Romans 3:9

Memory Verse

What then? We have what advantage? For we have previously charged both Jew and Greek to be under sin (Romans 3:9).

Paul has established that both the Jew and the Gentile are liable for their actions. Those who are under the law are judged through the law, while those who have no law are judged by their conscience. As a result, neither can claim righteousness based on their works.

Among both Jew and Gentile, there are none who are righteous (Romans 3:10). None of them understand, and none seek God (Romans 3:11). No one, both Jew and Gentile, seeks God today. All have turned aside—avoid the truth—and are thus useless (Romans 3:12). There is not even one among them who does kindness (Romans 3:12).

Therefore, no one can make a claim, based upon their own works or ethnicity, to be righteous before God. A Jew cannot claim salvation solely because he is a descendant of Abraham (Romans 2:28–29). Likewise, the Gentile who has no law cannot claim ignorance because he possesses a conscience, through which he does by nature the things of the law, being a law to themselves (Romans 2:14–15). Salvation then comes to both Jew and Gentile by faith, not by works or family relations.