Bible Commentaries
Romans 3

Verse 1

Romans 3:1

Romans 3:1

What advantage then hath the Jew?—If both the Gen­tiles and the Jews are in sin and under condemnation, what profit has it been to the Jews that God has called them and made them his favored people?

or what is the profit of circumcision?—And if the circum­cision equally with the uncircumcision must keep the law to be of benefit, what profit is there in being circumcised?

Verse 2

Romans 3:2

Romans 3:2

Much every way: first of all, that they were intrusted with the oracles of God-—[The “oracles” denote the whole of the revelations to mankind, from the beginning of the world to the time of Moses, who, by the inspiration of God, com­mitted them to writing, and what further revelations God was pleased to make to mankind during the days of the prophets, who recorded them in books; and the whole was entrusted to the Jews, to be kept for their own benefit and the benefit of the whole world. And next to Christ and the gospel we must regard the Old Testament as the greatest boon ever bestowed on the human family. The respects in which it has blessed the world are countless. This confidence was not misplaced, for no people ever guarded a sacred trust with more fidelity than the Jews did the sacred Scriptures.] Through these many of the Jews had been instructed in the will of God, and had been saved thereby. Some had heard the will of God and rejected it, and, despite the knowledge of his will, had fallen into sin and been lost.

Verse 3

Romans 3:3

Romans 3:3

For what if some were without faith?—But did the failure of some who were circumcised in the flesh to believe in God render the promise of God to Abraham and his seed null?

shall their want of faith make of none effect the faithfulness of God?—Or did it prove that God’s promises had failed and God had falsified?

Verse 4

Romans 3:4

Romans 3:4

God forbid:—[An indignant denial. Man may prove false, but God never.]

yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar;—The turn­ing the Jews aside does not prove that God is a liar, for they failed in performing a covenant their fathers made for them that they would be faithful to God and keep his law. So they lied, while God was faithful. Let all understand that God is true to his covenant, though every Jew should break it and so prove himself a liar.

as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, and mighest prevail when thou comest into judgment.—[This is quoted to show that what Paul has just deduced from the character of God accords with the oracles of God, which the Jews so jealously guarded. Nathan had convicted David of his gross sin, and foretold his punishment. (2 Samuel 12:1-15). In this Psalm (Psalms 51:1-4) David sees that his sin was so heinous and directly against God that the sentence of condemnation pronounced against him was right, and he confessed that God might be seen and declared to be right­eous, and in this sense be justified by those who heard the sentence upon him. His words are: “That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” The meaning as expressed by David is that God is to be esteemed right and just in condemning men for their sins, and that a true penitence will see this, though it condemns him­self. As used by Paul, it is to be held as a fixed, unwavering principle that God is right and true, whatever consequences it may involve, or whatever man may prove to be a liar.]

Verse 5

Romans 3:5

Romans 3:5

But if our unrighteousness commendeth the righteousness of God,—The argument had been that man’s sins had called out the manifestation of God’s mercy and so commended his mercy to the world.

what shall we say?—Is he as the inflicter of the wrath un­righteous? Is it just of him to punish the sin that confirms the sole glory of his righteousness?

Is God unrighteous who visiteth with wrath?—But since sin is the occasion of God’s mercy, is he unrighteous in punishing those who sin?

(I speak after the manner of men).—[What he was saying was according to the foolish and unworthy thoughts of God entertained by man, not his own thoughts. It is quite likely that Paul, in dealing with the subtle, wily Jew, had frequently met those who contended that what he taught as God’s promises, when they came to pass on Israel, will appear all the more gracious on account of the nation’s unbelief. And if that is true, their obstinacy had turned out to the glory of God, why, then, should he punish them for that which had been the occasion of its manifestation?]

Verse 6

Romans 3:6

Romans 3:6

God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?—By no means. Then, how could God judge and condemn the world, which by its sins gave occasion to God to manifest his mercy to man? [It is the first idea of God, as Governor of all intelligences, that he will judge those who are capable of being judged—as children of men, all of them assuredly ought to be; but if we hold that God cannot judge and punish evil­doers, because they ultimately commend his righteousness, then he can no longer act as Supreme Judge. His highest honor is taken away, for his righteousness depends upon his judging all men righteously.]

