Divine Diagnosis of Man’s Heart

A man in Scotland was taking a walk one Sunday afternoon. He had a small leather bag with him. A couple of teenagers thought he had a camera in his bag and so asked him to take a picture of them. The man said he already had a picture of them. He then took his Bible from the leather bag and began reading to them Romans 3, which spoke about their sinful condition and the need of a Savior.

The Bible is a mirror that reveals our sinful nature. It also reveals our need for Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. The chief advantage of the Jews was that they were entrusted with the very words of God in the Old Testament. But many of them failed to believe in God’s covenant promises; therefore, they failed to believe in the promised Messiah in the person of Jesus Christ.

In Romans 3:3-20 we are given a divine diagnosis of the sinful heart of every man, both Jew and Gentile. From this passage we want to speak about our sinful condition, our sinful conduct, the cause of this conduct, and the conclusion.

I. Our Sinful Condition

All fallen men, whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated, have knowledge of God and his will from creation as well as from their own hearts. Yet they refuse to live according to that knowledge and exchange truth for a lie. Paul writes, “Furthermore, because they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done” (Rom. 1:28). In judgment God gives people over to a twisted mind (adokimon noun). Such people always prefer lies and wickedness to truth and righteousness. They live by the philosophy of atheism: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God'” (Ps. 14:1). The wrath of God, therefore, is being revealed against such men and their ungodliness and unrighteousness.

Sinful men are filled with evil. Paul tells us, “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice” (Rom. 1:29). In Romans 3:3-8 we see how the twisted, sinful minds of the Jews worked. Paul examines several questions that were no doubt put to him by Jewish hecklers whenever he preached the gospel.

A. Questions of the Hecklers

1. Does our lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?
The first question had to do with the unfaithfulness of the Jews to the covenant God made with them: “What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?” (Rom. 3:3-4). The Jews were entrusted with the word of God, but they refused to believe it and, therefore, refused to embrace the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Paul poses the question: Does the unfaithfulness of the Jewish people negate God’s covenant with them? The answer is, “Not at all!”

Man’s failure can never nullify or frustrate God’s eternal purposes. God’s fidelity is not measured by human fidelity because God’s faithfulness is ultimately to his own person and promises. God’s ultimate concern is for his own glory and not even for our blessings. Paul declares, “Let God be true, and every man a liar” (v. 4). God is always faithful and reliable. He can always be trusted, in spite of all the sin and unfaithfulness of all the peoples of the world. Paul cites Psalm 51:4 to prove this point. When David was sinning against Bathsheba and her husband, he was also sinning against God. God judged David, and David acknowledges that God was right and prevailed in this judgment against him: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” Though God punished David (see 2 Sam. 12:9-12), he remained faithful to the Davidic covenant. He did not fail to keep his covenant with David.

In 2 Samuel 23 David asked, “Is not my house right with God? Has he not made with me an everlasting covenant, arranged and secured in every part? Will he not bring to fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire?” (2 Sam. 23:5). David’s salvation depended on God’s keeping the covenant with him by sending the Messiah, Jesus Christ. David’s wickedness did not make God to be unfaithful; rather, it brought out God’s faithfulness in greater glory. David’s unfaithfulness proved and established God’s faithfulness.

2. If my unrighteousness magnifies God’s righteousness, is God unjust in punishing sinners?
The second question these hecklers asked was a challenge to God’s justice: “But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? . . . If that were so, how could God judge the world?” (vv. 5-6). In other words, these people were saying, “Paul, you are saying in effect that our unrighteousness makes God’s righteousness more clear, and that our sin is establishing God’s righteousness. Is not, then, God unjust in bringing his wrath on us?” See the depravity of the human mind! In other words, these hecklers were saying to Paul, “If God’s glory shines brighter in the dark background of our sin, then when we sin, we are really doing God a favor by providing the dark background to make his glory shine more brightly. Therefore, God should not punish us but really thank us. Our sin brings more glory to God.”

These antinomian hecklers were making the modern point that the end justifies the means. But Paul replies, “If your argument is right, then God cannot judge the world because every man’s sin is bringing God’s glory into greater luster.” Here Paul is echoing a fundamental Jewish belief that regarded Yahweh as the eschatological Judge of the whole world. Every Jew believed that God would judge the world, but when they said “the world,” they really meant Gentiles. They believed themselves were therefore exempt from this final judgment.

Yet if human sin brings glory to God, then how can God judge even the Gentiles? That was Paul’s argument as he rejected the argument of the hecklers. God is holy and he must judge every sinner, both Jew and Gentile. The assumption of the hecklers is invalid; the end does not justify the means.

