6
The Universal Power of Sin
Romans 3:1–20
Outline
- Jewish Privileges and Their Limitations (3:1–8)
- Concluding Indictment: All Are “under Sin” (3:9–20)
Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
- Understand the genuine benefits that Jews possess as well as the limitations of those benefits.
- Appreciate the depth of the problem that sin creates for human beings.
- Identify at least two key interpretations of the phrase “works of the law” and understand how these interpretations affect our broader interpretation of Paul’s theology.
Romans is full of traps for the unwary reader. Just when we think we have understood what the letter is teaching, the argument takes an unexpected turn, and once again we are left puzzled and uncertain. Of course, this is one of the glories of Romans. No book capable of being understood on a first reading is likely to hold our attention or to stimulate our thinking for very long. Romans requires many readings; even then, we feel that there are points in the letter that still escape our gaze.
The beginning of Romans 3 is one of those surprising turns in the argument. By the end of Romans 2 we think we have understood Paul’s basic point: gentile and Jew stand on the same footing before God. Both have been given revelation about God; both have failed to live up to that revelation; both stand under God’s wrath. And so, when Paul asks in 3:1, “What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew?” we are ready to answer, “None.” But what does Paul answer? “Much in every way!” (v. 2). Paul’s unexpected response forces us to look more deeply at the nature of his argument in Romans 2. And when we do so, we realize that God has relativized the Jews’ position vis-à-vis gentiles at only one point: both stand in need of additional help if they are to escape God’s judgment. Yet Paul knows that we might draw the wrong conclusion from what he has taught in chapter 2, and so he warns against false conclusions. And, as we will see, he continues also to emphasize that the Jews’ real privileges are also limited.
But 3:1–8, where this argument unfolds, is something of a detour in Paul’s argument. The main point of this section comes in 3:9–20, and the backbone of this section is found in two verses: verse 9, where Paul places all human beings under the power of sin, and verse 20, where sad state of affairs leads him to conclude that no one can be justified by obeying the law. With this claim Paul completes the bad news; he is ready now to come back and elaborate the good news.
Jewish Privileges and Their Limitations (3:1–8)
Paul continues to unfold his argument by raising the questions that he knows by experience people will ask. Here he heads off any idea that his argument in chapter 2 undercuts his claim from the theme of the letter (1:16) that the gospel is for the Jew first. In this new stage of salvation history God has provided for equal access to his salvation for both the Jew and the gentile, but he does so without destroying the genuine privileges enjoyed by Israel. Paul strikes a careful balance on these matters throughout the letter and gives extended attention to the issue in Romans 9–11. In verses 1–8 he briefly anticipates some of this more extended discussion. These verses again feature the vigorous question-and-answer diatribe style. And because Paul writes so compactly here, it is not always easy to know who is asking the questions and what position the imaginary dialogue partner is taking. Interpreters therefore disagree quite strongly about the specifics of the issues in these verses. A key turning point comes in verse 5 with the reference to “our unrighteousness.” This might refer to human evil generally, but the Jewish flavor of the whole paragraph suggests rather that “our” refers to Paul’s fellow Jews and that “unrighteousness” means something like “unfaithfulness to the covenant”—failing to live up to the right behavior demanded in God’s covenant with Israel. Paul again is concentrating, then, on issues of salvation history and of God’s integrity in carrying out that plan.
Traditional site of King David’s tomb on Mount Zion
Paul begins by asking whether the status of Jews and the circumcision that marks them as God’s covenant people give them any advantage. “Much in every way!” he emphatically responds. Paul mentions “first of all” the fact that they have been entrusted with “the very words of God” (v. 2). No “second” or “third” follows this “first of all.” Paul probably intended to list other privileges but got deflected as he elaborated on this first blessing. He gives a fuller list in 9:4–5. “The very words of God” is a good rendering of the Greek logia, “oracles.” The reference clearly is to the Old Testament, but this Greek word draws attention to the fact that God himself has spoken to his people (see logia in Deut. 33:9 and in Ps. 119 [twenty-four times] in the Greek translation of the Old Testament). To be sure, Paul acknowledges, the Jews have not always lived up to the requirements that God imposed on them (v. 3), but God remains faithful to his own pledged word. Nothing will deflect him from accomplishing what he has promised to do. No, Paul exclaims, “let . . . every human being be a liar” (v. 4); God will still be found “true,” or faithful. Paul confirms this idea with a very suggestive quotation from Psalm 51:4. The words he quotes state David’s purpose in confessing his horrible double sin of adultery (with Bathsheba) and murder (of Uriah): that God might be “proved right” in his judgment on David. By acknowledging his sin, David vindicates God’s sentence of judgment. What makes this quotation suggestive is the negative effect of the word to which God here is faithful. What Paul is suggesting is that God’s faithfulness to his word (vv. 3–4a) includes his commitment not only to bless his people but also to punish them for their sin.
