Summary: the unrighteousness of all people
Support from Scripture
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 his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
A word Paul uses very frequently in Romans is the Greek word nomos. Basically it translates as “law,” but it allows for considerable variation in how it is used and what it means. An important consideration often is, Does it have a definite article, “the law,” or is it without the definite article, “a law,” in the sense of a general legal requirement? This difference in construction, coupled with its placement into different contexts, results in some significant variation in meaning from one instance to the next.
As noted, the term “a law,” without a definite article, can refer to any system or pattern of laws. With the definite article, “the law” very often refers to the Mosaic Law given to God’s chosen people on Mount Sinai. “The law” may, however, also refer to the five books of Moses—the Pentateuch, Genesis to Deuteronomy. And “the Law” is also used to refer to other books of the Old Testament as well. This latter use is less common than the others, but there are some clear examples of it.*
* In John 10:34 “the Law” that is quoted is not from the Pentateuch but from Psalm 82:6; in John 15:25 it’s Psalm 69:4; in 1 Corinthians 14:21 it’s Isaiah 28:11,12.
The significance of this becomes apparent when we realize that there are three different meanings for the four instances in verses 19 and 20 where Paul uses the term nomos. Let’s treat the first two uses separately before attempting to follow the logic of Paul’s summarizing statement.
Paul states, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law.” In the first use of nomos (which has the definite article in Greek), Paul uses “the law” to refer to the cluster of passages previously quoted (3:10-18). These passages, drawn largely from the psalms, thus give nomos a meaning equivalent to the Old Testament. These Old Testament passages, given specifically to God’s chosen people, were addressed primarily to those “under the law,” that is, under the covenantal arrangement regulated by the Mosaic Law. We might therefore paraphrase this verse, with its two nomos meanings, by saying, “Now we know that what the Old Testament says, it says specifically and directly to Jews under the Mosaic regulations.”
The apostle now proceeds to his logical conclusion by what we might call an argument “from the greater to the lesser.” If God’s recorded Word convicts even the greater, his own chosen people, of not having any righteousness, then what hope is there for the lesser, the Gentiles, whom Paul has on another occasion described as “without hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12)? It’s similar to the logic Peter uses when he writes, “It is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17).
Paul reasons, If even God’s chosen people, with all their advantages, have no inherent or earned righteousness, then certainly no one else can have any either. Then every mouth must remain silent. Then the whole world, Jew and Gentile, is accountable before God.
Paul moves on to a very important point regarding the law when he continues, “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his [God’s] sight by observing the law.” With the word therefore, Paul is drawing a conclusion. It is a conclusion, however, that hinges on a proper understanding of the term nomos, which will be used twice in this verse. Both times it is without the definite article. As such, it has the general meaning of “a law” or “any law.”
The NIV, with its translation “by observing the law,” would be improved by removing the English article the. Paul is saying that no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by doing law-works of any kind. It makes no difference which legal pattern people may choose to be under, whether it be Gentiles following the natural knowledge written in their hearts or Jews observing the Mosaic code. In their sinful perversity, the Gentiles “suppress the truth” as they know it (1:18); the Jews, while paying lip service to the revealed law, hypocritically live contrary to it, so that God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles (2:17-24). The result is the same in both cases: through obedience to the law (which they both fall short of), neither group has any righteousness to offer at God’s bar of justice.
In fact, Paul goes even further when he declares that providing righteousness for people is not the law’s real function. It serves quite another purpose. He writes, “Through the law we become conscious of sin.” A set of legal regulations (again nomos is without the definite article here, therefore “any law”) has the twofold effect of perversely bringing out disobedience in rebellious sinners and also of serving as a standard by which to measure such sinful disobedience. As such, its most notable function is to lead to an awareness of sin.
In subsequent chapters Paul will be saying much more about this dual function of the law, but for the moment his emphasis is this: Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. No one has any righteousness of his own. Consequently, humanity’s case is desperate. We are helpless and hopeless. If there is to be any hope for us, it can’t come from ourselves. It has to come from outside of us. Thank God such “outside help” is available, as Paul will explain shortly!