10 As it is said in the holy Writings, There is not one who does righteousness;
11 Not one who has the knowledge of what is right, not one who is a searcher after God;
12 They have all gone out of the way, there is no profit in any of them; there is not one who does good, not so much as one:
13 Their throat is like an open place of death; with their tongues they have said what is not true: the poison of snakes is under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full of curses and bitter words:
15 Their feet are quick in running after blood;
16 Destruction and trouble are in their ways;
17 And of the way of peace they have no knowledge:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
19 Now, we have knowledge that what the law says is for those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and all men may be judged by God:
20 Because by the works of the law no man is able to have righteousness in his eyes, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
21 But now without the law there is a revelation of the righteousness of God, to which witness is given by the law and the prophets;
22 That is, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all those who have faith; and one man is not different from another,
23 For all have done wrong and are far from the glory of God;
24 And they may have righteousness put to their credit, freely, by his grace, through the salvation which is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God has put forward as the sign of his mercy, through faith, by his blood, to make clear his righteousness when, in his pity, God let the sins of earlier times go without punishment;
26 And to make clear his righteousness now, so that he might himself be upright, and give righteousness to him who has faith in Jesus.
27 What reason, then, is there for pride? It is shut out. By what sort of law? of works? No, but by a law of faith.
28 For this reason, then, a man may get righteousness by faith without the works of the law.
29 Or is God the God of Jews only? is he not in the same way the God of Gentiles? Yes, of Gentiles:
30 If God is one; and he will give righteousness because of faith to those who have circumcision, and through faith to those who have not circumcision.
31 Do we, then, through faith make the law of no effect? in no way: but we make it clear that the law is important.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Romans 3
Commentary on Romans 3 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 3
The apostle, in this chapter, carries on his discourse concerning justification. He had already proved the guilt both of Gentiles and Jews. Now in this chapter,
The many digressions in his writings render his discourse sometimes a little difficult, but his scope is evident.
Rom 3:1-18
Rom 3:19-31
From all this Paul infers that it is in vain to look for justification by the works of the law, and that it is to be had only by faith, which is the point he has been all along proving, from ch. 1:17, and which he lays down (v. 28) as the summary of his discourse, with a quod erat demonstrandu-hich was to be demonstrated. We conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law; not by the deeds of the first law of pure innocence, which left no room for repentance, nor the deeds of the law of nature, how highly soever improved, nor the deeds of the ceremonial law (the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin), nor the deeds of the moral law, which are certainly included, for he speaks of that law by which is the knowledge of sin and those works which might be matter of boasting. Man, in his depraved state, under the power of such corruption, could never, by any works of his own, gain acceptance with God; but it must be resolved purely into the free grace of God, given through Jesus Christ to all true believers that receive it as a free gift. If we had never sinned, our obedience to the law would have been our righteousness: "Do this, and live.' But having sinned, and being corrupted, nothing that we can do will atone for our former guilt. It was by their obedience to the moral law that the Pharisees looked for justification, Lu. 18:11. Now there are two things from which the apostle here argues: the guiltiness of man, to prove that we cannot be justified by the works of the law, and the glory of God, to prove that we must be justified by faith.