The Guilt of All Men: The Verdict of God

Romans 3:19-20

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

(Verse 19-20) – Here Paul declares God’s verdict on fallen, unrepentant mankind. It is a familiar verdict and one that Paul will develop and defend throughout the rest of the book.  From all this Paul infers that it is in vain to look for justification by the works of the law, and that it is to be had only by faith, which is the point he has been all along proving, from ch. 1:17, and which he lays down (v. 28) as the summary of his discourse.

“Know” refers to knowledge that is certain and complete. We know with absolute certainty, Paul was saying, that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God. That declaration allows no exceptions. Every unredeemed human being, Jew or Gentile, is under the Law of God and accountable to God.

We conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law; not by the deeds of the first law of pure innocence in the Garden, which left no room for repentance, nor the deeds of the law of nature, how highly they are improved, nor the deeds of the ceremonial law (the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin), nor the deeds of the moral law, which are certainly included, for he speaks of that law by which is the knowledge of sin and those works which might be matter of boasting.

Man, in his depraved state, under the power of such corruption, could never, by any works of his own, gain acceptance with God; but it must be resolved purely into the free grace of God, given through Jesus Christ to all true believers, received as a free gift. If we had never sinned, our obedience to the law (the first Law in the Garden) would have been our righteousness: “Do this, and live.” But having sinned, and being corrupted, nothing that we can do will atone for the guilt of our participation in Adam’s sin. It was by their obedience to the moral law that the Pharisees looked for justification, (Lu. 18:11). Now there are two things from which the apostle here argues: the guiltiness of man, to prove that we cannot be justified by the works of the law, and the glory of God, to prove that we must be justified by faith.

First, he argues from man’s guiltiness, to show the folly of expecting justification by the works of the law. The argument is very plain: we can never be justified and saved by the law that we have broken. A convicted traitor can never come off by pleading the statute he has broken, for that law discovers his crime and condemns him: indeed, if he had never broken it, he might have been justified by it; but now it is past that he has broken it, and there is no way of coming off but by pleading the act of indemnity, upon which he has surrendered and submitted himself, and humbly and penitently claiming the benefit of it and casting himself upon it.

Now concerning this guiltiness of man Paul, as we have already noted, applies it particularly to the Jews; for they were the men that made their boast of the law, and set themselves up, ostensibly, for justification by it. He had quoted several Scriptures out of the Old Testament to show this corruption: Now, says he (v. 19), this that the law says, it says to those who are under the law; this conviction belongs to the Jews as well as others, for it is written in their law.

The Jews boasted of their being under the law, and placed a great deal of confidence in it: “But,” says Paul, “the law convicts and condemns you - you see it does.” That every mouth may be stopped—that all boasting may be silenced. See the method that God takes both in justifying and condemning: he stops every mouth; those that are justified have their mouths stopped by a humble conviction; those that are condemned have their mouths stopped too, for they shall at last be convinced (Jude 15), and sent speechless to hell, Mt. 22:12. All iniquity shall stop her mouth, Ps. 107:42. The idea not so much that they are stopped by force, so much as every mouth is stopped by confrontation with the truth that the Law reveals.  It is not that they cannot speak, but that they do not speak because they are convinced, by the truth the Law reveals, of the justice of the charge and verdict of God.

Second, he extends it in general to all the world: That all the world may become guilty before God. If the world likes in wickedness (1 Jn. 5:19), to be sure it is guilty. - May become guilty; that is, may be proved guilty, liable to punishment, (all are, by nature, children of wrath, Eph. 2:3). They must all plead guilty; those that stand most upon their own justification will certainly be cast. Guilty before God is a dreadful word, before an all-seeing God, that is not, nor can be, deceived in his judgment - before a just and righteous judge, who will by no means clear the guilty. All are guilty, and therefore all have need of a righteousness wherein to appear before God.

As Paul has already declared, the Jew is under God’s written law delivered through Moses, and the Gentile is under the equally God-given law written in his heart (Rom. 2:11-15). God is the Creator, Sustainer, and Lord of the entire universe, and it is therefore impossible for anyone or anything to be outside His control or authority.

