None Righteous

There are several verses of Scripture, all in Romans, that when strung together in order from the earliest verse to the last, form an excellent and clear presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This presentation is often refered to as "The Roman's Road." Over the next several weeks we will consider each verse in detail concerning its meaning.

Romans 3:10 says, "As it is written: 'There is none righteous, no, not one.'" It is a reference to Psalm 14:1 and 53:1, which are nearly identical. The full text of Psalm 14:1 reads: "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good." Romans 3:10 might also refer to Ecclesiastes 7:20 which says, "For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin."

Righteousness is one the major themes in the Book of Romans, appearing more than 30 times. And so Paul begins by speaking of man's unrighteousness. His first charge is that your character in not Christ-like. The word "righteous" (v. 10a) refers to being right before God. It refers to being what God created you to be.

Even people who do not believe in Christ can do individual acts that are morally right. But that is not what Paul is talking about here. He is talking about your inner character. No one has ever lived who is righteous by God's standard, except for Jesus Himself. No one is righteous before God and Paul makes his point by adding, "No, not one" (v. 10b).

Paul's point is that not one of us can truly live up to God's standard of righteousness. However, as he will make clear later in this letter, you can become perfectly righteous when the righteousness of Christ is imputed to you. When you trust Christ by faith for your salvation, God places the righteousness of Christ on you. He looks down upon those who trust Christ and He sees, by His grace, the righteousness of Christ. As far as salvation is concerned, in God's eyes, you possess either perfect righteousness in Christ or complete sinfulness apart from Christ. It all depends on your faith, or lack there of.

Apart from faith in Christ you can not possibly measure up to God's standard of righteousness. The natural man is incapable of doing what is truly upright and good by God's standard. Thus, apart from Christ, "There is none righteous, no, not one" (v. 10). Amen.