19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
I will let MacArthur do the explaining on this passage, which is really the climax to yesterday's passage.....
Now it starts out in that verse by saying whatever things the law says it says to them that are under the law. Who are they? Who is under the law? You want to know the answer to that?
Everyone...everyone's under the law. The law here, I think, is the opposite of being under grace, another familiar Pauline phrase. People who are under grace are the redeemed people, people who are under law are the unredeemed. Anybody unredeemed is under obligation to justify himself by keeping the whole law, right? That's his only hope, and of course he can't do it. But the whole world is under obligation to the law of God. That's why God can ultimately condemn them...the whole world. The Jew is under obligation to the written law. The Gentile is under obligation to the law written in his heart and his conscience. That's why Romans 2 verse 11 is so important, "There's no respect of persons with God, for as many as have sinned without law will perish without law, that is written law, as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law, for when the Gentiles who have not the written law do by nature the things contained in the law they having not the law are a law unto themselves who show the work of the law written in their hearts." The Jews have the written law, written externally. The Gentiles have the written law, written internally. All are under the law. So he's really taking everybody. All unregenerate people are under the law of God. And whatever that law says it says to the people who are under its authority, and so everybody's under it. Everybody in the world is obligated to the law of God. Everybody who lives on the face of the earth is obligated to God's standards. God is the creator, God is the sustainer, God is the authority in the universe, He is the sovereign, He is the Lord, He calls the shots, He makes the rules, and every human being living on the face of the earth is under obligation to that law.
Now, the verdict then is since every man in the world is under obligation to the law and every man in the world is evil, every mouth is stopped. What does that mean? No defense. In this particular tribunal there's nothing to say, there's not a word to say to defend yourself. The only response is dead silence. Every mouth is stopped. The defense has no defense. The defense rests before the defense says anything because there is no defense. It is a dramatic fearful scene...reminiscent of the same silence that occurred in Revelation chapter 8 when the awesome judgment began to fall. The effect of overwhelming evidence is utter silence. There's nothing to say. Are you going to stand up and defend men? Are you going to say, no, no, no, man is basically good? No, no, man doesn't sin with his mouth, oh no, man is not murderous, man is not evil, he's not deceitful. Are you going to say that? Why of course there's peace...are you going to try to defend men? There's nothing to say. Therefore the verdict, all the world stands guilty before God.
And so, Paul has come all the way to the climax of his statement on sin. Everybody is guilty....
There's nobody that's going to make it by keeping the law. Every man on the face of the earth, now mark this, is in obligation to keep God's law but nobody on the face of the earth can do it. Now that puts man in an impossible situation. He is an utter sinner, he is obligated to keep God's law and he can't. That's the human dilemma...
The sinfulness of man is proven every which way, including by Scripture. And the Psalmist was right in Psalm 130 verse 3 when he said, "If thou shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?" Nobody could, the whole world is guilty, everyone is silent, there's nothing to say, we're all under obligation to God's law because He's the sovereign and none of us can keep the deeds of the law, all the law can do is show us our evil and it leaves us stuck in that position. No man is living a righteous life. That's clear...
The Scripture concludes all under sin so that in your hopelessness you'll believe in Jesus Christ and take Him in. And He can do what the law could never do, what you in your flesh could never do.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Romans 3:21-26
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