3. If my sin increases God’s glory, why am I condemned as a sinner?
The third question follows: “Someone might argue, ‘If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?'” (v. 7). Paul takes it further: “Why not say-as we are slanderously being reported as saying and as some claim that we say-‘Let us do evil that good may result’?” (v. 8). Paul refuses to answer this question except to affirm that God’s condemnation of us is just.

B. Biblical Proof of Man’s Condition

We cannot understand reality unless we believe in creation, fall, and redemption, which we find in the book of Genesis. Because of the fall, man has by nature a depraved, twisted mind. This condition explains the antinomian questions of the hecklers.

Paul concludes that all people are under sin (Rom. 3:9). He first proved that Gentiles were sinners (Rom. 1:18-32). Then he proves that Jews also are sinners (Rom. 2:1-3:8). There is no difference. Every man is under sin (huph’ hamartian), meaning “under the power of sin.” Sin is personified as the master, and man is enslaved to sin. We cannot get out from under the dominion of sin on our own. Paul is speaking, then, of the universality of sin.

In Genesis we read, “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5). This speaks about three aspects of sin: it is internal, pervasive, and continuous. This describes the total depravity of man. Jeremiah declares, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). The answer is that no one can. Only God can know it.

This is God’s diagnosis of the human heart. Jesus says sin and uncleanness are not external, but internal; they are problems of the heart: “For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean'” (Mark 7:21-23). Ephesians 2:1-3 also tells us that we are by nature dead in trespasses and sins, and under the rule of Satan.

All people are sinners; there is no exception. That is why the Bible is relevant to everyone. In seminary I was told that when I preach the gospel, all manner of people will be listening to me-educated and uneducated, rich and poor-but I must not worry. They all are sinners who must hear the gospel so that they may be saved. God’s word does not show favoritism. It levels everyone.

Paul gives ample proofs from the Scriptures to prove the truth of our depravity, citing six scriptures from the Old Testament. He only needs to cite the scriptures, for the Jews understood that the Scriptures are the final authority.

1. “There is no one righteous, not even one” (v. 10; see Eccl. 7:20). God demands perfect conformity to his law. But since the fall, all have become twisted and crooked in their minds; there is no one who is upright in thought and life. J. B. Phillips says, “No man can justify himself before God by a perfect performance of the Law’s demands-indeed, the Law is the straight-edge that shows us how crooked we are” (Rom. 3:20, Phillips translation).¹

This is the reason many people do not want to read the Bible. Every theologian and higher critic who criticizes the Bible is revealing what the Bible affirms, that we are sinners who cannot tolerate what the Bible has to speak about us. And if we ourselves are not reading the Bible, it is for the same reason: we do not want to be confronted with our sin. Someone said this Book will keep us from sin, or sin will keep us from this Book. Because we are sinners, we tend to hate the Bible because it exposes our wickedness. Yet that is the very reason we should read it! It is like going to a doctor to have our problem diagnosed so that we can be healed. In the same way, we must read the Bible to know exactly what our problem is. And not only does the Bible tell us our problem, but it also tells how we can be saved.

So Paul says no man is righteous. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “The best man, the noblest, the most learned, the most philanthropic, the greatest idealist, the greatest thinker, say what you like about him-there has never been a man who can stand up to the test of the law. Drop your plumb-line, and he is not true to it.”² This is why we should read the Bible from beginning to end.

2. “There is no one who understands” (v. 11; see Ps. 14:1-3, 53:1-3). How often do we go about, telling others how much we understand! Only God knows all things and he has given his truth about man’s condition in the Bible: “No one . . . understands.” There is no exception; this is a universal condition. Because of the noetic effect of sin, no one understands God, man, or creation. Without knowing God first, we cannot understand even the simplest thing. If fact, most people see truth as lie and lie as truth, and deny the infinite, personal God. They do so because they lack spiritual understanding. They believe in a closed system where God is not permitted. They are like Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, angels, evil spirits, the Creator, a Redeemer, heaven, hell, and eternal judgment. Such irrational materialists believe in evolution but not creation. Paul says that the natural man does not understand things that are spiritual; they are foolishness to him (1 Cor. 2:14). The spiritual things make him fume and fight.

Natural man is not wise because he does not fear God. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Paul says about the unbeliever’s mind: “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more” (Eph. 4:17-19). Elsewhere Paul says, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4). Why do people hate the Bible and Jesus Christ? Because they are darkened in their understanding.

3. “No one who seeks God” (v. 11; see Ps. 14:1-3; 53:1-3). Not only is man’s mind twisted, but his will is also twisted. He will not seek the true, triune God-the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-the God of the Scriptures. That does not mean he is not religious. In fact, he is a connoisseur of religions-the false religions of idolatry, the demon-inspired religions that God abhors. He will worship creation, demons, trees, snakes, bulls, birds, and man. But he will not worship and obey the true and living God. He has become an enemy of God, as we read in Romans 5:10; 8:7. Natural man is an enemy of God.

