Romans 3:1-20. Humanity on Trial. 

1. The chapter opens up with a continuation of the previous scene. The best way to envision this is that the entirety of the human race is on trial and God Himself is both the Judge and the Jury, and Paul is simply the court recorder. 

   1. Paul now goes on to both state and answer objections that he knows are being raised against him and his teachings. 

2. What is the value of having the law of God? Verses 1-2. 

   1. It makes people aware of their sin and therefore their need for God. 

   2. The Jews were given God’s law, they were His chosen people, they had covenants with God, they had every advantage possible when it comes to being with God because of all He did for them. 

3. Does man’s unfaithfulness nullify the faithfulness of God? Verses 3-4. 

   1. Absolutely not. Though many will not believe, this does not nullify the faithfulness of God nor mean His work was futile or without effect. 

   2. “It is a strange, strong expression; but it is none too strong. If God says one thing, and every man in the world says another, God is true, and all men are false. God speaks the truth, and cannot lie. God cannot change; his word, like himself, is immutable. We are to believe God’s truth if nobody else believes it. The general consensus of opinion is nothing to a Christian. He believes God’s word, and he thinks more of that than of the universal opinion of men.” - Charles Spurgeon. 

4. If God is glorified even in sin then how can He condemn us for it? Verses 5-8. 

   1. When Paul writes that he asks this and inserts “(I speak in a human way)” he is not saying he is writing without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he’s stating that only a fallen man with a depraved mind would dare to question God’s justice. 

   2. The prime example of someone who might ask this is Judas. He betrayed Jesus, but we know that ultimately it brought about the salvation of God’s people. God used his sin as part of His redemptive plan, so Judas might ask God how he could even be judged if God used his sin as a means of fulfilling the Scriptures. 

      1. However, there is a clear issue with this line of thinking. While it is true that God used the wickedness of Judas in His redemptive plan, it was still the wickedness of Judas. Judas had no good or pure motive in his heart in what he did and therefore receives no credit for the good that God brought out of his wickedness. Judas remains guilty before God. 

   3. Part of the way in which God is glorified in man’s sin is by His righteous judgment of man’s unrighteousness. Therefore, we are by no means to sin more so that God may be further glorified, unless we desire His judgment to come down even harsher than before. Such thinking is horrendously perverted and perhaps the peak of man’s depravity.

5. What does it mean to be righteous? 

   1. Righteous, or dikaios in Greek, means to be justified in the eyes of God. To be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ, to be holy. 

      1. Martin Luther grew angry with God over the idea of righteousness, knowing that he could never be righteous on his own. He was in anguish that God would require something Luther couldn’t fulfill on his own. 

      2. However, when studying he finally came to understand that that’s the whole point. We can’t be righteous on our own, but God has supplied this righteousness in His Son Jesus Christ. 

      3. God has supplied what He requires. 

6. What does it mean to be foolish? 

   1. Foolish, or móros in Greek, means that you have no mental capacity to process the data and the information of divine revelation that has been set before you. You cannot understand the things of God. Having a depraved or debased mind refers to the same concept. 

      1. It's like describing a sunset to a blind man, or a symphony to a deaf person.  

      2. We will delve much deeper into this in the first part of Romans 8. 

7. Are we Christians any better off than those who are not believers? Verse 9. 

   1. No, not at all. Any difference in us is only by the grace of God, it’s not that we’re better inherently or internally than anyone else. We are ALL under sin naturally. 

      1. To be under sin means to be under the penalty of sin, the power of sin, the pollution of sin, and ultimately to be under enslavement to sin. 

      2. Another way of describing this is we are all naturally under the tyranny and domination of sin, and inevitably under the condemnation of sin. 

      3. Naturally, you are completely under sin and can do nothing to get free from it by your own efforts. 

   2. All the glory goes to God, not us. 

8. Paul goes on to give a number of OT references. He does this to show that this is not his case, it’s God’s case. He is quoting the Word of God. He also does this to show that this case and prosecution is nothing new. This has been embedded in OT Scripture all along. 

   1. All of humanity is naturally foolish and helpless and has been ever since the fall apart from the divine intervention of God, Paul simply brings forth these witnesses in the courtroom to testify against mankind. However, in reality we know that it is God who is bringing forth these witnesses. 

9. Let’s walk through the next section and look at where these references come from. What is the implication of each verse? Verses 10-18.

10. What is the point of God’s law? Verse 19. 

    1. To make man aware of God’s holiness and his own sinfulness. In other words, to bring about knowledge of God’s righteousness and man’s unrighteousness. 

       1. To reveal God’s character to His Creation. 

       2. In reference to Romans 3:10-18 Calvin writes, “We may add, that though all the vices here enumerated are not found conspicuously in every individual, yet they may be justly and truly ascribed to human nature, as we have already observed.” 

          1. In other words, though we may not see every one of these descriptions distinctly in every man, it is true that they all describe the human nature which affects all mankind and the effects of which can be seen everywhere in the world. 

11. Can the law save us? Verse 20. 

    1. No, it can only bring about the knowledge of sin, but it cannot save. 

12. Can we save ourselves? Verse 20. 

    1. No, not only have we failed by sinning against God, we have also failed to uphold His law. This may sound repetitive but our justification is more than just the forgiveness of our sins. We need a way for our sins to be wiped away and for the righteousness of God to be imputed to us. Simply being innocent is not enough to make it to heaven, we must also be righteous before God. 

13. What if we obey the law better than some others? Verse 20. 

    1. John MacArtur used to compete in the broad jump when he was younger and he uses this as an example of comparing ourselves to others and not to God…

       1. If we took everyone to the Grand Canyon and in order to be saved we had to jump to the other side, it does not matter if you can jump farther than some or if some can jump farther than you. If everyone were to jump then we would all end up on different parts of the bottom, utterly dead. 

14. Resources: 

    1. Enduring Word Bible Commentary Romans Chapter 3 EW. 

    2. What Is the Difference between the "Active" and the "Passive" Obedience of Christ? TGC. 

15. Sermons: 

    1. Romans, Vol. 03 (3:1-4:3) GTY, John MacArthur.  

    2. Humanity on Trial (Romans 3:9–20)