Romans 3:9-20
The entire world is accountable to God because sin is universal and the law silences every claim to righteousness.
9 What then? Are we better than they? No, in no way. For we previously warned both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
10 As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one.
11 There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned away. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not so much as one.”
13 “Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit.” “The poison of vipers is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood.
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways.
17 The way of peace, they haven’t known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
20 Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
The entire world is accountable to God because sin is universal and the law silences every claim to righteousness.
To conclude that both Jews and Gentiles are under sin and to clarify that the law reveals guilt rather than justifies.
Romans 3:9-20 is the summary and climax of Paul’s indictment in Romans 1:18-3:20. Romans 1:18-32 exposed humanity’s suppression of truth and idolatrous exchange. Romans 2:1-16 confronted the moral judge. Romans 2:17-29 confronted Jewish reliance on law and circumcision apart from obedience. Romans 3:1-8 clarified that Jewish advantage remains real, especially stewardship of God’s words, but that human unfaithfulness does not cancel God’s faithfulness. Now Paul concludes that both Jews and Gentiles are under sin. This prepares immediately for Romans 3:21-26, where the righteousness of God is revealed through faith in Jesus Christ.
Paul writes to a mixed Roman church where questions of Jewish privilege, Gentile inclusion, law, sin, righteousness, and gospel faith were central. In a city marked by imperial power and social ranking, Paul levels all humanity before God’s judgment. Believers in Rome, including Jewish and Gentile Christians, with Paul concluding a universal indictment that addresses all humanity This passage stands immediately before the announcement of the righteousness of God apart from the law in Romans 3:21-26. It functions as the final courtroom verdict: all humanity is under sin, every mouth is silenced, and the whole world is accountable to God.
All Under Sin and the Righteousness of God Revealed Through Faith in Christ
Every mouth is silenced by sin, but God now reveals his righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, justifying sinners freely by grace through Christ’s redeeming blood.