulness of humanity, even if that faithlessness ultimately only goes to further prove how holy He is.

This challenge—that the gospel of grace implies a license to sin—is one Paul will return to later, particularly in chapter 6. For now, as shown in the next verses, he seems to dismiss the argument by calling it slanderous (Romans 3:8).

Verse 7: But if through my lie God ‘s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?

Paul returns again to the question raised in verse 5, somewhat re-phrasing it, using a more specific example. This challenge strikes at Paul’s argument about God’s judgment on human sinfulness. The basic claim is this: If telling a lie further displays God’s truthfulness, leading to His glory, why should He condemn me for that lie? Paul has previously said that our sin does indeed result in proving God’s righteous sinlessness. So if our sin brings glory to Him, in a sense, should He really condemn us for it?

Paul states in the following verse that some people were accusing him of teaching exactly this: that human sin leads to God’s glory, so we might as well do more of it. Paul refutes the very idea of this in two directions. First, God’s righteousness means, by definition, that He cannot be unrighteous. He is the standard of goodness and truth, so His judgment of our sin is by definition completely fair and justified. We deserve it.

Second, as Paul will write in the following verses, human sinfulness is inevitable. We do not sin, in any way, with an intent to bring glory to God. We sin because we are sinners. Later, Paul will more directly refute that salvation is a license to sin (Romans 6:1). For now, particularly in the next verse, he will brush aside this criticism as rank slander (Romans 3:8).

Verse 8: And why not do evil that good may come? — as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

Paul finally gets to the heart of one reason for the question-and-answer format he has been using. He is answering the slanderous charges of some of his accusers. Because Paul teaches that human sinfulness demonstrates God to be completely righteous—because He remains faithful even when we do not—they have been saying that Paul is telling people to keep sinning. Paul calls this for what it is: slander, a deliberate, dishonest lie meant to damage his reputation and his efforts.

These critics go so far as to say that the logical outcome of Paul’s teaching is to provoke people to sin more to make more good: “Why not do evil that good may come?” Paul has described this as a human argument (Romans 3:5). It clearly does not make any sense. It sounds like the twisted logic of a condemned man trying to talk himself out of punishment he has earned.

In fact, this is such a foolish idea that Paul doesn’t even bother to debate it, at least not now. The fact that God remains righteous and faithful in the face of human sinfulness does not mean that God wants humans to sin more. It means that He is being consistent to His own nature.

Instead of arguing the point further, Paul simply says this of those who are accusing him of telling people to go on sinning: “Their condemnation is just.” In other words, they have earned God’s wrath. He will return to a more detailed look at this challenge, later in this letter (Romans 6:1).

Verse 9: What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,

Paul seems to repeat the question from the beginning of this chapter when he asked, “What is the advantage of being a Jew?” There he said there was much advantage in every way. After all, God had given to the Jews His own words in the law.

Now, though, Paul responds to the question, “Are we Jews better off?” much differently. He says they are not. Paul points out once more that every person is “under sin,” whether Jewish or Gentile. In other words, the Jewish people do have an advantage on a national level. They are God’s chosen people and the receivers of great promises from Him. God remains faithful to His covenants with them. And, as members of God’s chosen people, they have particularly close access to God’s words and revelations.

However, on a personal level, there is no extra advantage to being Jewish when it comes to being judged by God for sin. Jewish or Gentile, God will hold every person accountable for their actions.

The following verses will show that by the standards of that judgment, every last human being ought to be deemed unrighteous before God for our sinfulness.

Verse 10: as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

Paul has proclaimed in the previous verse that everyone, Jew and non-Jew alike, is “under sin.” He is showing that Jews cannot hope to be shielded from God’s judgment for their personal sin, simply because they belong to the nation of Israel. Every person, Jew or Gentile, will be judged by God on the basis of their own right and wrong choices. By that standard, every person, Jew or Gentile, will be found to be “under sin” or guilty and deserving of God’s anger.

