There Is No One Who Does Good

Scripture — Psalm 14:2-3 (NRSV)

The LORD looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
who seek after God.
They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse;
there is no one who does good,
no, not one.

Devotion

I remember when I first resolved to read through the whole Bible. I was in high school, and it seemed like the godly thing to do. But, as I began making my way through Scripture, I kept stumbling upon verses that were unsettling to me. Sometimes what a verse described even seemed abhorrent to me (Should I be happy when babies have their heads dashed on the rocks?). Other verses just seemed mistaken (Jesus, should I always give to those who ask?). I believed that the Bible was God’s Word and was profoundly true. But what was I to do with verses that seemed to be, well, untrue?

Psalm 14:3 was such a verse. I encountered this verse as it was quoted in Romans 3:12, where it says, “All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (ESV). As I read this, I thought to myself: “Wait! Is this right? Some people actually do good. I have seen people be generous to the poor. I have watched people love sacrificially. And even I have done a few good things in my life. So how can the Bible say that no one does good, not a single one?”

Some readers, when they come to verses like Psalm 14:3, quickly conclude that the Bible is simply wrong. But they are not reading Scripture with the kind of attentiveness that all serious literature deserves. Responsible reading of any text pays attention to the genre of the material and its context. So, when we approach the Psalms, we must remember that this book is filled with poetry. Psalm 14:3 isn’t a piece of prosaic legal material. Rather, it is a poetic, indeed, hyperbolic expression of the pervasive sinfulness of humanity. Poetry says, “No one does good, no, not one.” Philosophical or legal writing might say, “All people do what’s wrong, but some people do what’s right some of the time.” The first option will grab your attention and get you thinking. The second option will lead you to nod sagely and move on to something more compelling.

Psalm 14:3 appears in a poem that laments the sinfulness of all human beings. In the end, the good that we do cannot erase our sinful behavior. Thus, Psalm 14 concludes by exclaiming, “O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!” (14:7). Deliverance will come from Zion, that is, from God and God alone.

In Romans 3, Paul quotes Psalm 14:3 in order to set up the need for a savior. Yes, no one does good. Both Jews and Gentiles fall short of God’s righteousness: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). This is the bad news that prepares the way for the good news: “They are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24). Truly, everyone does what is wrong. No one is good enough to merit salvation or to save others . . . except for Jesus Christ, our Savior, through whose goodness we are righteous in God’s sight.

In the season of Lent, we pay particular attention to our own lack of goodness. If we choose to adopt certain Lenten disciplines, like fasting for example, we don’t do this in order to be good enough for God to give us favor. Rather, the practices of Lent remind us of our need for a Savior and the fact that God saves us by grace through Jesus Christ. Thus, our awareness of our own lack of goodness readies our hearts to receive more fully the salvation that comes through grace alone.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the High Calling archive, hosted by the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: One Good Reason for Atheism.