If this is the logic implied in verse 4, then we can better understand the next question Paul raises (v. 5). What he is asking is how it can be fair for God to punish the Jews when their very unfaithfulness to God has manifested his righteousness. After all, Jewish disobedience led to the need for Christ and for the new revelation of his righteousness. Why, then, does God judge them for what has contributed to his own glory and plan? Paul’s response to this question is not easy to sort out from the series of questions and answers in verses 6–8, but it seems that basically he is reminding us of a simple truth: the ends do not justify the means. Even if human sin and unfaithfulness have been used by God to bring good and enhance his own glory, the sin and unfaithfulness are no less evil and deserving of punishment. God, as the Old Testament makes clear, will judge the world, and he will “do right” in judging it (see Gen. 18:25). God cannot overlook sin, even when it becomes the occasion for a greater display of his mercy and glory. Paul knows that some of his detractors accuse him of emphasizing the power of God’s grace to the extent that human sin becomes actually a good thing (v. 8). But he implies that the Jews would be no better off if they claimed that their own sin could be excused or overlooked because it had contributed ultimately to God’s purpose.
Concluding Indictment: All Are “under Sin” (3:9–20)
Paul accomplishes three purposes in this final paragraph of his opening argument in the letter (1:18–3:20): (1) he concludes his indictment of humanity with the chilling verdict that “Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin” (v. 9); (2) he illustrates his indictment from the Old Testament (vv. 10–18); and (3) he draws a conclusion from his indictment: the law cannot save (vv. 19–20).
The translation of the second question in verse 9 is difficult. But the NIV—“Do we have any advantage?”—has it right. The “we” is probably again the Jews (see my comments on v. 5), and Paul strenuously denies that the Jews are any better off. But how does this response square with his equally emphatic assertion in verses 1–2 that Jews do indeed have an advantage? The answer lies in distinguishing the two different issues that Paul is dealing with. In verses 1–2, Paul affirms that the Jews have undeniable and continuing salvation-historical advantages. They were the recipients of God’s covenant and the law that was the heart of that covenant. In verse 9, however (as in chap. 2), the issue is not salvation history but salvation. And when it comes to being saved, Jews are no better off than gentiles. Both Jews and gentiles “alike are all under the power of sin.” This concluding indictment is a natural consequence of Paul’s argument in 1:18–3:8. He has shown that gentiles and Jews have both been given revelation from God, but they have equally failed to respond appropriately to that revelation. And that universal failure points to one inescapable conclusion: all human beings are locked up under sin’s power. It is important to notice how Paul puts the problem. He does not simply claim that people are sinners (though that, of course, is true). What he says is that people are “under the power of sin” (the NIV rightly brings out the force of the Greek preposition hypo). People are imprisoned under the power of sin. The point is vital if we are to appreciate the need and power of the gospel. If people simply were sinners, then perhaps all they would need would be a teacher to inform them about what is right. But people are under sin. They need a liberator. And Paul will present Christ, through the power of God’s righteousness unleashed in the gospel, as just such a liberator (3:21–26, esp. v. 24).
