Romans Chapter 3 (part 2)

If this is your first time receiving Covered in His Dust, welcome.

I’d love to hear where you’re reading from. Just reply and let me know.

Quick note for new subscribers: We're in the middle of Romans right now. If you just joined us, you might feel like you're walking into the middle of a movie. You are. Here's what I recommend:

Keep reading below if you want to start where we are (Romans 3:9-18)
Or go back to the beginning - [Here's the intro to Romans], and [here's the full archive] so you can start from Chapter 1

Either way works. I just don't want you to feel lost.

Before diving into my notes, I encourage you to read Romans 3:9-18 first (or the whole chapter if you have time).

I include all the Scripture below, but there’s something about sitting with the whole chapter first — giving yourself room to be curious.

What catches you off guard?
What doesn't make sense?
Where is that?
Who's that?
Why?

Those questions will make the notes hit deeper.

"When disciples followed a rabbi, they followed him closely so they would never be out of his sight, never be someplace where they couldn’t hear him speak. They followed him so closely that his sandals often kicked up dust."

May you be covered in His dust.

Grace and peace from God our Father.

One of the most devastating phrases a person can say is, "I'm a good person."

Not because it's arrogant, but because it means you don't know yourself.

You don't know what you're capable of. You don't know the darkness just beneath the surface, held back only by fear of consequences.

You think you're good?

Go watch Lord of the Flies. It's about a group of British schoolboys. Civilized kids. Well-mannered. Probably went to church.

Then they get stranded on an island. No parents. No teachers. No police. No consequences.

And what happens?

They turn savage. They hunt, they kill and they spiral into chaos.

Because they're human.

It’s
their
nature.

Paul's about to show you the same thing. Not with a screenplay. With Scripture.

If you let it,
if you slow down and let its full weight fall on you,
Paul's words will gut you.

You think you're free, but Paul's showing you the chains. You've been a prisoner so long you forgot what freedom looks like.

But here's the thing: Paul could have saved a whole bunch of words and parchment paper by summarizing Romans Chapter 1:18 through Romans Chapter 3:18 with,

“You’re a sinner.”

Instead, he's spent two and a half chapters beating us down with it.

I get it, Paul.
I'm a sinner.
I know.

BAM.
Another verse.

I said,
I get it.

BAM.
Another chapter.

Why?

Because the prisoner who thinks he's free will never ask for the key.

Let’s get into it.

Paul doesn’t even blink.

"No. Not at all."

Both Jews and Greeks are under sin.

Notice he doesn't say, "We all sin sometimes." 
He says we’re under sin. That's different.

When you sin, you do something wrong. When you're under sin, sin has authority over you. You're enslaved by it. Corrupted by it. Dominated by it.

Ephesians 2:3 says we are "by nature children of wrath." 

Colossians 3:6 calls us "sons of disobedience." As if disobedience were our father. As if we inherited it. As if it's in our DNA.

That's what "under sin" means.

You're not just occasionally doing bad things.
You're under the power of sin.

Under its dominion.
Under its guilt.
Under God's wrath because of it.

And Paul's saying: Everyone is in this condition.

Jews? Under sin.
Greeks? Under sin.
Religious people? Under sin.
Moral people? Under sin.

No one escapes.

Every verse from here to verse 18 is a quote from the Old Testament.

The Scriptures the Jews revered. The Law and the Prophets they studied. The Word of God they were entrusted with.

Paul's using their own Scriptures against them.

Notice the language Paul uses. It's relentless.

None is righteous.
No one understands.
No one seeks for God.
All have turned aside.
No one does good.
Not even one.

He's eliminating every escape hatch. Every exception. Every "but what about..."

No one. Not even one. All. None.

You can't wiggle out of this. You can't say, "Well, I'm better than most." You can't say, "Compared to them..."

Paul's saying: Everyone.

Most of these quotes come from the Psalms.
From David.

The king of Israel.
The man after God's own heart.
The warrior poet who wrote songs that have been sung for 3,000 years.

And in Psalm 14, David writes: "None is righteous, no, not one."

But David wasn't just talking about other people. He knew it applied to himself.

In Psalm 51, after his sin with Bathsheba, David confessed:

"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."

David's saying: This isn't just about what I did. This goes deeper.

I was born in sin. By nature, I'm corrupt.

And then in Psalm 5:

"But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house... Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness... make your way straight before me."

David's not claiming to be righteous on his own. He's saying, "God, by Your mercy, let me in. Lead me. Because without You, I go crooked."

By nature: corrupt.
By faith: God makes me righteous.

Paul’s pointing to something specific in these verses.

He’s saying your words have power.

You know it's true because you've seen what your words can do. How many marriages have been destroyed by what was said in anger? How many friendships ended because of gossip that got back to the wrong person? How many kids grew up believing they were worthless because of what a parent said, or didn't say?

Relationships are almost always broken by the mouth. Either the closed mouth that refuses to speak when it should, or the open mouth that won't stop when it needs to.

“Your throat is an open grave.” (Psalm 5:9)

Not "sometimes you say bad things." Your throat is a grave. Death lives inside you. What comes from deep within is decay, rot, corruption. When you open your mouth, death comes out.

“Your tongue deceives.” (Psalm 5:9)

You use it to twist truth. To manipulate. To say what needs to be said to get what you want. You cover your tracks with words. You smooth things over. You make excuses that sound reasonable but aren't true.

“The venom of asps is under your lips.” (Psalm 140:3)

Asps are snakes. Deadly snakes. One bite and you're done. And Paul's saying that's what's under your lips. Poison. Ready to strike. Your words can kill, and they do.

