Romans 3:10
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Scripture levels the ground: no one stands righteous on their own, and that is the very place grace begins.
Context
Paul is finishing his case that all people, religious and irreligious alike, stand guilty before God (chapters 1 through 3). Here he begins stringing together quotations from the Psalms and prophets to seal the verdict.
What Does Romans 3:10 Mean?
Paul reaches for Scripture itself to make his point, opening with as it is written. He has spent three chapters showing that every kind of person falls short, and now he lets the older words say it plainly: there is none righteous, no, not one. The phrase closes every loophole. Not the moral, not the religious, not the careful, no one passes the test on their own merit. It is a hard sentence, and Paul means it to be, because only when we stop claiming a righteousness we do not have can we receive the one God offers.
This verse clears the ground for the heart of Paul's gospel, just verses away, that a righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe (verse 22). The honesty here is mercy in disguise. None of us is righteous, and Christ became our righteousness, so the door stands open to everyone willing to come empty-handed.
In the Original Language
dikaios (δίκαιος), 'righteous' -- right with God, upright, the standing Paul says none of us can claim on our own.
Application
This verse takes away the burden of pretending we are good enough, a weight we were never meant to carry. None of us is righteous on our own, and that honesty is where the gospel meets us. We come to Christ empty-handed, and He gives us a righteousness we could never earn.