Michelangelo’s depiction of Moses, who received God’s law on Mount Sinai (Wknight94/Wikimedia Commons)
Following a practice that the rabbis called “pearl stringing,” Paul now adduces a series of Old Testament passages to buttress the conclusion he has drawn in verse 9. Some interpreters think that Paul might be quoting a preexisting document that had already gathered these passages together.1 At first sight, these passages seem to be thrown together haphazardly, but a closer look uncovers some logical arrangement. The opening line (v. 10b) introduces the key idea: “There is no one righteous, not even one.” The final line, verse 18, then comes back to restate this theme in different language (the two also are connected by a verbal similarity, “there is no” [ouk estin]). Verses 11–12 develop the theme of the opening line. They echo the “there is no one” language of verse 10b, restating the truth of universal human sinfulness. The entire series in verses 10b–12 is drawn from Psalm 14:1–3. Paul then uses language from Psalm 5:9 (v. 13a–b), Psalm 140:3b (v. 13c), and Psalm 10:7 (v. 14) to illustrate the universal sway of sin with respect to human speech. Verses 15–17 turn to sins of violence against other people. Here Paul uses language from Isaiah 59:7–8a to illumine the propensity of people to harm one another. A look back at the context from which these quotations are drawn reveals that many of them refer to wicked people within Israel. This may be a subtle attempt on Paul’s part to remind the Jews once again that they cannot claim any special exemption from sin and judgment. They are in the same situation as the wicked sinners who opposed Israel.
In verses 19–20, Paul states the result of the human dilemma as a transition to his positive presentation of the gospel in 3:21–4:25. He begins by drawing a conclusion from his Old Testament quotations in verses 10–18. I have noted that Paul usually uses the word “law” to refer to the Mosaic legislation. However, since the Mosaic law was so basic to the Old Testament in the Jewish perspective, the whole Old Testament could also be called simply “the law.” Paul clearly uses the word in this sense at the beginning of verse 19. “Whatever the law says” refers back to the Old Testament quotations in verses 10–18 (drawn from the Psalms and the Prophets). This law is directed, Paul reminds us, to “those who are under the law”—a reference to the Jews (see 2:12). But, since the Jews, God’s own people, are indicted by their own law, it becomes clear that “the whole world [is] accountable to God.” The language is legal: all people are guilty before the bar of God’s justice. Verse 20 draws the conclusion: “No one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law.”
The phrase Paul uses here, “works of the law,” has been a focus of debate in current interpretation of Paul’s theology (for a broader discussion of the new perspective, see chap. 1 above). He uses the expression eight times in his letters (Rom. 3:20, 28; Gal. 2:16 [three times]; 3:2, 5, 10). In the past, interpreters usually took it to refer to anything done in obedience to the law of Moses. And, since Paul excludes these works from any part in justifying the sinner, it was thought legitimate to conclude that all works were implicitly condemned as well. The Reformers therefore taught that nothing a person did could ever suffice to put that person in relationship with God. The way of “works” was a dead end; only the way of faith was left. But many modern scholars think that Paul might use the phrase to refer to Jewish works in a particular sense. They argue that the emphasis is not so much on the “works” as on the “law.” What Paul is talking about is not so much the performance of the law but the possession of the law. He is saying, basically, that Jews cannot be justified before God through the Mosaic covenant.2 Implications about works in general therefore are excluded. A decision between these two interpretations turns on the evidence from the use of the phrase in Jewish sources and on the context in which Paul uses the phrase. On both scores, I think that the traditional interpretation should be preferred.3 We have no good reason to remove the emphasis on “doing” in the occurrences of the phrase in Jewish literature. And the sequence of Paul’s argument in Romans 3–4 suggests that he views the phrase “works of the law” as a subset of the larger category “works.” For in chapter 4 he says much the same thing about the “works” of Abraham as he does in chapter 3 about the “works of the law” of the Jews after Moses. Thus, even though the Reformers did not always pay sufficient attention to the Jewish context of Paul’s argument, I think that their ultimate application of verse 20 is legitimate: no work that a human being does can ever put him or her in relationship with God.
Broaching a theme that will become a key motif in the letter (see 4:15; 5:20; 6:14, 15; 7:1–6), Paul concludes by reminding us of what the law does accomplish. It cannot overcome the problem of human sin (v. 20a); rather, the law makes us “conscious of our sin.” A more literal rendering would be “knowledge of sin.” What Paul means by this is not simply that the law defines sin by telling us what we should not do, for often in Scripture, “knowledge” carries the deeper nuance of “familiarity,” “intimate understanding.” By revealing God’s will so clearly, the law fully reveals the power of sin. It makes us realize just how far short of the ideal we fall and how powerful an enemy sin really is.