No One Righteous
Lesson 4 Notes: Romans 3:1-20
“As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.’” (Romans 3:10-11)
Anger, frustration, and disappointment often accompany failure. No one intends to flaunt their flaws, but human error is impossible to avoid. Some blunders receive grace and encouragement to try again. Other, more serious slipups result in shame and rejection. How can we protect our sense of self-worth and community value when our failures and flaws are openly exposed? Various coping strategies promise to ease the bad news of failure. Do you minimize the impact, rationalize the causes, or compare your mistakes with those of others? The world says we can ignore or try to make the best of our failures. But Scripture says something entirely different.
Paul emphatically declares and systematically proves that all people fail to meet God’s standard of righteousness. No one can minimize, rationalize, or make the best of their sin against their Creator. God is the only just judge of humanity’s ruined condition. All people are condemned for their sin and accountable to God. As far as righteousness is concerned, every human is a born a failure. This pride-killing truth makes Paul’s gospel of righteousness from God by faith the best news humanity has ever received. Are you ready to accept the best bad news ever?
Inadequate Defense – Romans 3:1-8
In Romans 1–2, Paul established that God has made Himself known and that all people sinfully reject Him. Sin’s corruption seeped out from the garden of Eden into every man, woman, and child. Sin’s guilt plagues every demographic and cultural group. Without this truth, people fail to recognize that only faith in Jesus Christ guarantees salvation.
As chapter 3 opens, we read Paul’s answers to challenging questions possibly arising from his blunt teaching in chapter 2. Paul continued his letter with a question-and-answer format that would have been common to Jewish and Roman audiences. Refuting three objections, Paul asserted God’s faithfulness and humanity’s responsibility for unrighteousness. God’s righteousness steadfastly remains untarnished by objections and accusations.
Knowing God does not have favorites,1 Paul’s readers might have asked, “What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value then is there in circumcision?” This question casts doubt on the Jews’ role in God’s redemptive plan. Why did God choose Abraham and his descendants as His people?2 Why did God give circumcision as a sign of His covenant?3 Was God’s work before Christ pointless?
Rather than dismiss Jewish spiritual advantages, Paul strongly affirmed them. Romans 9:4-5 lists many Jewish advantages: the adoption to sonship, the divine glory, the covenants, the law, the temple worship, the promises, the patriarchs, and the human ancestry of the Messiah. God generously granted Israel these advantages to help them represent Him to the world and to one day recognize and believe in Jesus. Tragically, most Jews trusted their spiritual advantages rather than Jesus for salvation from God’s judgment. Without faith in Christ, abundant spiritual advantages lead to self-righteousness and unbelief.4
“The very words of God” had been entrusted to Jews before being shared with Gentiles. The Greek New Testament word used here for God’s written revelation, logia, refers to His living, authoritative words, to be received with humility and submission.5 God invites all people to know Him through Scripture’s divine revelation. The Bible reveals God’s unfolding plan to restore His creation through Jesus Christ. Without God’s Word, we drift on a sea of human speculation. To know God’s Word is a priceless advantage anyone can access.
Despite God’s gifts and promises to His people, most Jews rejected Jesus, the Messiah. Unbelief led Jewish objectors to doubt God’s faithfulness to His people and His promises. Answering this objection was so important to Paul that he devoted three chapters in Romans6 to expand his bold response given in verse 4: “Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar.”
God is eternally faithful and true; unbelief is never His fault. We are each responsible and accountable for our unbelief. Paul quoted Israel’s King David to punctuate his point.7 In the same Psalm, David confessed that his sin was not an isolated act but his pattern since birth.8 Like David, all people sin because they are born sinful. We even attempt to blame the holy God for our sin when He reveals our unfaithfulness.
Many Jews believed that God’s promises to Abraham entitled them to salvation. Today, many from Christian backgrounds also feel entitled to salvation because of believing parents, baptism, or moral lives. Some believe a loving God would never condemn anyone. While familiar, these beliefs are untrue. Our faithful God will save all He has promised to save—but not apart from faith in His Son. Never mechanical, salvation comes by God’s grace through personal faith in the one and only Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.9 This alone defines true Christianity.
