(To the chief Musician. On Mahalath an instruction. Of David.) The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God! They have corrupted themselves, and have done abominable iniquity there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 53 opens with a verdict, not an argument: it names the man who denies God, then shows what that denial does to him. Commentators read the verse in two ways — as the state of the human heart in every age, and as a picture of the world in the last days.
The psalm puts atheism in the heart, not on the lips. One writer treats the denial as something said inside, whether or not anyone ever hears it:
Oh the heart! What a fountain-head of mischief and misery it is! Well says the Scripture, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." And so we read that "The fool says in his heart, 'No God!'" (Ps. 14:1). Such a saying may never have reached the lips — may never have taken spoken form; but in unspoken heart-language the words are said: "No God!"
(Both Scripture lines here are quoted in an older wording; the ESV reads "desperately sick" and "There is no God.")
The word "fool" here is not about a lack of intelligence. Kelly sets reasoning against revelation:
Only the fool has said in his heart, No God; he is a fool morally and in the worst sense. Reasoning, if sound, may argue that this or that must be so; revelation says that so it is. Nothing is so simple, satisfying, and deep as the truth.
Why would anyone want the denial to be true? One writer traces it to conscience, and to Adam hiding from God:
Man gained the knowledge of good and evil in the fall. It has so shaped him that judgment is the only action of God's power he understands. Of course he resists it. He speaks against God, because his conscience tells him he must be the object of His righteous vengeance. So he tries to quiet his conscience. He persuades himself that he is not wicked. He hides from God like Adam, and in his folly grabs at the smallest excuse for denying His existence.
The verse reaches further than open unbelief. It also touches people who would never say such a thing:
To act independently of God is in practice to deny Him. Atheism is involved, in principle, in the very first step the creature takes away from simple dependence on God. It is the assertion of an independent will, and so the exercise, as it were, of an independent life. But man is God's creature — his life is God's breath. So to live without God — in defiance of Him, or even in forgetfulness of Him — is virtually atheism. It is the heart-atheism of the fool, who says in his heart, "There is no God" (Ps. 14; 53).
The verse moves from the denial to the corruption it breeds. One writer reads it both of the last days and of every age:
The fool tries to persuade himself there is no God. But the reason he does this is plain. Along with many others, he has corrupted himself. He prefers abominable iniquity to doing good, and he hopes he will not be answerable to any God. What futility! The antichrist will think he has succeeded in his rebellion, but for how long? No more than a few years! Yet at that time the general condition of mankind will be the same: "there is none who does good" (v. 1). Of course, in an absolute sense this is true of mankind in every age, though generally the fact is ignored or refused.
One writer shows where this verdict lands in the New Testament:
All — whether Gentiles or Jews — are under sin. The Old Testament Scriptures confirm this. None are righteous. No person of Adam's race does good in God's sight; no, not one… We do not walk naturally in the fear of God. Such is the sad fact of our condition before Him in sin. This is the conclusion (see Psalms 14 and 53) reached after the law was given.
Psalm 53 repeats Psalm 14 almost word for word. One writer points to the one clear difference — which name of God is used:
In both psalms the divine Name is found seven times. In the earlier one it is four times Jehovah, while in this one Elohim (God) is used in every case. Either way, the psalm affirms God seven times over in front of the crowd of ungodly people who deny Him. That surely has significance.
- Heart. The denial begins inside, in "heart-language" that may never be spoken aloud. Scripture calls that folly, and the folly is moral.
- Wish. Conscience expects judgment, so the heart looks for any excuse to deny the God it must answer to.
- Life. Living independently of God is atheism in principle, even where the words are never used.
- Verdict. The denial breeds corruption. The verse ends "there is none who does good" — the charge the New Testament brings against everyone.
- Answer. The crowd says there is no God. The psalm answers by naming Him seven times over.
God looked down from the heavens upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.
Men deny God, and this psalm gives His reply. He does not answer from a distance — He looks down and searches the whole human race for anyone who understands Him or seeks Him.
The verse pictures God taking a look at the human race. The look matters, because the verdict that follows is not guesswork. One writer, commenting on the same words in Psalm 14, asks why God bothers to look at all:
But Jehovah Himself will give His testimony. He already knows every heart perfectly. Even so, He will not give His verdict without actual experience. He looks down from heaven and considers every soul of man among the children of Adam. He looks for anyone who truly understands — anyone who is stirred by the need and misery of his condition and seeks after Him. Their sins have shut Him off from them.
The verse names two things God looks for: understanding and seeking. Seeking Him is man's duty, yet the search comes up empty.
Although it is always the duty of men to seek after God, in fact they refuse to do so. The words of Psalm 53:2 are deeply solemn… The great and gracious Creator looked over the whole human race. He could not see one person who wanted Him, or who even understood why he was created!
The search also shows how God deals with men who deny Him:
Still, the God whom men deny is watching man with patience. God does not judge hastily. He looks at men, and searches for any who have understanding and seek after Him. His search finds no one who does good. Apart from the grace of God, He finds the whole human race corrupt.
Psalm 14 says almost the same thing, and readers notice. The clearest difference is the divine name. Psalm 14 uses Jehovah; this psalm uses Elohim, God. One writer ties that change to Israel's place at the time — outside their own land:
Here you have "God" used more than Jehovah. The link is broken, because they are out of the land. See the difference between Psalms 14 and 53. In the one it is Jehovah, in the other it is God.
