In this paper I want to look at Romans 3:9-18 to see if Paul is declaring no one can be righteous actually means our obedience/righteousness, even seen through the eyes of grace, is insufficient. The background is that Paul has been castigating Jews, who think just because they are Jews, and have the law, makes them just. Later in Romans 3:20, 28, Paul says no one will be just before God, by strict law, works of the law. Before going to that, Paul is saying that all are under sin. He later elaborates in Romans 5:12, that in Adam all have sinned. Now I want to focus in this paper on Paul's meaning right here in Romans 3:9-18. I will show that the Protestants who use this passage to say that you need an imputed righteousness because one, even in His grace, can not be righteous before God, badly misreads this whole passage, misreads/ignores Paul's citations of the Old Testament, and has him contradicting himself in Romans 2, 5, 6, and 8.

Now, the Jews did have the advantage of being given the Old Covenant, circumcision and the oracles of God, Romans 3:1-2, but Paul's whole point in chapter three, that though they have certain advantages, all are under sin. Just being born Jew, did not detach you from sin. All are under the bondage of sin, and need grace to get out of that bondage. Being born a Jew did not make you righteous, in and of itself, Rom. 3:9-18. Now Paul does write no one is righteous no not one, in Romans 3:9-18, however, it must be looked at in context. If Paul meant no one can be righteous he'd be contradicting what he just wrote in chapter 2. Paul writes the following, Rom. 3:9-18:

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all; for I have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, 10 as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands, no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong; no one does good, not even one." 13 "Their throat is an open grave, they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." 14 "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." 15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood, 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they do not know." 18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

It would be a major error to miss the apostle's context and seek refuge in doing what Paul is clearly not doing. His point is to be derived from the entirety of the testimony to sin, not from a close examination of each passage. Some have missed Paul's point by attempting to dissect each quotation, isolate the context from which it is taken and in essence limit the context from where it was taken, and in essence limit the accusation of sin inherent in the passages. But surely this is not Paul's intention. Instead, we are given his own interpretation right at the start in the words, "for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin, just as it is written. . . " . . .

The weight of the combination of these passages is almost overwhelming. The terms used are extensive and unyielding. First is the denial of the existence of a righteous man, drawing from (and paraphrasing slightly) Psalm 14:1-3. In the context in which he places it, Paul is saying every Jew and Gentile has fallen short of righteousness and understanding. There is no righteous man, "no not even one." . . .

The catena continues with highly descriptive phrases, focusing upon the twistedness and depravity of man. The passage reaches a crescendo in the recognition of the violence of man. Ruin and misery accompany man, and the path of peace man does not seek after God, he will end up seeking after his own desires and lusts, resulting in murder, misery, and havoc. James White, The God who Justifies: the Doctrine of Justification, Bethany House Publishers, Bloomington Minnesota, 2001, pp. 172-174.

In response, first, a plain reading of the text all together is this speaking of all people as being unrighteous, including Christians? He says basically to ignore where Paul is quoting from, the Psalms and Isaiah, and just look at what Paul is arguing. You shouldn't try to dissect the passage through the prism of what Paul is quoting? Okay let us try that, though I reject the premise. He starts off Romans 3:10 using the term 'as it is written' which means what follows is an elaboration of the same argument made in those inspired passages he is quoting from. But before looking at those passages themselves, let us look only at what Paul writes, is Paul talking about every single person right now, since White, like Protestants who believe in justification by faith alone, does this passage, say it applies equally to believers and unbelievers? Well, in one sense, yes, because in Romans 3:23, shortly after, he does say 'All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.' But let us look at verses 10-18. Yes, we are sinful, but does the decadence highlighted here apply to Christians? So, are Christians, filled with the Holy Spirit, ontologically unrighteous before God, (3:10, 12?) So, we do not seek God, (3:12)? Does this mean Christians whole purpose is to deceive (3:13)? Does a Christian regularly deceive and lie to people? Does a Christian curse and come to be full of bitterness, 3:14? Do a Christian's feet go to shed blood (3:15)? Do Christians afflict pain and misery upon others, (3:16)? Does a Christian not look for peace, but agitates instead, (3:17)? So, a Christian does not fear God (3:18)? So, does Paul actually argue that not only unbelievers, but even believers do all these things as a regular part of their lives? Sorry, Paul is not arguing that Christians lives are that bad. Paul says we must pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord, Heb. 12:14. He later goes on to say we must put to death the deeds of the flesh, in order to get to heaven, Rom. 8:13. The list of sins noted here, are exactly of those people who do not inherit the kingdom. If Christians act like this, they will not inherit the kingdom of heaven, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. In Galatians 5:21-24, Paul gives a list of sins that exclude one from the kingdom of heaven. The sins noted in this passage in Romans 3:10-18, brings one to eternal death. Christians are not to be bitter, curse, kill, hate, etc. Paul in Titus 2:11-14 gives the whole reason Christ was sent for our salvation; to redeem us from all iniquity, and to have us live soberly, uprightly and godly, (the exact opposite of that shown here) and to purify for Himself people zealous for good works. The main point, again, is not that Christians do all these wicked things, it is that just being born a Jew does not stop one from wading into the depravity that Paul is pointing to.

