---
title: Romans 3:10
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-3-10/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-3-10.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Romans 3:10
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Romans 3:10

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> As it is written:  “There is no one righteous, not even one.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "There is not a righteous man, not even one"

## JW Usage

Watchtower commentary takes Romans 3:10 as confirming the universal sinfulness of humanity. "There is not a righteous man, not even one" is read as describing the condition prior to receiving the ransom and entering the JW community. Through Christ's sacrifice and faithful obedience to Jehovah's organisation, members move from "not righteous" to the standing of Jehovah's friends.

## Protestant Usage

Paul cites Psalm 14:1-3 / 53:1-3 / Ecclesiastes 7:20 to settle the matter: not one righteous human being. Pair this with Romans 2:13 ("the doers of the law will be justified") and the contradiction collapses unless the doers are an empty class. They are. Romans 3:10-12 is Paul's catena of OT citations precisely to prove the class is empty. So the conditional promises of Romans 2 (life to those who do good perfectly) cannot be a salvation pathway — there are no qualifiers. This is the verse that forces the gospel pivot in 3:21 ("but now"). Christ's righteousness, credited to the ungodly through faith, is the only path through Romans 3:10.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Doers of the Law — Romans 2:13](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/romans2-13-doers-justified.md) — Paul's principle vs Paul's conclusion [Salvation]