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Thursday 28 January 2016

Romans 3:11-14 - The poison of vipers

3:10(b)-12
This quote is from Psalm 14:1-3, or Psalm 53:1-3 which is almost identical at this point. It was quite common for Jewish Midrash (rabbinic teaching) to link Biblical texts together. If you look at the Old Testament you will see that the quotes are not exact. There are various reasons for this. One is that quotations were not always meant to be exact, but just to give the general sense. Another is that the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, was most often quoted. Our Bibles are usually based on the Hebrew text.
This first quote seems to back up the stuff in Chapter 1, and shows that the indictment there of the Gentile world is just as applicable to the Jewish world. And these words come from God Himself, and words that the Jew would acknowledge as true. No one, and so not even the Jew, understands God or truly seeks Him. All of them have turned away and become worthless (cf Rom 1:21-23). The whole of the human race is lost.

3:13,14

Verse 13 comes from Psalm 5:9, and the second part from Psalm 140:3. Throat, tongues and lips clearly link the three phrases and Paul is emphasising the corruption of the tongue. Jesus called Satan the father of lies. When men desert God lying and falsehood will quickly dominate. Just see how pervasive it is in society. Indeed it is sometimes considered foolish not to lie. Verse 14 comes from the Septuagint version of Psalm 10:7.

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