Now Paul begins to back up that claim with a series of quotes from the Hebrew Scriptures—what we now call the Old Testament. He wants to show that this idea of universal sinfulness is not a new idea. David wrote the same thing in Psalm 14:3, “There is none who does good, not even one.” The following two verses will complete the reference, which thoroughly eliminates the possibility that any person has ever “done good” sufficient to make them holy in the eyes of God.

This verse is often-quoted, and for good reason. The idea that all people—without exception—are in need of salvation is a key point of the gospel. Scripture leaves no room for anyone to claim they are “good enough” to deserve heaven. Paul will return to this same idea, using different phrasing, in Romans 3:23.

Verse 11: no one understands;no one seeks for God.

Paul is citing Psalm 14 to back up his statement that all people, both Jews and Gentiles, are “under sin.” The previous verse is one of the most-often quoted in the Bible, which states clearly that no person—not even one—is righteous before God on their own merits. That verse began a quote that continues here. Paul’s version here shortens what David wrote in Psalm 14:2: “The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.”

The point of David’s original statement was that God did not declare all of humanity guilty of sin after a quick glance. God was not merely noticing the worst examples of humanity. He symbolically “searched” to see if anyone understood God or looked for Him. Nobody did. This is a crucial truth, one fundamental to the gospel: nobody seeks after God without help from Him to do so. We don’t get it, and we don’t want to. That’s our nature.

Verse 12: All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;no one does good,not even one.”

Paul is quoting from Psalm 14 to show that his bold statements are not new ideas, even if the Jewish religious leaders have misunderstood or forgotten them. Judging by Paul’s remarks here, it was commonly held that the Jewish people had the law and were circumcised, therefore they were therefore a righteous people in God’s eyes. This would have led people to feel protected from God’s judgment. Paul has contradicted that idea, teaching that every individual person will be judged by God for their actions, whether right or wrong. And every one of us will be found to be “under sin” and deserving of God’s anger. Verse 10, which began this citation, makes this clear by stating that there is “not one” who is naturally righteous.

Paul’s paraphrase of David’s words in Psalm 14:3 describes what God found when he searched humanity looking for any righteous—sinless—people. Of course, God already knew the outcome, but Scripture states this to emphasize that it’s something clear and obvious. We have all turned aside from following God’s path. We have all become worthless; we are all corrupt. Not one single person is found to do good, by the standards of a holy and perfect Creator.

Neither of these Scriptures implies that no human ever does anything that can be described as good. Of course, people do isolated good things all of the time, at least by our standards. We are capable of knowing the difference between right and wrong, and choosing what is right…when we want to. The ultimate problem, as David wrote and Paul agreed, is that nobody’s heart is naturally oriented toward doing good. We are all, every one of us, pointed in a self-serving direction and away from God’s definition of goodness.

The bottom line is that humans are capable of doing good, but we universally choose not to, by God’s standards. We want what we want and not what He wants.

Verse 13: “Their throat is an open grave;they use their tongues to deceive.””The venom of asps is under their lips.”

Paul is quoting from the Old Testament Scriptures, the sacred text that his Jewish readers would recognize and respect. His purpose is to show that his statements about every person being “under sin” are not a new idea. The last few verses drew on Psalm 14, which indicated that God sees a universal trend in humanity towards sin and disobedience. Though we may be able to do good things, sometimes, we all choose not to follow God’s goodness all the time. This means nobody—not one person—can be considered “righteous” according to their own efforts.

This and the following verses list several ways people use our human body parts to express our sinful nature. Paul begins with the voice, quoting from Psalm 5:9 where David declares that the throats of his enemies are open graves. “For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave;” This carries two ideas. First, in Jewish thinking, graves are tainted by death, and are therefore corrupt. Anything taken from a grave would be ceremonially unclean. The phrase could also mean that the effect of their words is death and decay. Also from Psalm 5:9, Paul points to the tongue as a source of deception. The deception David referred to was flattery—a dishonest use of words.