Paul continued by addressing the outrageous accusation that the gospel promotes sin to bring God glory. Chapter 6 also addresses this objection. The argument goes like this: “Paul, you teach that good works do not save anyone. You even say God’s salvation of sinners brings Him glory. If this is true, why should we not sin even more to bring God more glory?” Paul condemned this reasoning as ridiculous slander. God does not require human evil to highlight His goodness. But humanity’s sinfulness does make it clear that God is right to judge the world.
Jesus addressed similar thinking when He asked, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”10 Paul affirmed God as the supreme, rightful, just judge of His creation. Jesus came to satisfy God’s justice and save believers from sin’s judgment and control. Jesus did not come to leave people trapped in sin’s devastating grip. All whom God saves are joined to Jesus Christ.11 He lives in believers and empowers them to deny their sinful desires, take up their crosses, and follow His example of holiness.12
Inescapable Charges – Romans 3:9-18
Paul’s methodical argument finally reached its painful conclusion. All people are sinful, helpless, and ruined. While Paul’s devastating charges are inescapably true, this is not the end of his letter. Many shrink from facing this harsh truth, but these dark realities melt before the brilliant light of God’s powerful gospel as Paul intentionally unfolded it.
Paul’s legal-style arguments concluded with a formal charge: “Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.” The weight of conscious and unconscious guilt hangs over all people because of the sins we have committed. People are held captive under sin’s power, which constantly multiplies guilt and torments humanity. We cannot meet God’s righteous standard. On our own, people cannot seek God or understand Him. This ruined state is the definition of our total depravity. Tragically, human depravity makes accepting the reality of our doomed condition challenging.
Paul outlined humanity’s crippling limitations with Old Testament quotes. Like students studying for an exam, we would like to believe we have some power to prepare ourselves before God evaluates us. But we will never make the grade. When we accept our guilt and that we have no hope of pleasing God, we can then receive His undeserved favor—His grace.
Unable to Be Righteous (3:10, 12) – Sin disintegrates human morality. As the psalmist wrote and Paul quoted, “There is no one who does good, not even one.”13 This does not mean people merely miss the mark by a little. The first chapter of Romans banished that illusion. From God’s point of view, we have no righteousness—goodness or right standing—on our own. Nothing we do could ever make us acceptable to God.
If we assess people from a human point of view, some look good or at least better than others. However, human goodness can never compare to God’s righteousness. Our righteousness differs from God’s righteousness as much a board game’s play money differs from real currency. Just as we cannot spend play money on actual merchandise, our good works can never buy salvation. Despite their spiritual riches, Israel failed to find God because they offered God their play money rather than attain the actual currency only Christ could provide.14 God requires true righteousness that is only available through Him.
Unable to Understand (3:11a) – Sin degenerates the human intellect: “There is no one who understands.” From our view, some people appear to understand a great deal. However, Paul refers to a lack of spiritual perception, not just insufficient human knowledge. From God’s point of view, human wisdom is bankrupt; without Christ, no one truly understands or worships God.15
Unable to Seek God (3:11b) – Sin demoralizes the human will: “There is no one who seeks God.” From our view, attention to religious traditions, places of worship, and sacred relics convince us that people seek God. From God’s point of view, people hide their hearts from His care and guard their minds from His influence, using religion as a disguise. Apart from God’s gracious intervention, people cannot and will not seek Him.16 God is less desirable to our sinful nature than anyone or anything else. Sin keeps us focused only on ourselves, desensitizing us to others. We do the opposite of the Great Commandment to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves.17
Romans 1 clearly describes humanity’s grim ruin: “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents.”18 Ruined people have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, and no mercy. After such a complete catalog of sinful corruption, why does Paul confront readers with more sordid sins in chapter 3? The earlier verses offered the apostle’s own descriptions of the human condition. In Romans 3, Paul cited convicting Old Testament quotes to confirm that people have always needed the gospel of grace. These verses speak of three traits: wicked words, violent acts, and no fear of God.
