according as it is written, There is not a righteous [man], not even one;
Paul is finishing a case. It began with the openly corrupt and ended with the religious and privileged. He closes it not with his own opinion but with a quotation from Scripture. Its first word is the widest in the whole charge: "none." It points at the reader before anyone else.
Paul builds his summary out of texts his opponents themselves honoured.
Paul sums up the whole human race. He reviews first the pagan nations, then the civilized pagan, and last the religious Jew with all his God-given advantages — and with each he is just as sweeping. "None is righteous, no, not one." "No one understands; no one seeks for God." That is how the summing up of Romans 3 runs. It is largely made up of carefully chosen quotations from the Old Testament Scriptures, which the Jewish people received and revered outwardly. Paul testified to nothing new. How could a Jew stand up and deny his own Scriptures?
This is not a charge anyone enjoys hearing.
The first quotation (vv. 10-12) is a passage 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 — though they are the kind of statements we would be very glad to miss if we had our way.
The phrase "no, not one" leaves no room for an exception.
The first count is this: none righteous — not even one. That includes us all. The statement is like a net — so wide that it takes everyone in, so sound that not the smallest fish can find a tear to escape through. Not one of us is right in our relationship with God.
The verdict is not that people never behave decently. God measures righteousness by what we owe Him.
First God strips us of our self-righteousness. It is written, "None is righteous, no, not one". It is hard for us to believe that all our righteous acts are like filthy rags, and that there is not one righteous person in God's sight. We might plead that surely there are a few; but God says, "Not one". This does not mean there are no honest people; it means that not one of us has given God His rights. It would only be right for us to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. But no one has done so, and so no one is righteous before God.
Verse 10 gives only the first "none". The next line shuts the escapes that are left.
Man is a completely lost creature, with no point of recovery in himself. In Romans 3:10-11 the denial comes three times over. We all readily agree with the first: "None is righteous." Even so, there is hope for an unrighteous man if only he sees his condition. But then — "no one understands." That being so, the only faint hope left is that a man might somehow be drawn toward God and begin to understand. And once more — "no one seeks for God." Then hope is dead as far as man is concerned!
The timing of this verdict is itself mercy. God gives it now, while something can still be done.
If you apply the law, "None is righteous, no, not one." God does not say this in the day of judgment; He warns us in the day of grace. In mercy He tells us beforehand what His verdict on us is. If He were sitting on the great white throne, could it be any plainer than we get it in Romans 3? Can a man stand up after that and say, I am righteous? Is that the way to meet God? Is He a liar?
The verdict is not the end of the argument. It changes the question.
Now the question becomes one of a completely different righteousness. Man is all wrong; there is no righteousness in him. That has already been proved. So the only righteousness left is God's. The first great truth stated is this: man as a whole, man of every rank and kind, is written off as having no righteousness by God's standard. So it becomes a question of God showing His own righteousness, if He so pleases. This He does, and in a way fully worthy of Himself.
Hearing the verdict changes nothing until you agree with it.
He has pronounced clearly and firmly against the whole world. Dear friends, have you accepted His sentence? That is your only hope.
- Written, not argued. Paul settles the case by quoting Scripture the Jews already honoured. The Psalms say it twice. It is not new teaching.
- Sweeping. "No, not one" is a net with no tear in it; no rank or kind of person slips through.
- Measured by God's rights. The charge is not that people are never honest. It is that no one has loved God with all the heart, so no one stands right before Him.
- Hopeless in man. The three denials shut every door: not righteous, not understanding, not seeking. Man has no move left to make.
- Spoken in the day of grace. God gives the verdict now, before the day of judgment, so that whoever accepts it can receive the only righteousness left — His own.
there is not the [man] that understands, there is not one that seeks after God.
Here Paul quotes Israel's own Scriptures, where God looks down from heaven to see what He will find in people. The search turns up no one — so how does anyone ever come to God?