4. “All have turned away” (v. 12; Ps. 14:3; 53:3). Again, notice, there is no exception. All turned away from God’s path, the way of truth, to the broad way of lie. Every man is on the way to hell: “The way of the wicked will perish” (Ps. 1:6). In the Greek it says all turned away deliberately. These people would say, “I do not want truth or light. I do not want to know what my problems are. I hate God’s way!” Isaiah says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isa. 53:6). What a wretched condition!

5. “They have together become worthless” (v. 12; Ps. 14:3; 53:3). This is universal. Every person has become worthless and useless to God. They have become like milk that has gone sour, or like meat that became rotten. Such people are useless to God and everyone else. Yes, through God’s common grace man can still do some civic good, like going to the moon or discovering new medicines. But in things that matter ultimately, he is worthless and useless.

II. The Conduct of Sinful Man

Having described the condition of man, Paul continues his scriptural proofs as he examines the conduct of sinful man.

6. “There is no one who does good, not even one” (v. 12; Ps. 14:3; 53:3). People like to parade their self-righteousness. Isaiah saw it and said all human righteousness is like filthy rags. Paul improved on it, saying our righteousness is like dung. (PGM) All works done by a sinner before he trusts in God are called dead works. They are done for man’s own glory, not for the glory of God. A good work is done by a saint, by a believer, for God’s glory.

First Samuel 15 describes how Saul went and fought the Amalekites. When he returned from the battle, he got up early and went to build a monument to himself. This is the way unbelievers do works for their own glory. But Jesus says, “What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight” (Luke 16:15).

7. “Their throats are open graves” (v. 13; see Ps. 5:9). The throat of a sinner is like a grave that is opened up: a stench comes out of it (cf. John 11:39). This expression can also mean they will eat or bury people. Jesus declares, “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34). Such people emit stench from within and destroy people.

8. “Their tongues practice deceit” (v. 13; Ps. 5:9). This simply means sinners lie continuously and use flattery to get their way. We have heard parents, philosophers, politicians, professors, pastors, advertisers, and so many others lie. We have heard the lies of evolution, global warming, global cooling, the innate goodness of man, and the equality of all religions. Sinners are not only deceived but they also deceive others, especially through words. Think especially of preachers who preach falsehoods such as salvation without repentance. They will say, “Our great God is nice. I know you do not like repentance, so I will just preach salvation without repentance, justification without sanctification, faith without faithfulness, a God who is love but not holy, and a Jesus who is Savior but not Lord.” In my view, such lying preachers are more dangerous than lying professors or philosophers.

9. “The poison of vipers is on their lips” (v. 13; see Ps. 140:3). Think of what counsel Job’s wife gave her husband: “Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9). That is real poison, aimed and targeted to kill a person. How many people use their tongues to deceive others! They may use flattery and speak many nice words. But their intent is to destroy. Lloyd-Jones writes about this analogy:

This is a very fine description in a zoological sense. The adder, or viper, which is so harmful and so poisonous, has the poison concealed in a little bag at the root of the lips. This little bag is under the upper jaw of the adder close to some fangs which lie in a horizontal position. When the adder is about to pounce upon a victim he puts back his head and as he does so, these teeth or fangs drop down and he bites the victim. As he is biting with the fangs one of them presses the bag that is full of poison and into the wound is injected this venom, this poison that is going to kill the victim! So the Bible gives an exact scientific description of how the adder kills by means of his poison.³

10. “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness” (v. 14; Ps. 10:7).

11. “Their feet are swift to shed blood” (v. 15; see Isa. 59:7). The history of the world is a history of killing and murder. The devil is behind all murder. Jesus said, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Elsewhere he explained, “The thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy; I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

12. “Ruin and misery mark their ways” (v. 16; see Isa. 59:7). The wicked are like tsunamis, hurricanes, cyclones, and earthquakes. We see them coming and going, leaving destruction and misery behind. The history of kingdoms and civilizations is a history of ruin and misery.

13. “The way of peace they do not know” (v. 17; see Isa. 59:8). “‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked'” (Isa. 57:21). Jesus Christ is the Prince of peace. A man who is outside of Jesus is a man without peace. He is restless like the waves of the sea.

III. The Cause of Man’s Miserable Condition

What is the cause of all this misery, sin, and wickedness? Again, Paul quotes scripture: “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (v. 17; see Ps. 36:1). Jesus spoke about a judge “who neither feared God nor cared about men” (Luke 18:2).

