Romans 3:10-20

DISCOURSE: 1830
THE EXTENT OF MAN’S DEPRAVITY

Romans 3:10. It is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is un open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.

THE Scriptures are the only and infallible source of divine knowledge. To them the Apostles continually refer in support of their doctrines. No subject is capable of more ample proof from them than that before us. St. Paul is shewing that all mankind are guilty and depraved. In confirmation of this he cites many passages from the Old Testament [Note: See Psalms 14:1.Proverbs 1:16; Proverbs 1:18; Isaiah 59:7.]. From these, as stated and improved in the text, we are led to consider,

I. The representation which the Scripture gives of our state—

The testimonies here adduced, declare, that the most lamentable depravity pervades,

1. All ranks and orders of men—

“There is none righteous, no, not one [Note: The Apostle has so arranged his quotations as to form a beautiful climax, every subsequent passage affirming more than that which precedes it.]”—

[Righteousness is a conformity of heart and life to the law of God. Where is the man on earth that possesses it by nature? Where is the man whose deviations from this standard have not been innumerable?]
“There is none that understandeth”—
[The natural man has no discernment of spiritual things [Note: 1 Corinthians 2:14.]: his practical judgment is in favour of sin and the world.]

“There is none that seeketh after God”—
[The things of time and sense are diligently pursued; but who ever cultivates divine knowledge, or seriously inquires after God [Note: Job 35:10.]?]

“All are gone out of the way”—
[Men universally prefer the way of self-righteousness to that of faith in Christ, and that of sin and self-indulgence to holiness and self-denial. No one that sees them would imagine that they really intended to tread in the steps of Christ and his Apostles.]
“They are together become unprofitable”—
[God has formed us for his own glory, and each other’s good: but unregenerate men never attempt to answer these ends of their creation [Note: They may do good to the bodies of men; but never shew any real solicitude about their souls. Indeed, how should they, when they care not for their own souls?]: hence they are justly compared to things worthless and vile [Note: Luke 14:34 and John 15:6.]

“There is none that doeth good, no, not one”—
[Nothing is really good, which is not so in its principle, rule, and end [Note: The fear and love of God are the principle, the Scriptures the rule, and God’s glory the end of Christian obedience, 1 Corinthians 10:31.]. But where is the action of any natural man that will stand this test?]

2. All the faculties and powers of men—

[Nothing is more offensive than an open sepulchre [Note: Matthew 23:27.]; or more venomous than an asp; yet both the one and the other fitly represent the effusions of a carnal heart: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak:” deceit, calumny, invective, yea, in many instances, the most horrible oaths and execrations will proceed from it [Note: No less than four expressions, and those exceeding strong, are sued to declare the evils of the tongue.]. Hence that awful description of the human tongue [Note: James 3:6.]— From words we are ready also to proceed to actions, yea, even the most cruel and atrocious. Who that sees with what readiness nations engage in war, will question the declaration in the text? Hazael revolted at the idea of murder, when warned of his readiness to commit it; yet notwithstanding his present feelings, how “swift were his feet to shed blood [Note: 2 Kings 8:12. with ib. ver. 15 and 13:7.]!” How many at this day are impelled by shame even to destroy their own offspring! How frequently do men engage in duels on account of the slightest injury or insult! And in how many instances might we ourselves, when irritated and inflamed, have committed murder in an unguarded moment, exactly as others have done, who in a cooler hour would have shuddered at the thought! The instance of David, who, though “a man after God’s own heart,” murdered Uriah, and many others with him, to conceal his shame, is sufficient of itself to shew us what the best of men might commit, if left to themselves [Note: 2 Samuel 11:14.]. Well we may apply to this subject that humiliating language of the prophet [Note: Isaiah 1:5.]— Thus, God himself being witness, instead of walking in “paths of peace” and safety, we all by nature prefer the “ways which bring destruction and misery” both on ourselves and all around us [Note: Psalms 36:1.]. The whole of our state is properly summed up in this, that “there is no fear of God before our eyes;” so entirely are our understandings blinded, and our hearts alienated from him, by means of our innate depravity [Note: ver. 16 and 17. relate primarily to the evil which men do to others, though they may include what they do to themselves. See Isaiah 59:7.]

This humiliating view of our state should lead us to consider,

II.

The inferences to be deduced from it—

Those which the Apostle suggests in the text will suffice for our attention at this time:

1. We are all “guilty before God”—

[It seems inconceivable to many, that they should really be obnoxious to everlasting misery in hell: and they will plead their own cause with zeal and eloquence: if they concede it with respect to some more heinous transgressors, they will deny it in reference to themselves. But God has taken care that “every mouth should be stopped.” It is not possible to express the universality of men’s wickedness more strongly than it is expressed in the words before us [Note: “None, no, not one;” “none; none; none, no, not one;” “all; all together;” “every mouth;” even “all the world.” Can any, after this, fancy himself an exception?]. All then must “become guilty before God,” and acknowledge their desert of his wrath and indignation; they must feel their desert of condemnation, as much as a man that has been condemned for parricide feels the justice of the sentence which is pronounced against him. O that we might all be brought to such unfeigned contrition! We should then be “not far from the kingdom of God [Note: Psalms 51:17.].”]

2. We can never be justified by any works of our own—

[“We know that what the law saith, it saith unto them that are under the law.” Now the law saith, “Do this and live: transgress it and thou shall die [Note: Romans 10:5.Galatians 3:10.];” but it speaks not one word about mitigating its demands to the weak, however weak, or its penalties to the guilty, however small the measure of their guilt. How then can any man “be justified by the works of the law?” Can a man be guilty, and not guilty? or can he be condemned by the law, and yet justified by it at the same time, and in the same respects? Let all hope then, and all thought, of justification by the law be put away from for us ever. God has provided a better way for our justification, namely, through the blood and righteousness of his dear Son [Note: Romans 3:21.]: and to lead us into that way was the intention of the Apostle in citing the passages that have already been considered. Let us improve his humiliating representation for this salutary end; so shall we be “justified freely by grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus [Note: Romans 3:24.].”]