The Meaning of Romans 3:18 Explained

Romans 3:18

KJV: There is no fear of God before their eyes.

YLT: There is no fear of God before their eyes.'

Darby: there is no fear of God before their eyes.

ASV: There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Discover Romans 3:18

CONTEXT: What is the Context of Romans 3:18?

MEANING: What does Romans 3:18 Mean?

WORDS: What do the individual words in Romans 3:18 mean?

RELATIONS: What do the major concepts mean in Romans 3:18?

What is the context of Romans 3:18?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

What does Romans 3:18 Mean?

Context Summary

Romans 3:9-20 - All Justly Under Judgment

A number of quotations are advanced-mostly from the Septuagint or Greek version of the Old Testament-establishing the hopeless evil of man's condition. These apply, in the first place, to God's peculiar people, the Jews; but if true of them, how terrible must be the condition of the great heathen world! Every mouth will be stopped and all the world brought in guilty before God, Romans 3:19. Various organs of the body are enumerated, and in each ease some terrible affirmation is made of inbred depravity. What need for salvation! What can atone for such sin, or cleanse such hearts, save the redeeming grace of God?

Law here is obviously employed in the wide sense of conscience as well as Scripture. It is God's ideal held up before our faces, to show us from what we have fallen. The looking-glass is intended, not to wash the face, but to show how much it needs washing. You may commend your soap, and no one will use it; but if you reveal the discoloring filth, people will be only too glad to avail themselves of the cleansing power which otherwise they would neglect and despise. The way to fill the inquiry room is to hold up the divine standard before men's consciences. [source]

Chapter Summary: Romans 3

¹ The Jews prerogative;
³ which they have not lost;
⁹ howbeit the law convinces them also of sin;
²⁰ therefore no one is justified by the law;
²⁸ but all, without difference, by faith, only;
³¹ and yet the law is not abolished

Greek Commentary for Romans 3:18

Before [απεναντι]
Late double compound (απο εν αντι apoenanti) adverbial preposition in lxx and Polybius, papyri and inscriptions. With genitive as here. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Romans 3:18

Romans 3:10 As it is written [κατως γεγραπται οτι]
Usual formula of quotation as in Romans 3:4 with recitative οτι hoti added as in Romans 3:8. Paul here uses a catena or chain of quotations to prove his point in Romans 3:9 that Jews are in no better fix than the Greeks for all are under sin. Dr. J. Rendel Harris has shown that the Jews and early Christians had Testimonia (quotations from the Old Testament) strung together for certain purposes as proof-texts. Paul may have used one of them or he may have put these passages together himself. Romans 3:10-12 come from Psalm 14:1-3; first half of Romans 3:13 as far as εδολιουσαν edoliousan from Psalms 4:9, the second half from Psalm 140:3; Romans 3:14 from Psalm 10:7; Romans 3:15-17 from an abridgment of Isaiah 59:7.; Romans 3:18 from Psalm 35:1. Paul has given compounded quotations elsewhere (2 Corinthians 6:16; Romans 9:25.,27f; Romans 11:26.,34f.; Romans 12:19.). Curiously enough this compounded quotation was imported bodily into the text (lxx) of Psalms 14 after Romans 3:4 in Aleph B, etc. [source]

1 Thessalonians 1:3 In our Lord, etc. [τοῦ κυρίου]
Lit. of our Lord. For a similar use of the genitive, see John 5:42; 1 John 2:5, 1 John 2:15; Acts 9:31; Romans 1:5; Romans 3:18, Romans 3:22, Romans 3:26, etc. Connect with hope only. [source]

What do the individual words in Romans 3:18 mean?

Not there is fear of God before the eyes of them

οὐκ ἔστιν φόβος Θεοῦ ἀπέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν

ἔστιν	there is
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: εἰμί Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present.
φόβος	fear
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: φόβος Sense: fear, dread, terror.
Θεοῦ	of God
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular Root: θεός Sense: a god or goddess, a general name of deities or divinities.
ἀπέναντι	before
Parse: Preposition Root: ἀπεῖπον Sense: over against, opposite.
ὀφθαλμῶν	eyes
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Plural Root: ὀφθαλμός Sense: the eye.
αὐτῶν	of them
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural Root: αὐτός Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.

What are the major concepts related to Romans 3:18?

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Similar Scriptures for Romans 3:18

		Psalms 36:1 [10]
		Proverbs 23:17 [3]
		Proverbs 16:6 [3]
		Proverbs 8:13 [3]
		Genesis 20:11 [2]
		Revelation 19:5 [2]
		Luke 23:40 [2]