Another writer counts how often the name appears and finds design, not careless repetition:
The fifty-third psalm mostly repeats the fourteenth, and that has drawn various criticism. Both psalms use the divine Name seven times. In the earlier psalm it is Jehovah four times; in this psalm it is Elohim (God) every time… Either way, God is named seven times in front of a crowd of men who deny Him, and that must have meaning.
It is tempting to read the verse as a description of pagans only. One writer, comparing this psalm with Psalm 14, says the opposite. Paul quotes these words in Romans 3 and aims them at people who had every religious advantage:
For substance it is the same as Psalm 53… Yet in the right place it will be shown that the apostle in Romans 3 quotes the later of the two [Psalm 53], not the earlier one before us [Psalm 14]. But both speak of those "under the law," that is, the Jews. Everyone could see that the pagan nations were wicked. Someone might have argued that the Jews were not… But no, says the apostle: what the law says, it says to those who are under the law… Can anyone doubt that it looks ahead to the age of Antichrist and his followers? But the first coming of Christ already brought out in moral terms what His second coming will make plain. This is man at his best without Christ and denying God.
If no one seeks God, the account should end there. But the seeking comes from the other side:
Since this is the true state of things, all would perish in their appalling folly, except for God's activity in grace. If men do not want Him, He wants them! Right after the rebellion in the garden of Eden, God called out, "Where are you?" The Gospel tells us — oh, blessed thought! — that God is now the Seeker after men. This is the meaning of the coming among us of His beloved Son… "the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."
- The look. God does not judge from a distance. He looks down and inspects each person, so His verdict rests on evidence.
- The search. He is looking for two things — understanding and seeking — and the search is patient, not hasty.
- The finding. He found no one who wanted Him or grasped the purpose for which he was made.
- The reach. Paul aims this psalm at people with every religious privilege. It shows man at his best, not only at his worst.
- The answer. Since no one seeks, God becomes the Seeker — and that seeking is the meaning of the coming of His Son.
Every one of them is gone back, they are together become corrupt there is none that doeth good, not even one.
This verse reports what God found when He looked down from heaven, and it ends with "not even one." Psalm 14 says the same thing, and Paul later turns these words on the whole human race.
The verse follows God looking down to see whether anyone understood or sought Him. One writer traces that sequence and says what it would take to change it.
God watches mankind with deep interest. He closely observes what every person does. But their sinful nature is such that they do not understand or seek God (v. 2). All have turned away from Him and become corrupt. Not one really does good (v. 3). This is true of all people by nature. To change it needs a definite work of God in giving new birth, as the New Testament shows.
Psalm 14 says the same thing in almost the same words. One writer asks what that repetition is for.
This passage is found twice in the Psalms (Ps. 14 and Ps. 53). The repetition seems to show that its statements are very important, and that we must not miss them. Yet they are the kind of statements we would be very glad to miss, if we had our way.
The two psalms are not identical. Psalm 14 says Jehovah; this one says God. One writer explains the change, and names the only exception to the verdict — the faithful few kept by grace.
In Psalm 53 we have the wicked in general — the whole mass of the people, all of them, except where grace had come in. It is the same as Psalm 14, but it does not speak of Jehovah; it speaks of God, because the remnant are no longer in the place of covenant relationship.
The verse does not only say that people fail one by one. It says they fail together, and one writer shows what adding them together produces.
All are astray. All of them, even massed together, are useless. You may add zeros to zeros by the thousand, and it all still comes to nothing. And last, all man's works, as well as his ways, are wrong. He may do a thousand things that look very fine on the surface. Yet they are all wrong, because they come from a completely wrong motive. No work is right except the work that springs from seeking God and His interests. And that is exactly what man never seeks; he seeks his own interests instead.
The psalm's own scope is narrower than the whole human race. One writer explains why that does not weaken the apostle's use of it.
The apostle applies the statements of this verse to the whole human race, and (apart from the grace of God) they must be applied that way. That does not mean the aim here is not more limited. Each psalm as a whole does clearly have such a limited application. But "as in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man," and this fully justifies the apostle's teaching that there is "no difference."
David had already owned his own sin earlier in the Psalms. One writer sets that admission beside this verse and asks the reader where he stands.
Did not David say, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me"? Are you any different, or better, than the sweet psalmist of Israel? ... He convicts himself of sin in the first passage, you and me in the second. How solemn!
God looked down on men and found no one who did good. But God also spoke about His own Son, and there the verdict was the opposite.
God has found His rest in Jesus, and our peace and joy depend on knowing this. "God looked down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God." "They have all fallen away": "None is righteous, no, not one." But God bore witness to Jesus: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." God is well pleased in Christ. God rests in His Son. He rests not only in His life, though that was holy and acceptable to Him, but in His work on the cross. ... We cannot look for righteousness from the creature, but we can look for the fruit of righteousness — the thing itself is only in Christ.
- Looked — God Himself watched every person closely; the verdict is a finding, not a guess.
- Turned — every one has gone aside; the failure is in the nature, so nothing short of new birth changes it.
- Together — numbers add nothing; zeros added to zeros still come to zero, and fine-looking works are wrong because the motive behind them is wrong.
- None — the psalm's own scope is narrower, yet the apostle applies it to the whole race, leaving "no difference" between people.
- One — God found no righteous man on earth. He found His rest in His beloved Son, and righteousness is only in Christ.