All the World Guilty Before God; By the Law Is the Knowledge of Sin (Romans 3:13–20)

Rom. 3:13. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they speak deceit; the venom of asps is under their lips.

The first half of the verse is taken from the 5th Psalm, verse 10; the second—from the 3rd verse of the 139th Psalm. “Their throat is an open grave”. What is within, that is also on the tongue. What they devise, in what they find pleasure, toward what all their plans are directed, of that is their discourse always. And as their badness and lack of goodness prevail; so this same thing dominates in their conversations. An open grave spreads its stench and makes known that within it the body of a man is decaying. And the tongue of him who has turned aside from God and fallen into worthlessness and malice spreads the stench of impiety, worthlessness and malice and makes it understood that his soul decays from the decomposing action of passions. — What is in each person’s discourse, that is in society—literature. By it one can know what a society is.

“With their tongues they speak deceit”. That was generally said about the tongue of the impassioned; now it passes to the enumeration of kinds of the worthlessness of the tongue. The first—flattery. “Deceit” — ἐδολοφόνησαν. — Δόλος — maliciousness. Maliciousness of the tongue is the are of covering evil purposes with good speech and thereby leading another into deception and harm for the sake of one’s own gain. This is the direct consequence of egoism. Whether egoism encounters egoism or egoism encounters goodness, egoism cannot act without deceit. In the first case, because otherwise, by irritating the other’s egoism, it would stir up opposition to itself; in the second case, because otherwise, by exposing itself, it would reveal in itself that which goodness abhors. Passionate egoism is inevitably obliged therefore to scheme, covering itself with flattery.

“The venom of asps is under their lips. — Under their lips”—under or within their words. “The venom of asps”—harm and ruin. Just listen to what they say, and evil will befall you. It will be with you as with one who has taken the poison of an asp. — By this is meant the highest degree of that which is meant by the expression: “with their tongues they speak deceit”. When one deceives with the tongue, he leads only to evil, involves in some affairs and enterprises from which comes harm to one’s victim, and to him advantage; but when the venom of asps is in the discourse, then evil enters the soul together with the words. Here one can understand revilers of the ways of God and spreaders of evil teachings. Covering falsehood with a fair semblance of truth, they introduce it into the soul and, driving out truth from it, poison it with this falsehood.

Rom. 3:14. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness (Ps. 9:28).

Two other kinds of worthlessness of the tongue: “cursing and bitterness”. — Earlier was pointed out hidden evil of the tongue, and here open evil. “Cursing”, ἀρά,—curse; “bitterness”, πικρία,—speech that grieves, bitterness poured into the soul. “Are full”, γέμει,—swarm, are crammed full. It points to either a particular class of worthless people by tongue, or a particular state of those same deceitful and venom-bearing ones: they do not always succeed in covering evil, it breaks through. And then there is either uttered cursing—that you suffer such and such and the like; or bitterness—words that wound, in the form of subtle insinuations or in the form of crude abuse. Both are in circulation among the impassioned. Education and civilization do not save. When passion takes hold, cursing and bitterness appear even there, often in a more repulsive form, because there are more ways to express oneself more forcefully.

Rom. 3:15. Their feet are swift to shed blood (Prov. 1:16; Isa. 59:7).

After the lack of goodness of the tongue—the lack of goodness of deeds in mutual relations toward one another. For feet, hands, paths—in the word of God mean the conduct of people, their customary way of life and activity. “Swift feet”—because the desire is strong, irresistibly compelling toward the deed. As that to which they so strive is the shedding of blood; by this is expressed bloodthirstiness. This can go only to robbers. But even in them the thirst for blood is not the main thing, but an incidental thing; the main thing is gain. The shedding of blood in the strict sense is aimed at only by revenge and personal enmity. Generally, therefore, one cannot consider this kind of lack of goodness. So, if “the shedding of blood” is understood in the proper sense, then here is indicated some particular wickedness of certain individuals. The Prophet generalizes it and after him the holy Apostle, because if it appears in some, then, it means, arriving at such ferocity is not foreign to the Jews. But one can understand by shedding of blood only the painful wounding and injuring of another. In such a case, here will be expressed the state of the angry and embittered one. In anger and wrath, as a distinguishing feature, in all appears the desire to wound another, to make him feel—not by word, but by deed. And there flickers a small desire for the shedding of blood. If one thus understands the shedding of blood; then its generalization presents nothing problematic. The Apostle rebukes in the Jews the predominance of unloving and hostile feelings and deeds.

Rom 3:16. Destruction and misery on their paths (Isa. 59:7).

“Destruction,” σύντριμμα,—a shattering; “misery,” ταλαιπωρία,—all manner of troubles, grievous and painful. Where a band of wicked men passes, there houses are plundered, laid waste, and burned, the inhabitants beaten, wounded, and scattered. Here is destruction and misery! But there are such individuals who, living among others, inevitably embitter and shatter everyone they encounter—they cause grievous harm. Meanwhile, it is often impossible to accuse them: the victim is the one who suffers, while they pretend to know nothing. Some, however, become notorious for this, and public opinion warns people about them: do not associate with this one—you will regret it. “On their paths”—it follows after them, or they leave it behind. Just as fire cannot pass through without burning, so they cannot act without causing harm.