In fact, the context as we have seen is that Paul speaks to Jews as not being superior to Greeks/Gentiles in their nature. Without God guiding people and providing His grace, one can turn away from God, and fall into such evil. God came to provide us grace so we do not fall into such depravity. These items are those things that come from the flesh. Those actions are not a Christians life. We do fear God, and our life is not leading in deception and lead to misery for others, if that is the life, we are not Christian. Paul is obviously talking about unbelievers in this section. In fact, the whole context of what Paul specifically is writing about is that all people, Jew and Greek, and Gentile are prone to sin. All will have sinful tendencies.

The next thing that White says is problematic to say the least, that there is no need to look at the specific Scriptures Paul is drawing from. White speaks much of how Scripture is given by the Inspiration of God. But then he basically says not to look at the inspired passages where he is quoting from? Paul writes in Romans 3:9; 'as it is written:' So what he says must be in agreement with the passage he is quoting from. He could have made an argument on his own and it would be inspired Scripture based on his own argument. However, he quotes it as Scripture and what he says must be consonant with those passages. Otherwise, he would be contradicting Scripture. So, it is good, yes to look at his comments overall and his context, for sure. However, whatever Paul says can't be in blatant contradiction to the Old Testament passages themselves. It is a common Protestant thing that says 'interpret Scripture with Scripture'. Why does that not apply here? Scripture has to be at a minimum consonant with the Scripture that it draws from, and that needs to impact the meaning of Paul right here in Romans 3:9-18. Sure, Paul can elaborate more, draw more of a picture of New Testament reality, but it must be consonant with the passages he is drawing from.

Let us go verse by verse by examining where Paul is drawing this from. When he quotes Romans 3:10-12, about no one is righteous no not one, he is quoting from Psalm 14:1-3. As an inspired writer, Paul would not contradict Psalm 14 where he draws this from. The larger context from this statement is Psalm 14:1-7:

1: The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none that does good. 2: The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God. 3: They have all gone astray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good, no, not one. 4: Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the LORD? 5: There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous. 6: You would confound the plans of the poor, but the LORD is his refuge. 7: O that deliverance for Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, Israel shall be glad.

Paul does the very same thing in Romans 3:13A. He quotes Psalm 5:9, where it says:

'their throat is an open grave, they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips'.

11: But let all who take refuge in thee rejoice, let them ever sing for joy; and do thou defend them, that those who love thy name may exult in thee. 12: For thou dost bless the righteous, O LORD; thou dost cover him with favor as with a shield.

Romans 3:13B He quotes from Psalm 140:3.

"Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."

12: I know that the LORD maintains the cause of the afflicted, and executes justice for the needy. 13: Surely the righteous shall give thanks to thy name; the upright shall dwell in thy presence.

Romans 3:14 quotes from Psalm 10:7:

7: His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.

v. 14: the hapless commits himself to thee; thou hast been the helper of the fatherless. . . v. 17 O LORD, thou wilt hear the desire of the meek; thou wilt strengthen their heart, thou wilt incline thy ear

Romans 3:15-17 draws a lament how Israel has turned their back on God, Isaiah 59:7-8. The land is full of iniquity:

7: Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, desolation and destruction are in their highways. 8: The way of peace they know not, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked, no one who goes in them knows peace.

15: Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. 16: He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intervene; then his own arm brought him victory, and his righteousness upheld him. 17: He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in fury as a mantle. . . 20: "And he will come to Zion as Redeemer, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the LORD.

