Romans 3:9-18
9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; 10 as it is written:
“There is no righteous person, not even one;
11 There is no one who understands,
There is no one who seeks out God;
12 They have all turned aside, together they have become [i]corrupt;
There is no one who does good,
There is not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,”
“The venom of asps is under their lips”;
14 “Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
16 Destruction and misery are in their paths,
17 And they have not known the way of peace.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Paul is arguing that no person is better than another. This means that our educational backgrounds, socio-economic backgrounds, and our heritage have no influence on our righteousness with God. Planet Earth is in trouble despite these things. Sin produces war, conflict, fighting, division and much more. The law makes this very clear. However, the law, as good as it is at highlighting the problem, cannot heal the heart.
No righteous person/no one who seeks God: Calvinism suggests that these verses, and others like them, indicate humanity’s inability to believe in Jesus without individual election. But this is beyond what Paul is arguing. He is simply saying that no person fulfills God’s righteous standard through works. This is why we need Jesus.