Wicked Words (3:13-14) – Paul identified the distasteful sins of gossip, slander, and boasting in Romans 1. As Paul’s letter progressed, he quoted provocative psalms to deepen our understanding that offensive speech contains deadly power. These poetic images vividly associate death with the body parts involved in speaking. Paul invited his readers to picture throats yawning as open graves and tongues deceiving to destroy.19 Imagine human lips dripping with poisonous venom and mouths oozing with cursing and bitterness.20 Our words provide listeners a window into our hearts because “the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”21 When God crafted humanity in His image,22 He granted us the unique, beautiful, and powerful gift of speech. God intended our words to honor and bless Him and others, but tragically, our words often curse and kill.23
Violent Acts (3:15-17) – Paul’s vivid Old Testament illustrations progressed from evil words to violent actions. He quoted Isaiah’s descriptions of violence that separated people from God’s righteousness, justice, and light.24 The path of people living without God bears three distinguishing markers: bloodshed; ruin and misery; and no knowledge of God’s peace. People who lack God’s peace through Jesus Christ leave a trail of destruction behind them.
No Fear of God (3:18) – The last passage Paul quoted explains the root cause behind every wicked act: “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”25 Fallen human nature rejects a reverent awe of God. Self-importance blinds people to both their depravity and God’s glory. Unable on our own strength to recognize and reject our sin against Holy God, all people must depend on God’s grace and power to redeem.26
The Deathtrap of Sin
Every person is equally sinful and subject to sin’s powerful spiral of destruction and death. This biblical truth deals a crushing blow to human pride, signaling helpless defeat under sin’s tyranny. Paul delivered this pressing truth to prove that every person needs a Savior more powerful than sin—Jesus Christ. Sin’s just penalty brings death and eternal separation from God. Rather than defend ourselves and deny sin’s presence in our lives, the gospel invites us to confess, turn from our sin, and seek Christ and His power.1
All people sin by failing to conform perfectly to God’s will. As creator, God alone determines what is right and wrong. Adam and Eve defied God’s will in the garden of Eden, releasing death into the earth and guaranteeing that all their descendants inherited their rebellion—a sin nature.2 Humanity is not simply sick with sin; sin has rendered all people morally, intellectually, and spiritually dead—unresponsive to God.3
When we argue, rationalize, and deny the seriousness of sin, we remain trapped in sin’s deceptive grip. Sin slowly steals joy and peace, separating people from a loving God and the abundant life He offers. In the realm of unbelief, sin entangles people in an eternal deathtrap of condemnation,4 masquerading as temporary freedom and pleasure. Sin blinds unbelievers to their need for God’s grace and mercy. To deny sin’s destructive, deceitful character5 and presence in every life6 is to deny the necessity of Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross.
Through the Holy Spirit’s conviction of sin,7 God brings people to terms with sin’s terrible power and consequences. When we accept that sin has corrupted us completely and believe that God sent Jesus to restore us, sin no longer determines our destiny. Sinless Jesus willingly walked into sin’s deathtrap, knowing He alone could walk back out again—triumphant! Faith in Jesus’s death and resurrection produces a powerful new life, no longer helpless before sin’s temptations. As the victor over sin, Jesus graciously gives God’s righteousness to sinners who seek Him in faith. Have you sought the deliverance from sin that only Jesus can provide? If so, how does Jesus’s victory over sin on your behalf stir fresh gratitude today?
As we consider Paul’s words, a look at some ways Christians have wrestled with what Martin Luther called “the bondage of the will” may help us better understand ourselves and others.
Pelagius and Augustine
About AD 400, the British monk Pelagius said, “If there is an obligation to do something, there must be an ability to do it.” Pelagius believed sin does not prevent the human will from choosing God or righteousness. He believed the will is neutral—free to choose either good or evil. Augustine, bishop of the North African city of Hippo, said Pelagius failed to grasp sin’s seriousness. Sin, an inherited condition, makes it impossible for people to decide to stop sinning. Augustine described this natural human inability as “not able not to sin.” The will is free of righteousness but enslaved to sin; free to turn from God but not free to come to Him. Without God’s supernatural help, no one stops sinning and chooses God.
