Paul starts a paragraph that Grant Osborne called the core paragraph of Romans with the words "But now." After spending around 60 verses convincing the church that they couldn't gain righteousness on their own, Paul introduces the solution: righteousness manifested on the cross.

Paul concludes his first big part of his letter to the church in Rome in verse 20 by crushing what the church in his time viewed as a means of salvation: works. People couldn't work their way into good standing with God in Paul's day, and we can't do it today. We talk about works as a barrier between ourselves and God.

The response to knowing God's law should not be a full-throated defense of our goodness, but a silent mouth that acknowledges that we fall short and need God's grace. I bank on the words of Timothy Keller and John Gerstner to make this point clear.

Paul's final old testament quote to support his contention that we are all under sin states that we have no fear of God in our eyes. We talk about the root of the fear of God, and how we should not fear anything else in this world.

Paul goes back to Isaiah to tell the church in Rome that man does not seek the way of peace. We talk more about that Isaiah verse he quotes, what it means to have straight paths, and how your life can result in divine appointments if you seek God's way.

We start with a little fun (to me, at least) -- reading some other new testament 3:16s. And then we talk about how the human experience is just one big highway to ruin and misery. Why? Because we weren't made for the things of this world. We were made for a relationship.

Paul switches from mouth, lips, tongue verses to action verses, quoting Isaiah in saying that humanity's feet are swift to evil. We carry on with the sheep herd metaphor I started the other day by talking about bison and water buffalo. Listen to try to make sense of my animal metaphors.

Paul gives us another verse about the power of our mouths, citing to Psalm 10:7 by lamenting those whose mouths are full of curses. We talk about the power of our mouths and the power of curses, and our choice between the two.

Paul cites to two verses from the Psalms to further his point that we are all under sin by talking about how we use our throat, tongue, and lips. While the Word is God-breathing, our words can be like open graves. 

Paul writes that all have turned aside. We compare that to Isaiah's Fourth Servant Song, and compare our inclinations to those of sheep.