Verse 7

Romans 3:7

Romans 3:7

But if the truth of God through my lie abounded unto his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?—If the treason of Judas had been the occasion of Jesus Christ being mani­fested to the world and glorified, why is Judas regarded as a sinner? The reason is that Judas did not betray Jesus that God’s love might be manifested and God’s glory proclaimed, but to satisfy his own covetous soul. Man’s lost and ruined condition is the occasion of calling out God’s love. God’s love would never have been manifested had not man sinned. A child’s sickness or misfortune calls out the deep and strong love of the mother for it. So man’s sin was the occasion of manifesting God’s love to man. The showing of this love brought glory to God. God was in this way glorified through man’s sin. To live in sin after Jesus died to deliver man from sin rendered him the more guilty and worthy of the deeper condemnation.

Verse 8

Romans 3:8

Romans 3:8

and why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that good may come?—Some so perverted his reasoning as to insist that since through man’s sin God is glorified, there could be no wrong to sin, because it brought glory to God. So his enemies falsely charged that he taught that we should do evil that good may come. [In their condemnation they condemn themselves in the claim that God cannot punish sin, because it promotes his glory, for this claim is the very essence of the hateful senti­ment. And thus he has come round in most skillful fashion to the assertion with which he began against the Jew : “Where­fore thou art without excuse, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest dost practise the same things.” (Romans 2:1). He joins with them in repudiating the godless maxim, but he does not go with them in holding it. They slanderously report him who say he does.]

Verse 9

Romans 3:9

Romans 3:9

What then?—[The whole course of thought from the dis­cussion (Romans 1:18) is looked at, as much as to say: How does the question about sin now stand ?]

are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin;—Greater privileges and advantages had been bestowed upon the Jews on account of the possession of the oracles of God, given them on account of the faith of their fathers; but they had forfeited the privileges thereby granted on account of their sins, and were equally with the Gentiles under sin.

Verse 10

Romans 3:10

Romans 3:10

as it is written,—[Paul had just affirmed the guilt of the Jews from their living experiences; he now confirms this dec­laration in the strongest terms by an appeal to their own Scriptures to show that what he had affirmed was true; and since it was conceded that the Gentiles were gross sinners, it then follows, in regard to sin, that the Jews were no better than the Gentiles and that they were all equally dependent on the mercy of God. The passages quoted show that this char­acteristic of sin was not confined to any particular period of Jewish history, but pertained to them as a people; that it had characterized them throughout their existence as a nation.]

There is none righteous, no, not one;—In picturing the widespread wickedness, David said: “Jehovah looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek after God. They are all gone aside; they are together become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” (Psalms 14:2-3). This lan­guage is used to show how things appeared to the observer, and that, in proportion to the whole, very few honored God, and no nation honored him. It would be difficult to settle upon a time when this was not literally true of the Jewish people. [In regard to sin, it follows that the Jews were no better than the Gentiles. This is the point to be settled. The word “righteous” as here used means to be wholly free from sin—free from it in the sense of never having committed it. In this acceptation the citation is strictly true. There is none absolutely righteous. Therefore, all are under sin. This is what Paul had charged, and what is shown by the language quoted to be absolutely true. His declaration the Jews might deny, but not their own Scripture. The Jews, then, do not excel the Gentiles.]

Verse 11

Romans 3:11

Romans 3:11

There is none that understandeth,—This and the fol­lowing are quotations from David depicting the sinfulness of the Jewish people. [There are none who understand perfectly or have strictly a true knowledge of God’s law and a just ap­preciation of his goodness, or have such a state of moral feel­ing as to dispose them to serve and obey God.]

There is none that seeketh after God;—[There is none whose thoughts and endeavors are directed toward God. (Hebrews 11:6). A righteous man counts it his highest privilege and honor to know God and to understand his will. A man can indulge in wickedness only by forgetting God.]

Verse 12

Romans 3:12

Romans 3:12

They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable;—[Their understanding has become dark, and consequently they have turned aside from the way that leads to God. The result of their ignorance is that they have be­come useless, corrupt, good for nothing. They are of no value in regard to the works of righteousness.]

There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one:— [There was universal corruption of morals as a consequence of apostasy from God. Their condition resembles a caravan which has strayed, and is moving in the direction opposite to the right one, and whose members can do nothing to help one another in their common misery.]

