Rom 3:1-20 | TNotes | STEP | 3:1 what’s the advantage of being a Jew? Paul moves his argument along by raising questions. After preaching the Good News for over twenty years, he knew what questions people would ask when they heard a particular teaching. His emphasis on the equality of Jews and Gentiles before God (ch 2 ) inevitably led people to ask whether he was eliminating all Jewish privileges. The question-and-answer style follows the pattern of the diatribe (see study note on 2:1-5).

3:1 ^a what’s the advantage of being a Jew? Paul moves his argument along by raising questions. After preaching the Good News for over twenty years, he knew what questions people would ask when they heard a particular teaching. His emphasis on the equality of Jews and Gentiles before God (ch 2 ^b) inevitably led people to ask whether he was eliminating all Jewish privileges. The question-and-answer style follows the pattern of the diatribe (see study note on 2:1-5).
3:2 ^c The advantage that Jews possessed was in having received God’s word.

• First of all: Paul never adds a second or a third point to the list he begins here. He might have forgotten to continue the list, or first of all might mean “most importantly.” However, 9:4-5 ^d provides a good indication of what a list of Jewish privileges would have included.

• By using the word revelation (Greek logia, “oracles, messages”), Paul highlights God’s personal communication with his people (see Deut 33:9 ^e; Ps 105:19 ^f) through which he gives them special privileges and responsibilities.
3:4 ^g Of course not! The Greek mē genoito is an emphatic negation, popular in the diatribe style that Paul uses here and in several other passages in Romans (see 3:6 ^h, 31 ⁱ; 6:2 ^j, 15 ^k; 7:7 ^l, 13 ^m; 9:14 ⁿ; 11:1 ^o, 11 ^p).

• As the Scriptures say: Paul quotes Ps 51:4 ^q, where David confessed his sin in having an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba (see 2 Sam 11:1-27 ^r). God punished David, and David admitted that God was proved right and would win his case in court—his punishment was entirely just. God is faithful to what he has said in the past—his entire revelation—and his words warn of punishment for sin even as they promise reward for obedience.
Summary for Rom 3:5-7: 3:5-7 ^s how would he be qualified to judge the world? Abraham asked a similar question: “Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” (Gen 18:25 ^t). God punishes all sin, and he retains absolute righteousness as he does so. Even when God makes use of human sin for his own ends, that sin still deserves to be, and will be, punished (see Rom 9:10-24 ^u).
3:8 ^v some people even slander us: Paul is referring to misrepresentations about his teaching on justification by faith. If a person is made right with God by faith alone, through God’s grace and apart from works, it could seem as if the Good News allows believers to sin because their sin is forgiven when confessed (see 6:1 ^w). One of Paul’s purposes is to help the Roman Christians understand that such misunderstandings are without basis.
3:9 ^x No, not at all: Paul’s emphatic answer does not contradict his claim in 3:1-2 ^y that Jews have an advantage. But that advantage has not done them any good because they have disobeyed God’s word and incurred God’s punishment. Jews, like Gentiles, have sinned against the revelation of God and stand condemned.

• under the power of sin (literally under sin): Being “under” something carries the sense of being under its power. The ultimate problem of human beings is not the fact of sin, but the situation of being slaves to sin. The solution to this problem requires the liberation provided in Christ Jesus, who frees us from both the penalty and the power of sin.
Summary for Rom 3:10-18: 3:10-18 ^z The six quotations in these verses, drawn from various parts of the Old Testament, all address human sinfulness. Paul follows the practice of rabbis who gathered together Old Testament texts on similar themes in a practice called pearl-stringing.
Summary for Rom 3:10-12: 3:10-12 ^aa This quotation from Pss 14:1-3 ^ab; 53:1-3 ^ac directly supports the argument that all people are under the power of sin.
Summary for Rom 3:13-14: 3:13-14 ^ad Paul here refers to sins of speech, mentioning a different organ of speech in each of the four lines (talk in 3:13 ^ae is literally throat).
Summary for Rom 3:15-17: 3:15-17 ^af In this quotation from Isa 59:7-8 ^ag, Paul addresses sins against others.
3:18 ^ah They have no ... : This concluding quotation from Ps 36:1 ^ai neatly ties up the whole series (Rom 3:10-18 ^aj) by referring to the same Greek words that introduced the first quotation (ouk estin, translated in 3:10 ^ak, “No one is”).
3:19 ^al Paul speaks of the entire Old Testament as the law (see also 1 Cor 9:8 ^am, 9 ^an; 14:21 ^ao, 34 ^ap; Gal 4:21 ^aq).

• Those to whom it was given (literally those in the law) were the Jews, who were given the Scriptures.

• How can Paul conclude that the entire world is guilty before God on the basis of evidence from the Old Testament that Jews are sinful? He argues from the greater to the lesser, a standard Jewish rhetorical technique: If the law shows that the Jews, God’s own people, are guilty, then how much more are the Gentiles, who have not had the benefit of God’s instruction, also guilty.
3:20 ^ar By doing what the law commands refers to obeying the requirements of the law of Moses. While this phrase refers to Jews, the principle extends to all people. If Jews cannot be put in right relationship with God by obeying the law God gave them, certainly other people cannot establish such a relationship through good deeds.