Scripture Daily

Context No. 1235 of 4322 · Romans

Context · Reflection

Romans 3:9-18: in context

9What then? Are we better than they? No, in no way. For we previously warned both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. 10As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one. 11There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God. 12They have all turned away. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not so much as one.” 13“Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit.” “The poison of vipers is under their lips.” 14“Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” 15“Their feet are swift to shed blood. 16Destruction and misery are in their ways. 17The way of peace, they haven’t known.” 18“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Paul reaches the verdict of his long argument, and it is sweeping: all, both Jew and Greek, are under sin. He stacks up quotation after quotation from scripture to prove it: none is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God; all have turned aside; no one does good, not even one. He describes throats like open graves, tongues that deceive, lips full of poison and cursing, feet swift to shed blood, and a road that never finds peace. And the root of it all, in the last line: there is no fear of God before their eyes.

This is one of the humbling passages in scripture, and it is meant to level everyone. Paul is not describing some especially wicked group; he is describing all humanity, himself included, drawing on the scriptures to say that no one is exempt, no one is righteous, not one seeks God on their own. It is a hard word for our self-image, which always wants to believe we are basically good, better than average, not like the truly bad people. Paul closes that escape route: all have turned aside, no one does good, no, not one. And he traces it to the root in the final line: there is no fear of God before their eyes. Underneath every visible sin, the deceiving tongue, the swift feet, the loveless road, lies this one thing, that God is simply not reckoned with, not feared, not kept before the eyes. But this crushing diagnosis is not cruelty; it is the necessary ground for grace. Paul demolishes every claim of human righteousness precisely so that the good news that follows, justification as a free gift through Christ, can land. You cannot receive grace while you still imagine you are righteous. The universal verdict, none is righteous, is the door to the universal offer of mercy.

Am I still holding onto a quiet belief that I am basically righteous, better than others, when Paul levels everyone, none is righteous, so that I can finally receive the grace offered to those who admit it?

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