October 2018 TRANSCRIPT

Romans Class SRL, Medellin

Scripture for lesson: 9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that
all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good, not even one.” 13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The
venom of asps is under their lips.” 14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15
“Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not
known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to
those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable
to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes
knowledge of sin.
1. ON VERSES 9-10: What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that
all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
1.1. Calvin, John: he puts himself among them, that he might avoid giving offence. under sin means that we
are justly condemned as sinners before God, or that we are held under the curse which is due to sin.
1.1.1. As righteousness brings with it absolution, so sin is followed by condemnation.1
1.2. Gentiles and Jews are exempt with respect to God’s Judgment
1.2.1. To be a sinner is to be its slave with no powers; a difficult concept for his kinsmen of the flesh.
1.2.2. Like the laws of the Medes and Persians there are exceptions to this rule
1.2.3. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only power that leads unto salvation.
1.2.4. “righteous” δίκαιος being in accordance with high standards of rectitude, upright, just, fair2
1.1. Sin is Universal. Absolutely no one can escape to freedom. He is regarding sin as a tyrant ruler, so that
sinners are “under” it (JB, “under sin’s dominion”); they cannot break free.
1.1.1. The Psalmist new it 14:1–3 (1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they
do abominable deeds; there is none who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the
children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all turned
aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.)
1.2. Sproul, R. C.: There is a distinction which I have found to be helpful: total depravity does not mean utter
depravity. Utter depravity would mean that every human being is as wicked as it is possible to be, and
we know that this is not the case. As much as we sin, we can always contemplate sinning more often, or
more grievously than we presently do.3

1
Calvin, J., & Owen, J. (2010). Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (pp. 124-125).
Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
2
Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New
Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 246). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
3
Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (p. 62). Great Britain: Christian Focus
Publications.
2. ON VERSES 11-12: no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have
become worthless;
2.1. no one understands: have an intelligent grasp of something, that challenges one’s thinking or practice.
2.2. no one seeks for God: there is no effort to find something out or to learn something
2.3. All have turned aside; has ideal to actively and completely avoid someone or some way of life
2.4. they have become worthless; a liability to society because of moral depravity. (from BDAG)
2.5. Sproul, R.C There is a sense in which these statements flow sequentially out of each other. If there is
none righteous, no one understands. Or, to reverse it, if no one understands, no one can be righteous.4
3. ON VERSES 13-14: “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps
is under their lips.” 14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
3.1. MOO, D.J.: (vv. 13–14) describe sins of speech, each line referring to a different organ of speech. They
speak deceptively with their tongues” refers to the deceptive flatteries of those who intend evil. 5
3.2. Open grave a perfect participle opened and stays open. Psalm 5:9 their throat is an open grave;
3.3. tongues to deceive Prov. 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will
eat its fruits.
3.4. venom of asps: Psalm 140:3 They make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s, and under their lips is the
venom of asps
3.5. under their lips. I Peter 3:10 Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from
evil and his lips from speaking deceit;
3.6. “mouth is full of curses and bitterness (Psalm 10:7) His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and
oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
3.6.1. They never run out of curses nor empty themselves of bitterness. All is habitual with them.
3.7. MOO, D.J. The word “mouth” is used much more often in the New Testament than is “lip” (v. 13);
3.7.1. Cursing is another word found only here in the New Testament, and bitterness appears only four
times (twice in Paul). It is used of things with a bitter taste, and sometimes symbolically, as here
3.7.2. .6
4. ON VERSES 15-17: “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way
of peace they have not known.”
4.1. Calvin, John: (VS. 16) Very striking is added from Isaiah, Ruin and misery are in all their ways;
4.1.1. For it is a representation of ferociousness above measure barbarous, which produces solitude and
waste by destroying every thing wherever it prevails.
4.1.2. It is the same as the description which Pliny gives of Domitian (81-96).7 the first emperor to have
himself officially titled in Rome as “God the Lord.”
4.1.3. Domitian insisted that other people hail his greatness with acclamations like “Lord of the earth,”
“Invincible,” “Glory,” “Holy,” and “Thou Alone.” The historian Pliny called Domitian the beast
from hell who sat in its den, licking blood
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4.2. MOO, D.J.: Many of these quotations denounce only the wicked or unrighteous within Israel.

