Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
The psalm is nearly identical to Psalm 14, with a few verbal changes, including the replacement of the divine name Jehovah used in Psalm 14 with another name for God. It was written during the Babylonian captivity, in the latter portion of it during the reign of Belshazzar when persecution and distress were greatest. It relates to the sorrows and afflictions of the Hebrew captives, mingled with exhortation, encouragement, and assurance of divine help and final deliverance from persecutors. It was sung in Jewish worship.
The verse describes the character of the fool who has said in his heart there is no God, as abominably wicked and altogether filthy with none doing good. That fool is not only the open professed atheist, for he does not avow his disbelief openly but says it in his heart. It means God looked down from heaven upon all mankind to see who understands and seeks Him and found every person turned back and defiled with no one doing good. It gives the real condition of the fallen race of Adam viewed in the light of God's holy law, so the fool is he that breaks the commandments of God.
It shows that no one is righteous or does good, for all have turned aside and become corrupt, which applies to Jews and Gentiles alike as sinners and transgressors of God's law. It shows that no human being does good of himself, because goodness belongs to God alone inherently and essentially, so any goodness in a person is not his own but borrowed from God and owed to God. It denies that man is divine or has divinity, goodness, and God within himself, refuting the teaching that every person carries the Divinity within and is therefore a god and exposing self-worship that claims for finite man all the attributes of the Infinite. Its truth is missed by the self-righteous, who think to do good by themselves while all have sinned and fall short.
Because all people have gone astray and no one does good, no one can be justified by keeping the law; the law does not fail to justify through any fault of its own, but rightly condemns those who have broken it. The verse speaks of the Jews, them that are under the law, and Paul cites it in Romans 3:10-19 as spoken to Jews to show their condition. It applies to all the world, both Jews and Gentiles together, not to Jews alone, since Romans 2 addresses both groups and Romans 3 concludes that both are all under sin. In view of this sad condition of fallen man, the psalm cries out for the salvation of Israel to come out of Zion when the Lord brings back the captivity of His people, to the joy and gladness of Jacob and Israel.
The psalm is nearly identical to Psalm 14, with a few verbal changes, including the replacement of the divine name Jehovah used in Psalm 14 with another name for God. It was written during the Babylonian captivity, in the latter portion of it during the reign of Belshazzar when persecution and distress were greatest. It relates to the sorrows and afflictions of the Hebrew captives, mingled with exhortation, encouragement, and assurance of divine help and final deliverance from persecutors. It was sung in Jewish worship.
The verse describes the character of the fool who has said in his heart there is no God, as abominably wicked and altogether filthy with none doing good. That fool is not only the open professed atheist, for he does not avow his disbelief openly but says it in his heart. It means God looked down from heaven upon all mankind to see who understands and seeks Him and found every person turned back and defiled with no one doing good. It gives the real condition of the fallen race of Adam viewed in the light of God's holy law, so the fool is he that breaks the commandments of God.
It shows that no one is righteous or does good, for all have turned aside and become corrupt, which applies to Jews and Gentiles alike as sinners and transgressors of God's law. It shows that no human being does good of himself, because goodness belongs to God alone inherently and essentially, so any goodness in a person is not his own but borrowed from God and owed to God. It denies that man is divine or has divinity, goodness, and God within himself, refuting the teaching that every person carries the Divinity within and is therefore a god and exposing self-worship that claims for finite man all the attributes of the Infinite. Its truth is missed by the self-righteous, who think to do good by themselves while all have sinned and fall short.
Because all people have gone astray and no one does good, no one can be justified by keeping the law; the law does not fail to justify through any fault of its own, but rightly condemns those who have broken it. The verse speaks of the Jews, them that are under the law, and Paul cites it in Romans 3:10-19 as spoken to Jews to show their condition. It applies to all the world, both Jews and Gentiles together, not to Jews alone, since Romans 2 addresses both groups and Romans 3 concludes that both are all under sin. In view of this sad condition of fallen man, the psalm cries out for the salvation of Israel to come out of Zion when the Lord brings back the captivity of His people, to the joy and gladness of Jacob and Israel.