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In these verses 9 through 20, Paul gives his conclusion of the need for justification through faith — “There is none righteous, no, not one.” These verses concludes this section of the letter that began with verse 18 of chapter one. In this section (1:18-3:20), Paul showed why man needs justification through faith; man is under the wrath and judgment of God because of his sin.

ROMANS 3:9-20.
3:9. What then? Are we any better? Not at all!  For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;
10. according as it is written, “There is none righteous, no, not one;  11. There is none who understand, There is none who seek after God;  12. All have turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not so much as one.”  13. “Their throat is an open sepulchre;  With their tongues they have acted deceitfully.”  “The poison of asps is under their lips.”  14. “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”   15. “Their feet are swift to shed blood;  16. Destruction and misery are in their ways;  17. and the way of peace they have not known.”  18. “There is not fear of God before their eyes.”   19. Now we know that what things the law says, it speaks to those who are in the law, in order that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become answerable to God; 20. because out of the works of the law shall no flesh be justified before him;  for through the law is the knowledge of sin.

3:9. What then? Are we any better? Not at all!  For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;

In this verse, Paul makes a transition from the last section dealing with the advantage of the Jews. This verse opens with two questions: (1) “What then?” and (2) “Are we any better?” The first question asks for a conclusion; the second question asks for a conclusion to his discussion of the advantage of the Jews: “Are we Jews any better than the rest of the human race?” Paul’s answer is “No, not at all!” Then he gives his reason for that answer; “for we have already charged” (proaitiaomai, here only) “that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.” Note that Paul does not say that all have sinned, but that all are under (hupo) sin. This statement is much stronger and states that all are under sin as a slave master (see Rom. 6:20; 7:14; Gal. 3:22).

3:10-18.
¹⁰ according as it is written, “There is none righteous, no, not one; ¹¹ There is none who understand, There is none who seek after God; ¹² All have turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not so much as one.”  ¹³ “Their throat is an open sepulchre;  With their tongues they have acted deceitfully.” “The poison of asps is under their lips.”   ¹⁴ “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”   ¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their ways; ¹⁷ and the way of peace they have not known.”   ¹⁸ “There is not fear of God before their eyes.”

Paul now brings the witness of Scripture to support his conclusion and charge. In the next nine verses, he quotes seven Old Testament passages introduced by the phrase “according as it is written.” He moves from one quotation to the next without any indication of passage from one to the next.

In verses 10-12, he quotes from Psa. 14:1-3 and 53:1-3;

in verse 13, he quotes from the LXX of Psa. 5:9 and 140:3;

in verse 14, he quotes Psa. 10:7;

in verses 15-17, he condenses Isa. 59:7-8;

in verse 18, he quotes Psa. 36:1.

No attention is paid to context; that is left to the reader to examine the context of quotations. The universality of sin is not a empirical statement, subject to psychological and sociological statistical study; it is a revelation from God who knows the hearts of all men. Paul is quoting not proof texts, requiring the analysis of modern exegetical study, but the statements of divine revelation. These passages fall into 3 groups:

(1) about the character of men (vv. 10-12).
In five negative statements God shows the character of all men.

(2) about the conduct of men (vv. 13-17).
Men reveal the evil in their heart by what they say (vv. 13-14)
and by what they do (vv. 15-17).

(3) the cause of their evil character and conduct (v. 18):
“there is no fear of God before their eyes.”

3:19. Now we know that what things the law says, it speaks to those who are in the law, in order that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become answerable to God;

In these last two verse of the conclusion, Paul states the scope and purpose of the Law. In this verse, Paul states first the scope of the law.
“We know that whatever the Law says, it says to those who are in law,” that is, to the Jews. The law was given only to the children of Israel and not to the Gentiles (see comments on Rom. 2:14 and 2:15).  Note that Paul does not say that the Jews are “under law”, but “in law”, that is, they are in the covenant relationship of the law of Moses (see comments on Rom. 2:12).

Then Paul states the purpose of the law.  “That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become answerable to God.”  The Law stops every argument of the Jews who attempts by their arguments to evade the judgment of God. Thus every mouth, Jew as well as Gentile, will be stopped. And all the world, the Jew as well as Gentile, will have to answer to God, that is, they are held accountable (upodike, here only) to God for their actions.

3:20. because out of the works of the law shall no flesh be justified before him; for through the law is the knowledge of sin.

In this last verse of the conclusion, Paul states the reason that every mouth will be stopped and all the world will become answerable to God.  “Because out of the works of the law shall no flesh be justified before Him.”  The phrase “works of the law” refers not just to good deeds but meritorious deeds, that is, deeds that earn right relationship with God. This statement is an axiom of Paul’s theology (Gal. 2:16; Psa. 143:2; 130:3). It is diametrically opposed to the Jewish legalism of Pharisees, which Paul or Saul believed and espoused as a Pharisee. The Pharisees taught that by the meritorious works of the law all men are justified; when Paul was converted to Jesus Christ, he rejected this justification by the meritorious works of law (Phil. 3:2-9). This rejection was the total exclusion of the principle and not, as some have misinterpreted him as saying, that all men cannot be justified by the work of the law because they are not able to do the works of law (contrary to Scripture, Deut. 30:11-14). This axiomatic statement of Paul excludes all meritorious works as grounds for right relation with God. And it is because of this exclusion of the principle of justification by meritorious works that every mouth will be stopped, and all the world will be answerable to God. At the final judgment, there will be no balancing of good works with evil works, but every man will have to answer for every evil act he has done.

In the last sentence of this verse, Paul states the real function of the law:  “for through the law is the knowledge of sin.”  The real function of the law is not to justify but to show man what sin is. Note that Paul does not say “by the law” is the knowledge of sin, as if the law was the standard by which sin is defined, but he says “through the law” is the knowledge of sin, that is, the knowledge of sin is through the law because it shows and tells what sin is: that sin is wrong relationship to God and to our neighbor. Sin should not be defined in terms of the law as a transgression of the law, but in terms of God as trusting in something other than the true God.

“You shall not have any other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3; Deut. 5:7) and “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deut. 6:5).  Not to love God but to have other gods besides Him is the basic sin. Thus God declares through the law that the basic sin is wrong relationship to Him. But God has spoken other commands through the law and the transgressions of these laws are also sins. A transgression of the law is a sin but sin is not just a transgression of the law; it is wrong relationship to God and to our neighbor. The law states what these wrong relationships are. Thus “through the law is the knowledge of sin.”