Paul continues to anchor his argument in pearls of wisdom from the Old Testament by citing Psalm 14:2 for the fact that none of us understand--we don't understand the magnitude of God's power and love. 

Paul grounds his argument that all of us are under sin with a string of pearls from the Old Testament. He begins with what commentators believe to be a legal argument: that none of us have righteous standing before God. 

What started in 1:18 is being concluded in 3:9-20. Verse 9 starts Paul's conclusion by stating that all of us are "under sin." We talk about what it means to be under sin.

Paul finishes his logic pretzel section with the logical conclusion that was being made by his opponents at the time: a claim that Paul's theology essentially promoted evil. We talk about that claim and the tribulation Paul faced, and that we face today.

Paul asks another pretzel-logic question in verse seven, asking if God gets glory by forgiving our sin, shouldn't we go about the world sinning, to magnify God's glory? The answer comes in verse eight, but we spoil that by talking about how we best glorify God.

Paul answers the logic pretzel questions in verse five with an emphatic "no," and says that if that were true, God couldn't act as judge. We talk about how a righteous God must exercise judgment when faced with evil.

Paul starts anticipating his words will be warped by the more argumentative members of the church in Rome, so he twists his logic into a pretzel in verse five so he can answer potential concerns. But today we mainly talk about repentance and its importance.

Paul answers the questions from verse three with the strongest words he knows for "no." God is forever faithful. But he's justified in judging a faithless people, and he cites a well-known psalm for support in that. We talk about that psalm and how we cleanse our hearts.

Paul asks another couple of questions that the readers in Rome are likely asking. Does human unfaithfulness nullify or render powerless God's promise to be faithful to his people? 

Paul answers his question from verse one by telling the Jewish members of the church in Rome that they're at a huge advantage: they were entrusted with the Word of God, or the Oracles of God. We talk about the Word as God-Breathing in the here and now.