Martin Luther and Erasmus
Around 1525, the reformer Martin Luther and the Dutch humanist Erasmus vigorously debated about the human will. Erasmus maintained the will must be free for human beings to be truly free. Luther agreed that people are free to choose lesser things. However, in the crucial area of choosing God, the human will is powerless. Luther stated, “We are wholly given over to sin.” Luther declared we must confess not only our sin but also our blindness and inability to choose God or please Him by our moral acts. Luther encouraged us all to call on God for mercy, for He alone can help us. Those who call on the Lord will discover His loving conviction and gentle leading to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
Jonathan Edwards
Eighteenth-century American theologian Jonathan Edwards looked at the issue differently. In his text Freedom of the Will, he defined the will as “that by which the mind chooses anything.” Edwards believed the mind is never neutral but thinks some things are better than other things. The will always freely chooses what the mind thinks best. But what does the mind think best? Here lies the heart of the human problem concerning God. The will is free to choose God, but the mind prefers individual autonomy over faith in Christ and God’s righteous reign. Therefore, the mind suppresses God’s truth and turns from Him.1 Unless God changes thinking through miraculous spiritual rebirth, all people freely choose miserable alienation from God for eternity.
Jesus lovingly promises, “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”2 This grand invitation strengthened Jonathan Edwards to insist the will is not bound without escape. But who desires to come to the Lord? The answer: no one, unless God is already at work. Depraved minds lack spiritual understanding—blinded to God’s truth until the Holy Spirit reveals it. No one has ever stated this more plainly than Jesus, who said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.”3
Indisputable Verdict – Romans 3:19-20
In the first three chapters of Romans, Paul presents an unshakable case against humanity. Paul brings our thoughts, words, and deeds as witnesses against us. The verdict is indisputable: We are all unrighteous. No one can escape guilt for countless wrongs against God. No one can deny accountability to God for their actions. No one deserves God’s declaration of righteousness.
The non-Jew without God’s laws is unrighteous, and the Jew with God’s laws is unrighteous. People suppress the truth God revealed,27 but God writes His requirements on every heart. All have failed to meet the expectations of their consciences and God’s Word.28 All have sinned. All are guilty. All stand silenced before the Judge without excuse.
Until people realize they cannot dispute God’s verdict or meet His righteous standard alone, they cannot escape the wrath their sin deserves. All people are condemned for their sin and accountable to God. But there is one path to righteousness that will withstand God’s judgment—faith in Jesus Christ. God provides freedom from conscious and unconscious guilt as His gracious gift to all who cling to Jesus’s redemptive work on the cross as their only justification. God is rich in mercy, compassion, and forgiveness, so He gives a way out.29 This is the glorious subject of the lessons to come.
Take to Heart
Paul exposed humanity’s sinful condition and corrupted state, inciting objections and accusations against God. Human protests against God’s righteous judgment will crumble. Through God’s gracious gift of His Word, He invites all people to know Him and what pleases Him. Unbelievers cannot adequately rationalize their human doubts about God’s faithfulness and truthfulness. God’s self-existent glory brilliantly shines without the need for contrast with human evil. God’s sovereign status and righteous character endure eternally untarnished by human sin.
While God remains perfectly pure and just, believers and unbelievers persist in sinful corruption apart from rescue by God. Sin exercises authoritarian control over our thoughts, desires, will, and actions. Sin infuses human words and works with toxic poison capable of destroying us and everything we love. People are powerless to escape sin’s grip and deadly consequences on their own. Paul urged readers to accept this truth and seek God’s power to rescue them. God works through the gospel Paul preached, opening eyes to sin and hearts to Jesus’s cleansing righteousness through faith.
