With devastating finality Paul now concludes the long discussion of the guilt of humanity which began in 1:18. The passage falls into three parts: a summation of the argument of 3:1–8 (v. 9); a series of proof texts from the OT on the moral failure of humanity (vv. 10–18); and a conclusion that the law is powerless to save (vv. 19–20). Paul enters the final round against his fellow Jews who suppose that the advantage of the law (3:2) secures favor with God. Since 2:1 he has attacked Jewish presumption to judge Gentile sinners and Jewish pride in Torah and circumcision as their means of salvation. The result of the close and unyielding web of argumentation from 1:18 to 3:20 is that there is no possibility of a moral righteousness before God. In a concluding series of blows the apostle hamme…