Romans 3:19 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Romans 3:19
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — second aorist middle deponent subjunctive, 3rd person singular
guilty
ὑπόδικοςhupodikos
G5267
under sentence · adjective — nominative singular masculine
God
θεῷ.theō
G2316
figuratively · noun — dative singular masculine, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things whi…
Galatians 3:22-23 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Romans 2:12-18 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;
Romans 3:9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
Galatians 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Ezekiel 16:63 That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all…
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Romans 3:19–end
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 Rom 1:17, and which he lays down (Rom 3:28) as the summary of his discourse, with a quod erat demonstrandum - which was to be demonstrated. 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, which left no room for repentance, nor the deeds of the law of nature, how highly soever 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 certain…
Now we know that what . . . the law--that is, the Scriptures, considered as a law of duty.
saith, it saith to them that are under the law--of course, therefore, to the Jews.
that every mouth--opened in self-justification.
may be stopped, and all the world may become--that is, be seen to be, and own itself.
guilty--and so condemned
before God.
Adam Clarke on Romans 3:19
What things soever the law saith - That the word law, here, does not mean the pentateuch, is evident from the preceding quotations, not one of which is taken from that work. Either the term law must here mean the Jewish writings in general, or that rule of moral conduct which God had given to both Jews and Gentiles: to the former in their own Scriptures; to the latter in that law written in their hearts by his own Spirit, and acknowledged in their written codes, and in their pleadings in every civil case. Now, according to this great law, this rule of moral conduct, whether given in a written revelation, as to the Jews, or by the secret inspiration of his Spirit, as in certain cases to the G…
Now we know that what things soever the law saith,.... By "the law" is meant, not the law of nature, nor the civil law of nations, nor the ceremonial law of the Jews, nor barely the five books of Moses, nor the book of Psalms, of the Prophets, or the writings of the whole Old Testament; but the moral law, as it appears in the whole word of God, which every man is bound to observe, of which all are transgressors, by which is the knowledge of sin, which no man can be justified by, and which Christ was made under, and came to fulfil. This law is represented as a person speaking, and saying many things, some of which are here mentioned; so, , "the law says" so and so, is an usual phrase with Jew…
The Church Fathers
In case the Jews might claim that these verses of the psalm were spoken about the Gentiles, Paul indicates that what has been said in the law has been said to those who are under the law. Of course, it is a question as to who is meant by saying that the fool claims that there is no God. The Jews did not say this in words but in deeds, for they claimed to know God but denied it by their behavior. Paul is not talking to the Gentiles here, because he has already made similar statements about them.
Whose grace, if not of that God from whom also came the law? Unless it be, forsooth, that the Creator intercalated His law for the mere purpose of producing some employment for the grace of a rival god, an enemy to Himself (I had almost said, a god unknown to Him), "that as sin had" in His own dispensation "reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto (eternal) life by Jesus Christ," His own antagonist! For this (I suppose it was, that) the law of the Creator had "concluded all under sin," and had brought in "all the world as guilty (before God)," and had "stopped every mouth," so that none could glory through it, in order that grace might be maintained to the glory of the Christ, not of the Creator, but of Marcion! I may here anticipate a remark about the substance of Christ, in the prospect of a question which will now turn up.
It is clear that the law censures those who did not believe first of all their leader Moses nor their ancestors the prophets, whom they killed, nor the apostles who were their kinsmen according to the flesh, whose blood they spilled. They were always ungodly and rebellious against God, so as to be condemned by the law whose authority they thought should be despised.Paul says this because with the Jews bound in sin the whole world has become subject to God. For there is no doubt that the pagans were immersed in sins and wickedness and that for that reason the whole world bowed before God in order to obtain forgiveness. The "whole world" means Jews and Gentiles, from whom believers are set apart. Therefore when Paul affirms that the Jews, who had received God's law and to whom the promise had been given, were bound in sin, there is no doubt that all the Gentiles were guilty of death … for all have been found guilty and need the mercy of God, whether they be Jews or Gentiles.
Dictionary and topics
Fall of man — An expression probably borrowed from the Apocryphal Book of Wisdom, to express the fact of the revolt of our first parents from God, and the consequent sin and misery in which they and all their…
Sin — Is “any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God” (1 John 3:4; Rom. 4:15), in the inward state and habit of the soul, as well as in the outward conduct of the life, whether by…
Bigotry · PAUL’S ARGUMENT AGAINST — PAUL’S ARGUMENT AGAINST
Boasting · SPIRITUAL — SPIRITUAL
Condemnation · The law testifies to the justice of — The law testifies to the justice of
Depravity Of Man · 7:17;12:34,35;15:19; — 7:17;12:34,35;15:19;
Judgment, The · None, by nature can stand in — None, by nature can stand in
Law Of God, The · All men have transgressed — All men have transgressed
Life, Eternal · Cannot be inherited by works — Cannot be inherited by works
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Romans 3:19-20
19. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
19. Scimus autem quod qu?cunque Lex dicit, iis qui in Lege sunt loquitur; ut omne os obstruatur, et obnoxius fiat omnis mundus Deo. [104]
20. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
20. Quoniam ex operibus Legis non justificabitur omnis caro coram ipso; per Legem enim agnitio peccati.
19. Now we know, etc. Leaving the Gentiles, he distinctly addresses his words to the Jews; for he had a much more difficult work in subd…
Paul speaks of the entire Old Testament as the law (see also 1 Cor 9:8, 9; 14:21, 34; Gal 4:21). • Those to whom it was given (literally those in the law) were the Jews, who were given the Scriptures. • How can Paul conclude that the entire world is guilty before God on the basis of evidence from the Old Testament that Jews are sinful? He argues from the greater to the lesser, a standard Jewish rhetorical technique: If the law shows that the Jews, God’s own people, are guilty, then how much more are the Gentiles, who have not had the benefit of God’s instruction, also guilty.
