Studies in Romans (3:19-20)

Studies in Romans

Romans 3:19–31

Romans 3:19 (NASB 2020)

19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God;

An important point that I overlooked for many years is contained in this verse. All the teaching I received in my youth told me that I needed to obey the Ten Commandments. More accurately, I was taught that I needed to obey the moral laws of the Old Testament, but not the ceremonial or sacrificial laws.

Paul is very explicit here. He makes it clear that whatever the Law says, it says to those who are under the Law. It is the second part of his statement that may give pause. In saying that all the world becomes accountable to God, Paul opens the door in the minds of some.

However, if we look back into Romans chapter two, we find, “14 For when Gentiles who do not have the Law instinctively perform the requirements of the Law, these, though not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them” Romans 2:14–15 (NASB 2020)

God’s law is the same for everyone, but only the Hebrew nation was given the Law of Moses. That Law, which contained the Ten Commandments, the sacrifices, and the various ceremonies, belonged only to the Jews. It was the codification of a bilateral covenant ratified in blood between them and God. Everyone else had only their conscience to guide them.

That no one who was not part of the Hebrew nation was included in the Mosaic Law is clearly stated in Ephesians 2:12 (NASB 2020) “remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the people of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

Nevertheless, every mouth is shut by the law of God. In the case of the Hebrew nation, no one could keep the 613 stipulations in the Mitzvah. In the case of the Gentiles (everyone else in the world) everyone knew by the objections of their conscience that they were not perfect. Consequently, everyone is accountable to God.

Verse 20 in our text tells us that every mouth is closed, and everyone is accountable to God, “because by the works of the Law none of mankind will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20 (NASB 2020)

Rules and regulations show us what perfection looks like. This is the curse of the original humans failing to trust God and eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Since that day, humanity has been aware of sin. Its existence, and what it is. Paul gave an example from his own life. In Romans 7:7b–8 (NASB 2020) he wrote, “I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.” But sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.”

The law that forbade him to covet resulted in coveting because once he understood what coveting was, he couldn’t help seeing it everywhere in his own life. Had he never known that God’s law (the Law of Moses and the law of conscience) forbade coveting, his attitudes and actions would have been subject only to the goodness of God. Coveting would never have entered his mind. Sin would have been dead as far as he was concerned. To him there would have been only familial righteousness imparted, or inherited, from his Father. This is the state from which Adam and Eve fell.

We are given the right (or made able) to become the children of God. We learn this from John 1:12–13 (NASB 2020) where we read, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God.” With respect to our righteousness, this places us back in the state Adam and Eve had before the fall. It is the state of being where we depend on Father to guide us into truth by His Spirit. The state where we cease trying to figure out for ourselves what is right and what is wrong, and simply trust Him to be the arbiter of all that. We trust that what He says is always the truth and therefore always right and good.