Romans 3:9-20 (NIV)
9 What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.
10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."
13 "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips."
14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."
15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know."
18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

Paul is in an argument with those who arguing in their heads about what he has been writing. Paul's conclusion is that we are all undone. The charge is that all are guilty before the Lord almighty. A form of preaching that was used in the day of Paul was called charuwz. This term literally means "stringing pearls." Paul was not quoting from one passage in the O.T. when he says, "As it is written:" Paul was quoting from many passages such as Ps. 14:1-3, Ps. 5:9, and Is. 53:6-9, to name a few. So whether it be the law of God or the law of conscience the function of both is to help us become aware of our real guilt. Guilt is a gift from God. To acknowledge our guilt before God and to repent is a miracle of God's grace working in us. If we know ourselves to be guilty of disobedience towards God and do nothing about it then the guilt we feel is no longer a gift, but a burden of judgment upon our own souls.



What Paul is doing in his arguments is locking the world up to the store house of God's grace. NO one is able to come to God on his or her own terms and therefore we must depend on His grace and mercy. It is a sweeping indictment of humanity, however God's grace is more than enough to bring us the abundance of forgiveness and reconciliation. We who were once dead are now raised to new life in Christ Jesus. We who were once enemies of God are now at peace with God. This passage has everything to do with Easter weekend because without Good Friday and the resurrection we would not be able to experience His grace and mercy. Go with God and enjoy the riches of His grace.