Romans 3:17 - Printer Friendly

ESV: and the way of peace they have not known."

NIV: and the way of peace they do not know."

NASB: AND THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN THE WAY OF PEACE.'

CSB: and the path of peace they have not known.

NLT: They don’t know where to find peace.'

KJV: And the way of peace have they not known:

NKJV: And the way of peace they have not known.”

Paul concludes his reference of Isaiah 59:7–8 here. He has used Isaiah's words to provide more Old Testament evidence that human beings are sinful by nature. We all deserve God's angry judgment, no exceptions (Romans 3:10), and no excuses (Romans 1:18–20). Paul has agreed with Isaiah that our feet are quick to carry us toward hurting others—including bloodshed—and that we leave misery behind everywhere we go.

Now Paul quotes the last line of Isaiah 59:8 to show something even worse. It's bad enough that our feet carry us into sinfulness and violence. But when it comes to mankind, in general, we don't know how to do anything else. Apart from God's intervention, human beings have never experienced the "way of peace" or a peaceful path. We can't find it. We don't know how to go that way. It's not our nature to walk away from sin and conflict; we create it along the way.

Paul will soon show, however, that with God's help, through faith in Christ and by God's grace, we can escape the sinful, painful paths of sin and walk in the way of righteousness. We just cannot do it on our own.

Romans 3:9–20 contains a string of quotes from the Old Testament Scriptures. Paul uses these to demonstrate that both Jews and Greeks alike are under sin. After establishing that ''there is none who does good'' from Psalm 14:1, Paul uses quotes from Psalms and Isaiah to show ways we have always used our bodies—throats, tongues, lips, feet, and eyes—to express our sinfulness. He concludes the section with his strongest statement, yet, that no human being will be justified in God's sight by following the works of the law. The law can only show us our sin, not save us from it.

Romans 3 begins with a question-and-answer scheme. These are responses one might expect from someone opposed to what Paul wrote in Romans 2. Next, Paul quotes from a series of Old Testament passages. These Scriptures show that those writers also agreed that nobody, not one person, deserves to be called righteous. Paul declares emphatically that no one will be justified by following the works of the law. Finally, though, he arrives at the good news: righteousness before God is available apart from the law through faith in Christ's death for our sin on the cross.

The prior chapter explained that God's judgment on sin will come to all men, whether or not they understand the literal law. Faith in God, in the heart, matters more to God than rote obedience. At the start of this chapter, Paul answers a series of questions from an imagined objector to those teachings. Next, he quotes a series of Old Testament passages which support His teaching that human beings are by nature sinful. Each of us turns away from God. Nobody can be justified by the law, Paul insists. Fortunately, it is possible to attain God's righteousness: but only by His grace, through faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice for our sin on the cross. We must come to this by faith, and it is available to Jews and Gentiles alike.

The book of Romans is the New Testament's longest, most structured, and most detailed description of Christian theology. Paul lays out the core of the gospel message: salvation by grace alone through faith alone. His intent is to explain the good news of Jesus Christ in accurate and clear terms. As part of this effort, Paul addresses the conflicts between law and grace, between Jews and Gentiles, and between sin and righteousness. As is common in his writing, Paul closes out his letter with a series of practical applications.