Verse 13

Romans 3:13

Romans 3:13

Their throat is an open sepulchre;—An open sepulcher emits foul odors, which depicts the evil that comes out of their mouth. [The deadly calumny by which the wicked destroy their fellow men is taken in the sense of gaping, as the grave, to denote their readiness to destroy them, as the grave seems ready for, and, as it were, expects, the dead, and cannot be satisfied.]

With their tongues they have used deceit:—Their words are deceitful and misleading. [Back of a deceptive tongue lies a deceptive heart which studies to deceive, and the tongue uses words suited to that end.]

The poison of asps is under their lips:—The words of these evil persons strike with the poison that would destroy the purest character. [This intimates the extreme noxiousness of the slander by comparing it to the deadly poison of asps, designating that virulent slander which cankers the highest reputation and those biting speeches which sting even to death. (James 3:8).]

Verse 14

Romans 3:14

Romans 3:14

Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:—[They are full of blasphemies, malignities, and execrations against God and men. Thus the mouth, which God created to bless and honor him, is used to grieve him. By "bitterness” is meant those wounding, stinging words which the wicked utter.]

Verse 15

Romans 3:15

Romans 3:15

Their feet are swift to shed blood;—They frequently and without compunction commit murder and violence, and rush fiercely on their victims to gratify their malice or to satisfy their vengeance.

Verse 16

Romans 3:16

Romans 3:16

Destruction and misery are in their ways;—They leave only desolation and misery behind them. [They cause the destruction or ruin of the reputation, happiness, and peace of others. But, worst of all, they ruin souls, and so plant in them endless misery.]

Verse 17

Romans 3:17

Romans 3:17

And the way of peace have they not known:—They are strangers to the way of peace. [They do not pursue that course which is productive of happiness. This clause, there­fore, includes all the manifestations of an evil heart, which are seen in the numberless ways in which men injure their fellow creatures. What they will not have, they resolve others shall not.]

Verse 18

Romans 3:18

Romans 3:18

There is no fear of God before their eyes.—They are not actuated by any regard to the will of displeasure of God. [Where God is not feared, nothing else is; and when this last barrier to vice is destroyed, sin comes in like a flood.] These last three verses are quotations from Isaiah 59:7-8. Paul gathers these statements from their prophets to show they all recognized that the Jews were disobedient to God and would fall short of his favor.

Verse 19

Romans 3:19

Romans 3:19

Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it speaketh to them that are under the law;—Inasmuch as the things to which reference is made are contained in the Old Testament Scriptures, they apply to the Jews, who were amenable to that law; but when men are amenable to and judged by the law of God, they all fall short in the obedience, for God’s law is perfect, demands obedience, and will make the man who conforms to it perfect in his obedience. The law given by Moses was the divine standard of righteousness, and, if lived up to with perfect obedience, would make the man so doing perfect before God. But no man could give a faultless obedience to a perfect law.

that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God:—When man fell short in his obedience to the divine law, he was condemned by the law as a sinner, and so every mouth was stopped from boast­ing before God, and the whole world—the Jew as well as the Gentile—was shown to be guilty before God and to fall under the condemnation of God, to be saved only by the grace of God revealed in the mission of Christ.

Verse 20

Romans 3:20

Romans 3:20

because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justi­fied in his sight;—Since under the law of Moses all have fallen into this state of sin and iniquity and condemnation, it is evident that no flesh can be justified in the sight of God by the law.

nor through the law cometh the knowledge of sin.—By the law sin is manifested and made known. The prohibition of the law is the occasion of man’s showing his rebellious nature. The rebellious nature was in him, but it had nothing to call it out until the law put it under restraint. Paul says: “I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” (Romans 7:7). It is argued by many that this is true of all law and not confined to the law of Moses. This is likely true of all law except the law of faith. The law of faith appeals to the heart and works through love, so does not stir up the rebellious spirit. The failure of the law of Moses was that it did not appeal to or begin with the heart. It gave rules to reg­ulate the conduct without purifying the heart or exciting the affections. This cannot be. [Since man is a sinner, with no help in himself and none in the law, what is left to him but to look to the mercy of God? The whole human family is not only lost, but condemned. His penalty is continuance in sin, not only while he sins, but because he has sinned. All the world is guilty before God. In a court of justice, it is only after every defense has failed and the law itself has been shown to be broken—it is only at this point that the appeal is made to the judge for his clemency. Paul has now brought us up to this point.]

