Romans 3 Bible Study: All Have Sinned and Are Justified by Grace

Romans: Chapter by Chapter · Chapter 3

Romans 3 completes Paul’s argument that neither open rebellion nor religious privilege can make us right with God. Then the chapter turns to the righteousness God provides through Christ.

Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible. The BSB text is in the public domain.

Romans 3:1–8: God Remains Faithful

1 What, then, is the advantage of being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.

3 What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written:

“So that You may be proved right when You speak
and victorious when You judge.”

5 But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms. 6 Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world?

7 However, if my falsehood accentuates God’s truthfulness, to the increase of His glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner? 8 Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say, “Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved!

Romans 3:1–8, Berean Standard Bible

Paul has said that outward circumcision cannot protect an unrepentant heart. That does not mean Israel’s privileges were worthless. The Jewish people had received the “very words of God.”

This was a gift of special revelation. God made His law, promises, and covenant purposes known through Scripture. Receiving God’s Word was a great privilege, but it also brought greater responsibility.

Related reading: God Makes Himself Known explores how God reveals Himself through creation and Scripture and why Christian theology begins with receiving what God has made known.

Israel’s unfaithfulness could not cancel God’s faithfulness. God remains true even when His people fail. N. T. Wright emphasizes covenant faithfulness as an important dimension of “the righteousness of God.” In this passage, Paul also stresses that God is proved righteous when He speaks and judges. His faithfulness includes both keeping His promises and judging evil truthfully.

Paul also rejects the idea that evil should be excused because God can bring good from it. God may overrule human sin for His purposes and display His justice through it, but sin does not become good. Grace is never permission to do evil.

Romans 3:9–20: The Whole World Is Accountable

9 What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written:

“There is no one righteous,
not even one.

11 There is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.

12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,
not even one.”

13 “Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”

“The venom of vipers is on their lips.”

14 “Their mouths are full
of cursing and bitterness.”

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16 ruin and misery lie in their wake,

17 and the way of peace they have not known.”

18 “There is no fear of God
before their eyes.”

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

Romans 3:9–20, Berean Standard Bible

Paul’s conclusion is that Jews and Gentiles alike are “under sin.” Sin is not only a list of wrong actions. It is a power that affects the whole person.

Theologians often call this total depravity, or pervasive corruption. This does not mean every person is as evil as possible. It means sin reaches every part of us: mind, desire, speech, action, and relationship. It leaves no part capable of producing the righteousness God requires apart from grace.

Paul’s Old Testament quotations move through the whole person. Minds do not understand. Hearts do not seek God. Mouths deceive. Feet move toward violence. At the center of it all, “there is no fear of God.”

As Romans 1 showed, sin begins with disordered worship. When God is removed from the place only He can occupy, the rest of life begins to lose its proper order.

The law reveals this condition, but it cannot cure it. It names sin, exposes guilt, and silences every excuse. Paul is not criticizing God’s law as defective. He is denying that fallen people can use “works of the law” to establish a righteous standing before God.

Romans 3:21–26: The Righteousness God Provides

21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets. 22 And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

25 God presented Him as an atoning sacrifice in His blood through faith, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand. 26 He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

Romans 3:21–26, Berean Standard Bible

“But now” marks the great turn in the chapter. Humanity cannot produce the righteousness God requires, so God reveals the righteousness He provides.

This righteousness is not disconnected from the Old Testament. The Law and the Prophets testify to it. God has remained faithful to His promises and has acted decisively through Jesus Christ.

Paul uses three important terms.

Justification is God’s legal declaration that a sinner is righteous in His sight. It does not mean God pretends the sinner has never sinned or that moral transformation is unnecessary. It means the believer receives a new standing before God through Christ. Justification is received by faith and grounded in Christ’s work, not earned through obedience.

Redemption describes liberation secured at a cost. The word evokes release from slavery or captivity. In Christ, sinners are freed from condemnation and brought under the saving lordship of the One who purchased them.

Atoning sacrifice translates a Greek term that has been understood in relation to sacrifice, the removal of guilt, the satisfaction of God’s righteous judgment, and the mercy seat where atoning blood was presented. The important point is clear: Christ’s blood deals decisively with sin and publicly demonstrates God’s justice.

God had “passed over” earlier sins in His forbearance, not because He was indifferent to evil, but because the full demonstration of His justice awaited the cross. There sin is judged and grace is given. God remains just while justifying those who have faith in Jesus.

Related reading: How Can a Righteous God Bring Unrighteous People to Himself? examines how Christ’s atoning work, righteousness, and the Great Exchange allow God to remain righteous while bringing sinners into right relationship with Himself.

Martin Luther later described how he came to understand “the righteousness of God” not only as the righteousness by which God judges, but as the righteousness by which the merciful God justifies the sinner through faith. The gospel does not merely reveal the righteousness God demands. It announces the righteousness He provides in Christ.

Romans 3:27–31: Boasting Is Excluded

27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on that of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

29 Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the law.

Romans 3:27–31, Berean Standard Bible

Grace removes every reason for spiritual pride. We cannot point to our morality, religious background, biblical knowledge, or good works as the reason God accepts us.

Faith is not another achievement that earns God’s favor. It is the empty hand that receives Christ and rests in what He has accomplished.

Related reading: What Does It Mean to Believe in Jesus? examines the difference between merely agreeing with truths about Christ and personally trusting the Savior whose work we receive by faith.

Because there is one God, there is one way of justification for Jew and Gentile. Everyone who is made right with God comes by grace through faith.

When Paul says faith “upholds the law,” he is not simply adding obedience back as another basis of justification. The law has already exposed sin, and the Law and the Prophets testify to the righteousness revealed in Christ. Faith establishes the law in its proper role rather than using it as a ladder for self-justification. Romans will later show how the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in those who walk according to the Spirit.

Bonhoeffer’s warning against cheap grace remains relevant. The grace that justifies sinners also calls them to follow Christ. Obedience does not earn justification, but it grows from a life that has received mercy.

Romans 3 leaves no room for self-justification. Every person is guilty, and every excuse is silenced. God provides in Christ the righteousness sinners cannot produce for themselves.

Questions for Reflection

1. Why was receiving the Word of God both a privilege and a responsibility?
2. What does Paul mean when he says humanity is “under sin”?
3. What can the law reveal, and what can it not accomplish?
4. What do justification, redemption, and atoning sacrifice teach us about the work of Christ?
5. Where are you tempted to find a reason to boast before God?

Study References

• Romans 3, Berean Standard Bible.
• Berean Bible free-licensing information. The Berean Bible text has been dedicated to the public domain.
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, volume 4, especially the discussion of grace, faith, obedience, and following Christ.
• Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, 2nd edition, Zondervan Academic, 2020, especially the discussions of sin, the atonement, and justification.
• Douglas J. Moo, The Letter to the Romans, 2nd edition, New International Commentary on the New Testament, Eerdmans, 2018, especially the treatment of Romans 3:1–31.
• Thomas R. Schreiner, Romans, 2nd edition, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Baker Academic, 2018, especially the treatment of justification, redemption, and Christ as the atoning sacrifice.
• Martin Luther, “Preface to the Complete Edition of Luther’s Latin Works”, 1545, translated by Andrew Thornton.
• N. T. Wright, “The Shape of Justification”, concerning the legal, covenantal, and eschatological dimensions of justification.