Romans 3: 9 – 20
Take Your Finger Off The Scale
9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. 10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” 13 “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways; 17 And the way of peace they have not known.” 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, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
What is your opinion of scales? It does not matter if you are thinking, the old kind or the new electronic kind. In the long run you are getting ripped off.
I use to work for the US Postal Service and they had me and another guy do a study to determine if the Post Office was losing money with their use of electronic scales. Our final report indicated that the Post Office was in fact earning two to three hundred million in extra income by using the new scales. You see by human nature clerks would raise the charge to the next highest level even if the item was close in weight.
Of course you are wondering why I bring up this subject in the first place. You see, there are a lot of people who think that God will in the end weigh our good deeds to our bad deeds. In their thinking they believe that they have done a heck of a lot of good deeds so they will be weighed in the balance and found righteous. Sorry, it does not work like that.
You can list all your good deeds as ‘Atta boys’ and your bad deeds as ‘Aw shucks’ Heaven’s mathematical scales are different than what you may think. For you might accumulate millions of ‘Atta boys’, however, just one ]1] ‘Aw shucks’ erases all the ‘Atta boys’.
All good deeds never outweigh our bad deeds. We read in the book of Philippians chapter 3 which Paul also wrote, “1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. 2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, 4 though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
Man is ultimately unprofitable in his attempts to be righteous. Sin has tainted us. We are going to see how Paul drives this point home to us. We are in need of Someone Who can come to our rescue.
Paul does not want any of his readers to think that this puts them in a better position than the Jews, for as he has already demonstrated they are all ‘under sin’. So he continues to underline the fact that the whole world is under judgment, and therefore guilty in the eyes of God.
9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
Those who had been listening to this argument may (at least theoretically) have been beginning to think; well surely this makes us better than those Jews? Paul quashes that idea immediately. ‘What then is our conclusion? Are we better than they? No in no way --.’ And he points out that he has already dealt with such an argument by his earlier charge that both Jew and Gentile are all under sin. All are in the same position. He will now go on to prove this from Scripture.
10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” 13 “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways; 17 And the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
I would like you to travel with me back in time to join Paul as he is writing this response which is motivated by our Precious Holy Spirit. Paul looks at us and says, ‘I am going to prove my points by using the Word of God. So, first of all I am going to tell those who read this information from our Precious Holy Spirit that I am getting my facts from God’s Word - ‘As it is written’
Now let’s see, O yeah, I want to point our first of all man’s sinfulness ending up with the fact that not a single person does good. I want to show this truth by listing some particular individual sins.
In the book of Psalms 14, it says, ““There is none who does good. The Lord looked down from Heaven on the children of men to see if there were any who did understand, who did seek after God, they are all gone aside, they are together become filthy, there is none who does good, no, not one.”
The main difference lies in the fact that he omits ‘God looking down from Heaven to see if --’, replacing it with ‘there is’. The alteration from ‘good’ to ‘righteous’ is Paul’s in order to bring it into line with the subject that he is dealing with, the righteousness of God. The emphasis then is on the fact that there is none righteous in God’s eyes. There is none who is ‘in the right’. But this necessarily follows if they are not righteous.
We all fall into this category. I do not care if you think you are the Pope or some gifted popular Pastor. As sinful humans the word is ‘all’. Man is incapable by nature of doing that which is right in the sight of God. When man does ‘what is right in his own eyes’, write this down – it is always ‘wrong’.
What would you consider the biggest area in which we sin? I do not think too many would give the right answer, yet when I tell you then you will, I believe, agree with me. It is the sin that comes out of our mouths.
Paul lists in the first four lines sins of speech, and the next three to sins of violence, ending up with the claim that there is no fear of God before their eyes, for if there was they would not commit such sins.
Paul thinks of Psalm 5 verse 9. Don’t forget he is a scholar of the Scriptures. It says, “For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction; Their throat is an open tomb; They flatter with their tongue.”
The unclean, unkind, and untrue utterances betray a defiled, despiteful, and deceitful heart. How is this for incorrect beliefs by thinking we are in any way righteous on our own? It is noteworthy that the list begins by dealing with sins of the tongue, sins of which all are guilty. The idea of the throat being an open sepulcher reflects ‘uncleanness’. Open sepulchers were to be avoided for that reason. Thus the idea may be that out of men’s mouths came what was unclean and would defile others. But the idea may also possibly be that whereas sepulchers normally hide their corruption and uncleanness, being closed up and sealed, man, by what he says, opens up his corruption and uncleanness for all to see and hear. In this gossipers and backbiters may well be especially in mind. There may also be the indication that such a person’s words are a trap for the unwary, for a careless man could easily fall into an open sepulcher.
This is then especially related to their tongues using deceit, in order to deceive men and corrupt them, and bring them down. All of us are at times glib with our tongues, and all of us at some time seek to deceive others (although we often excuse it in ourselves). Can you see that man with his mouth and his words are seen as working untold harm in the world?
