There Is None Righteous. They Are All Under Sin. All the World Guilty. God’s Righteousness Upheld. God’s Faithfulness. God’s Judgment Defended. God’s Righteousness Through Faith.
3 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles (word) of God. 3 What then? If some did not believe, does their unbelief abolish the faithfulness of God? [God is faithful and will fulfill all the promises He made to the nation, even if individual Jews are not able to receive them because of their unbelief.] 4 May it never be! Rather, let God be true and every man a liar, as it is written,
“THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS, AND OVERCOME WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED.” (Psalm 51:4)
[If all mankind were to agree that God had been unfaithful to His promises, it would only prove that all are liars and God is true. God cannot lie.]
[verses 5-8: Paul anticipates and answers the objection that his teaching actually impugned the very holiness and purity of God’s character.]
5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is the God who inflicts wrath unrighteous? (I am speaking in human terms.) 6 May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? 7 But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “Let us do evil that good may come”? Their condemnation is just.
9 What then? Are we better? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; [Christians do not have an intrinsically superior nature to those Paul has shown to stand under God’s condemnation.] 10 as it is written, (Psalms 1:1-3; 53-1-3) “There is none righteous, not even one; [man is universally evil. All have sinned with no exception but Christ.]
11 There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; [Man is unable to comprehend the truth of God or grasp His standard of righteousness.]
12 All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” [Mankind us leaning in the wrong direction. All people are naturally inclined to leave God’s way and pursue their own.]
13 “Their throat is an open tomb, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; [the unregenerate person’s open throat, that is, foul words that come from it, reveal the decay of his heart.]
14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”; [From Psalm 10:7; full of cursing refers to wanting the worst for someone and publicly expressing that desire in caustic, derisive language. Bitterness is the open, public expression of emotional hostility against one’s enemy.]
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood, (verses 15-19 are from Isaiah 59:7-8),
16 Destruction and misery are in their paths, [man damages and destroys everything he touches, leaving a trail of pain and suffering in His wake.]
17 And the path of peace they have not known.” [man tendency toward strife and conflict; individuals or nations.]
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” [man’s spiritual condition is nowhere more clearly seen than in the absence of a proper submission to and reverence for God. Awe of His greatness and glory and dread of the results of violating that holy nature.]
19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are in the Law [every unredeemed human being. Jews received the written law through Moses and Gentiles have the works of the law written on their hearts, so that both groups are accountable to God] so that every mouth may be shut and all the world may become accountable to God; [there is no defense against the guilty verdict God pronounces on the entire humans race] 20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified [freed of guilt and declared righteous; Doing perfectly what God’s moral law requires is impossible, so that every person is cursed by that inability.] in His sight, for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin [The law makes sin known, but can’t save; the recognition of sin directs us toward repentance, but provides no remedy for sin].
Justification by Faith. God’s Saving Gift. The Righteousness of God Through Faith. God’s Righteousness Through Faith.
21 But now the righteousness of God has been clearly revealed [independently and completely] apart from the Law, though it is [actually] confirmed by the Law and the [words and writings of the] Prophets. [Righteousness is unique: God is the source and it fulfills both the penalty and precept (a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought) of God’s law]. 22 This righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ for all those [both Jew or Gentile] who believe [and trust in Him and acknowledge Him as God’s Son]. There is no distinction, 23 since all have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God [His perfect standard of righteousness], 24 and are being justified [declared free of the guilt of sin, made acceptable to God, and granted eternal life] as a gift by His [precious, undeserved] grace, through the redemption [the ransom paid by Christ to obtain our release from the penalty for our sin] which is [provided] in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God displayed publicly [before the eyes of the world] as a [life-giving] sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation (propitiation; the appeasement or satisfaction for) by His blood [to be received] through faith. [in our case, Christ’s violent death satisfied the offended holiness and wrath of God against those for whom Christ died]. This was to demonstrate His righteousness [which demands punishment for sin], because in His forbearance [His deliberate restraint] He passed over the sins previously committed [before Jesus’ crucifixion]. 26 It was to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier for those who have faith in Jesus [and rely confidently on Him as Savior]. [This was accomplished through the incarnation, sinless life and substitutionary death of Christ.]
27 Then what becomes of [our] boasting? It is excluded [entirely ruled out, banished]. On what principle? On [the principle of good] works? No, but on the principle of faith. 28 For we maintain that an individual is justified by faith distinctly apart from works of the Law [the observance of which has nothing to do with justification, that is, being declared free of the guilt of sin and made acceptable to God]. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not also the God of Gentiles [who were not given the Law]? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since indeed it is one [and the same] God who will justify the circumcised by faith [which began with Abraham] and the uncircumcised through [their newly acquired] faith.
31 Do we then nullify the Law by this faith [making the Law of no effect, overthrowing it]? Certainly not! On the contrary, we confirm and establish and uphold the Law [since it convicts us all of sin, pointing to the need for salvation and serve as a tutor to show mankind’s utter inability to obey God’s righteous demands and to drive us… point us to Christ!].
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