Paul moves from throat to tongue to lips and a quote from Psalm 140:3. “They make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s, and under their lips is the venom of asps.” There, David referred to evil men with the venom of asps—deadly snakes—under their lips. In other words, words from the mouths of his enemies could quickly poison and kill.

Paul’s use of David’s words here is meant to expand on David’s original description. David referred to his enemies’ mouths—Paul is pointing to the sins of every single person who has ever lived. We all have used our words, our mouths, for sinful purposes. That is who we are apart from God’s help and power.

Verse 14: “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

In this passage, Paul is pointing out that no person—not even one—can claim to be righteous on the basis of our own efforts. Starting with the often-quoted verse 10, Paul cited an Old Testament Scripture which supported his point, beginning with Psalm 14. After making this point through verse 12, Paul moved to uncover the way humans use our bodies to express our sinfulness. He began in the previous verse with the throat, tongue, and lips; these are references to human speech. He quoted from the Old Testament to back up his statement that all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, are under sin and accountable to God’s judgment.

Now Paul continues by quoting what the writer of Psalm 10:7 said about the mouths of the wicked. “His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.” Paul is making the case that all of us are, by nature, wicked. Our mouths are full of curses or cursing. Based on the language and context, this is likely a reference to calling for bad things to happen to each other, as opposed to profanity or other forms of swearing. In addition, our mouths are also full of bitterness. In other words, we use our mouths to express our resentment and hatred toward other people made in God’s image, wishing for harm to come to them.

Verse 15: “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

Paul moves from the mouth to the feet in his description of the sinfulness of all human beings, including both Jews and Gentiles. He has been quoting from the Old Testament to back up his statement that all people are under sin and deserving of God’s anger. Feet, as used symbolically in Scripture, are representative of the intentions and actions of men. Where a person’s feet go, they go; the feet are simply the mechanism by which a person “goes to” certain places. Spiritually, then, the feet symbolize the intents and behaviors of a person.

In that respect, another way we express our sinfulness is with feet that are quick to shed blood. Paul references Isaiah 59:7–8, “Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways. The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace.” In this and the following two verses. By nature, people are quick to hurt each other when we think it will help ourselves. Causing pain to others is a barrier we are willing and ready to cross.

James put it this way: “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel” (James 4:2). This is normal human behavior, but it rightly earns for us the angry judgment of God.

Verse 16: in their paths are ruin and misery,

Paul is in the middle of quoting from Isaiah 59:7–8. He is demonstrating that all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, are guilty of sin and deserving of God’s anger. In previous verses, he quoted from Psalms to show how we use our mouths to express our sinfulness. Now he is using Isaiah’s words to show how we use our feet to carry us into sin. The feet are used in Scripture as a metaphor for human actions and intentions. A person goes where their feet go, so when a person’s feet rush to violence, it means they are quick to aggression and vengeance.

In the previous verse, Paul agreed with Isaiah that our feet are quick to carry us into bloodshed. Now he continues that where our feet carry us, ruin and misery follow. Isaiah put it even more colorfully, “…desolation and destruction are in their highways.”

As stated in Psalm 14—cited in Romans 3:10—evidence that human beings are sinful by nature is everywhere. Every place people have been is touched by ruin and misery, desolation and destruction. Because of our sinfulness, humanity leaves sadness and pain along every path we follow.

Verse 17: and the way of peace they have not known.”

Paul concludes his reference of Isaiah 59:7–8 here. He has used Isaiah’s words to provide more Old Testament evidence that human beings are sinful by nature. We all deserve God’s angry judgment, no exceptions (Romans 3:10), and no excuses (Romans 1:18–20). Paul has agreed with Isaiah that our feet are quick to carry us toward hurting others—including bloodshed—and that we leave misery behind everywhere we go.

Now Paul quotes the last line of Isaiah 59:8 to show something even worse. It’s bad enough that our feet carry us into sinfulness and violence. But when it comes to mankind, in general, we don’t know how to do anything else. Apart from God’s intervention, human beings have never experienced the “way of peace” or a peaceful path. We can’t find it. We don’t know how to go that way. It’s not our nature to walk away from sin and conflict; we create it along the way.

