Romans 3:12

Rom 3:12. Ἐξέκλιναν, they have turned aside) they have gone out of the way. Declension supposes, that all had formerly been in the right path.—ἅμα, together) at the same time.—ἠχρειώθησαν. They have become unprofitable) They have not the power of returning to do good. And on the contrary, in all these particulars they cling to what is evil, either secretly, or even openly. They have become unfit for any useful purpose (ἀχρεῖοι). The conjugate word χρηστότης presently after follows.

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

Rom 3:12 . ἠχρεώθησαν is the LXX rendering of נֶאֱלָחוּ , which means “to become sour,” “to turn” (of milk): one and all they have become good for nothing. χρηστότητα usually signifies kindness, and so it is rendered in 2Co 6:6 , Eph 2:7 , Col 3:12 , Tit 3:4 ( cf. Rom 2:4 ; Rom 11:22 : goodness): here it answers to Hebrew טוֹב and means “good”. οὐκ ἔστιν ἕως ἑνός , non est usque ad unum (Vulg.), which may be even more exactly given in the Scottish idiom: there is not the length of one.

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

They are together become unprofitable [αμα ηχρειωθησαν] . Only here in the New Testament : Together carries forward the all. The Hebrew of the Psalm means have become corrupt. The Greek word is to become useless. Compare Joh 14:6.

Good [χρησττοτητα] . Only in Paul 's writings. The radical idea of the word is profitableness. Compare have become unprofitable. Hence it passes readily into the meaning of wholesomeness. See on, Mt 11:30. It is opposed by Paul ' to ajpotomia abruptness, severity (Rom 11:22). It is rendered kindness in Eph 2:7; Col 3:12; Gal 5:22. Paul, and he only, also uses ajgaqwsunh for goodness. The distinction as drawn out by Jerome is that ajgaqwsunh represents a sterner virtue, showing itself in a zeal for truth which rebukes, corrects, and chastises, as Christ when He purged the temple. Crhstothv is more gentle, gracious, and kindly Bishop Lightfoot defines it as a kindly disposition to one's neighbor, not necessarily taking a practical form, while ajgaqwsunh energizes the crhstothv.

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

Rom_3:12

They are all gone out of the way. Blinded by sin to the perfections and loveliness of God and truth, they have turned from the way which he has prescribed and which leads to himself, and have made choice of another way and of another portion. Here, as in the first chapter, the loss of the knowledge of God is represented as followed by spiritual blindness, and spiritual blindness by moral degradation. Men do not understand, i.e., have no right apprehension of God; then they turn away from him, then they become altogether unprofitable, ἠχρειώθησαν, worthless, morally corrupt. This depravity is universal, for there is none that doeth good, no not one. The words οὐκ ἓως ἑνός, not so much as one, are a Hebrewism for οὐδέ εἷς. This passage is taken from the Septuagint translation of Psa_14:3.

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

Verse 12. They are all gone out of the way] παντες εξεκλιναν, they have all diverged from the right way, they have either abandoned or corrupted the worship of God: the Jews, in forsaking the law and the prophets, and the Gentiles, in acting contrary to the law which God had written on their hearts. And the departure of both from the truth proves the evil propensity of human nature in general.

They are together become unprofitable] ηχρειωθησαν. They are useless, good for nothing; or, as the Hebrew has it, נאלחו neelachu, they are putrid: he views the whole mass of mankind as slain and thrown together, to putrefy in heaps. This is what is termed the corruption of human nature; they are infected and infectious. What need of the mercy of God to save from such a state of degeneracy!

There is none that doeth good] In Ro 3:10 it is said, There is none righteous; here, There is none that doeth good: the first may refer to the want of a righteous principle; the second, to the necessary consequence of the absence of such a principle. If there be no righteousness within, there will be no acts of goodness without.

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

12. It is added, There is no one who doeth kindness By this we are to understand, that they had put off every feeling of humanity. For as the best bond of mutual concord among us is the knowledge of God, (as he is the common Father of all, he wonderfully unites us, and without him there is nothing but disunion,) so inhumanity commonly follows where there is ignorance of God, as every one, when he despises others, loves and seeks his own good.

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.