4
Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (p. 64). Great Britain: Christian Focus
Publications.
5
Moo, D. J. (1996). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 204). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
6
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 167–168). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B.
Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
7
Calvin, J., & Owen, J. (2010). Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (p. 127).
Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
 4.2.1. By citing texts that denounce the unrighteous and applying them, implicitly, to all people,
including all Jews, he underscores the argument of 2:1–3:8 that, in fact, not even faithful Jews can
claim to be “righteous.”8
4.3. Morris, Leon: Next Paul in speaking of evil and oppression uses Isaiah 59:7–8
4.3.1. . The passage refers to the feet, which are shown to act in harmony with the throat, tongue, lips,
and mouth of the previous quotation (and with the eyes of the following one).
4.3.2. Paul picks out their speed to engage in homicide.
4.3.3. They were eager for this form of wrongdoing.
4.3.4. ruin and misery result. Ruin first points to destructive activities, and misery second to the ways
4.3.5. the way of peace foreign to them.
4.3.6. Not only that they do not tread it—they do not even know it.
4.3.7. Their interest is in bloodshed and destruction, not in peace.
4.3.8. Sin not only separates people from God but from one another as well.9
4.4. Sproul, R.C.: The hostile person is in a hurry for violence.
4.4.1. He enjoys inflicting violence; sometimes just seeing violence, the sight of it, the thrill of it.
4.4.2. A mark of the fallen man is that he is quick to engage in violence.
4.4.3. The desire of the child of God, to know peace, because the world is not a peaceful place.10
5. ON VERSE 18: “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Very similar to last verse in Judges, “There was
no king in Israel; everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.”
5.1. before their eyes: refers to a position that faces against an object; sitting opposite the tomb in Mt. 27:61
5.2. Calvin, John: Every wickedness flows from a disregard of God:
5.2.1. The principal part of wisdom is the fear of God, when we depart from that, there remains in us
nothing right or pure.
5.2.2. In short, as it is a bridle to restrain our wickedness, so when not there, we feel at liberty to indulge
every kind of licentiousness.11
5.3. The final quotation, Ps. 36:1 Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of
God before his eyes
5.4. Bottom line: When transgression o
5.5. Morris, Leon The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1:7).
5.5.1. These people lack not only wisdom, but even wisdom’s starting point.
5.5.2. They have no reverence for the Supreme Being.
5.5.3. Fear in this Psalm is not to be understood in the sense of “reverence” but of terror.

8
Moo, D. J. (1996). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 202–203). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Co.
9
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 168–169). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B.
Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
10
Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (p. 69). Great Britain: Christian Focus
Publications.
11
Calvin, J., & Owen, J. (2010). Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (p. 128).
Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
 5.5.4. “I have set the Lord always before me” (Ps. 16:8). “While a believer sets his course towards God
Himself, this man does not take even ‘the terror of the Lord’ into account.” Along the line of his
advance there is no fear of God.12
5.6. Sproul, R.C. Paul is saying that the human race is an irreverent race; that humanity has no profound
respect for God.13
6. ON VERSE 19-20: Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so
that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of
the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
6.1. Calvin, John: Under the law. He says that the Jews were those to whom the law was destined
6.1.1. It especially regards them; and under the word law he includes also the Prophets, the whole OT
6.1.2. That every mouth may be stopped, it is a metaphor taken from courts of law, where the accused, if
he has anything to plead as a lawful defence, demands to speak, that he might clear himself
6.1.3. The same meaning is this saying in Job 40:4, “I will lay my hand on my mouth.”
6.1.4. He would yet cease to justify himself,14
6.2. Morris, Leon: The whole world (no exceptions!) will be silent as it comes under God’s scrutiny, knowing
at last that it has nothing to say in the judgment. no one will be accepted before God on account of his
observance of the law, a truth Paul expresses in words reminiscent of Psalm 143:2.
6.2.1. As Paul’s argument has shown, what law does is to bring recognition of sin.”15
6.3. Sproul, R. C.: Sometimes when the New Testament writers speak of the law, they are referring to the
books of Moses, sometimes specifically to the book of Exodus, sometimes to the ten commandments and
sometimes to the many laws that we find throughout the Pentateuch.
6.3.1. Who are those who are under the law? The point he is making is that every human being is under
the law of God to some degree, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held
accountable to God.
6.3.2. In Psalm 46, the Psalmist says, be still, and know that I am God. The Psalmist is using, in Hebrew,
very strong language. What he is having God say, literally, is, Shut up! Be quiet! Stop it! and know
that I am God.
6.3.3. On numerous occasions in the teachings of Jesus we are told (or it is hinted) that at the final
judgment there will be a profound silence. Why is that? When we stand before the judgment seat of
God, the indictment against us will be so clear and the evidence so overwhelming that it would be
futile, foolhardy, to even protest our innocence.
6.3.4. God never offers false charges against people.
6.3.5. This is what the Protestant Reformation was all about. Anyone who is trusting in his own merit is
committing the ultimate folly. Through the law we become conscious of sin.16

12
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 169). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B.
Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
13
Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (p. 70). Great Britain: Christian Focus
Publications.
14
Calvin, J., & Owen, J. (2010). Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (pp. 130-
131131). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
15
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 171–172). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B.
Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
16
Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (pp. 70–72). Great Britain: Christian
Focus Publications.