We've been studying the Apostle Paul's logical argument that all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, have sinned and need a way to be made right with God. While the Jews have the advantage of possessing the law and the prophets and the promises, at the same time this is a disadvantage because, as Jesus said, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded." (Luke 12:48) While this may appear to give the Gentiles, who don't have the law, the advantage of claiming ignorance of God's requirements, this is actually a disadvantage because instead of communing with the one true God they have been bowing down to useless idols for thousands of years. So the conclusion Paul leads us to today is that one group really has no clear advantage over the other.
Every human being has made mistakes and has broken the laws of God. So what is the remedy for our failures? We must believe in and follow the One who is perfect. Paul is going to demonstrate for us today that works don't save our souls. Then in tomorrow's study he will naturally lead us to what does save our souls: faith.
"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." (Romans 3:9) He cautions his readers, "If you are a Jew, don't look down on the Gentiles. And if you are a Gentile, don't look down on the Jews. We are all lawbreakers. That puts us on even footing."
Now he quotes the words of King David to back up his argument, "As it is written: 'There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." (Romans 3:10-12) These quotes are from Psalm 14 and Psalm 53. David was grieved by the corrupt spiritual state of mankind. He recognized that there was nothing in man capable of saving himself, so in both of these psalms he cried with a broken heart, "Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!" (Psalm 14:7a, Psalm 53:6a) David knew that only a holy God was capable of making human beings holy, so he longed for the day when the Lord Himself would fulfill the plan of salvation. In Paul's day the thing David longed for has been fulfilled: salvation has come out of Zion. The Lord Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, of the tribe of Judah, of the line of King David, has come and He has performed a work for man that man could never have performed for himself.
Paul goes on to quote several other passages of Scripture to prove his point that every human being has sinned. "'Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.' 'The poison of vipers is on their lips.' 'Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.' 'Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.' 'There is no fear of God before their eyes.'" (Romans 3:13-18) These quotes are from Psalm 5:9, Psalm 140:3, Isaiah 59:7-8, and Psalm 36:1.
The apostle sums up our passage of Scripture today by saying, "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. 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." (Romans 3:19-20) If the law is unable to save then why was it given? If man is incapable of perfectly keeping the law then what use is it? The answer is that the law was given so man could realize his utter inability to live by it and so man would recognize his need for something more than the law to save his soul. The law's purpose was to lead unrighteous man to a righteous Redeemer.
The law, basically, condemns us. If salvation depends on perfectly keeping every point of the law, we are without hope. We can't do it. We can't keep our side of the bargain. If the law is a contract between God and man, then we have failed miserably in fulfilling the terms of the contract and God owes us nothing. We might as well throw our hands in the air and give up and say as Isaiah did when he saw the Lord, "Woe to me! I am undone!" (Isaiah 6:5) If the Lord had left us in that state we would all have been undone, but He says to us the same thing He said to Isaiah, "Your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for." (Isaiah 6:7b) How is our guilt taken away and our sin atoned for? By faith! By faith in the only One who ever kept the law, by faith in the One whose perfect works we trust, by God Himself who---in the person of Jesus Christ---obtained salvation for us!
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