Romans 3:11

Rom 3:11. ὀὺκ ἒστιν ὁ συνιῶν, there is none that understandeth) They are without understanding in relation to what is good.—ὀὺκ ἔστιν ὁ ἐκζητῶν, there is none that seeketh after) They are without the will to do good. To seek after, implies that God is מסתתר hidden, Isa 45:15.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 3:11 . οὐκ ἔστιν συνίων . For the form ( συνίων or συνιῶν ), see Winer, p. 97. If we read ὁ συνίων the meaning is, There is no one to understand: if the article (as in the LXX) be omitted, There is no one who has sense.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_3:11

There is none who understands, there is none who seeks after God. In the Psalm it is said: God looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there was one wise, seeking after God. Here again the apostle gives the thought, and not the precise words. Instead of if there was one wise, he gives the idea in a negative form, There is none who understands, οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ συνιῶν. The participle ὁ συνιῶν, der verständige, the wise, is stronger than the verb, who understands; as the former expresses a permanent characteristic, the latter properly only an act. The words συνίημι and σύνεσις are frequently used in the New Testament to express the right apprehension of divine truth. See Mat_13:15; Act_7:25; Eph_3:4; Eph_5:17; Col_1:9; Col_2:2. In this case, συνιῶν (συνίων Winer, 14, §3), answers to lyki#&;ma, to have understanding, a word often used in a religious sense, as in the Scriptures, wisdom and religion are convertible terms. This right apprehension or spiritual discernment of divine things is always attended with right affections and right conduct he that understands seeks after God which latter expression includes all those exercises of desire, worship, and obedience, which are consequent on this spiritual discernment.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

They are all gone out of the way,.... In Psa 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 Psa 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 out of the way": that is, out of the way of God and his precepts, out of the way of holiness and righteousness, of light and life; into their own ways, the ways of sin, Satan, and the world of darkness, and of death: so Aben Ezra explains it, "out of the right way"; Kimchi and Ben Melech paraphrase it, "out of the good way: and so"

they are together become unprofitable; the word in Psa 14:3 and Psa 53:3; is translated, "they are become filthy"; which R. Aben Ezra interprets by "they are corrupt"; and R. Solomon Jarchi by , "they are turned to corruption"; the metaphor is taken from stinking flesh, which is tainted and corrupted, and so good for nothing, hence here rendered "unprofitable"; for so men being corrupted by sin, are of no use, service, and advantage to God, to men, or to themselves; but, on the contrary, nauseous to God, and to all that are good, and hurtful to themselves and others: for

there is none that does good, no, not one; and therefore must be unprofitable. There is none that can do good in a spiritual manner, without the grace of God, strength from Christ, and the assistance of the Spirit; and there is not even a spiritual man, that can do good perfectly, and without sin.

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

11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

Ver. 11. None that seeketh] That seeketh and fetcheth him out of his retiring room, as she did, Mar 7:24-25.

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.

There is none that understandeth - In the Hebrew Psa 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 heart would have led him to record it. To understand is used in the sense of being wise; or of having such a state of moral feeling as to dispose them to serve and obey God. The word is often used in the Bible, not to denote a mere intellectual operation of the mind, but the state of the heart inclining the mind to obey and worship God; Psa 107:43; Psa 119:27, Psa 119:100; Pro 5:5; Isa 6:10; “Lest they should understand with their heart,” etc.

That seeketh after God - That endeavors to know and do his will, and to be acquainted with his character. A disposition not to seek after God, that is, to neglect and forget him, is one of the most decided proofs of depravity. A righteous man counts it his highest privilege and honor to know God, and to understand his will. A man can indulge in wickedness only by forgetting God. Hence, a disposition “not” to seek God is full proof of depravity.

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

There is none that understandeth; a more particular proof of the corruption of the soul, and the faculties thereof; and first of the mind, taken out of the forecited Psalms, which may be compared with the scriptures which speak of the ignorance and blindness of the mind, Deu 32:29; Job 32:9; Isa 1:3; Jer 4:22; 10:14.

There is none that seeketh after God; a proof of the corruption of the will, which follows also in the forecited Psalms.

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

11. Understandeth—The Old Testament speaks of wisdom, folly, and understanding not so much from the intellectual as from the moral standpoint. To be wicked is to be a fool; to be righteous was to understand. So truly is the holy book the utterance of the moral sense.

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

There is none that understandeth - The things of God.

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

11. “Neither does any one understand, neither is there any one who seeketh out God,” i. e., seeketh God till he finds Him. Hence the legitimate conclusion confirmatory of the utter impossibility that any one through water baptism, sacraments, church-rites, legal obedience and ecclesiastical loyalty can possibly ever reach a personal knowledge of God in the salvation of the soul, that being a personal enterprise on the part of the human spirit and the Holy Spirit, utterly independent of clerical, ritualistical or legalistic administrations.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God ;

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. None that seeketh after God. A general statement of the sinfulness of Jew as well as Gentile.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

There is no one who understands

There is no one who understands what is right. AT: "No one really understands what is right" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

There is no one who seeks after God

Here the phrase "seeks after God" means to have a relationship with God. AT: "No one sincerely tries to have a right relationship with God" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

They have all turned away

This is an idiom that means the people do not even want to think about God. They want to avoid him. AT: "They have all turned away from God" (See: Idiom)

They together have become useless

Since no one does what is good, they are useless to God. AT: "Everyone has become useless to God" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

God

turn

good

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

11. συνίων, for form, as from συνίω, cf. Moulton, pp. 38, 55, Hort, Introduction to App. i. 167, Thackeray, Gr. of O.T. Gk, pp. 244, 250.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11.] In the Psalm,—Jehovah looked down from heaven on the children of men, to see εἰ ἔστι συνιὼν ἢ ἐκζητῶν τ. θ. He found none. This result is put barely by the Apostle as the testimony of Scripture, giving the sense, but departing from the letter.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ συνιῶν: non est qui intelligat (rather than qui intelligit); Anglicè, ‘there is none to understand.’ [But A B G, and perhaps Latt. Orig.-lat. Ambrstr., WH. text read συνιῶν, as also (B)C WH. text ἐκζητῶν, without the art. after LXX. This would = non est intelligens, non est requirens Deum (Vulg.) ‘There is no one of understanding, there is no inquirer after God.’]

ὁ συνιῶν: on the form see Win. Gr. § xiv, 16 (Exo_8; xiv, 3 E. T.); Hort, Intr. Notes on Orthog. p. 167; also for the accentuation, Fri. p. 174 f. Both forms, συνιέω and συνίω, are found, and either accentuation, συνιῶν or συνίων, may be adopted: probably the latter is to be preferred; cf. ἤφιε from ἀφίω Mar 1:34, Mar 11:16.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Understandeth [συνιων] . See on foolish, ch. 1 21.

Seeketh after [εκζητων] . Lit., seeketh out. See on 1Pe 1:10.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.