The true, righteous, living God reveals Himself—His character and plans—to us in the Bible. These ancient words answer today’s most important questions: How did we get here? What is my purpose? Is there a knowable Creator? Do my choices matter? By what standards will I be judged? What happens after I die? God’s Word explains the brokenness we experience in the world and the path to restoration through Jesus Christ. God’s truth in Scripture mercifully reveals sin lurking in our hearts and minds. How do you express value for God’s Word? Perhaps you spend money to acquire expensive golden-edged pages, proudly displaying the Bible in your home or collecting as many copies as possible. Owning God’s Word does not mean God’s Word owns your heart. As we read and humbly allow Scripture’s truths to direct our lives, the value of God’s Word grows within our hearts. Truth is not relative; truth is transformative. What treasured truth about God’s response to your sin can enrich and transform your life today?
It’s obvious—no one is perfect! While many admit imperfection, few admit spiritual depravity. How about you? Depravity does not mean we are as bad as we could be or that we never do good. It means we ultimately lack what is needed to walk with God. In our fallen humanity, we are never good enough to match His character. Why can we more easily admit incomplete biblical knowledge than confess a complete lack of spiritual understanding? Do you find it easier to confess a tendency to wander off the right path rather than admit your path is entirely wrong? What makes it easier to offer excuses that justify sin than to abandon your pride and honestly confess you cannot meet God’s standards? In our sinful hearts, we want to be good enough without needing God’s perfect righteousness. Personal consciousness of sin’s reality and destructive power blasts away the swirling fog that hides our need for Christ. Jesus did not die to make us better but to make us new. When we admit our need for Christ’s righteousness and receive Him through faith, sin’s power to separate us from God is forever broken and restoration begins. Have you confessed your sin and need for Jesus to save you?
Sin’s power to rule our lives is broken the moment we place our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior. If you have confessed faith in Christ, you receive freedom from sin’s power and penalty as God’s unearned gift of grace to you. However, sinful priorities, speech, and actions linger in a believer’s life. Have you noticed how an innate desire to protect and advance yourself competes with glorifying God? How does sin continue to tempt you? Are you aware of how the people, products, and problems around you influence your values and choices? Believers enjoy the growing power to say “No!” to sin and “Yes!” to God’s transforming work in their lives. As believers cry out for God’s help to turn from sin, they love as Jesus loves and increasingly want what Jesus wants. One day, sin will be no more! Until that day, Jesus holds believers secure and invites them to confess their sins and receive His cleansing forgiveness again and again. The joyful gratitude of forgiven believers fuels their worship and witness about the gospel’s power to save everyone who believes.
1. No favoritism: Romans 2:11
2. Choosing Abraham: Genesis 12:1-3
3. Circumcision as sign: Genesis 17:9-14
4. Self-righteousness: Romans 10:3
5. God’s words: Acts 7:38; Hebrews 5:12; 1 Peter 4:11
6. Faithfulness to Israel: Romans 9–11
7. God is right: Psalm 51:4
8. Born sinful: Psalm 51:5
9. Only one Savior: Acts 4:12
10. Jesus as Lord: Luke 6:46
11. Joined to Christ: Romans 5:12–6:23
12. Follow me: Luke 9:23
13. No one: Psalms 14:1-3; 53:1-3
14. God’s righteousness: Romans 10:3
15. Intelligence frustrated: 1 Corinthians 1:18-20
16. Cannot submit: Romans 8:7
17. Love God, others: Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34; Philippians 2:1-11
18. Ruined humanity: Romans 1:29-31
19. Throats and tongues: Psalm 5:9
20. Poisonous lips and cursing mouths: Psalms 10:7; 140:3
21. Revealing words: Matthew 12:34
22. God’s image: Genesis 1:26-27
23. Blessings and cursing: James 3:9-10
24. Violent acts: Isaiah 59:7-8
25. No fear: Psalm 36:1
26. No recognition: Psalm 36:2
27. Truth suppressed: Romans 1:18-20
28. Conscience: Romans 2:15
29. Our escape: Ephesians 2:1-10
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