Romans – A Treatise
Chapter Three
BOTH UNPROFITABLE
Scripture Reading: verses 9-18
WHAT THEN? ARE WE BETTER THAN THEY? NO, IN NO WISE: FOR WE HAVE BE-FORE PROVED BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES, THAT THEY ARE ALL UNDER SIN; AS 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 AN 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.
We are still listening to what we have termed the counsel for the prosecution. Coming to verse 21 we find the lawyer for the defense also having something to say. In this passage the prosecuting attorney, so to speak, is gathering his evidence and presenting it to the supreme court of the universe, where God Himself sits on the bench. It is an intensely dramatic spectacle and this masterpiece of legal prosecution is presented through the lips of a man called Paul, the most brilliant intellectual giant who ever marched across the New Testament pages, and yet is the humblest servant of the Lord Jesus. Somehow it thrills the soul to keep in mind that at every step it is Paul presenting the evidence.
The Jews cannot say that Paul is unfair because of racial prejudice, because Paul himself was a Jew and is willing to give them every advantage of evidence in this court of law. Likewise, no one can accuse him of being unfair to the Gentiles, because he was uniquely the apostle to the Gentiles, and his God-given purpose was to declare the whole counsel of God relative to bringing both Jew and Gentile into the body of Christ.
He now sums up his evidence of guilt on behalf of heaven’s accusations against both Jews and Gentiles, asking the question: “Are we better than they?” In other words, is there any difference between those sinners from among unbelieving nations who bowed down to images of wood and stone when they had the overwhelming testimony of the power the Creator in the visible universe, and the Jews who had in their hands the advantage of having the oracles of God and knowing the will of God and being enlightened regarding the righteous requirements of God’s holiness? He is not measuring the extent of the guilt. Characteristically, the Jews and Gentiles are put on trial and now, without going into the question regarding the extent of their guilt, it will, for the purposes of the prosecution, be sufficient to prove they are both guilty. The question regarding the extent of their guilt will be taken up later; now it is a matter of arraigning them before the bar of God's justice and declaring them both guilty. So Paul says:
For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As 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 [that is, Jew and Gentile together] become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Notice it is not only the acts of the sinner that are brought under review in this passage; it is the intent of the human heart. On one hand is the Gentile, who might look up into the heavens and see the glorious evidences of the power of the Creator, having his own conscience to guide him regarding the righteousness of that Creator. Yet, he goes the way of rebellion against God, showing that the impulse of his heart is toward sin. This is a demonstration that the Gentile is controlled by sin, or, as the apostle Paul puts it here, that they are all under sin. That is the dominating influence in the life of the Gentile. It is equally true regarding the Jew, and his advantages in having the law of Moses and all the oracles of God given to him through the prophets only brought to light in clearer perspective the intent of his heart toward evil. He, too, was dominated by this principle called sin. Thus, Paul says both Jew and Gentile have together become unprofitable.
Let us not forget that in this court trial both Jews and Gentiles are looked upon as God’s servants, answerable to Him for their conduct, as a slave might be answerable to his master. They are vessels made for the Master's use, but both have been unprofitable.
We should not be too impersonal about all this, because the case for the prosecution is setting forth the startling truth that comes home to us. In other words, we stand before the bar of judgment and are condemned in this same condemnation. Today, as we look across our so-called enlightened land, we see overwhelming evidences of the dominating principle of sin in the world. We live in a world where the ingratitude of man’s heart toward God is appalling. No doubt God is speaking to us about this in these days of catastrophe throughout the earth. In recent years, based on the way many of us treat the bounty He showers on us, it’s evident that many have forgotten that we are servants, answerable to the One who made us. We bask under His sunshine, our fertile valleys are normally resplendent with the green herb and golden fruit, yet far too many of us accept it with less gratitude toward our Maker than an animal shows toward his master. We say that God is speaking to us and could easily dry up our land, as He did in Elijah’s day, and turn it into a bowling wilderness. We pray that none of us will imper-sonally read this third chapter of Romans. Is it we who have become unprofitable servants to the Almighty?
Regarding There throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips, Coffman wrote:
This progression to sins against fellow creatures was introduced by the last clause of Romans 3:12, quoted from Psalm 53:2. Paul did not invent this charge of wickedness, but only read it out of the Old Testament, the indictment being further detailed and stated in Psalm 5:9; Psalm140:3. The figure of speech here shows how utterly repugnant to God was their unprincipled conduct. The thought is that the words coming from their throats were as foul as any odor that ever came out of an opened grave. Their language and conversation were full of deceit. No credibility could be given to anything that they said; and, in this light, it must not be thought of as anything unusual when they tried to sustain charges against the Savior by means of suborned testimony, and bribed the Roman soldiers to lie about the resurrection of the Lord. “A generation of vipers” indeed were they (Matt. 3:7).1
Today, the world is scourged by war and rumors of war, lands are being turned into deserts; hunger, disease, and famine stalk the land and millions live from hand to mouth in a desperate endeavor to stay the hand of death. The superficial thinker may blame God for all this, but in light of the last century we are driven to the conclusion that sin lies at the root of world chaos. Self-seeking dictators arose in the earth, supported by the hysterical accelerations of the populace, and they used their ruthless power for tyranny, murder, and destruction. Could it be that the harvest of their wickedness is being reaped across the world today? Sin is an awful principle in the human heart. Only the grace of God can save us from it, and this has been accomplished by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary, whereby He is offered as a Prince and Savior to all who will trust in Him for salvation.
Footnote:
1 Romans 3:13 from James Burton Coffman’s Bible Study Library on the Old and New Testament
