Paul has been carefully showing that both Jew and Gentile are under facing condemnation for their disobedience to God.

The Jew is responsible to God and will be judged by how he has kept the Law of God which has clearly been made known through Moses.

The Gentile is responsible to God for that part of the Law of God that has made it into his conscience. The conscience of a non-Christian isn’t a pure, perfect gauge of right and wrong, but the parts that are parallel to the Law of Moses will become the standard by which he will be judged.

The Jew has been rather proud of the sign of his relationship with God, his circumcision. To him, it was the proof of being right with God. But Paul has shown that circumcision doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t live in obedience to God.

advantage – perissos – exceeding some number or measure or rank or need; pre-eminence, superiority.

profit – opheleia – usefulness, advantage, profit

Some people might look at how Paul has brought both Jew and Gentile down to the same level as common sinners and say, "Well what’s the big deal with being a Jew?". It is a big deal.

To help understand the next two verses, we need to understand that the Greek word for "believe" or "trust" is found in four different forms here: "committed", "believe", "unbelief", and "faith".

committed – pisteuo – to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in; to entrust a thing to one, i.e. his fidelity

oracle – logion (a small "logos", "word") – a brief utterance, a divine oracle

God thought enough of the Jews to entrust to them, to have faith in them, to give them His Law, His Words. That’s one of the "big deals" with being a Jew. It was the Jews who were chosen to receive God’s Word. Paul will deal with more of the advantages of being a Jew in Romans 9.

We owe a lot to the faithful Hebrew scribes who copied the Scriptures so accurately.

did not believe – apisteo – to betray a trust, be unfaithful; to have no belief, disbelieve

unbelief – apistia – unfaithfulness, faithless; want of faith, unbelief

faith – pistis – conviction of the truth of anything, belief; trust

What Paul is saying is this: God "en-trusted" His Word to the Jews. Just because some of the Jews were not "trust-worthy", does their lack of "trust" make God’s "trust" of them to be pointless?

Even though every person might be a liar, God is still true.

mightest be justified – dikaioo – to render righteous or such he ought to be

sayings – logos – a word

mightest overcome – nikao – to conquer; to carry off the victory, come off victorious

art judged – krino – to separate; to approve; to judge

(Rom 3:4 NLT) Of course not! Though everyone else in the world is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say, "He will be proved right in what he says, and he will win his case in court."

This is a quote from Psalm 51:4.

commend – sunistao – to place together, to set in the same place; to show, prove, establish, exhibit

taketh – epiphero – to bring upon; to lay upon, to inflict

vengeance – orge – anger; wrath, indignation; anger exhibited in punishment

If my unrighteousness only shows God to be just in His Word, in declaring what’s right and wrong, then why does God take it out on us by punishing us?

This was a phrase that the rabbis used. Paul was trained as a rabbi. It’s like saying, "That is actually the way some people talk" or, "pardon me for this line of argument."

It’s kind of circular reasoning. If God is telling us how sinful we are, how could he NOT then judge us?

If my lying shows God only to be more truthful and more glorious, then why should God want to judge me if I’m just making Him look good?

slanderously – blasphemeo – to speak reproachfully, rail at, revile, blaspheme

damnation – krima – a decree; judgment

just – endikos – according to right, righteous, just

Apparently there were some that were saying that Paul was advocating lawless ungodly living so that God would be glorified in being gracious to these people. This would be a way that some might twist the message of salvation by grace through faith. But Paul is making clear that there’s nothing good about sin, even if it leads us to trust in Jesus for salvation.

are we better – proechomai – to have before or in advance of another, to have pre-eminence over another, to excel, surpass

before proved – proaitiaomai – to bring a charge against previously (i.e. in what has previously been said)

Paul now begins to quote quite a lot of Scripture through verse 18:

understandeth – suniemi – to set or bring together; to set or join together in the mind; i.e. to understand: the man of understanding

seeketh after – ekzeteo – to seek out, search for; to seek out, i.e. investigate, scrutinize; to seek out for one's self, beg, crave

gone out of the way – ekklino – to turn aside, deviate (from the right way and course)

become unprofitable – achreioo – make useless, render unserviceable. The Hebrew word used in Psa. 14:3 means to go bad, become sour like milk (Lightfoot).

good – chrestotes – moral goodness, integrity; benignity, kindness

People can do a little bit of good some of the time, but not like what God requires (which is all of the time).

The stink of a newly opened grave.

The poison of the asp lies in a bag under the lips

cursing – ara – a prayer, a supplication; an imprecation, curse, malediction

bitterness – pikria – bitter gall; extreme wickedness; metaph. bitterness, bitter hatred

What a gruesome picture.

People are so quick to hurt each other. I see it often even in my own good, Christian little boys. They’re so quick to hurt each other.

destruction – suntrimma – that which is broken or shattered, a fracture; calamity, ruin, destruction

misery – talaiporia – hardship, trouble, calamity, misery

known – ginosko – to learn to know; a knowledge grounded on personal experience

stopped – phrasso – to fence in, block up, stop up, close up; to put to silence

guilty – hupodikos – under judgment, one who lost his suit; of liable to punishment from God

The Law of Moses and the conscience of the Gentile that parallels Moses’ law weren’t given to make men right before God, they were given to show us our sinfulness.

without – choris – separate, apart; without any

is manifested – phaneroo – to make manifest or visible or known what has been hidden or unknown (perfect tense)

The law and the prophets have both testified that righteousness would come apart from the Law:

difference – diastole – a distinction, difference

Our faith in Jesus Christ brings God’s righteousness to us and upon us.

sinned – hamartano – to be without a share in; to miss the mark; to err, be mistaken; to wander from the law of God, violate God's law, sin. In English, our word "sin" also carries the idea, to "sin" was to miss the target in an archery contest.

come short – hustereo – to be left behind in the race and so fail to reach the goal, to fall short of the end; to fail, be wanting

The glory of God is mankind’s target. We’ve missed the target.

justified – dikaioo – to render righteous or such he ought to be. Some have suggested that it’s "just-as-if-I’d never sinned".

freely – dorean – freely, undeservedly

redemption – apolutrosis – a releasing effected by payment of ransom; redemption, deliverance. Used often of the purchase of slaves and giving them their freedom. We are slaves of sin, and Jesus has set us free by paying our ransom.

We have been made right before God because of His free, undeserving favor toward us in having Jesus pay the ransom price for our sin. Jesus came to pay our ransom.

to declare – endeixis – demonstration, proof

remission – paresis – passing over, letting pass, neglecting, disregarding

forbearance – anoche – toleration, forbearance

We get all upset when we see someone who has obviously sinned and who obviously deserves punishment, gets off the hook. When a kid next door hits a homerun right through your patio sliding door, you might want to forgive him, but who’s going to pay for the door?