The final verdict, then, is that unredeemed mankind has no defense whatever and is guilty of all charges. The defense must rest, as it were, before it has opportunity to say anything, because the omniscient and all-wise God has infallibly demonstrated the impossibility of any grounds for acquittal.

Absolute silence is the only possible response, just as there will be utter silence in heaven when the Lord Jesus Christ will one day break the seventh seal and release the seven trumpet judgments upon the condemned earth (see Rev. 8:1-6).

In anticipation of the argument that perhaps a few exceptionally zealous people might live up to the perfect standard of God’s law the apostle adds: by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight. There is no salvation through the keeping of God’s law because sinful man is utterly incapable of doing so. He has neither the ability nor the inclination within himself to obey God perfectly.

As Paul will go on to say, apart from the law, through the grace of God acting through the sacrifice of His Son, salvation and eternal life are made possible (Rom. 3:21-22). But under the law there can be no sentence but death.  

We need to recognize that this discussion is entirely from the human point of view, that is, the statements regarding the impossibility of justification by the Law is as humans regard and interact with that Law.  No mere man can look to the Law and expect that the end result will be justification, but only condemnation.  The only possible result of the measuring of the conduct and character of men by the Law of God is that men have fallen woefully short of required standard to approach God and are thus fit only for punishment.  This is true in each and every case, collectively and severally.  It is true regardless of the state or degree of revelation possessed, or of the national privilege or lack of same that is true in any particular case.  All men fall short, far short, incalculably short of the standard required by God of absolute righteousness as put forth in the Law of God.

There is another sense, however, in which we can, and must look at this issue.  The Law is a given in the moral life of men.  It is reality because it is only a written reflection of the character and person of God that is the standard for all creation.  God requires that all men be like Him, not just in similitude, but in actuality; not just as a matter of type, but also as a matter of degree.  We must be holy, just as He is holy!  This is the effect of the Law.  Before there is any consideration of our behavior, our conduct, there is the matter of our character, our nature – which, the Word of God proclaims, is utterly defiled by sin.  Moreover, before there can even any true consideration of the fact of the implications of the indwelling sin nature, there is matter of imputed guilt from Adam.  Man is thrice guilty (conduct, character, and imputation) when the single guilt of any of the three would have been sufficient to condemn.  Where argument might conceivably be made for a human righteousness sufficient to overcome the first (conduct) kind of sin (though I would assert that it cannot be sustained); no rational or Biblical argument can be put forth to overcome the second two “kinds” of sin (character or sin nature our by birth; and imputed sin, ours by imputation).

And yet, God still requires a righteousness for entry into His presence.  A righteousness that must measure up to His own perfect standards.

The Law still stands as the standard by which all men are judged before God and that standard must be satisfied if man is to escape condemnation.  In order for anyone, anyone at all, to enter safely the presence of God, the Law’s just standard must be met.  It cannot be set aside or abrogated.  Nor can it be placated or reasoned with.  It is absolute and resolute.  It can be satisfied only be the means for which it was designed to be satisfied – by being fulfilled perfectly.

Here we see the Son of God come to the fore.  He alone was capable of fulfilling the Law of God perfectly.  He alone was free from the taint of both the sin nature and imputed sin (that is, of course, until the sins of the elect were imputed to Him on the cross and He became sin for them).  He then was measured by the Law and found to be acceptable in God’s sight.  He indeed, only He, attained a righteousness acceptable to God as defined by the Law and we, as believers, are justified by the imputation of that righteousness by grace through faith.

So, on the one hand, humanly speak (as in this passage) no man is justified by works of the Law.  However, in another, very real and very essential sense, we are justified by works of the Law, it is just that they were not (and never will be) our works – they were Christ’s done on the behalf of His people.

I need to preach this truth clearly and distinctly and see to that, as best I am able, those under my Pastoral care clearly understand and come to grips with this truth.