Paul answers a reader who boasts that the law belongs to him alone.
The law, he says, belongs to you. You boast that it refers to you exclusively. Very well — then hear what it says about the people, about yourselves. It speaks to you, as you admit. There is not one righteous man among you on whom God can look down from heaven... So every mouth is shut, and all the world is guilty before God.
Paul takes the words from a psalm that describes a search, and God is the searcher.
God looked at men in the way Psalm 14 describes, and the sight was pitiful. The psalm reads: "The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God." In view of such sweeping statements, anyone who pleads righteousness with God shows real insensibility to the true state of things. It suits us all better to admit that we are truly guilty, and then throw ourselves entirely on God's unlimited grace.
The two clauses of this verse are a descent, each one worse than the last.
It is bad that no one is righteous (verse 10). It is worse that no one understands, for that means a state not just of ignorance but of insensibility. Worst of all, no one wants to understand or to seek after God — and righteousness and understanding and life are found in Him. To the natural man there is nothing desirable in God. Man is not right; he does not understand that he is not right; he has no desire after God who is right. In one word, he is dead towards God.
The writers quote an older translation. Clause by clause, the failure covers both the mind and the aim of life:
"There is none that understands" — the very intelligence of all is corrupted by sin. "There is none that seeks after God" — not even a right object is before them; there is no concern to know God.
Saying nobody seeks God is not saying nobody seeks anything.
"Oh, well," says the objector, "if man's understanding has gone astray, there are still his instincts and feelings. Those are sound, and if he follows them they will surely lead him to God." But count number three confronts us — there is no one who seeks after God. Then what does man seek? He seeks self-pleasing, self-advancement, self-glory. So he seeks money, pleasure, sin. What he seeks once the power of God has touched his heart is another matter. The point here is what he seeks according to his fallen nature, apart from the grace of God.
Each "none" shuts off one more escape.
In Romans 3:10-11 the word "none" is repeated three times. We all easily agree with the first, "There is none righteous." Still, for an unrighteous man there is hope, if only he recognises his condition. But — "There is none that understands." If that is so, the only faint hope is that something draws a man Godward, so that he may begin to understand. But again — "There is none that seeks after God." Then hope is dead, as far as man is concerned.
Man's inability does not cancel his responsibility.
The word of God says plainly, No. "There is none that seeks after God." He came to seek them, thank God, but when He came He was rejected... Notice that Jesus says, "You will not come" (the ESV reads, "you refuse to come to me"). I fully believe they are responsible for it; but where do you find, "You will"? ... God certainly does not stop anyone from coming, but such is the state of man's heart that he will not. This is why the work of God is necessary.
Where the search from earth upward yields nothing, the movement reverses.
If men do not want Him, He wants them! Right after the rebellion in the garden, God called out, "Where are you?" The gospel tells us — blessed thought! — that God is now the Seeker after men. This is the meaning of His beloved Son coming among us. So the New Testament never commands sinners to seek the Lord, though it is still their responsibility to do so. Instead it tells them that God is seeking them. Jesus said, "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."
And when anyone does come, that coming is itself traced back to God's work:
All are free to come, but left to himself man will not come. There is none that understands, none that seeks after God. So the Lord shows clearly that if men are to be blessed, it can only be by sovereign grace.
- The search — God Himself looked down to find someone who understood and sought Him. This verse reports what He found.
- The descent — not righteous is bad. Not understanding is worse, because it adds insensibility. Not wanting God is worst of all: it means being dead towards Him.
- The redirection — no one seeks nothing. Apart from grace, man seeks self-pleasing, advancement and glory, and looks for them in money, pleasure and sin.
- The dead end — three times "none" closes every road of self-recovery. So blessing can only come by God's own work, and man's refusal stays his own responsibility.
- The reversal — since no one seeks God, God became the Seeker. So stop pleading your own righteousness, and throw yourself on His unlimited grace.