Then the whole drift of Paul’s argument is to cut man off from all services devised by man that allow boasting and that produce only human righteousness and ties him down as a lost and ruined sinner, dependent upon the works of God provided in the gospel and sealed by the blood of Christ Jesus for salvation. To these he must come by faith in Christ. He is not dissuading or discouraging men from doing in faith all that God has provided and commanded and sealed with the blood. He cuts him off from everything save these and leaves him to walk in “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” as his only hope. In this walk he comes to the blood- sealed appointments of God and is washed by the blood of the Son of God. Paul said: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2). He did not discourage them from walking in that law. By so doing he does the works of God. He did the works without which faith is dead and by which James says “faith apart from works is barren.” (Romans 2:20). The works of God, the works of faith, are included in the law of faith that makes faith perfect, excludes all boasting, and justifies man. Paul and James, so far from disagreeing, agree perfectly. Paul cuts off from everything except the works contained in the law of faith, and James warns that no faith can justify that is not made perfect by works, included in the law of faith, and to which faith leads.

Verse 21

Romans 3:21

Romans 3:21

But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested,—God’s plan of justifying man or making him righteous, apart or aside from the law of Moses, is revealed in Christ.

being witnessed by the law and the prophets;—The law of Moses and the prophets of the Old Testament foretold the coming of Jesus Christ and the salvation that should be brought to light through him. [The ceremonies and proph­ecies of the Old Testament could not give life; they did not develop the Christ; but in springing “out of Judah,” in his being “made under the law,” and that he “died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), they become a powerful and ever-living witness to him. How the ceremonies of the law pointed to Christ is elaborately unfolded in the book of He­brews. The tabernacle, the priesthood, the lavings, and the sacrifices, all pointed to Christ. The prophets bore direct testimony to the Messiah that he would come just as he did come.]

Verse 22

Romans 3:22

Romans 3:22

even the righteousness of God—The righteousness that God has ordained for making man righteous.

through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe;—The leading feature of this justification of man is through faith in Jesus Christ. [Faith in Christ is the condition, not the sole one except as implying others; not a condition of merit, but of mercy.]

for there is no distinction;—There is no difference, on the score of guilt, between the Jews and Gentiles; all must believe in Christ.

Verse 23

Romans 3:23

Romans 3:23

for all have sinned,—For all, Jews and Gentiles, have sinned against the law, hence cannot be justified by it.

and fall short of the glory of God;—[This glory of God not only manifests, but communicates, itself, being reflected in such of his creatures as are capable of knowing and loving and growing like him. Paul, therefore, calls man “the image and glory of God” (1 Corinthians 11:7), because he is capable of receiv­ing and reflecting God’s glory. The complete manifestation of divine perfection is “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6). The glory of God in Christ shining forth in the gospel upon the believer’s heart transforms him into the “light in the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8); and so “we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). The transformation begins here, but man’s full participation in “the glory of God” is the hope of our high calling reserved for us in heaven.]

Verse 24

Romans 3:24

Romans 3:24

being justified freely by his grace through the redemp­tion that is in Christ Jesus:—God created the world and all that pertains to it for his glory and honor. He then created man to rule the world under God’s directions, in harmony with his laws, and for his glory and the exaltation of his authority. But man betrayed the trust committed to him, and turned from God as his Counselor and Ruler and chose to follow and obey the devil instead of God. In doing so he transferred the allegiance and rule of the world from God to the evil one and chose the devil to be his ruler instead of God. As a result, sin, sorrow, sickness, care, desolation, ruin, and death envel­oped the world in a pall of darkness. To rescue man from this reign of death, Jesus interposed his blood, gave his life for the life of man, and secured to him the right to live as the servant of God.

Verse 25

Romans 3:25

Romans 3:25

whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood,—In the work of rescuing man, the offended majesty of heaven must be propitiated, made favorable; the universe must see and know that God’s laws cannot be trifled with; and in bringing man back into union and harmony with the laws of the universe and with God, that he may be saved, the sanctity and majesty of divine authority must not be com­promised. God’s laws must be satisfied, his honor vindicated, ere man can be received of God. This work of satisfying the divine law, of propitiating the offended majesty of heaven, and of securing divine favor that man as a servant of God might be saved, was accomplished by the blood of Christ, “as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ: who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of the times for your sake, who through him are believers in God.” (1 Peter 1:19-21). This shows why the sentence was not literally executed at once.

