Ecclesiastes 7:20

Ecc 7:20 For [there is] not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

Ver. 20. For there is not a just man upon earth.] No, this is reserved for the state of perfection in heaven, where are "the spirits of just men made perfect." {Heb 12:23} It was the cavil wherewith the Pelagians troubled St Augustine, whether it were impossible that by the absolute power of God a just man might not live on earth without sin? {a} But what have we to do here with the absolute power of God? His revealed will is, "That there is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not"; nay, that sinneth not, even in his doing of good. Our righteousness, while we are on earth, is mixed, as light and darkness, dimness at least, in a painted glass dyed with some obscure and dim colour; it is transparent and giveth good, but not clear and pure light. It is a witty observation of a late learned divine, {b} that the present tense in grammar is accompanied with the imperfect, the future with the preter-pluperfect tense; and that such is the condition of our present and future holiness. Our future is more than perfect, our present is imperfect indeed, but yet true holiness and happiness. {See Trapp on "Pro 20:9"}

{a} Aug., De Peccator. Meritis, lib. ii. cap. 7.

{b} Dr Stoughton, on Php 3:20.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The connection of this verse with Ecc 7:18-19 becomes clearer if it is borne in mind that the fear of God, wisdom, and justice, are merely different sides of one and the same character, the formation of which is the aim of all the precepts in this chapter. The words “just” Ecc 7:15, Ecc 7:20 and “righteous” Ecc 7:16 are exactly the same in Hebrew.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ecc_7:20

For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

Mans inability to keep the law perfectly

Here is the undoubted character of all the human race, fixing imperfection and sinfulness on the best of the kind in this world, and so concluding all to be liable to sin, and under it.

I. What is legal perfection, or perfect keeping of the commands. It is a perfect conformity of heart and life to the commands of God; and implies--

1. A perfection of the principles of action (Mat_22:37).

2. A perfection of the part, as of obedience. No part must be lacking, every command of whatsoever nature must be kept (Gal_3:10).

3. A perfection of degrees in every part (Mat_22:37). Sincerity is not enough in the eye of the law. In everything one must come to the highest pitch, or there is no perfection.

4. A perfection of duration or continuance (Gal_3:10). One bad trip after a course of obedience will mar all.

II. The attainableness of this perfection.

1. Adam before the fall was able to have kept the commands perfectly; he might have attained it; for God made him upright (Ecc_7:29).

2. The man Christ, who was not a mere man, but God-man, who was not only able to keep the law perfectly, but actually did so.

3. The saints in heaven are able, and do actually perfectly obey whatever Gods will to them is (Heb_12:23).

4. But since Adam fell, no mere man is able, while in this life, either of himself, or by virtue of any grace now given, to keep the commands perfectly (Jam_3:2). This inability is owing to the remains of corruption that cleaves to every one of them in this mortal state (Rom_7:2)

III. How the saints sin daily, and break the commands.

1. How many ways the commands may be broken.

(1) In deeds done contrary to the command of God, or not done, though required.

(2) In words, either speaking what we ought not, or not speaking what we ought, or speaking what we ought, but not in the manner commanded.

(3) In thoughts. One may sin by thinking what he ought not, by omitting of good thoughts, and by not managing good thoughts, in the manner required by the law.

2. In what respect the saints sin daily, in thought, word and deed.

(1) Negatively: not that the saints fall into gross sins daily, against the letter of the law, either in thought, word or deed. Such spots are not the spots of Gods people. Christs dwelling by His Spirit in them, the breaking of the reign of sin in them by the power of Divine grace, and their habitual tenderness and watchfulness, hold them off that way of life.

(2) Positively. Besides that saints may be surprised into gross sins in thought, word and deed, sometimes by inadvertency, weakness and violence of temptation, which is the burden of their souls, they sin every day in thought, word and deed when they keep the strictest watch and have most of the Divine assistance.

3. How these failures of theirs break the commands, while they sincerely endeavour to obey them. Why, the moral law is the eternal rule of righteousness, and in whatever state the creature be, he is bound to obey his Creator, whether in a state of nature or grace, glory or damnation. And though perfection be not attainable in this life, yet it is the saints duty as well as that of others. So every coming short of that perfection is their sin, needing to be taken away by Christs blood.

IV. Confirm the point, that perfection is not attainable in this life.

1. The Scripture attests that there is no man without sin (1Ki_8:46; Jam_3:2). If any man set up for it in himself, the Spirit of God says he deceives himself (1Jn_1:8). See an unanswerable question (Pro_20:9).

2. The best have a corrupt as well as a gracious principle, making the spiritual combat never ending till death give the separating stroke (Gal_5:17).

3. We are taught always to pray for pardon, Forgive us our debts: but sinless creatures need no pardons. This clearly shows that all sin, and so come short of perfect obedience.

