Today’s Scripture: Romans 3:9-20

9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.

Paul, speaking to his imaginary Jewish interlocutor, makes his point again:

Just being Jewish doesn’t count for anything, because both Jews and Gentiles are sinful and need to be saved.

10 As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11     there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.”
13 “Their throats are open graves;
    their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14     “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16     ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.”
18     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Here Paul quotes from the Old Testament—mainly the Psalms—to make emphasize the point he made above: people are sinful.

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Again, just because the Jews have the Law doesn’t mean that they are better than other people. In fact, the Law proves just how sinful they are by not keeping its terms.

Paul is continuing to make his case about how sinful all of humanity it, so he can show just how amazing is the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Keep reading!