Paul will soon show, however, that with God’s help, through faith in Christ and by God’s grace, we can escape the sinful, painful paths of sin and walk in the way of righteousness. We just cannot do it on our own.

Verse 18: “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

In the longest string of Old Testament quotes in Paul’s letters, he has shown how human beings use our bodies to express our sinful natures. When we speak, sin comes out. Everywhere we walk, we leave sin behind. And now, he points out that we never use our eyes to look at the fear—or “respect”—of God.

This final quote comes from Psalm 36:1, where David describes “the wicked” as having no fear of God before their eyes. Paul insists that all of us, every human being, Jew and Gentiles alike, meet this description (Romans 3:10). We are not righteous. We each deserve God’s angry judgment for our sinfulness.

Our sin, in this case, is that we ignore or trivialize God. We bring Him down to our size in our hearts. Perhaps we pretend that He does not exist, in spite of the fact that God has revealed Himself and His nature by what He has made (Romans 1:20). Or we might deceive ourselves into thinking that God cannot find out our sin (Psalm 36:2), ” For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.” or that He will not judge us for it. That lack of respect for God’s righteousness, His power, and His willingness to act, is eternally fatal.

However, Paul will soon show that there is hope for us through faith in Christ.

Verse 19: Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

Paul sums up his case that the law cannot protect anyone from God’s judgment of their own, personal sinfulness. Anyone who believes that is deceiving themselves. Paul writes that the law speaks to those under the law. And what does it say? It says, “You can’t keep the law.” This was the conclusion supported by Paul’s prior references to the Old Testament: that nobody lives a life of “righteousness” in comparison to the standards of God.

In other words, Moses’ law, God’s gift to Israel, does not provide any protection from God’s eternal judgment for human sin. Not for Jews, nor for Gentiles. Instead, the law reveals just how much we humans sin. It forces us to agree with God that we deserve His anger because we now understand all of the ways in which we have sinned against Him.

In this way, Paul writes, it shuts every mouth. Put another way, the law takes away all of our arguments and excuses that we are worthy of God’s approval on our own merits. Clearly, the law shows us, we are not.

This is true for every individual in the “whole world,” Paul declares. Both Jews and Gentiles will be held accountable to God. On our own, all of us would be found to be guilty, to be “under sin.” Soon, though, Paul will show us the opportunity to be declared righteous before God through faith in Christ. He’s not quite there yet, however.

Verse 20: For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

In the next verse, Paul will turn to God’s plan to offer righteousness to sinful humans through faith in Christ. He’s not there yet, however. With this verse, he concludes his argument that every single person deserves God’s angry judgment against our sinfulness, even those who live under the law of Moses (Romans 3:10).

The law was indeed God’s gift to Israel, but it was not the path to being righteous in God’s sight. Paul puts it bluntly: No human being will be justified in God’s sight by works of the law. Why is this? Because no human being is able to keep the works of the law perfectly. We are sinners by nature. Every single person, without exception, chooses to do what they know is wrong, at least sometimes.

The law is a gift because it proves to us, to Jews and Gentiles, just how sinful we are. Without God’s written description of human righteousness in the law, we might be tempted to argue that we are pretty good people. When we compare our lives with the rules of the law, however, we must finally admit that we are desperate sinners. We violate God’s law in more ways than we can count.

The law brings knowledge of sin and the ultimate conclusion that we deserve God’s judgment. That’s not the end of the story, though. In the very next verse, Paul begins to describe a path to righteousness for us that is available “apart from the law.”

Verse 21: But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it —

The words “but now” that begin this verse may be two of the most important words in all of the Bible. Paul has just said in the previous verse that “by works of the law no human being will be justified” in God’s sight. Nobody can keep the law perfectly, and no person lives a life worthy of God’s righteousness (Romans 3:10). Things sounds bleak for us. If even law-followers cannot escape God’s angry judgment, what hope do any of us have?