When we do not fear God, we will fear everything. As the psalmist declared, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God'” (Ps. 14:1). All the deeds of wicked men are done without any God-consciousness. It is fear of God that keeps us from sinning (Ex. 20:20). He who fears God shuns evil, as Joseph did, saying, “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). The fear of God kept him. Daniel also refused to sin out of fear of God, as did the three Hebrew children, who would not bow down and worship the golden image.

Above all, Jesus Christ always feared God, even when tempted most severely. Isaiah says the Spirit of the fear of the Lord would be upon him (Isa. 11:2). The Holy Spirit also causes us to fear the Lord. David said, “I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken” (Ps. 16:8). He is speaking about a God-conscious life, saying, “I have deliberately set the Lord before me so that he governs my thoughts, words, and deeds.”

When Paul says, “There is no fear of God before their eyes,” this does not mean every sinner is as bad as he could possibly be. Rather, it means that no action of a sinner can ever receive divine approbation. Even the best actions of a sinner are done for his own glory most of all. Can we ever come to God and say, “I did this or that; therefore, you should justify me”? Absolutely not! Jesus understood this and called such people “a wicked and adulterous generation” (Matt. 12:39, 16:4).

IV. The Conclusion

Paul concludes this section, saying, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law,” that is, “in the sphere of the law” (v. 19). If you have a Bible, it is speaking to you. The Jews were given the Old Testament; they also were in the sphere of the law, as were the Gentiles, who were given not only the revelation of God through creation, but also the works of the law written in their hearts. Every man, therefore, is under God’s law and knows God. Yet he refuses to glorify God and give thanks to him. Instead, he exchanges truth for a lie and worships creation. But the word of God is living. It is called the oracles of God. God is speaking to us; are we listening?

What is the purpose of the law? Paul continues, “so that every mouth may be silenced” (v. 19). The picture is that of being in the courtroom of God. God is the judge and we are the defendants. We are given time to speak but we cannot: our mouths are shut. We know we are guilty as charged; therefore, we have no defense and we cannot speak. That is what will happen when we face God.

The second reason Paul gives is “so that . . . the whole world [be] held accountable to God” (v. 19). Every man is under divine judgment and is without excuse. Elsewhere Paul writes especially about the Gentiles, “For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20). He said to the Jews, “You, therefore, have no excuse” (Rom. 2:1). Every mouth, therefore, is stopped and the whole world is under divine judgment. We all stand guilty before God.

This is the divine diagnosis. No one can be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law, for no man can observe the law as God demands, because every man is a sinner. Jesus spoke of a Pharisee who prayed to himself, parading his self-righteousness. He was saying, “I have no use for Jesus Christ or the cross. I can save myself.” But he went home condemned (Luke 18:9-14). Paul also paraded his righteousness, saying, “as for legalistic righteousness, [I was] faultless” (Phil. 3:6). But when God apprehended him, Paul found out his righteousness was dung.

The law condemns us. Jesus said to those who were relying on their own works, “Away from me, you evildoers!” (Matt. 7:23). The psalmist says, “No one living is righteous before you” (Ps. 143:2). It is impossible to save ourselves.

What, then, is the purpose of the law? It is through the law that we receive knowledge of sin. God’s law is the mirror for our lives. That is why we must read it all the time. It shows our problems, our sins. The law does not forgive our sins or justify us. In fact, the law makes sin worse, not better, by revealing, condemning, and aggravating our sin. It is the mirror that shows dirt on our faces, but it cannot wash our faces clean. We need Christ Jesus to make us clean, and the law points to Jesus, the Savior of the world. The law is the straight-edge that shows how crooked we are, but Jesus alone can make us straight.

This, then, is the divine diagnosis of our heart: its condition, its conduct, its cause, and the conclusion. Knowing no one can save himself, is there any hope for a sinful man? Is there any effective medicine for a sinner? Can I obtain a new heart?

The answer is yes. Not only does the Bible reveal our problem, but it also gives us the remedy. In the next passage, Romans 3:21-26, Paul gives us the prescription, the medicine, that will heal us. God himself said, “I am the Lord who healeth thee.” As Paul declares, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith'” (Rom. 1:16-17).

The publican simply said, “Have mercy upon me, a sinner,” and he went home justified (Luke 18:13-14). The thief from the cross said, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom,” and Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42-43). Jesus came to seek and save lost sinners like us, so that we can sing, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!” Thank God, that Jesus Christ has taken us out of the dominion, power, and mastery of sin and placed us under the power of grace, under the lordship of Christ, so that we can all go home justified, walking and leaping and praising God. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). If anyone has not trusted in Christ, may God have mercy upon that person and grant him repentance and faith, that he may turn to Christ and be saved.

¹ http://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/CP06Romans.htm

² D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans: The Righteous Judgment of God, Exposition of Chapters 2:1-3:20 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House: 1989), 198.

³ Lloyd-Jones, 211.