Romans 3:12 - Printer Friendly

ESV: All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."

NIV: All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."

NASB: THEY HAVE ALL TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME CORRUPT; THERE IS NO ONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.'

CSB: All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one.

NLT: All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.'

KJV: They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

NKJV: They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

Paul is quoting from Psalm 14 to show that his bold statements are not new ideas, even if the Jewish religious leaders have misunderstood or forgotten them. Judging by Paul's remarks here, it was commonly held that the Jewish people had the law and were circumcised, therefore they were therefore a righteous people in God's eyes. This would have led people to feel protected from God's judgment. Paul has contradicted that idea, teaching that every individual person will be judged by God for their actions, whether right or wrong. And every one of us will be found to be "under sin" and deserving of God's anger. Verse 10, which began this citation, makes this clear by stating that there is "not one" who is naturally righteous.

Paul's paraphrase of David's words in Psalm 14:3 describes what God found when he searched humanity looking for any righteous—sinless—people. Of course, God already knew the outcome, but Scripture states this to emphasize that it's something clear and obvious. We have all turned aside from following God's path. We have all become worthless; we are all corrupt. Not one single person is found to do good, by the standards of a holy and perfect Creator.

Neither of these Scriptures implies that no human ever does anything that can be described as good. Of course, people do isolated good things all of the time, at least by our standards. We are capable of knowing the difference between right and wrong, and choosing what is right…when we want to. The ultimate problem, as David wrote and Paul agreed, is that nobody's heart is naturally oriented toward doing good. We are all, every one of us, pointed in a self-serving direction and away from God's definition of goodness.

The bottom line is that humans are capable of doing good, but we universally choose not to, by God's standards. We want what we want and not what He wants.

Romans 3:9–20 contains a string of quotes from the Old Testament Scriptures. Paul uses these to demonstrate that both Jews and Greeks alike are under sin. After establishing that ''there is none who does good'' from Psalm 14:1, Paul uses quotes from Psalms and Isaiah to show ways we have always used our bodies—throats, tongues, lips, feet, and eyes—to express our sinfulness. He concludes the section with his strongest statement, yet, that no human being will be justified in God's sight by following the works of the law. The law can only show us our sin, not save us from it.

Romans 3 begins with a question-and-answer scheme. These are responses one might expect from someone opposed to what Paul wrote in Romans 2. Next, Paul quotes from a series of Old Testament passages. These Scriptures show that those writers also agreed that nobody, not one person, deserves to be called righteous. Paul declares emphatically that no one will be justified by following the works of the law. Finally, though, he arrives at the good news: righteousness before God is available apart from the law through faith in Christ's death for our sin on the cross.

The prior chapter explained that God's judgment on sin will come to all men, whether or not they understand the literal law. Faith in God, in the heart, matters more to God than rote obedience. At the start of this chapter, Paul answers a series of questions from an imagined objector to those teachings. Next, he quotes a series of Old Testament passages which support His teaching that human beings are by nature sinful. Each of us turns away from God. Nobody can be justified by the law, Paul insists. Fortunately, it is possible to attain God's righteousness: but only by His grace, through faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice for our sin on the cross. We must come to this by faith, and it is available to Jews and Gentiles alike.

The book of Romans is the New Testament's longest, most structured, and most detailed description of Christian theology. Paul lays out the core of the gospel message: salvation by grace alone through faith alone. His intent is to explain the good news of Jesus Christ in accurate and clear terms. As part of this effort, Paul addresses the conflicts between law and grace, between Jews and Gentiles, and between sin and righteousness. As is common in his writing, Paul closes out his letter with a series of practical applications.