THE APOSTOLIC INDICTMENT OF HUMANITY

ROMANS 3:9–11

There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God

(Romans 3:10–11).

Romans 3:10–18 is one of the most radical and extensive indictments of the corruption of man ever to appear in print. Here Paul begins with a universal negative: There is none righteous: no, not one. There is not a single person who, being judged by the standard of the law of God, can be called righteous. Compared to other people, we may say that some people are righteous, but compared with the law of God. no one (except Jesus Christ) has ever been righteous.

No One Understands

He goes on to say that there is no one who completely understands what righteousness involves or what is the full extent of God’s righteousness. Our minds are distorted by sin. Even if we could totally comprehend the righteousness of God, no human being has the ability to live up to that standard.

No One Seeks God

Paul moves on to say that there is no one who seeks God. We often hear it said, “Well, that person is not a Christian, but he is seeking; he is searching for God.” If a statement like this is ever correct, then Paul is wrong, for he writes that no one in his natural condition ever searches for God.

Sometimes it seems as if the unbeliever is searching for God. The great medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas explains this for us. When we see people searching for such things as truth, peace of mind, eternal life, or happiness, they are really searching for relief from their guilt. We know that only God can give these things, and so we leap to the conclusion that they are searching for God. But it is precisely in this that man’s sinfulness consists, that man seeks for the benefits of God while fleeing from the person of God. God does not hide from man. so that man must search for Him. Rather, all men hide from God (Genesis 3:10).

CORAM DEO

If it is true that the unbeliever does not really search for God, but merely for His benefits, what impact does this have upon your work of evangelism? How does God use even the unbelievers’ flight from Him as a means of bringing men and women to the saving knowledge of Christ? Recall how God drew you to faith while you fled from Him, thanking Him as the “Hound of Heaven.”

For further study: Jeremiah 17:5–11; 1 John 1:5–10; James 1:13–27

thursday

april