Rom 3:17. And the way of peace they have not known (Isa. 59:8).

This is as if a summary of all that has been said about the unworthiness of tongue and customary conduct. When one wounds with the tongue and causes harm by deeds, what peace can come from them? Unpeacefulness spreads through them everywhere. Selfishness—the passions—is a dissolving force, just as sympathy—goodwill—is a uniting one. Where selfishness and passions are, peace and a peaceful disposition are impossible: for they draw everything to themselves, whereas peace requires sacrifice from many. Therefore it is rightly said of them: “the way of peace they have not known.” Neither in thought nor in purpose do they have what it takes to establish and preserve peace. And they do not understand how necessary this is, and why, and how to do it. Peacefulness is for them an unknown land.

Rom 3:18. There is no fear of God before their eyes (Ps. 35:2).

The depiction of the wickedness of the Jews, begun with prophetic words concerning godforsakenness, ends with fearlessness before God. Both mean separation from God, as a result of which character is perverted. And popular speech expresses the same when it says to an evildoer and wrongdoer to his face: You do not fear God. A man confesses God exists, and acknowledges His judgment, and does not deny hell; and yet he has no fear of God. How is this possible and in whom? It is possible under the cover of a seductive rationalization: today I will act according to my heart’s desire, and tomorrow I will repent. One might suppose that evildoers do not all intend to do evil to the end, but rather act as if compelled by circumstance. But even so, those who do not have the fear of God are lacking something that is possible. And it happens that many of them come to their senses. But it also happens that, passing from one evil deed to another, they harden their hearts and, through the multitude of their evil deeds, lose all hope of mercy: consequently they surrender themselves to the hands of their own evil will, and when a thought of God appears, they drive it away with hostility and malice. This disposition is satanic.

Such is the depiction of the wickedness of the Jews in parallel to the wickedness of the Gentiles. Comparing the two, we see that in both cases all perversion of character stems from separation from God in mind and heart. But it is remarkable that while the Gentiles, having fallen away from God, descended into the grossest sensuality and then into every kind of unrighteousness, the Jews, having ceased to seek and understand God, gave themselves over directly to wicked and unprofitable deeds. And from history we see that although the Jews too fell into fleshly sins, there was not among them such an outpouring of fornication as among the Gentiles. The holy Apostle did not think it necessary to make a special point of this vice.

Rom 3:19. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are in the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

It is as if the Apostle hears an objection from the Jews: all this that you have brought forward does not pertain to us—and he hastens to forestall it, saying as it were: not to you! — To whom would the law speak if not to those in the law—if not to you? — understanding by law all the Old Testament Scripture, since above he had cited passages from the Psalms, Proverbs, and the Prophet Isaiah. — So understands this the holy Chrysostom: “The Jews could have objected: this is not spoken about us. The Apostle replies: what need had the Prophet, sent for your correction, to accuse others? The Law was given not to someone else, but to you. — By law here the holy Paul means all the Old Testament.” So understand all our interpreters. The Apostle’s aim is to strip the Jews of all pretexts by which, to their self-deception, they might free themselves in their own minds from God’s judgment and condemnation. To this end his entire speech to the Jews has been directed from the first mention of them together with the Gentiles (Rom. 2:9–10) until now.

“That every mouth may be stopped.” As for the Gentiles, there is nothing more to say: they are without defense. But you too, even if you had something to say in your own defense, cannot present it; because by your unbelief you have yourselves deprived yourselves of all privileges and are justly condemned by the Prophets. You too are without defense. And thus every mouth is stopped—no one can offer anything in his own defense. The holy Paul makes this clear: the Prophets foresaw from afar that you would try to wriggle out from under judgment; therefore they condemned you so severely, to stop your mouths, so that you, understanding the matter, would acknowledge their condemnation as just, would condemn yourselves, come to repentance, and seek justification in that which the Gospel points out to you.

Thus the holy Chrysostom sets forth the flow of the Apostle’s thought: “By this the Apostle proves that what was said was not simply as an accusation, but so that the law might also prepare the way for faith. Such is the agreement of the Old Testament with the New, that accusations and reproofs undoubtedly had the aim of opening to the listeners the bright door of faith. Since what especially ruined the Jews was that they thought highly of themselves, and, not understanding the righteousness of God and trying to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness; therefore the law and the Prophets first restrained their pride and brought low their arrogance, so that, coming to an awareness of their sins, laying aside their arrogance, and seeing themselves in extreme danger, they might flee with full earnestness to Him who gave them forgiveness of sins and receive grace through faith. This same thing Paul was here indicating when he said: ‘that every mouth may be stopped.’ He shows that while the Jews do not dare boast of deeds, they are boastful and shameless in words. Therefore the expression ‘that every mouth may be stopped’ is used in its proper sense; by it is depicted the shameless and excessive boasting of the Jews, as well as the fact that their tongue needed to be restrained with all strength. It was uncontrollable, like a rushing stream; but the Prophet bridled it. When Paul says ‘that,’ he does not mean that they sinned for the sake of stopping their mouths; but that they were reproached so that, having sinned, they would acknowledge it.”