to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God;—During the patriarchal and the Jewish dispensations sins were not finally forgiven. The typical blood of those covenants was necessary to the partial and temporary cleansing from sin. It did not make the comers thereunto perfect as pertaining to the conscience, and there was a remembrance of sin every year, to be finally and fully purged away from the soul only when the blood of Christ, which sealed the everlasting cove­nant, was shed. “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:13-14). This shows plainly that when life was forfeited it could be redeemed only by life. It, furthermore, teaches that the blood of bulls and goats under the patriarchal and Jewish dispensations possessed efficacy only in pointing to and con­nected with the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses from all sin, and that the partial and temporary forgiveness or passing over of sins, requiring a sacrificial remembrance every year, became final and complete only when Christ came as “the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” (Hebrews 9:15). Those called under the Old Testament came into full possession of the promise of eternal life when the blood of Christ, through the eternal Spirit, was offered; for only then was the full and final forgiveness of sins secured.

Verse 26

Romans 3:26

Romans 3:26

for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this pres­ent season:—To declare at this time God’s plan of justifying man which so provided that God might be just, act with jus­tice, while justifying those who believe in Christ.

that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.—The redemption that was provided in Jesus was only for those who believe in Christ. No provision is made to justify any out of Christ, or one who refuses to believe on him. God must respect his sense of justice before he can show mercy. Then the example of punishment is needed by the universe.

Verse 27

Romans 3:27

Romans 3:27

Where then is the glorying?—It is a well-established law of God that salvation can allow no glorying on the part of man.

It is excluded.—All glorying must be excluded.

By what manner of law? of works?—Not by the Jewish law nor by any law of works invented by man, for all such works allow glorying.

Nay: but by a law of faith.—But by the law of which faith in Jesus Christ is the leading principle. This shows that there is a law of faith in contrast with the law of works. The things ordained by Jesus Christ, of which faith is the leading principle, constitute the law of faith in Christ. The require­ments of Jesus allow no glorying, and by these man can be saved. All the requirements of the law of faith humiliate men and turn them from self to trust in God. Faith leads from self to God and his ways, to repentance, to be buried out of self and raised in Christ Jesus. Every act of the law is a repudia­tion of self—a turning away from self in heart, soul, and body into Christ. There is nothing in these acts of turning away from self to encourage or even allow glorying or to cultivate a feeling of self-righteousness; but every act of soul, mind, and body is one that cultivates and declares distrust of self, confidence, and reliance on God through Jesus Christ.

Verse 28

Romans 3:28

Romans 3:28

We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.—From the foregoing facts he concludes that a man is justified by the law of faith and not by the law of Moses or of any works or inventions of men that allow glorying.

Verse 29

Romans 3:29

Romans 3:29

Or is God the God of Jews only? is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yea, of Gentiles also:—As assurance that he will save by the law of faith addressed to all men, he says that he is the God of all other people as well as of the Jews. He accepted the Jews because their fathers trusted and obeyed him. He now accepts all who trust and obey him.

Verse 30

Romans 3:30

Romans 3:30

if so be that God is one, and he shall justify the circum­cision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.—The one and the same God will justify both Jews and Gentiles by the same rule of faith in Christ Jesus. [A righteous judge could not render contradictory decisions when all are alike guilty, and certainly he could not decide in such a way that his judgment to save some would necessarily exclude others. The unity of God makes salvation by faith exclusive of every other means. "By faith” and "through faith” are practically the same. (Comp. 1:17; 3:20).]

Verse 31

Romans 3:31

Romans 3:31

Do we then make the law of none effect through faith? God forbid:—The end or purpose of the law could never be accomplished without bringing in faith, the gospel, the reign of Christ, to prepare for which the law was given.

nay, we establish the law.—The law of Moses was estab­lished in the sense of being fulfilled, completed, and taken out of the way. The law, was intended from the beginning to complete its work when it brought the world to Christ. "What then is the law? It was added because of transgres­sions, till the seed should come to whom the promise hath been made; and it was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. ... So that the law is become our tutor to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor.” (Galatians 3:19-25). The law of Moses was never intended to continue in force longer than to the coming of Christ. For the law to fail to bring in the gospel, faith, the promised seed, was for the law to fail. For it to bring in these was to cause it to fulfill its mission and to establish it as of God. To fulfill the law and take it out of the way was to establish it in the fulfillment of its end. So in coming to faith in Christ we establish the law.