Posted by Romans on Saturday, 30 May 2015
Romans 3:10-12
(10) As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
(11) There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
(12) They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
To validate his accusation that everybody is “under sin” Paul quoted in verses 10-18 from six Old Testament passages. Romans 3:10-12, taken from Psalm 14:1-3, makes the point that all people without exception are not righteous (cf. Rom. 1:18, 29-31), do not understand God (cf. 1:18b, 28) nor seek (lit., “seek out”) Him, have turned away from Him (cf. 2:5; Isa. 53:5), are worthless (from achreioō, “become useless,” used only here in the NT), and do not do good (chrēstotēta, “kindness,” or “benevolence in action”; cf. 2 Cor. 6:6; Gal. 5:22; and comments on Rom. 2:4). Apart from the indwelling Holy Spirit people cannot exhibit this fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). They have no inner spiritual capacity whereby they can normally and automatically exercise genuine kindness toward others. Instead sin causes them to be selfish and self-centered.
These seven condemnatory phrases end with the words not even one, which are also in Romans 3:10. This repetition stresses that not a single exception in the human race (except, of course, the Son of God) can be found.
Though Paul did not quote Psalm 14:2, “The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men,” that verse is significant, for what follows in that psalm is God’s indictment of humanity.
