Posted by Romans on Saturday, 30 May 2015
Romans 3:13-18
(13) Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
(14) Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
(15) Their feet are swift to shed blood:
(16) Destruction and misery are in their ways:
(17) And the way of peace have they not known:
(18) There is no fear of God before their eyes.
These verses describe the vileness and wickedness of various parts of the human body, indicating figuratively that every part contributes to a person’s condemnation. In sequence these quotations are taken from Psalm 5:9 (Rom. 3:13a); Psalm 140:3 (Rom. 3:13b); Psalm 10:7 (Rom. 3:14); Isaiah 59:7-8 (Rom. 3:15-17); and Psalm 36:1 (Rom. 3:18). They pertain to three actions: talking (throats . . . tongues . . . lips . . . mouths; vv. 13-14), conduct (feet; vv. 15-17) and seeing (eyes; v. 18). Their speech is corrupt (open graves; cf. James 3:6), dishonest (deceit; cf. Ps. 36:3), damaging (poison; cf. James 3:8), and blasphemous (cursing and bitterness; cf. James 3:9-10). From talking of sin, they commit sin, even to the point of quickly murdering (cf. Prov. 1:11-12, 15-16). As a result they and others are destroyed materially and spiritually, are miserable, and know no inner peace (cf. Isa. 57:21). All this is summarized in Paul’s words, There is no fear of God before their eyes. Fearing God (i.e., reverencing Him
by worship, trust, obedience, and service) is the essence of a godly person (cf. Job 28:28; Prov. 1:7; 9:10; Ecc. 12:13). So for a Jew not to fear God was the height of sin and folly. In these verses (Rom. 3:10-18) Paul left no basis whatsoever for Jewish readers to say that his point that Jews are sinners contradicts the Old Testament!
