Romans 3:12-13 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Romans 3:1-18

I. Here the apostle answers several objections, which might be made, to clear his way. No truth so plain and evident but wicked wits and corrupt carnal hearts will have something to say against it; but divine truths must be cleared from cavil. Object. 1. If Jew and Gentile stand so much upon the same level before God, what advantage then hath the Jew? Hath not God often spoken with a great deal of respect for the Jews, as a non-such people (Deut. 33:29), a holy nation, a peculiar treasure, the... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Romans 3:9-18

3:9-18 What then? Are we Jews out ahead? By no means. For we have already charged all Jews and Greeks with being under the power of sin, as it stands written: "There is none righteous, no not one. There is no man of understanding. There is none who seeks the Lord. All have swerved out of the way, and all together have gone bad. There is none whose acts are good, not one single one. Their throat is an open tomb. They practise fraud with their tongues. The poison of asps is under their lips.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 3:12

They are all gone out of the way ,.... In Psalm 14:3 ; it is said, "they are all gone aside"; as persons in debt: man had a considerable stock of righteousness, holiness, knowledge, &c.; but he has run through all, has contracted large and numerous debts, has been obliged to hide himself, has been used as a bankrupt, and turned out of house and home: Christ indeed has undertook to pay, and he has paid all the debts of his people; and has put them into a better state than ever Adam was... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 3:13

Their throat is an open sepulchre ,.... The several vices of the instruments of speech are here, and in the following verse, exposed: "the throat" is said to "be an open sepulchre", as in Psalm 5:9 , so called, for its voracity and insatiableness; both as an instrument of speech, for the words of the wicked are devouring ones; and as an instrument of swallowing, and so may denote the sinner's eager desire after sin, the delight and pleasure he takes in it, the abundance of it he takes in,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Romans 3:12

They are all gone out of the way - παντες εξεκλιναν , they have all diverged from the right way, they have either abandoned or corrupted the worship of God: the Jews, in forsaking the law and the prophets, and the Gentiles, in acting contrary to the law which God had written on their hearts. And the departure of both from the truth proves the evil propensity of human nature in general. They are together become unprofitable - ηχρειωθησαν . They are useless, good for nothing; or, as... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Romans 3:13

Their throat is an open sepulchre - This and all the following verses to the end of the 18th are found in the Septuagint, but not in the Hebrew text; and it is most evident that it was from this version that the apostle quoted, as the verses cannot be found in any other place with so near an approximation to the apostle's meaning and words. The verses in question, however, are not found in the Alexandrian MS. But they exist in the Vulgate, the Ethiopic, and the Arabic. As the most ancient... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Romans 3:12

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

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Romans 3:13

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

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Romans 3:9-18

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