Studying His Word and His Works

Listen to the study here: Romans 3:9-20

Read here: Romans 3

• Review
  • Calvin on the theme of Romans: “Man’s only righteousness is the mercy of God in Christ, when it is offered by the Gospel and received by faith.”
  • Really important to connect back to Romans 1:17, righteous shall live by faith, which is connected to Habbakuk 2:4. 
  • Romans 2 hammered on sin and hypocrisy. Outward signs don’t save us. 
  • Romans 3 continues the hammering on sin. Some might find it distasteful, to keep bringing up the same accusations. Our world today would say “it’s not nice.” I forget where, but I read a good statement that we “don’t want to focus on nice, we want to focus on what is good.” Hawaii state motto: “life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness,” not niceness.
    • In Mere Christianity, Lewis said “It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills cost His crucifixion.” Niceness isn’t God’s aim in other words.
  • Why not do evil that good may come? Verse 8, we will see Paul answer this repeatedly, it was a big accusation people were throwing at him. That kind of response should not surprise us, it’s by people who don’t want to think deeper on God’s nature, or our own nature. People who say such things think we are born good, but the Bible says we are born sinners. People who think things like this, I imagine God also considers that a sin, as Jesus said if you even think about adultery that is same as committing it, Matt. 5:28.
• Intro
  • Paul again reiterates our fallen human condition. It’s hard to listen to, which is probably why Paul keeps at it, because we just want this to go in one ear and out the other. Who wants to listen to how bad they are, on repeat?! But the thing is, we need to hear this from God, because his assessment is true. We don’t have to take this from other people, but we can try to listen respectfully, and see if what they are telling us is in line with Scripture. 
  • The majority of this passage is Paul quoting from the Old Testament. Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 5:9, Jeremiah 5:16, Psalm 140:3, Psalm 10:7, Proverbs 1:16, Luke 1:79 and Psalm 36:1. 8 different verses! Mostly Psalms and Proverbs, a hint to us to read those frequently. Notice how much of Paul’s writings so far reference the OT. This is deductive reasoning, the application of foundational truths to unlock new truths. God had to intentionally design our brains to think deductively, to apply truths in a new situation to develop new truths. There are very few things in this world that we can do this with. Most of the time, the foundational ideas are false, so when we try to use deductive reasoning, we just create more false ideas.
    • Over 2,000 years ago, Euclid did a survey of all the known math at the time, and from that came up with 10 truths, 5 of which only applied to flat surfaces, so really just 5 universal truths. Only the Bible tops Euclid’s book, called The Elements as the world’s most popular book. Truth is popular! It’s also hard to find. But don’t just seek truth, seek the Source of it.
      • God also designed us to think inductively, to find rules, and you can see this in places like Genesis 1:26-28, where some translations say “have dominion” or “rule over” creation. God didn’t give us a giant rulebook to show us how to rule over creation, but He designed us with inductive reasoning so we could find rules. Like Boyle’s Law, P₁V₁=P₂V₂, or Newton’s 2nd Law, F=ma.
• Verse 9
  • We have already seen in Romans that all are under sin. Like in these verses:
    • 1:14, preaching to all.
    • 2:12, shows sin of both Jew and Greek.
    • 3:4, every man a liar.
    • 3:9, prior to this verse, Paul has been comparing and contrasting Jew and Gentile, but has done that in a way to show all have sinned.
  • It is interesting how Paul said Jews have an advantage in Romans 3:1-2, and now he is saying, just because you have an advantage, doesn’t make you any better off in the end. 
• Verse 10
  • Not ONE perfectly righteous person. Except Jesus. One of the most uncomfortable verses in the Bible, yet one of the most important.
• Verse 11
  • None understand or seek after Him.
    • In our natural human condition, we don’t do this on our own. If unbelievers get prompted to go to church one day, it was because of God, not themselves and their great decision-making. He led them there.
    • Sproul says Thomas Aquinas was asked once that there DO seem to be non-Christians seeking after God. Aquinas replied that they are seeking purpose, not God. They want the benefits of God, so we assume they are seeking God.
      • Sproul: “That is the very dilemma of fallen creatures: we want the things that only God can give us, but we do not want Him. We want peace but not the Prince of Peace. We want purpose but not the sovereign purposes decreed by God. We want meaning found in ourselves but not in His rule over us. We see desperate people, and assume they are seeking for God. But they are not, and how do we know this? Because the Bible says so.” Truth seekers yes, God seekers, no. Reductionism again! Wanting one thing instead of everything. Let God be true, Romans 3:4, connects God with truth, IMPORTANT!
      • If we do truly seek God, it is a clear indication that we are already in the Kingdom. We are already on “team Jesus.” 
      • Sproul says that Jesus seeks believers. All the verses about opening doors are addressed to the church, to believers in other words. Knock and it will open (Luke 11:9). Seek (Is. 55:6). Seek and find (Matt. 7:7). I stand at door and knock (Rev. 3:20). 
• Verse 12
  • All turned aside, off the path, away. Jesus said “I am the way,” in John 14:6, and “The Way” is the name early Christians were called.
    • Verse 12 even says there is “none who does good,” which seems really harsh when we think of soldiers sacrificing themselves in the line of duty, etc. But God doesn’t consider our outward action only, but our inward motivations. There’s that reductionism again, we just want to look at the works (which we should honor and respect), but God wants it ALL.
• Verses 13-14
  • We are deceivers, cursing and bitter. We use our words in terrible ways. Think about how we talk; “f-bombs” and other foul language is much more the norm than when I was younger, has gotten worse in some circles. In the 2025 podcasting world, I think of Joe Rogan or Tucker Carlson, intelligent men, interested in learning and the truth, but then will drop like 5 f-bombs in 5 seconds and it’s like “dude, where did your vocabulary go?”
  • Often, cursing and bitterness go hand in hand. Some of that I think is because we aren’t really seeking Him, and therefore don’t understand human nature like Paul does here. When we don’t have a Romans 3 understanding of true human nature, it is more shocking to us when people deceive, cheat, lie, etc. and so we respond with cursing and bitterness. We miss the unrighteousness in ourselves and mostly just see it in others. 
• Verses 15-18
  • Sproul says the most peaceful century in the history of Western civilization was the first century. 2nd most peaceful was the 19th century, which led to optimism. Then, the 20th century was the worst.
    • V. 18, no fear of God before their eyes is a terrible recipe for disaster.
• Verse 19
  • The whole world is guilty before God, woah! Judgment day will reveal it all.
• Verse 20
  • Some translations start with “Therefore,” a key word indicating a conclusion. And the conclusion of all these verses on how bad we are is that no one is justified by works, by trying to follow the law, because we all break it at some point. There are so many things in the Bible that point to how following the law doesn’t get us to heaven, from the entire book of Romans, to the lack of effectiveness of the entire sacrificial system, to Jesus making the old system meaningless with his death, burial and resurrection, which also made the temple meaningless, which Jesus predicted would be destroyed, which it was in AD 70, and now we are the temples because as believers Christ is in us, so we should treat our bodies as temples, which is why I often bring wild venison steak for snacks when I lead small group Bible study!
  • No human being will be justified in his sight is a grim conclusion, but dawn is coming. Like in Lord of the Rings, when all seems hopeless, Gandalf says, “at dawn, on the fifth morning, look to the East.” So, keep looking, grace is coming!
• Up next, Romans 3:21-31