“And the whole world may be held accountable to God. — Held accountable to God”—guilty before God. The Gentiles would not object to this; they acknowledge themselves to be such. If now you too accept the reproach of the Prophets and acknowledge that you have nothing with which to defend yourselves, then it follows that the whole world, not by external judgment alone but also by its own acknowledgment, is guilty before God. All must acknowledge that the wrath of God revealed from heaven—judgment and condemnation—is righteous and unavoidable. “He did not say: the Jews shall be held accountable—but: the whole human race. For just as with the words ‘that every mouth may be stopped,’ the Apostle aims (more) at the Jews, though he did not say this plainly so that the discourse would not become harsh; so the words ‘the whole world may be held accountable to God’ apply both to the Jews and to the Gentiles. But this also greatly serves to humble the pride of the Jews, when they too have no advantage over the Gentiles in this regard, but are placed on equal footing with them in the matter of salvation. For he is properly called accountable who cannot defend himself but needs outside help. Such is our (yours and mine) position, the Apostle says as it were, after we have squandered the means given to us for salvation” (the holy Chrysostom).

Rom 3:20. Because by works of the law no one will be justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

That the Jews are guilty before God without defense, the Apostle has proven above by the conduct of the Jews being inconsistent with the law, and by the prophetic judgments concerning them. Now he draws from the very essence of the law itself, as it were thus: and do not even think of justifying yourselves by works of the law; the law was not given for that, but only so that it might always place before your eyes knowledge of sin and guide you toward an awareness of sinfulness. The Apostle fully unfolds this position below; here he only presents it.

“Flesh”—a human being, one who bears flesh; “no one bearing flesh will be justified”—that is, no human being will be justified before God “by works of the law. — Works of the law”—deeds in accordance with the law. But which law is here understood? Only that one which defined sacrifices and purifications, or also that one which defined piety and virtue? Both. The first could not justify in essence because it had no justifying power in itself, but served only as a sign and indication of that in which true justifying power lies. Theodoret writes: “all this serves as a sign of another thing, and by itself, even if fulfilled, is not sufficient to make the one who fulfills it righteous.” — The second, though it might justify by itself—for in what else consists justification but in the complete fulfillment of the laws of piety and virtue? — yet there is no hope of obtaining justification by this path because by our weakness we cannot fulfill it in the required fullness: so that this law too is powerless to justify us, though not through any fault of its own, but through ours. Therefore he used such an expression: “all flesh,”—to show where the source of powerlessness lies—not in the law, but in us. As humans bearing flesh, we cannot fulfill the law; therefore do not even think that anyone could be justified by this means. “The law would have profited, certainly, if those who received its commandments had kept it; but since they did not keep it, then through this circumstance it rather harmed, not by its nature, but by the evil disposition of those who did not observe it—by their wickedness” (Oecumenius).

“For by the law is the knowledge of sin.” The law defined everything—how one ought to act in every case; but since it gave no power to fulfill it, and the flesh drew toward the contrary, it only illuminated sinfulness. One who received the law saw in what circumstance he was sinning, and could not help but be aware that he was sinning, but he did not see how to escape from these bonds of sin. All the law gave him was to teach him to know his sinfulness; but since even with this knowledge sin continued to act and draw him, this knowledge only increased sin: “for he who sins knowingly faces a greater punishment” (the blessed Theophylact). “The law shames you more because it exposes your sins. It was the cause that sin became known to you; but it was in your power to flee sin. Since you did not flee, you brought greater punishment upon yourself, and the law’s teaching led you to greater condemnation” (the holy Chrysostom). But even this last—being subject to greater punishment for sinning with knowledge—corresponds to the law’s purpose. Such indeed is its designation—to keep man in awareness of sinfulness and consequently of helplessness before God.

Nevertheless, one cannot think that sin is something fated—something that necessarily drives a person to transgression whether he wills it or not. The flesh indeed draws, but transgression is always committed because a person himself willingly desires what is contrary to the law. Therefore after breaking the law, a person is ashamed and feels pangs of conscience. This is evidence that the one who sinned could have refrained from sinning, but did not wish to deny his wicked desire.

One cannot think either that because by works of the law no one will be justified, works of the law are therefore not needed. No; justification consists precisely in appearing fully upright, having fulfilled all that the law requires. Fulfill all God’s will, and you will be saved. The Saviour said this repeatedly, and the Apostles taught it. The whole economy of salvation is directed toward bringing us into a state in which we appear perfectly righteous before the law. Hence comes the forgiveness of sins, hence the grace for the doing of every good. For the Jew and for the Greek alike, and now for the Christian—there is one goal: perfect faithfulness to God’s law. This must be our aim, in no way weakening the sense of obligation through faith; on the contrary, constantly warming and renewing this sense by faith, which provides all that is necessary to fulfill this obligation.