Romans 3:9-19
9 What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands, 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.”
13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
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.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
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.
No one likes to be told that they’re wrong about something. Most people find criticism, even constructive criticism, hard to accept. However, Paul’s words in Romans 3 are as critical of humanity as anyone could possibly be. He links a series of quotations from the Old Testament to show that people are in a sad state of affairs. Naturally, it’s painful to hear Paul say that no one does good. We might be willing to admit that our words are a little harsh some of the time, but it hurts to hear that our mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. It’s easy to take offense when Paul calls ruin and misery some of the defining characteristics of our lives.
Because no one likes to be criticized, it’s natural for us to try to weasel out of Paul’s condemnation of humanity. We don’t want Paul’s words to be true about us, so we try to be better people. We go to church, we worship God, and we serve others so that we won’t be counted among those who never do good.
But these words from Romans 3 are about us. We are sinners. There is no way to get around that fact, and when we try to do so we only create a bigger problem. Karl Barth wrote about this passage that “there is therefore no alternative for us but to remain under the indictment; and only he who remains here without making any attempt to escape . . . is able to praise God in His faithfulness.”[1] We do not praise God sincerely when we deny our true nature by trying to be better people for him. We praise God sincerely only by admitting our sinfulness, thereby recognizing God’s faithfulness and grace in loving us undeservedly. Admitting the truth of Paul’s words in Romans 3 is the painful, humbling first step toward true praise of God.
Andrew Garnett
God, please help us to see that we are broken people in need of you.
[1] Barth, Karl. The Epistle to the Romans. Translated by Edwyn C. Hoskyns. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1977.
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