Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Romans 3:10

The long series of quotations, beginning with this verse, has many points of interest. The καθὼς γέγραπται with which it is introduced, shows that the assertion of indiscriminate sinfulness which the Apostle has just made, corresponds with Scripture testimony. It is as if he had said, I can express my opinion in inspired words, and therefore it has God upon its side. The quotations themselves are taken from various parts of the O.T. without distinction; no indication is given when the writer passes from one book to another. Thus Romans 3:10-12 are from Psalms 14:1-3; Romans 3:13 gives the LXX of Psalms 5:9; Romans 3:14 corresponds best to Psalms 10:7; in Romans 3:15-17 there is a condensation of Isaiah 59:7 f.; and in Romans 3:18 we have part of the first verse of Psalms 36. No attention whatever is paid to the context. The value of the quotations for the Apostle's purpose has been disputed. It has been pointed out that in Psalms 14, for instance, there is mention of a people of God, “a generation of the righteous,” as well as of the godless world; and that in other passages only the contemporaries of the writer, or some of them, and not all men in all times, are described. Perhaps if we admit that there is no possibility of an empirical proof of the universality of sin, it covers the truth there is in such comments. Paul does not rest his case on these words of Scripture, interpreted as modern exegetical science would interpret them. He has brought the charge of sin against all men in chap. Romans 1:17, in announcing righteousness as the gift of the Gospel; in chap. Romans 1:18-32 he has referred to the facts which bring the charge home to Gentile consciences; in chap. 2 he has come to close quarters with evasions which would naturally suggest themselves to Jews: and in both cases he has counted upon finding in conscience a sure ally. Hence we do not need to lay too heavy a burden of proof on these quotations: it is enough if they show that Scripture points with unmistakable emphasis in the direction in which the Apostle is leading his readers. And there can be no doubt that it does so. As Gifford well says on Romans 3:18 : “In the deep inner sense which St. Paul gives to the passage, ‘the generation of the righteous' would be the first to acknowledge that they form no exception to the universal sinfulness asserted in the opening verses of the Psalm”.

Romans 3:10. Οὐκ ἔστιν δίκαιος οὐδὲ εἶς. There is something to be said for the idea that this is Paul's thesis, rather than a quotation of Psalms 14:3.Psalms 14:3; Psalms 14:3 is correctly quoted in Romans 3:12, and the Apostle would hardly quote it twice: δίκαιος, too, seems chosen to express exactly the conclusion to which he means to come in Romans 3:20. Still, the words come after καθὼς γέγραπται : hence they must be Scripture, and there is nothing they resemble so much as a free rendering of Psalms 14:3.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Romans 3:10

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