Romans 3:18 quotes from Psalm 36:1:

1: Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.

9: For with thee is the fountain of life; in thy light do we see light. 10: O continue thy steadfast love to those who know thee, and thy salvation to the upright of heart!

So in each Scripture that Paul is drawing from, there are indeed people who are unrighteous, but in the midst of it, there are righteous people, who with God's grace live the godly life that God asks us to.

Besides that, what is the purpose of Jesus, what did He do in justification and righteousness? Romans 5, 6, and 8 give us some answers that shows the Protestant idea that Christians can not be righteous before God is absolutely wrong, Romans 5:12-19:

12 Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned-- 13 sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the effect of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. 17 If, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Then as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. 20 Law came in, to increase the trespass; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

After declaring baptism is the means of dying to sin, Rom. 6:3, and getting into the 'newness of life', v. 4, one is 'justified', or 'freed' from sin, v. 7, Paul writes the following, Romans 6:13-16:

13 Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to any one as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Next, Paul continues in Romans 6:20-22:

20 When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But then what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.

Next, after Paul talks about the law, in and of itself doesn't give power to combat evil, he shows that God does provide the grace to do so:

Romans 8:2-4:

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

In Romans there are other Scriptures that show similarly, all of Romans 12, in sum with verse 21, where we overcome evil with good. In Romans 13:8-14, we can walk in love, or we can fall into depravity which separates us from God. We have to give account for all that we do, Romans 14:10-12. Paul even ends the book of Romans talking about the importance of the obedience of faith, Romans 16:26. We just saw obedience means obedience to righteousness, whose end is eternal life, Romans 6:16-22.

There are plenty of other Scriptures outside of Romans, both by Paul and the words of Jesus, the apostle John, James, Peter, Jude, which speaks as one's righteousness is necessary to attain eternal life. However, the focus on this paper is summarizing what Paul is saying in Romans 3:9-18, and how the interpretation of Paul by Protestants who believe that in justification by faith alone, no one can actually be righteous in God's sight, is in fact, wrong.

In summary, with all the context of Romans 3:9-18, what does Paul mean? Does it mean even Christians who have the Holy Spirit, can't really be righteous? Or with that imputation, does he impart His own righteousness into our souls? Again, context is necessary. In regards to the context, Paul in Romans 3:1-9 writes about being a Jew and circumcision, and what it does. The people who are opposing Paul are saying that if you are circumcised, you have it made in the shade, and you have no need to pursue holiness. In 3:9 Paul writes that this is not the case, that just being circumcised is not enough. He says both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. But with grace one can and must pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. However, in Romans 3:10 it says there are none righteous, no not one! If Paul means that for Christians, he would not only contradict himself in chapters 2, 6, and 8, (where he says we must pursue and attain righteousness, die to sin, and put to death the deeds of the flesh), but he would be wrenching the texts of Psalms and Isaiah out of context. Why does Paul quote Psalm 14, Psalm 5, Psalm 140, Psalm 10, Isaiah 59, and Psalm 36, in Romans 3:9-18? In the passages that he quoted, there are righteous people. As the Psalm Paul is drawing from in Psalm 14:5, God is with the generation of the Righteous. David had enemies and who were most of his enemies? They were mostly circumcised, unrighteous Jews. Just being a circumcised Jew did not make you righteous. However, there are clearly righteous people shown in the Psalms and Isaiah that Paul is drawing from, but circumcision clearly did not make them so. Circumcised Jews were the ones who were unrighteous, and not in right standing with God. In none of those scriptures did it mean that there were not any righteous people. So in the new covenant there will be righteous people as well. Paul does not butcher scripture to make points. He takes it that you understand the context of the scriptures that he is quoting from. "Don't assume that just because you are circumcised you will be right with God." You need to pursue holiness (Hebrews 12:14) for salvation, and only with Christ through the Holy Spirit, can you be righteous. That is Paul's point in this Scripture of Romans 3:9-18.

We know that is the whole point on justification because what does Paul next say, in Romans 3:19-20?

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

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No One is Righteous, No Not One: A Look at Romans 3:10-17: Is No One Righteous Before God?...by Matt1618... This text may be downloaded or printed out for private reading, but it may not be uploaded to another Internet site or published, electronically or otherwise, without express written permission from the author.