Finally, Paul turns the corner to the main point of Romans: “But now.” Something crucial has changed in human history. The thing none of us could live up to—God’s righteousness—has now been manifested, or “made known,” apart from the law. In other words, Paul will go on to say, there is hope. There is a path to the righteousness of God which does not require us to keep God’s law.

Paul adds that this new thing has not been unexpected. The Law and the Prophets have been pointing to God’s righteousness all along. In fact, it was always God’s plan to arrive at this “but now” as a way for humans to be saved. Paul describes how to come into this righteousness in the following verse.

Verse 22: the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:

Paul has thoroughly and completely eliminated the possibility that anyone can be made right with God by following the law. Simply put, absolutely nobody seeks God sufficiently to earn the label “righteous” (Romans 3:10). That means all people, Jew and Gentile, deserve the wrath of God for sin. Having said that, and making it clear that no person has any hope of heaven by their own efforts, Paul has suddenly thrown open the door to another way to be made righteous. To be made righteous before God is the only way to be saved from God’s wrath.

Paul sums up very clearly that the righteousness of God is available to humans through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. How is this possible? Paul will go on to show that only Jesus ever kept the law perfectly. He then died for the sins of all of us lawbreakers. When we place our faith in Jesus, God gives us credit for His righteousness and receives Jesus’ payment of His own death for our sin.

The verse ends with the beginning of a new thought: “There is no distinction.” Paul means that there is no difference between any groups of human beings. He will say in the next verse that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. This includes every kind of people group: Jews, Gentiles, men, women, the oppressed, the oppressors, those who do good works and those who do not. Everyone sins, and none of us earn God’s glory.

Verse 23: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 3:23 is another of the best-known and most often-quoted verses in all of the Bible. This expresses an idea which is key to understanding how to be saved from God’s wrath and included in His family. A key point to understanding this verse is its context. Verses 21, 22, and 23 combine to points out that all people, without distinction, are equally deserving of wrath for our sin, and all people who are justified, without distinction, are justified through Jesus Christ.

The statement here is short and to the point: Everyone sins. Everyone has sinned. There is no one who does not sin (Romans 3:10). This further emphasizes the point Paul drew from Old Testament Scriptures earlier in this chapter. There is no escape from this label. Paul does not offer any category besides “sinner,” and everyone falls into it. The previous verse emphasized that there is “no distinction.” The most moral of humans—relatively speaking—and the most perverse of humans are all in the same container: “sinner.”

Worse, knowing the difference between right and wrong, even the law given by God, doesn’t make us moral. The Greek word translated as “fall short” here is in the present tense. In reality, we keep on falling short. In other words, even knowing the consequences of our sinfulness is not enough to keep us from sinning (Romans 1:18–20).

Because none of us are sinless, all of us fall short of God’s glory. That matters, because we cannot be saved from God’s angry judgment against our sin except by being sinless. That is God’s standard, and we all fall short of His “glory” because of our sin. God’s glory, or the glory of Himself and His kingdom, is what He shares with those who are in His family, His children. Our sin, though, keeps us from sharing in His glory.

Fortunately, Paul follows this famous verse with the next one. It describes how we may reach God’s glory, after all.

Verse 24: and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

The previous verse described the universal human tragedy: Every one of us has sinned. Because of that sin, we have all fallen short of being able to participate in the glories of God and His family. In direct terms, this means nobody deserves heaven; we all have earned separation from God as a result of our own actions.

This verse describes the universal opportunity for every person. In spite of our sin, God has made it possible for us to be justified—declared righteous and sinless—by His grace. It is essential to understand what the Bible means by the word “grace.” Grace is receiving a good thing when we deserve a bad thing. Paul describes it that way here. God gives to us the opportunity to be justified in His eyes “as a gift.”