(12) They are together become unprofitable.—Here the adjective is used to express a state of moral corruption and depravity. “Together” means “altogether;” “the whole mass of mankind, with one consent, has fallen to ruin.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Their throat is an open sepulchre,.... The several vices of the instruments of speech are here, and in the following verse, exposed: "the throat" is said to "be an open sepulchre", as in Psa 5:9, so called, for its voracity and insatiableness; both as an instrument of speech, for the words of the wicked are devouring ones; and as an instrument of swallowing, and so may denote the sinner's eager desire after sin, the delight and pleasure he takes in it, the abundance of it he takes in, and his insatiable greediness for it; likewise for its filthy stench, the communication of evil men being corrupt; and because, as by an open grave, persons may fall unawares to their hurt, so the evil communications of wicked men, as they corrupt good manners, are dangerous and hurtful: R. Aben Ezra explains it by , "immediate destruction", or sudden death:

with their tongues they have used deceit; which may design the sin of flattery, for the words in Psa 5:9; the place referred to, are, "they flatter with their tongue"; either God or men, themselves or others, their princes or their neighbour; for there are flatterers in things sacred and civil, there are self-flatterers, court flatterers, and flattering preachers, and all abominable and mischievous; or the phrase may design the sin of lying, either politically, officiously, perniciously, and religiously; and in this latter way, either with respect to doctrine or practice:

the poison of asps is under their lips; or as in Psa 140:3, "adders' poison is under their lips". The asp is but a small creature, and so is the tongue, Jam 3:5, but there is a world of mischief in it, signified by poison; which, as that, is latent and secret, is under it; and as that stupefies and kills insensibly, so an evil tongue does, and that in a deadly and incurable manner: oftentimes the Jews speak of the evil imagination, or corruption of nature entering into persons, and operating in them, "as poison in an angry serpent" (w).

(w) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 62. 2. Yoma, fol. 9. 2.

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

12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Ver. 12. Become unprofitable] Or rotten, nasty, stinking, as the Hebrew hath it, Psa 14:3. The old world was grown so foul, that God was forced to wash it with a deluge.

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.

They have all gone out of the way - They have “declined” from the true path of piety and virtue.

They are together - They have at the same time; or they have equally become unprofitable. They are as one; they are joined, or united in this declension. The expression denotes union, or similarity.

Become unprofitable - This word in Hebrew means to become “putrid” and “offensive,” like fruit that is spoiled. In Arabic, it is applied to “milk” that becomes sour. Applied to moral subjects, it means to become corrupt and useless. They are of no value in regard to works of righteousness.

There is none ... - This is taken literally from the Hebrew.

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

They are all gone out of the way: viz. of truth, or life: see Psa 14:3; 36:4; 58:3. This doth illustrate thee former charge.

They are together become unprofitable; unuseful, and, which is more noisome, fit only for the dunghill, as the word signifies: this follows also in Psa 14:1-7 see Job 15:16.

There is none that doeth good, no, not one; the same as Rom 3:10, though more exactly according to the words of the Psalm, where also it is twice repeated: see Psa 14:1,3.

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

They have all turned aside - From the good way. They are become unprofitable - Helpless impotent, unable to profit either themselves or others.

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

12. “All have gone away from him, they have all together failed; there is no one that doeth good, no, not one.” Man has been a failure in all dispensations. He failed in Eden, winding up with the fall. He failed in antediluvian times, swept away by the great flood. He failed in the patriarchal dispensation, going down into Egyptian slavery. He failed in the Jewish dispensation, culminating in the awful destruction of Jerusalem and the people by the Roman armies. He failed in the dispensation of our Savior’s ministry, winding up with the disgraceful scene of Calvary. According to the prophecies, the Gentile dispensation, amid whose fugitive retreat we now live, is, like its predecessors, destined to wind up with the horrific tragedies of the great tribulation. Is not that very discouraging? Not to me. Man was never created an independency. Hence when left alone he has always failed, and always will. This is to us a most profitable lesson. Shall we not heed the warning of our ruined predecessors and all fly to God, who is the only success? Whosoever departs from God plunges into ruin, world without end.

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

They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one [ Psa_14:1-3 ; Psa_53:1-3 ]:

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.

12. None that doeth good. Not one absolutely good. According to the flesh all tended to evil.

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.

12. ἠχρεώθησαν. Cf. Luk 17:10 (ἄχρειος). Lost their use, became good for nothing.

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.

12. ἅμα: ‘one and all.’

ἠχρειώθησαν: ב = ‘to go bad,’ ‘become sour,’ like milk; comp. the ἀχρεῖος δοῦλος of Mat 25:30.

ποιῶν (sine artic.) A B G &c. WH. text.

χρηστότητα = ‘goodness’ in the widest sense, with the idea of ‘utility’ rather than specially of ‘kindness,’ as in 2:4.

ἔως ἑνός: cp. the Latin idiom ad unum omnes (Vulg. literally usque ad unum). B 67**, WH. marg. omit the second οὐκ ἔστιν [οὐκ ἔστιν ποιῶν χρηστότητα ἔως ἑνός]. The readings of B and its allies in these verses are open to some suspicion of assimilating to a text of LXX. In ver. 14 B 17 add αὐτῶν (ὧν τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν) corresponding to αὐτοῦ in B’s text of Psa 10:7 [9:28].

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