To whom does “those who are under the law” refer?

Explanation:

We can detect what Paul means when he refers to those ἐν τῷ νόμῳ because he has already used a similar phrase to explain the difference between Jews and Gentiles. Specifically, in Romans 2:12 he distinguishes between those who sin without the law and those who sin ἐν νομῳ (under the law).³ We can detect from the context of Romans 2:12 that those who sin without the law are the Gentiles, and those who sin under the law are the Jews. Thus, the law is like a boundary marker that separates the Jews from the Gentiles. ⁴ Likewise, in Romans 3:19, Paul is saying that the law speaks to those under the law, namely, the Jews.

Counterargument:

Unfortunately, this argument fails to understand that God’s law is applicable to all humans everywhere. That is, if there were humans who fall outside the scope of the law, namely, the Gentiles, this would imply that God is not in control.⁵ But God is in full control, which means that all humans are under the law of God.

Response to counterargument:

This counterargument overlooks the fact that the phrase ἐν τῷ νόμῳ is a technical phrase for Paul. For example, we noticed that in Romans 2:12, Paul distinguishes those without the law from those ἐν νομῳ. Of course, according to this counterargument, by distinguishing those without the law from those under the law, Paul implies that there are some who fall outside the control of God. Of course, Paul would never suggest that anything falls outside the control of God, so he must have something else in mind. In particular, he has in mind that the Jews were given the law, so he refers to them as those ἐν νομῳ (under the law), while the Gentiles were not formerly given the law. Likewise, in Romans 3:19, Paul refers to the Jews as those ἐν τῷ νόμῳ (within the law).

Explanation:

Paul writes that the law speaks to those under the law. We can detect what he means by those under the law by considering the immediate context. ⁶ Paul has been arguing that Jews are no better off than Gentiles when it comes to being condemned by God as sinners (Romans 3:9–10). He then introduces a variety of Old Testament passages to show that according to Scripture, humans are sinful (Romans 3:10–18). Then he says that the law speaks to those under the law. When we put it all together, we can see what Paul means. He is saying that the passages he quotes, which he refers to as the law, speak to those under the law, that is, the Jews. In other words, the Jews are the ones who live within the sphere of the Scriptures, and the Scriptures say that all humans are sinful, and therefore all humans, including those under the sphere of the Scriptures, are sinful.

Counterargument:

This view has it that when Paul says the law speaks to those under the law, he means that Scripture speaks to the Jews. Unfortunately, if Paul had in mind that Scripture speaks to the Jews, he would not have said that the law speaks to those under the law, but that Scripture speaks to the Jews. For it is not easy to see why he would refer to Scripture as the law.

Response to counterargument:

We can detect that the law refers to Scripture because Paul quotes from Scripture before stating that the law speaks to those under the law. Paul is saying that the words of Scripture just outlined speak to those under the law. Of course, we notice that Paul quotes from passages that fall outside the first five books of the Old Testament. Given that Paul quotes from passages outside the Pentateuch, and then says the law speaks to those under the law, we can detect that Paul is referring to the Old Testament as a whole as a law.⁷

The one weakness of this view is that it is not clear why Paul refers to the Old Testament as the law. It is common to classify the Old Testament as a collection of books that includes the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. But the quotes in Romans 3:10–18 suggest that Paul has the Prophets and the Psalms in mind, so it is not clear why he refers to these as the law.

Explanation:

When Paul says the law speaks to those under the law, he means that it speaks to both the Jews and the Gentiles. We can detect that this is what Paul means because he has already explained that both the Jews and Gentiles are under the law. In particular, he has explained that the Jews are under the law in the sense that the Jews have the Mosaic law, and the Gentiles are under the law in that the laws are written on their hearts (Romans 2:11–15). ⁸ Thus, both the Jews and Gentiles are under the law, so that both will be held accountable to God.

Counterargument:

While Paul does state that the laws are written on the hearts of the Gentiles, the context of Romans 3:19 has to do with the written Scriptures. And since the written Scriptures were given to the Jews, those under the law refers to the Jews. ⁹ We can deduce that the context has to do with the written Scriptures, and not what’s written on the heart, because Paul says as much. For in Romans 3:9 Paul says that both Jews and Gentiles are under sin. He then quotes several passages from Scripture to demonstrate that both Jews and Gentiles are under sin (Romans 3:10–18). Finally, he writes that whatever the law speaks, it speaks to those under the law. In other words, Paul refers to the Old Testament as the law, and this written Scripture was given to the Jews, not the Gentiles, who have the law not in written form, but on their hearts.¹⁰

Explanation:

We can detect who Paul refers to by the phrase under the law by the immediate context. Specifically, after noting that the law speaks to those under the law, Paul writes, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world held accountable to God. Every mouth includes both Jews and Gentiles. Further, Paul says that the whole world is accountable to God, again, including both Jews and Gentiles. Combining the notion that every mouth is stopped and the whole world is held accountable to God with the fact that the law speaks to those under the law, we can see that those under the law includes both Jews and Gentiles. For Paul says the law speaks to those under the law, so that the whole world is accountable to God. Since the whole world includes Jews and Gentiles, Paul is saying that both are under the law, so both will be held accountable to God. ¹¹

Counterargument:

We know from Romans 2:1–29 that Paul characterizes the Jews as those with the law, and the Gentiles as those without the law. Paul says in Romans 2:12 that those who have sinned without the law, referring to the Gentiles, will perish without the law, and those who have sinned under the law, referring to the Jews, will perish with the law. So there is precedence from Paul that those under the law are the Jews. So how do we understand why Paul says the whole world is held accountable to God? Does this phrase not imply that the Jews and Gentiles are under the law?

In fact, no. What Paul likely does here is make an argument from the greater to the lesser. Paul is saying that if the Jews are accountable to God for their sin, and these are God’s chosen people, then surely the Gentiles are accountable as well. In other words, Paul’s point in this section is not to point out that the Gentiles are sinners in need of God’s righteousness, but that the Jews are. And if the Jews are sinners in need of salvation, then obviously so are the Gentiles.¹² 

The weakness of this view is that it does not consider the broad literary context. For Paul has already made it clear that the Jews are under the law in a particular way, such that they have been given the written Scriptures. When we consider this insight, along with the fact that the Scriptures speak to those under the law, we can see that Paul has the Jews in mind. This view mistakenly tries to interpret Romans 3:19 in isolation from the broader context, so that it is consistent with the immediate context but not the broader context.