4. Consider the spirituality of the law and its extent with human weakness, and you will see this clearly. (T. Boston, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

"For among men there is not a righteous man on the earth, who doeth good, and sinneth not." The original passage, found in Solomon's prayer at the consecration of the temple, is briefer, Kg1 8:46 : "There is no man who sinneth not." Here the words might be וגו צדּיק אדם אין, there is no righteous man ... . Adam stands here as representing the species, as when we say in Germ.: Menschen gibt es keine gerechten auf Erden [men, there are none righteous on earth]; cf. Exo 5:16 : "Straw, none was given." The verification of Ecc 7:19 by reference to the fact of the common sinfulness from which even the most righteous cannot free himself, does not contradict all expectation to the same degree as the ki in Ecc 7:7; but yet it surprises us, so that Mercer and Grtz, with Aben Ezra, take Ecc 7:20 as the verification of Ecc 7:16, here first adduced, and Knobel and Heiligst. and others connect it with Ecc 7:21, Ecc 7:22, translating: "Because there is not a just man ... , therefore it is also the part of wisdom to take no heed unto all words," etc. But these are all forced interpretations; instead of the latter, we would rather suppose that Ecc 7:20 originally stood after Ecc 7:22, and is separated from its correct place. But yet the sequence of thought lying before us may be conceived, and that not merely as of necessity, but as that which was intended by the author. On the whole, Hitzig is correct: "For every one, even the wise man, sins; in which case virtue, which has forsaken him, does not protect him, but wisdom proves itself as his means of defence." Zckler adds: "against the judicial justice of God;" but one escapes from this by a penitent appeal to grace, for which there is no need for the personal property of wisdom; there is thus reason rather for thinking on the dangerous consequences which often a single false step has for a man in other respects moral; in the threatening complications in which he is thereby involved, it is wisdom which then protects him and delivers him. Otherwise Tyler, who by the עז, which the wise has in wisdom, understands power over evil, which is always moving itself even in the righteous. But the sinning spoken of in Ecc 7:20 is that which is unavoidable, which even wisdom cannot prevent or make inefficacious. On the contrary, it knows how to prevent the destruction which threatens man from his transgressions, and to remove the difficulties and derangements which thence arise. The good counsel following is connected by gam with the foregoing. The exhortation to strive after wisdom, contained in Ecc 7:19, which affords protection against the evil effects of the failures which run through the life of the righteous, is followed by the exhortation, that one conscious that he himself is not free from transgression, should take heed to avoid that tale-bearing which finds pleasure in exposing to view the shortcomings of others.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

7:20 Not a single person . . . always good and never sins: Cp. 1 Kgs 8:46; Prov 20:9; Rom 3:23.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Consider what desolation and destruction shall come, if thou do not obey them.

To wit, on these admonitions that go before.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Referring to Ecc 7:16. Be not "self-righteous," seek not to make thyself "just" before God by a superabundance of self-imposed performances; "for true 'wisdom,' or 'righteousness,' shows that there is not a just man," &c.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 20. There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.] לא יחטא lo yechta, that may not sin. There is not a man upon earth, however just he may be, and habituated to do good, but is peccable-liable to commit sin; and therefore should continually watch and pray, and depend upon the Lord. But the text does not say, the just man does commit sin, but simply that he may sin; and so our translators have rendered it in 1Sa 2:25, twice in 1Kg 8:31; 1Kg 8:46, and 2Ch 6:36; and the reader is requested to consult the note on 1Kg 8:46, where the proper construction of this word may be found, and the doctrine in question is fully considered.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. For there is not a just man upon earth] The sequence of thought is again obscure. We fail at first to see how the fact of man’s sinfulness is the ground of the maxim that wisdom is a better defence than material strength. The following train of associations may perhaps supply the missing link. There had been a time when the presence of ten righteous men would have preserved a guilty city from destruction (Gen_18:32). But no such men were found, and the city therefore perished. And experience shews that no such men—altogether faultless—will be found anywhere. No one therefore can on that ground claim exemption from chastisement. What remains for the wise man but to fall back on the wisdom which consists in the “fear of God” (Ecc_7:13), the reverential awe which will at least keep him from presumptuous sins. Substantially the thought is that of a later teaching, that “in many things we offend all” (Jas_3:2), and therefore that a man is justified by faith (the New Testament equivalent for “the fear of the Lord” as the foundation of a righteous life), and not by works, though not without them. Here again we may compare the Stoic teaching, “Wise men are rare. Here and there legends tell of one good man, or it may be two, as of strange præter-natural being rarer than the Phœnix.… All are evil and on a level with each other, so that this differs not from that, but all are alike insane” (Alex. Aphrod. de Fato 28).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For there is not a just man upon earth,.... Or "although", or "notwithstanding" (d), wisdom is so beneficial, and guards and strengthens a good man, yet no man has such a share of it as to live without sin; there was not then one on earth, there never had been, one, nor never would be, nor has been, excepting the man Christ Jesus; who indeed, as man, was perfectly just, while here on earth, and went about doing good, and never sinned in all his life; but this cannot be said of any other, no, not of one that is truly and really just; not externally and in his own opinion only, but who is made so by the obedience of Christ, or by his righteousness imputed to him, while he is here on earth; otherwise in heaven, where the spirits of just men are made perfect, there it may be said of them what follows, but nowhere else;

