Destruction and misery are in their ways - destruction is their work, and Misery to themselves and to the objects of their malice is the consequence of their impious and murderous conduct. read more
Verse 12 12.It is added, (99) There is no one who doeth kindness By this we are to understand, that they had put off every feeling of humanity. For as the best bond of mutual concord among us is the knowledge of God, (as he is the common Father of all, he wonderfully unites us, and without him there is nothing but disunion,) so inhumanity commonly follows where there is ignorance of God, as every one, when he despises others, loves and seeks his own good. read more
Verse 13 13.It is further added, Their throat is an open grave; (100) that is, a gulf to swallow up men. It is more than if he had said, that they were devourers ( ἀνθρωποφάγους — men-eaters;) for it is an intimation of extreme barbarity, when the throat is said to be so great a gulf, that it is sufficient to swallow down and devour men whole and entire. Theirtongues are deceitful, and, the poison of asps is under their lips, import the same thing, read more
Verse 14 14.Then he says, that their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness (101) — a vice of an opposite character to the former; but the meaning is, that they are in every way full of wickedness; for if they speak fair, they deceive and blend poison with their flatteries; but if they draw forth what they have in their hearts, bitterness and cursing stream out. read more
Verse 16 16.Very striking is the sentence that is added from Isaiah, Ruin and misery are in all their ways; (102) for it is a representation of ferociousness above measure barbarous, which produces solitude and waste by destroying every thing wherever it prevails: it is the same as the description which Pliny gives ofDomitian. read more
Total depravity of human nature. Here we have a dark picture of human nature in its fallen and unregenerate state. (The Bible view of human nature is more fully enlarged on below, on Romans 3:21-26 .) Here the apostle, as it were, calls up before him the different parts of human nature, and obtains from each of them an admission and an evidence of the moral corruption with which they are tainted. "My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, And every tongue brings in a different... read more
(3) The testimony of the Old Testament to human sinfulness. Objections having been thus raised and met, the apostle now confirms his position, that all mankind, Jew as well as Gentile, are under sin, by adducing the Scriptures of the Jews themselves. read more
Every mouth stolid. The charge has been made against Gentiles and Jews; it is now forced home, and especially against the self-excusing Jews, by the unimpeachable verdict of God's own Word. We have here—universal sin and universal guilt. I. UNIVERSAL SIN . Some of the quotations referred in the first instance more particularly to Gentiles, some to Jews. But the fact that any of them referred to Jews is of itself sufficient for the apostle's purpose, viz. to cut away from under... read more
Knowledge of sin through the Law. Having described the Jewish privileges and the Divine judgment for the abuse of these privileges, the apostle now proceeds to ask and to answer the question, "Are we [Jews] preferred ( προεχόμετα )?" This means, in God's esteem; and it is answered without hesitation, "No, in no wise." And the proof has already been given: "For we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin" (Revised Version). We are, consequently, face... read more
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Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Romans 3:15
Their feet are swift to shed blood - They make use of every means in their power to destroy the reputation and lives of the innocent. read more