Paul’s is guided in his memory to Psalm 140 verse 3 “They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; The poison of asps is under their lips. SELAH”
The poison of asps under their lips emphasizes the fact that their words are poisonous and destructive. Here the thought is mainly of the maliciousness of men and women, a maliciousness which can result in cruel and hurtful words, backbiting, slanderous accusations, and the murdering of other people’s reputations by gossip and tale bearing.
Now I am sure that everyone I am addressing would never do any of these awful sins, right?
Then Paul sees the connection with Psalm 10 verse 7, “His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression; Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity.”
This statement - ‘mouths being ‘full of cursing and bitterness’ - brings out our attitude towards our fellowmen. People seek to bring curses on them and speak bitterly of them. Such people curse and swear and reveal their own bitterness of heart in the bitter things that they say. But, as James points out in chapter 3 of his book, “1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. 2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. 3 Indeed,fn we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. 8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.”
We speak with forked tongues. With the same tongue we bless God and curse men, and therefore Paul adds, ‘my brothers, these things ought not to be’. He is so on target.
Please take note that up to this point that the emphasis has been on the effect of what people say. For what people say is of such importance that our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 12 verse 36 that, ‘For every idle word that men shall speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment’.
We see then left to our own devices how things escalate to violence as Paul references Psalm 59.7-8, “Indeed, they belch with their mouth; Swords are in their lips; For they say, “Who hears?” But You, O LORD, shall laugh at them; You shall have all the nations in derision.”
The statement, ‘Their feet being swift to shed blood’ indicates an unhealthy eagerness for violence. Men move at a run because they are so eager to hurt and kill each other. Here the emphasis is on people’s violence and its consequences.
Since 9/11 I have been working with the Philadelphia police department as a counselor/chaplain. In most cases I offer assistance in domestic disputes. The word ‘disputes’ is too soft. It is more proper to be called ‘domestic violence’. Just as Paul has indicated, our sinful nature can explode during time of stressful confrontation. And believe me to see the consequences of these actions are not a pretty sight to see.
Temporary insanity does not help when the dust clears and you see the destruction that has been done as Paul indicates next from the book of Isaiah chapter 59 verse 7, “Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths.”
Here the concentration is on the harm that people do to each other, and the misery that people bring to each other, by the way in which they behave. Men who meet up with them can expect nothing but harm and belligerence. For they know nothing of the path of peace.
Such people have no desire to bring peace into the world in which they live, or to seek peace. Rather they bring trouble and distress. It was in contrast to this that our Lord Jesus said as recorded in Matthew 5.9, ‘blessed are the peace-makers, for they will be called sons of God’.
Paul sums up the root of the problem. It is because as Paul says in Psalm 36 verse 1, “To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD. An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked; There is no fear of God before his eyes.”
This final statement both sums men and woman up and is a final indictment on them. They live without regard for God and for His judgment, and that fact comes out in their lives and in the way that they behave. All this is of course the very opposite of ‘loving your neighbor as yourself’. And they do all this because they do not truly ‘believe’. For if they did believe they would fear God and avoid such things.
The consequence of all that has been described is that all men without exception are found by ‘the Law’ (the Scriptures) to be guilty before God. There is none righteous, no not one.
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
The main emphasis here is on the Law as representing the Scriptures. It applies also to Gentiles because the law that they have is written in their hearts can be seen as coming from the same source, that is, from God. All are under the Law in one way or another. So in the end it covers the Law of Moses, and the inner law of the Gentile.
The law prevents all of us from speaking in our own defense as we recognize that through it we are all revealed as guilty. No one has any excuse to make. Every mouth is stopped. For everyone is ‘under the Law’ (responsible for obedience to it) and, having failed, the whole world is brought under the judgment of God. ‘There is not one in the right, no not one’.
Therefore, no flesh can be seen as ‘accounted as in the right’ in His sight by keeping ‘the works of the Law’, simply because no man can achieve the perfection required. Such a position cannot be achieved by observing the works of the Law (works done in obedience to the Law) for the simple reason that no one can keep them completely. What the Law does admirably, and what it has always done, as well as being a guide to living, is to make man aware in his heart of the fact that he has sinned. It makes men aware of their guilt.
The Law in itself was never intended originally to be a way by which men could achieve eternal life. It was intended rather to turn men to God in repentance and faith, as they looked to Him for His compassion and mercy. There was never any thought of mankind earning eternal life by simply observing it.
To be ‘justified’ means to be ‘accounted as in the right’. It is a legal term and refers to a judicial verdict passed on men which declares them to be totally vindicated. The court declares them free from all charges. They are seen as ‘in the right’ in the eyes of the law.
The key thing to remember is it is all about our Lord Jesus Christ. For by His Righteousness we who are sinners through and through can be declared ‘justified’ by our Holy Father God Who Is Forever The Ruler over all of His Creation. Thank You LORD.
