“As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one;’ ‘there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one;’ ‘their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit’; ‘the poison of asps is under their lips’; ‘whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood;’ ‘destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’ 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” (Romans 3:10-19).
It took no effort to convince a Jew of the truth that a Gentile was lost in sin. On this matter there was no argument.
Convincing a Jew of the truth that he was lost in sin was as difficult a challenge as the first truth was easy. The inspired Paul did not shy away from this daunting task in Romans 3:10-19.
First, he quotes Scripture, the conclusive and final authority on any spiritual matter. “As it is written” is most important and purposeful. If any of the apostle’s Jewish readers of the first century disagreed with him on this matter, their argument was with God, not His penman.
Second, he quotes from the writings of three different inspired writers: Solomon (vv. 10, 15), David (vv. 11-13, 18), and Isaiah (vv. 16-17). With this, he provided the most demanding criteria of proof needed in the settlement of any legal matter (Deuteronomy 17:6, 19:15).
Third, he hammers his airtight case shut with the axiomatic truth that whatever a law says, it says to those who are under its jurisdiction. Unlike the Law of Christ, the Law of Moses was not a universal covenant. It was specifically and only given to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was they and they alone who were redeemed out of Egypt, came to Mount Sinai, then given “just ordinances”, “true laws”, and “good statutes and commandments” by the hand of Moses (Nehemiah 9:9-14). The “wicked”, “evil”, and “sinners” which Solomon, David, and Isaiah were addressing were Jewish in their ancestries, not Gentile.
Paul’s charge that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin has been proven true Scripturally, legally, and logically.
Case closed.
