Romans · New Testament · Romans 3:9–20
All People Are Sinners
The Story
Paul now brings his extended argument to its climax with a final and definitive verdict: Jews have no advantage over Gentiles when it comes to sin, because all people — without exception — are under the power of sin. To establish this with full authority, Paul draws on a chain of Old Testament Scriptures that leave no room for dispute. The indictment begins at the deepest level: "No one is righteous — not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one." The charges then move outward to the tongue and to violence — their talk is foul like an open grave, their tongues filled with lies, snake venom on their lips, their mouths full of cursing and bitterness, their feet rushing to commit murder, destruction and misery trailing everywhere they go, the way of peace unknown to them. The entire indictment is sealed with one final line: "They have no fear of God at all." Paul then explains the purpose of the law in this context — it was given not to provide a path to righteousness but to silence every excuse and show the entire world its guilt before God. The passage ends with a stark and unambiguous conclusion: "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are."
The Message
Paul has now shut every door. The Gentile who never had the law, the Jew who possessed it and broke it, the moral person who judged others while committing the same sins — all stand equally guilty before God with no grounds for exception or defense. The law was never given to save anyone; its role is to act as a mirror that shows people exactly how sinful they are, so that no human being can stand before God and claim they deserve to be declared righteous. The world has been silenced — which is precisely where Paul needs his readers to be before he introduces the Good News of what God has done.