None are Righteous
For the first two and a half chapters of the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul engages in a relentless prosecution of the human race. He systematically dismantles the weak defenses, stripping away the self-righteousness of the moralist and the religious pride of the Jew under the law, until the entire world stands guilty before God (Rom 1-2). This lengthy indictment culminates in Romans 3:9-18, a passage that hits home with devastating clarity: we are all under sin.
This verdict is not pleasant, but it is the necessary first step to understanding your need for a Savior. Until we grasp the bad news of our condition, the good news of God’s grace remains just a religious concept rather than a desperate lifeline (Gal 3:24).
No Exceptions
Human beings naturally grade on a curve. We look at criminals or tyrants and think, "At least I’m not like them." We think there are "good people" and "bad people." However, as it turns out, our measuring stick of righteousness is drastically flawed.
In God's courtroom, there are no degrees of "pretty good." There is only sinner or not; wrath or not; guilty or not (Jam 2:10). Paul asks, "What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin" (Rom 3:9). He confirms that both Jews and Gentiles are all under the power of sin.
To drive this point home, he quotes numerous Old Testament scriptures, removing any wiggle room for human pride:
"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." (Rom 3:10-11)
"None" means exactly what it says (Psa 14:1-4, Psa 53:1-4). There are no exceptions (Ecc 7:20). Every person is entitled to nothing but death and damnation (Rom 2:5, Rom 6:23). The natural man cannot discern spiritual things (1Co 2:14) and simply does not seek after the true God (Isa 9:13, Isa 31:1). We are all gone out of the way and have become unprofitable, for "there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Rom 3:12, Isa 53:6).
The Anatomy of Our Depravity
In Romans 3:13-18, we see the dissecting of the anatomy of a sinner to reveal the corruption within. It starts with the mouth, the primary instrument of our hearts to communicate.
The Dangerous Tongue
"Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:" (Rom 3:13)
A sepulchre was a tomb, beautiful on the outside, but inside, full of death and uncleanness (Psa 5:9, Mat 23:27). This is a picture of the human condition: we may offer flattery or a facade, but "the poison of asps is under their lips." This poison is our lies, which cause harm whether we see it or not (Psa 140:3). We use our tongues for deceit, leading someone to believe what is false or only partially true (Psa 36:1-4).
"Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:" (Rom 3:14)
Without God, what naturally flows from us is cursing (wishing evil against someone) and bitterness (sharpness, hatred, extreme enmity, grudges) (Psa 10:2-7). As the Lord Jesus taught while on the earth, it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles the man, for it proceeds from the heart, which is desperately wicked (Mat 15:18-19, Jer 17:9). This venom showcases our wretched state.
The Feet and the Path
"Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known:" (Rom 3:15-17)
Sin leads to destruction and misery in your life and in the lives of others (Rom 6:21). The path of the sinner is marked by corruption (Isa 59:7-8). Without Christ, there is no peace (Isa 48:22, Isa 57:21), and in our flesh, we strive and fight amongst each other even unto death.
The Root Cause
"There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Rom 3:18)
This is the summary indictment. In our natural state, we are selfish and do not hate evil. To fear the Lord is to have awe, reverence, and a due regard for His power, authority, and judgment (Job 28:28, Pro 1:7). When this fear is absent, we fail to realize the gravity of God's judgment of sin and then subsequently His grace, becoming apathetic or putting ourselves above Him in our hearts, minds, and lives (Psa 36:1). And while our sin is paid for, we will still stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of the sort of work done in His body (1Co 3:12-15, 2Co 5:10).
The Gospel: For Sinners Only
Why does the Bible spend so much time convincing us we are bad? Because it is only from a proper orientation of our own depravity, realizing that we deserve God’s wrath and hell, that we even see the need for Christ’s blood to pay for our sins in full.
The gospel of the grace of God is that salvation from sins is by grace through faith alone in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1Co 15:1-4).
There is nothing you can do to earn it or add to it; you will never be enough (Rom 3:20).
There is nothing you can do to keep it or lose it; it is not on your merits. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph 2:8-9).
The Danger of the "Good Person" Myth
We must be careful of the lie that we, in ourselves, are "good." Even the saved person, who stands righteous in God’s eyes because of Christ’s righteousness, still has that wicked flesh. It’s lost its condemning power through the cross, but is still there. Paul, after being saved, acknowledged, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing" (Rom 7:18). We might want to do good, but we don’t have the ability to perform it. We do what we don’t want to do, and we don’t do what we should do (Rom 7:19-25).
Though our old man, the sinful identity we had in Adam, is judicially crucified with Christ (Rom 6:6), that does not mean we do not still have that unrighteous flesh walking around (Gal 5:17). Our natural bent, our heart's desires, and our carnal mind are still prone to wander and walk in sin.
The Christian life is not about pretending our flesh has improved; it is about continually reckoning that old man dead, remembering who we are as new creatures in Christ, and allowing His life to work in and through us by faith (Rom 6:11-12, 2Co 5:17). Christ is good, and He is in you, and you are in Him, but your flesh is still just as bad as before.
Walking in Righteousness
We were not righteous before we trusted in Christ's finished work, and our flesh still isn't. But thank God that by His grace, we are saved and have His imputed righteousness upon us (Rom 4:4-5, Rom 4:24).
The first step to walking in righteousness is walking after the Spirit, not in our flesh (Rom 8:4). This requires the right mind, oriented on the gospel: minding the things of the Spirit (Rom 8:5), reckoning our old man dead because of what Christ did, and realizing who we are now. This ultimately requires humility to remember who we were, what we deserved, what we received, and that we don’t know better: we need God’s truth to enlighten our eyes (Eph 1:18).
This knowledge magnifies the love of Christ, which should constrain us (2Co 5:14). We do not live for the Lord to be liked, to be seen, to be righteous in ourselves, or to make ourselves feel good. We live for Him because Christ died for us when we didn't deserve it, our life is His, and He is now our life (Col 3:4, Gal 2:20, 1Co 6:20).