“Your mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” (Psalm 10:7)

Not occasionally. Full. That's what fills it. Curses against people who wronged you. Bitterness toward those who have what you don't. Resentment that seeps into everything you say.

This is who we are.

Proverbs 10:11 says, "The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life." Life-giving words. Words that heal. Words that build up. Words that point people toward God.

The righteous mouth gives life. 

But ours? By nature?
Graves, deceit, venom and curses.

James 3:5-6 puts it like this: "The tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness."

Your tongue can destroy. Or your tongue can give life.

"There is no Christ." Death.
"I believe in Him." Life.

"I'll live for myself." Death.
"I deny myself, take up my cross, and follow Him." Life.

"But wait. Can't I believe in Him AND live for myself?"

You can SAY you believe while living for yourself. But that's not faith. That's just words coming from a grave.

What comes out of your mouth reveals what's in your heart. And what's in your heart, by nature, is death.

Paul's not trying to break you. He's trying to wake you up.

He knows you can't fix what you won't admit is broken. And you can't run to Jesus if you think you’re “a good person.”

Paul's quoting Isaiah 59:7-8, and this time, he's not quoting the Psalms about enemies of God. He's quoting a prophet speaking directly to the Jewish people.

God's covenant people.
The ones who had the law.
The ones who knew better.

And what does Isaiah say about them?

“Their feet are swift to shed blood.” (Romans 3:15)

This isn't about every individual person being a literal murderer. It's about the bent of humanity. The direction we naturally go when we're left to ourselves.

Think about it.
There's never been a generation without war.
Without violence.
Without bloodshed.

Never.

Paul's showing us what humanity does when God isn't restraining us. When His hand pulls back even slightly, we turn on each other. We always have.

It's not that you wake up every day wanting to kill someone. It's that violence is always closer to the surface than you think.

“In their paths are ruin and misery.” (Romans 3:16)

Wherever humanity goes, destruction follows. Not always physical destruction, but broken things. Broken families. Broken promises. Broken trust.

We build things and then tear them down. We start well and end badly. We make messes we can't clean up.

“The way of peace they have not known.” (Romans 3:17)

Peace isn't just the absence of conflict. It's wholeness. Restoration. Being right with God and right with each other.

And Paul's saying:

We don't know that.

By nature, we don't even know what that looks like.

We know ceasefires. We know uneasy truces. We know how to avoid each other long enough for things to calm down.

But real peace?
The kind that heals?
The kind that lasts?

That requires something we don't have. Something that has to come from outside of us.

And here's the root.

This is where it all comes from. The open grave. The deceitful tongue. The poisonous lips. The swift feet. The ruin and misery.

All of it traces back to this one thing:

There is no fear of God. (Psalm 36:1)

Not that people are scared of God. That's not what "fear" means here.

It means reverence. Awe. A deep, soul-level recognition that God is God and you are not.

It means living your life with the awareness that God sees everything. That He matters. That His opinion is the only one that counts.

And Paul's saying:
we
don't
have
that.

We don't seek God.
We don't understand God.
We don't fear God.

We live like He's not there. Or like He doesn't care. Or like we can manage Him with the right religious activities.

We enjoy His creation. We use His air, His food, His sunlight, His gifts. We take everything He provides.

And then...
we reject Him.

We trade His glory for other things. We want His stuff without wanting Him.

That's the heart of sin. Not just doing bad things. But living as if God doesn't matter.

You can be a good person by the world's standards and still have no fear of God.

You can be moral, kind, generous, successful, well-liked, and completely indifferent to God.

And that's the most dangerous condition of all.

Because it means you don't know you're sick.
You don't know you need saving.
You don't know you're standing on the edge of judgment.

And you don't know God.

If you're outside of Christ, you should be terrified. You're enjoying His creation, using everything He's given you, and rejecting Him.

But even as believers, we need to fear the Lord. Not in terror, but in deep, reverent awe. The kind that shapes how we live. The kind that makes us careful with our words, our actions, our hearts.

Because God sees everything.

And the question isn't, "What do people think of me?"

The question is, "What does God think of me?"

So where does that leave us?

Laying on the side of the road, bloodied and with broken bones.

Paul just spent nine verses dismantling every defense. Every excuse. Every claim to righteousness.

None is righteous.
No one understands.
No one seeks God.
All have turned aside.
No one does good.
Not even one.

Your throat is a grave.
Your tongue deceives.
Your lips carry venom.
Your mouth is full of curses.

Your feet are swift to shed blood.
Ruin and misery follow you.
You don't know peace.

And at the root of it all: there is no fear of God.

In case you haven’t caught the hint, we’re all guilty. All of us.

But here's the thing you need to hold onto: Paul’s not showing you the chains to leave you in them.

He's preparing you for the two most beautiful words in the entire Bible.

"But now..."

We’re fourteen days away from reading those words.

Fourteen days away from the gospel bomb that changes everything.

Prepare your heart.

I love you,
George

PS: If a friend shared this Bible study with you and you’d like to receive it straight to your inbox, just click HERE to subscribe—it’s free and always will be!

George Sisneros is a full-time missionary in Guatemala and the founder of Ordinary Missionaries and the El Rosario Christian Academy for Boys.

He’s been married to his wife, Vonda, for 27 years. He’s a father to nine children, five adopted.

In 2024, George and his wife expanded to Cuba, joining forces with nine pastors committed to transforming lives through the gospel.

You can get George’s newest digital book, Uncovering Scripture: The Gospel of Luke HERE.