Romans 3:11

There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. THERE IS NONE THAT UNDERSTANDETH, THERE IS NONE THAT SEEKETH AFTER GOD....

11.The first effect is, that _there is none that understands: _and then this ignorance is immediately proved, for _they seek not God; _for empty is the man in whom there is not the knowledge of God, whatever other learning he may possess; yea, the sciences and the arts, which in themselves are good, are empty things, when they are without this groundwork....

9-18 Here again is shown that all mankind are under the guilt of sin, as a burden; and under the government and dominion of sin, as enslaved to it, to work wickedness. This is made plain by several passages of Scripture from the Old Testament, which describe the corrupt and depraved state of all men, till grace restrain or change them. Great as our advantages are, these texts describe multitudes who call themselves Christians. Their principles and conduct prove that there is no fear of God before their eyes. And where no fear of God is, no good is to be looked for....

THERE IS NONE THAT UNDERSTANDETH - In the Hebrew Psalms 14:2, God is represented as looking down from heaven to see, that is, to make investigation, whether there were any that understood or sought after him. This circumstance gives not only high poetic beauty to the passage, but deep solemnity and awfulness. God, the searcher of hearts, is represented as making investigation on this very point. He looks down from heaven for this very purpose, to ascertain whether there were any righteous. In the Hebrew it is not asserted, though it is clearly and strongly implied, that none such were found. That fact the apostle “states.” If, as the result of such an investigation, none were found; if God did not specify that there were any such; then it follows that there were none. For none could escape the notice of his eye; and if there had been any, the benevolence of his hea

EXPOSITION ROMANS 3:1 (2) _Certain objections with regard to the Jews suggested and met. _In_ _this passage, before proceeding with his argument, the apostle meets certain objections that might be made to what has been so far said. Some difficulty in determining his exact meaning arises from the concise and pregnant form in which the objections are put and answered, and from fresh ones arising out of the answers, which have also to be met. The objections are from the Jewish standpoint, though not put into the mouth of an objecting Jew, but rather suggested as likely ones by St. Paul himself. To the original readers of the Epistle, who were familiar with the tone of Jewish thought, the sequence of the ideas would probably be more obvious than to us. Reserving special consideration of successive clauses for our exposition of each verse, we may,

THERE IS NONE THAT UNDERSTANDETH,.... This is rightly concluded, from what the Psalmist says, Psalms 14:2, "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men", on all the children of men, Jews and Gentiles, "to see if there were any that did understand"; and it appears, upon this survey of them, there was not one understanding person among them: man thinks himself a very wise and understanding creature, though he is born a very ignorant one: true indeed, he has not lost by sin the natural faculty of the understanding, so as to become like the horse and mule, which are without any; and it must be allowed, that natural men have some understanding of things natural, civil, and moral; though there is none that understands even these, as Adam did: but then they have no understanding of things spiritual; no spiritual knowledge of God; no true sense of themselves, their sin and misery;...

Romans 3:1. _What advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision?_ If, after all, both Jew and Gentiles were under sin, what advantage had the Jew by the covenant under which he lived? Or what was the benefit to him of the circumcision which was his distinctive mark? Romans 3:2. _Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God._ The Jews were God's chronicle-keepers. They had to guard the holy Books, «the oracles of God.» They had also to preserve the knowledge of the truth by those divers rites and ceremonies by which God was pleased to reveal himself of old time. Romans 3:3. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbeli

CHAPTER 3:1-20 _ 1. Objections and Their Answers. (Romans 3:1 .)_ 2. The Whole World Under Sin. (Romans 3:9 .) Romans 3:1 A number of objections are next raised and answered. “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?” Such would be the natural question of the Jew after reading the argument that the Jew is on the same level with the Gentile. This objection is stated here for the first time. It is important, for the Jews are God's chosen people and as the Apostle states later, to them belongs “the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God and the promises” ...

sums up THE IMPEACHMENT OF MANKIND. Romans 3:9. Paul has beaten down Jewish counter-pleas; he and his fellow-believers (we) might be supposed to have some apology in reserve: What then? do we make any defence? (_mg_.). Not in the least! for we have already charged Jews and Greeks alike with being all under the power of sin. ROMANS 3:10. The universal accusation is restated by a string of OT sentences (p. 805) gathered, with the exception of Romans 3:15 (Isaiah 59:7 f.), from the Psalter, which poignantly depict the sinfulness of mankind. Two things are conspicuous in this sad catena: the world's unrighteousness is traced t

GOD'S FIDELITY AND MAN'S INFIDELITY (Romans 3:1-8)...