whole world, without any exception, are inexcusable before God. And by now the reason is plain. It is because all have known something of God and of morality (through Scripture in the case of the Jews, through nature in the case of the Gentiles), but all have disregarded and even stifled their knowledge in order to go their own way. Romans 3:20 is the climax of Paul’s argument, not just against Jewish self-confidence but against every attempt at self-salvation. For “through the law we become conscious