that doeth good, and sinneth not; it is the character of a just man to do good, to do that which is according to the will of God, from a principle of love to him, through faith in him, in the name and strength of Christ, and with a view to the glory of God; to do good in such a sense wicked men cannot; only such who are made good by the grace of God, are regenerated and made new creatures in Christ, are quickened by his Spirit, and are true believers in him; who appear to be what they are, by the fruits of good works they bring forth; and this not in a mercenary way, or in order to obtain life and righteousness, but as constrained by the grace of God, by which they are freely justified; and yet these are not free from sin, as appears by their confessions and complaints, by their backslidings, slips, and falls, and their petitions for fresh discoveries of pardoning grace; and even are not without sin, and the commission of it, in religious duties, or while they are doing good; hence their righteousness is said to be as filthy rags, and mention is made of the iniquity of holy things, Isa 64:6. The Targum is,

"that does good all his days, and sins not before the Lord.''

Aben Ezra justly gives the sense thus,

"who does good always, and never sins;''

and observes that there are none but sin in thought, word, or deed. The poet (e) says,

"to sin is common to all men;''

no man, though ever so good, is perfect on earth, or free from sin; see Kg1 8:46. Alshech's paraphrase is,

"there is not a righteous man on earth, that does good, and sins not; , "in that good";''

which is the true sense of the words.

(d) "quamvis", Junius & Tremelllus, Amama, so Broughton; "attamen", Grotius. (e) Sophoclis Antigone, v. 1140.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

City. It has the advantage over more strength, chap. ix. 16.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

For; so this is a reason either,

1. Of the foregoing counsels, Ecc 7:10-18, the 19th verse being interposed only as a proof of the last clause of Ecc 7:18. Or,

2. To show the necessity and advantage of that wisdom commended Ecc 7:19, because all men are very prone to folly and sin, and therefore need that wisdom which is from above to direct and keep them from it. But this particle may be, and elsewhere is, commonly rendered yet; and so the sense is, Although wisdom doth exceedingly strengthen a man, yet it doth not so strengthen him, as if it would keep him from falling into all sin. Or, because; or, seeing that; and so this relates to the following verse, Seeing all men sin, we should be ready to pardon the offences of others against us, either by word or deed. Or, surely; and so it is an entire sentence, such as there are many in this book.

There is not a just man upon earth, whereby he manifestly implies that the just in heaven are perfect and sinless, that doeth good, and sinneth not; who is universally and perfectly good, and free from all sin.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. Not a just man — Be it remembered that the discussion here is of practical “wisdom,” not of abstract morality. The question of sin and holiness as before God, and in the domain of the sweet and salutary doctrines of the New Testament, is not here touched at all. We are simply told that prudence indicates that we are not to rely implicitly on, nor follow servilely, even the heroes of our land, for the most accurate man now or ever upon earth makes mistakes, and does sometimes wrong. The case of wilful transgression of the moral law is not at all before the mind of the writer, and our dear hopes and sweet experiences of walking before God and man “when sin is all destroyed,” need suffer no eclipse from this stated infirmity of judgment.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The wisdom above signified is, indeed, absolutely necessary, if one would escape the consequences of that frailty of nature which leads to transgression. Wisdom shows the sinner a way out of the evil course in which he is walking, and puts him back in that fear of God which is his only safety. For there is not a just man upon earth. The verse confirms ver. 19. Even the just man sinneth, and therefore needs wisdom. That doeth good, and sinneth not. This reminds us of the words in Solomon"s prayer (1Ki_8:46; Pro_20:9) So St. James (Jam_3:2) says, "In many things we all offend;" and St. John, "It" we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us". (1Jn_1:8) A Greek gnome runs JAmartanei ti kaiterov. "Erreth at times the very wisest man.

Vers. 20, 29.

Perfection is not on earth.

It would be a mistake to attribute these statements to anything peculiar in the experience and circumstances of the author of this book. The most attentive and candid observers of human nature will attest the truth of these very decided judgments. Christians are sometimes accused of exaggerating human sinfulness, in order to prepare for the reception of the special doctrines of Christianity; but they are not so accused by observers whose opportunities have been wide and varied, and who have the sagacity to interpret human conduct.

I THE NATURE OF SIN. It is deflection from a Divine standard, departure from the Divine way, abuse of Divine provision, renunciation of Divine purpose.

II THE UNIVERSALITY OF SIN. This is both the teaching of Scripture and the lesson of all experience in every land and in every age.

III THE EXCEPTION TO SIN. The Divine Man, Jesus Christ, alone among the sons of men, was faultless and perfect.

IV THE SPIRITUAL LESSONS TAUGHT BY THE PREVALENCE OF SIN.

1. The duty of humility, contrition, and repentance.

2. The value of the redemption and salvation which in the gospel Divine wisdom and compassion have provided as the one universal remedy for the one universal evil that afflicts mankind. T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Sinneth not - Who is universally and perfectly good.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

For there is no righteous man on earth Therefore, he must examine his deeds.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.