Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 14:3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Ecclesiastes 7:20 For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.
Isaiah 59:8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall n…
Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like t…
Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Ecclesiastes 7:29 Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.
Ephesians 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; an…
1 Peter 2:25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Romans 3:1-18
I. Here the apostle answers several objections, which might be made, to clear his way. No truth so plain and evident but wicked wits and corrupt carnal hearts will have something to say against it; but divine truths must be cleared from cavil.
Object. 1. If Jew and Gentile stand so much upon the same level before God, what advantage then hath the Jew? Hath not God often spoken with a great deal of respect for the Jews, as a non-such people (Deu 33:29), a holy nation, a peculiar treasure, the seed of Abraham his friend: Did not he institute circumcision as a badge of their church-membership, and a seal of their covenant-relation to God? Now does not this levelling doctrine deny them all such…
As it is written, &c.-- (Psa 14:1-3; Psa 53:1-3). These statements of the Psalmist were indeed suggested by particular manifestations of human depravity occurring under his own eye; but as this only showed what man, when unrestrained, is in his present condition, they were quite pertinent to the apostle's purpose.
Adam Clarke on Romans 3:12
They are all gone out of the way - παντες εξεκλιναν, they have all diverged from the right way, they have either abandoned or corrupted the worship of God: the Jews, in forsaking the law and the prophets, and the Gentiles, in acting contrary to the law which God had written on their hearts. And the departure of both from the truth proves the evil propensity of human nature in general.
They are together become unprofitable - ηχρειωθησαν. They are useless, good for nothing; or, as the Hebrew has it, נאלחו neelachu, they are putrid: he views the whole mass of mankind as slain and thrown together, to putrefy in heaps. This is what is termed the corruption of human nature; they are infected and i…
They are all gone out of the way,.... In Psalm 14:3; it is said, "they are all gone aside"; as persons in debt: man had a considerable stock of righteousness, holiness, knowledge, &c. but he has run through all, has contracted large and numerous debts, has been obliged to hide himself, has been used as a bankrupt, and turned out of house and home: Christ indeed has undertook to pay, and he has paid all the debts of his people; and has put them into a better state than ever Adam was in: in Psalm 53:3, it is rendered, "everyone of them is gone back"; that is, from God; from his commands, and from their former state and condition: here the phrase is rendered by the apostle, "they are all gone o…
The Church Fathers
No one doubts that those who do not look to God for help are inclined to seek help from vain things, and vanity is an idol. Thus they become useless. Once that happens they cannot do good either, for those who have already fallen just go from bad to worse.
Paul did not treat this passage as if it were prophetic but rather because what David said about transgressors was still a good summary of what was going on in Paul's day. Even now we still cite texts of this kind in our sermons, because what they say can be applied to our congregations.
“All have turned aside, together they have become useless.” It seems to me that he is not said to have turned aside except one who at some time stood on the straight road. From this it appears that that first work of rational nature, which was made by God, was upright, and was set upon the straight road by the gift of the Creator himself. But because it bent its journey away from this road to the left hand of sin, it is now rightly said to have turned aside — as we have an example in the first man, Adam, who from the straight road of paradise turned aside, through the deceit of the evil-counselling serpent, to the crooked and twisting paths of mortal life. Consequently, therefore, all who come into this world by succession from him have turned aside, and together with him have become useless. On this account I think the Lord too gives a command in the Gospels, that when we have done all the precepts, we should nevertheless remember what we are, and say: “We are useless servants: what we ought to have done, we have done.” For so long as anyone does only that which he owes — that is, the things which have been commanded — he is a useless servant. But if you add something to the precepts, then you will no longer be a useless servant, but it will be said to you: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” And what it is that may be added to the precepts and done beyond what is owed, the apostle Paul states: “Concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: but I give counsel, as one that has obtained mercy from the Lord.” This is a work beyond the precept. Whoever, then, having fulfilled the precepts, adds this also, that he keep virginity, will no longer be called a useless servant, but a good and faithful servant. And again it is commanded that they who announce the Gospel should live by the Gospel; yet Paul says that “I have used none of these things”; and therefore he was not a useless servant, but a faithful and prudent one. “All,” therefore, “have turned aside, together they have become useless.” To which he added: “There is none that does goodness, there is not so much as one.” A weighty statement, and one that can be established only with difficulty. For how does it seem possible that no one at all, not so much as one, whether among the Jews or among the Greeks, could be found who did goodness? Are we so to believe that there was no one who at some…
Dictionary and topics
Fall of man — An expression probably borrowed from the Apocryphal Book of Wisdom, to express the fact of the revolt of our first parents from God, and the consequent sin and misery in which they and all their…
Sin — Is “any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God” (1 John 3:4; Rom. 4:15), in the inward state and habit of the soul, as well as in the outward conduct of the life, whether by…
Bigotry · PAUL’S ARGUMENT AGAINST — PAUL’S ARGUMENT AGAINST
Boasting · SPIRITUAL — SPIRITUAL
Character Of The Wicked · Unprofitable — Unprofitable
Depravity Of Man · 7:17;12:34,35;15:19; — 7:17;12:34,35;15:19;
Fall Of Man, The · Man in consequence of: Corrupt and perverse in his ways — Man in consequence of: Corrupt and perverse in his ways
Life, Eternal · Cannot be inherited by works — Cannot be inherited by works
Seeking God · The wicked: Are gone out of the way of — The wicked: Are gone out of the way of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Romans 3:10-18
10. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
10. Sicut scriptum, Quod non est justus quisquam, ne unus quidem;
11. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
11. Non est intelligens, non est qui requirat Deum;
12. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
12. Omnes declinarunt, simul facti sunt inutiles; non est qui exerceat benignitatem, ne ad unum quidem:
13. Their throat is an open sepulchre: with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
13. Sepulchrum apertum guttur eorum; linguis dolose egerunt: venenum aspidum…
The six quotations in these verses, drawn from various parts of the Old Testament, all address human sinfulness. Paul follows the practice of rabbis who gathered together Old Testament texts on similar themes in a practice called pearl-stringing.
3:10-12 This quotation from Pss 14:1-3; 53:1-3 directly supports the argument that all people are under the power of sin.
