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Weekly Devotion
Rom. 3:10-18
10 “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.”
In Rom. 1:18-3:20, Paul explains the unrighteousness of fallen humanity. It does not matter whether one is a Jew (one of God's chosen people) or a Gentile (non-Jew), all are guilty before a holy God. Why? How? It is because all people, "both Jews and Greeks, are under sin" (Rom. 3:9). And to support this assertion, Paul quotes Scripture (Rom. 3:10-18).
What's notable about this section is that Paul's references are not from one place. There are six different passages (notice the six sets of quotation marks) from two specific books of the OT. Moreover, some excerpts are precisely stated, while others are more loosely quoted. Furthermore, the structure of compilation is a sandwich: verses 10-14 are from the Psalms, verses 15-17 are from Isaiah, and verse 18 is back from the Psalms. Lastly, the original context of these passages is perhaps the most intriguing. In all the Psalms verses, the context is condemnation of the wicked, those who stand against the people of God. But in all the Isaiah verses, the context is condemnation of rebellious Israel.
Thus, by weaving these verses together into a sandwich, the Apostle Paul is asserting that God, through the OT, testifies to total human sinfulness. Jew and Gentile, alike, are under the dominion of sin and in desperate need of the deliverance that only Jesus provides.