As Paul has already made clear: We cannot be justified by following the works of the law. Why? Because none of us can do so without breaking the law. Everyone sins in that way. That’s why God must justify us by His grace, as a gift we could never earn. This gift is given through faith in Christ to “all who believe” (Romans 3:22).

Paul adds another important word to this verse: redemption. God gives to us this gift of grace, this opportunity to be included in His family and to participate in His glory, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Redemption comes from a very specific word in the Greek. Apolytrōs󠅍eōs literally means “a ransom payment.” Our sin held us captive, unable to be included in God’s family. The price of our sin was death. Jesus paid that price when He died for our sin on the cross. He paid the ransom for us. He redeemed us. He received the anger of God’s judgment on our sin in His own body.

Verse 25: whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God ‘s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

The previous verse concluded with the statement about God’s gift of grace. God’s justifying of us—His making us righteous—came through the redemption that is in Jesus.

Now Paul writes that God put Christ, His Son, forward as a “propitiation.” This is yet another weighty and meaningful theological word. Propitiation comes from the Greek term, hilastērion, which means “sacrifice of atonement.” God literally gave Jesus over as the blood sacrifice to pay the debt of (or to atone for) our personal sins. It’s also important to note that this same term, hilastērion, is used in Hebrews 9:5 to describe the “mercy seat:” the place on the ark of the covenant where blood was placed for atonement (Exodus 25:17).

In other words, God expressed all of his righteous anger against our sin on Christ on the cross to the point of death, paying what we owed in full. This gift of the sacrifice of God’s own Son to atone for our own sin must be received, Paul writes. We must receive this gift by faith. In fact, Paul will make clear through the rest of this letter that faith in this gift, this act by Christ on our behalf, is the only way for anyone to be made righteous before God and to be included in His family.

This brings us to a great question: Why did God do this for us? Why would He do this? The answer Paul gives is that it is because of God’s righteousness or justice. God did not say, “Your sins don’t matter; I’ll just ignore them.” He fully poured out His justice against sin when sinless Jesus was sacrificed for sin on the cross.

Paul shows that this includes the sins of the past, before Christ died on the cross. He writes that God “passed over” those previous sins in an act of divine patience and perfect timing. Again, it’s not that God failed to punish those old sins. It’s that He stored up His punishment and poured it out on Jesus to fully satisfy the payment for those “former sins.”

Verse 26: It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Paul repeats and expands on what he has just written in the previous verse. Why did God hand Jesus over as a sacrifice to atone for our sin with His blood? Why did He make it possible for us to be redeemed from our sin and the death we had earned with it?

Paul now answers that God did it to show His own righteousness when the right time had come. God showed He was just. His sacrifice of His Son for our sin made it possible for Him to offer to us eternal life without leaving human sinfulness unpunished. In addition to His love, God demonstrated His justice, His righteousness. More than that, God also wanted to be the “justifier” of those who have faith in Jesus. Only the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross accomplished both of these goals: to uphold the justness of God, and the merciful love of God.

When we trust in Christ for our salvation, for our place in God’s family, our sin is forgiven. God is no longer the executioner-in-waiting. He becomes the “justifier.” He changes His verdict from “guilty” to “redeemed.” And He can do this with perfect holiness and perfect righteousness, because those sins have, in fact, been punished.

Verse 27: Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.

Paul has shown that there is a way to be made righteous before God. However, this does not include perfectly keeping the works of the law—since nobody can, or does (Romans 3:10, 23). Instead, God handed over His own sinless Son to be the sacrifice to fully and completely pay the price for our sin. This upholds God’s just-ness and righteousness, but punishing sin, as well as upholding His loving mercy. As a result, those who place their faith in Christ can now be redeemed and justified by God. We are welcomed into His family forever.

Now Paul turns back to our response. What can we possibly say? He asks, “What becomes of our boasting?” Paul is referring to the inevitable pride that comes with religious rule-following, as men and women compete to be morally superior to each other in order to be more acceptable to God. Paul says that game has become pointless. God has done all the work and offers His full acceptance to all by faith in Christ alone.

