Vincent's
All men require this mode of justification, for all men are sinners, and therefore exposed to God's wrath.
CALVIN...
He first condemns all mankind from the beginning of the world for ingratitude, because they recognized not the workman in his extraordinary work: nay, when they were constrained to acknowledge him, they did not duly honor his majesty, but in their vanity profaned and dishonored it. Thus all became guilty of impiety, a wickedness more detestable than any thing else. And that he might more clearly show that all had departed from the Lord, he recounts the filthy and horrible crimes of which men everywhere became guilty: and this is a manifest proof, that they had degenerated from God, since these sins are evidences of divine wrath, which appear not except in the ungodly. And as the Jews and some of the Gentiles, while they covered their inward depravity by the veil of outward holiness, seemed to be in no way chargeable with such crimes, and hence thought themselves exempt from the common sentence of condemnation, the Apostle directs his discourse against this fictitious holiness; and as this mask before men cannot be taken away from saintlings, (sanctulis — petty saints,) he summons them to the tribunal of God, whose eyes no latent evils can escape. Having afterwards divided his subject, he places apart both the Jews and the Gentiles before the tribunal of God. He cuts off from the Gentiles the excuse which they pleaded from ignorance, because conscience was to them a law, and by this they were abundantly convicted as guilty. He chiefly urges on the Jews that from which they took their defense, even the written law; and as they were proved to have transgressed it, they could not free themselves from the charge of iniquity, and a sentence against them had already been pronounced by the mouth of God himself. He at the same time obviates any objection which might have been made by them — that the covenant of God, which was the symbol of holiness, would have been violated, if they were not to be distinguished from others. Here he first shows, that they excelled not others by the right of the covenant, for they had by their unfaithfulness departed from it: and then, that he might not derogate from the perpetuity of the divine promise, he concedes to them some privilege as arising from the covenant; but it proceeded from the mercy of God, and not from their merits. So that with regard to their own qualifications they were on a level with the Gentiles. He then proves by the authority of Scripture, that both Jews and Gentiles were all sinners; and he also slightly refers to the use of the law.
CARR..
Paul's purpose here, and through chapter 3 verse 20, is to describe for us the charges against man. Paul is going to tell us why we need to believe the Gospel of grace. The first argument he uses to call men to the Lord is to lay out the case of the prosecution. Paul is going to reveal that problems God sees with men. However, before we can understand why God is angry, we need to know a little more about the anger of God.
Deffinbaugh….
The indictment of 1:19-20 would seem to apply most directly to the Gentile heathen, while that of 1:32 seems to be aimed more directly at the Jews. The minimal amount of revelation is that which can be seen from creation. This is referred to in 1:20. The greatest revelation of God’s character is that found in the Law, and this is referred to in 1:32. Thus, everyone from the bush man in some remote jungle to the unbelieving Jewish Rabbi is under divine sentence for rejecting the revelation which God has given him. Romans 1:18-32 therefore indicts both the Jews and the Gentiles—and not just the Gentiles.
This paragraph is a general statement, describing the present wrath of God as the necessary response of a righteous God to man’s sin. The principle is stated in verse 18: God’s wrath is presently being revealed against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. All mankind is guilty before God and deserving of His wrath, because men are suppressing God’s truth by means of their own sin.
Johnson..
Now Romans 1, and 2, and 3, to chapter 3, verse 21, is not very pleasant so far as a message is concerned. Because it is a passage that gives us an analysis of human nature and human nature is not good in its state since the fall. Walter Luthi, who was one of the reform preachers in the city of Berne, in one of his books has commented upon this particular chapter and has said that, "it gives us the whole truth about our condition" and it really does do that.
It is important for us because it is the passage that contains an answer to the perennial question, "Are the heathen lost?" And the apostle answers it very directly for he says of all men that they are without excuse. It is a passage, also, that illustrates a very important principle that we'll talk about a little bit later on. And that is that perversion in life stems from perversion in faith and that's why the faith is so important for us. That's expressed in verse 18 and again in other places throughout this passage.
Piper…
Today we take a major turn in the letter of Paul to the Romans. Romans 1:16-17 is the theme of the letter: the gospel is the power of God to save believers from the wrath to come. And this gospel - this good news of Jesus' death and resurrection - has that power to save believers from God's wrath, because in the gospel, day by day, week after week, year after year, God keeps on revealing his righteousness as a gift to be received by faith and for faith, so that those who have their righteousness from God (and not themselves) will not perish but have everlasting life.
Now having described the greatness of his theme, which he will come back to and unpack in wonderful and profound ways in future chapters, Paul enters on a description of human sin and God's wrath in Romans 1:18-3:19. In Romans 1:18 to 32 Paul speaks of the condition of the gentile world apart from the gospel and apart from saving grace. Then in Romans 2:1-3:8 Paul deals more or less directly with the Jewish condition. Then in Romans 3:9-10 he draws his summary conclusion like this: "What then? Are we [Jews] better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, 'THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE.'" That is the point of Romans 1:18-3:10. Then Paul piles Scripture upon Scripture in Romans 3:10-19 to support his point of universal sinfulness and guilt and rebellion against God in every human heart.
He wraps up the section with this summary in Romans 3:19, "Now we know that whatever the Law [the Old Testament Word of God] says, it speaks to those who are under the Law [the Jewish people], so that every mouth [all the nations, all the Gentiles] may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God." We will talk later in this series about why God chose to silence the world by dealing mainly with the Jews. But that is the truth. Paul seems to mean if the Jews, with all their advantages of divine revelation, have not been righteous before God, but only sinful and guilty (3:9), how much less will the Gentiles be able to open their mouths and protest that they have been righteous before God.
NE IS RIGHTEOUS ACCORDING TO THE LAW. But there are those who are righteous according to faith.