Paul anticipates an objection. Where is this written, that we can’t boast in our own salvation? What kind of rule is this? Shouldn’t we have this in black and white? Paul says no. That’s the point. He calls it the “law of faith.” Being made right before God in this way is all about faith in what God has done for us in and through Jesus. It’s not about any law we can try to follow in our own strength and therefore be judged by.

Verse 28: For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

This verse is a summary of what Paul has written in Romans 3:21–27. It also serves as a useful, concise proof that our salvation is not, in any sense, dependent on good deeds, rituals, sacraments, or other behaviors. Prior verses made it clear: we cannot and will not be seen as righteous before God on the basis of our own efforts (Romans 3:10). However, unless God declares a person to be “justified”—righteous, having no sin in need of punishment—that person cannot be with God. The unjustified person has earned God’s angry judgment.

Paul has shown that nobody is able to reach this level of being justified by following the works of the law. Human beings can’t do it. We sin. It’s in our nature. Once we have sinned, the price of our sin is to be excluded from God’s glory (Romans 3:23).

Thankfully, God provides a way—but only one way—for humans to be declared “justified.” This comes through faith and not through works of the law. Later, Paul will expand on this to further prove that this salvation is entirely on the basis of faith, with no contribution or requirement of works, whatsoever (Romans 4:3; 11:6).

Verse 29: Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,

Paul knew that some religious Jews would object to what He was writing. Many still believed they would not be judged by God for their own personal sin because they were circumcised and followed the law—because they were law-observant Jews. Paul has carefully dismantled the logic behind that belief. First, nobody can follow the law perfectly, which means nobody can be deemed righteous in God’s eyes on the basis of the law (Romans 3:10). Second, God holds all people to the same moral standards, since He gives all people an opportunity to recognize and seek Him (Romans 1:18–20).

Now Paul continues with two questions: Is God only the God of the Jews? Many Jews throughout Israel’s history may have said yes to that question. Paul says “No, God is also the God of the Gentiles—the non-Jews.” He is the only God, after all. All people must answer to Him. Therefore, it makes sense that God’s perfect, ultimate, righteous judgment would carry the same standards for all people.

Verse 30: since God is one — who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

This completes a thought begun in the previous verse. Paul has just written that God is the God of both the Jews and the Gentiles. Many Jewish people throughout Israel’s history might have objected to that statement. In their minds, God was Israel’s God. The Gentile nations worshiped a collection of other gods and idols, so they could not claim the One True God as their own.

Paul’s point however is that “God is one.” In other words, there are no other gods. Gentiles will not stand before the judgment seat of Baal, or Zeus, or any other false god after they die. Those gods literally do not exist. Rather, all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, are accountable to the one, true God for their sin and for their faith.

In both cases, the only hope to be declared righteous by God, to be justified, is faith in Christ. When it comes to that judgment, God will justify the circumcised, meaning Jewish people, and the uncircumcised, meaning everyone else, through faith in Christ. The people of Israel have some advantage in their special relationship to God (Romans 3:1–2), but they will be held accountable to the exact same standards as anyone else (Romans 3:9–10).

Verse 31: Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Romans 3 concludes with Paul addressing one more imagined objection from religious Jews who might be reading these words: “So you’re just throwing out the law of Moses and starting from scratch, then? The law is out and faith is in just because you say so?”

Paul uses his standard emphatic response to these kinds of questions: “By no means!” This is the phrase mē genoito in Greek. Paul insists that his teaching about faith in Christ does not overthrow or nullify the law. Instead, it upholds or establishes the law.

That statement, of course, raises all kinds of questions from both sides. Does Paul mean that the law is still in effect and we must all, Jews and Gentiles alike, be circumcised and keep its commands? Is Paul going to try to blend the works of the law into faith in Christ as a way to be acceptable to God? That’s exactly what some Jewish religious leaders wanted Paul to do. Romans chapter 4, though, will explain exactly what Paul means when he says that his teaching upholds the law.