“There is none who seeks after God”

Question: Bill asks, “Can you please explain what Paul was teaching in Romans chapter 3 where he refers to no one seeking God. Is this a general condition of mankind? There are many people who think they are seeking God, so to what was Paul referring?”

Answer: The short answer is that Paul is speaking of sinful fallen human beings left to themselves, and without divine intervention. But let’s dig a little deeper.

The entire passage, Romans 3:9-19 is devastating. The sin problem affects both Jews (favoured by God’s covenants, 3:1-2) and Gentiles. They are “all under sin” (vs. 9), and “all the world…[stands] guilty before God” (vs. 19). The passage is referring to each and every fallen human being, without exception. The virgin born Son of God, of course, was not corrupted by sin, nor did He commit sins. But apart from Him, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (vs. 23).

The most striking note in the passage, is its unrelenting insistence on sin’s inclusiveness. Drawing from six different Old Testament passages, Paul carefully supports his argument: “all under sin” (vs. 9); “none righteous, no not one” (vs. 10); “none who understands…none who seeks after God” (vs. 11); “all turned aside…none who does good, no not one” (vs. 12). It is impossible to miss the point!

Then, the apostle looks at the subject from a different angle. Not only has sin corrupted us all, it has entirely corrupted each of us–that is, every part of our beings. Here is “total depravity” writ large. All of our conduct shows the result. Sin’s pollution affects what we say (vs. 13-14); the way we go, or what we do (vs. 15-17), and the object of our faith or allegiance (vs. 18). The unsaved may do good works, in a temporal and material sense, but not good that is free of fleshly effort and sinful pride. Any “good” the unregenerate might do is thus “unprofitable [worthless]” (vs. 12) in a spiritual and eternal sense. It cannot earn him acceptance with God.

Paul’s goal is to show the absolute necessity of the gospel of grace. To do that he begins with the “bad news”: that sin’s devastating effects are universal and entire. Then, the “but” of vs. 21 begins the “good news” and the answer: That righteousness (i.e. a righteous standing before God) comes through faith in Christ (vs. 22), and those who trust in Him are justified (pronounced righteous) “freely by His grace” (vs. 24; cf. 4:4-5).

Yes, there are many people who think they are seeking after God, or salvation. But it may be a god of their own imagining and a salvation of their own devising, and both are vanity and lead only to destruction. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 16:25). The condition of each individual born into the world is described as being “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1, 5). This deadness involves both a spiritual insensitivity and spiritual inability. No one in such a condition has the spiritual perception to understand God and His ways (I Cor. 2:14), or the power to respond to Him appropriately, even if he could understand (Rom. 5:6).

The only answer is for God to step in. Since man would never seek God on his own, God must act first. As Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father draws him,” and “no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him by My Father” (Jn. 6:44, 65). Part of this is the convicting work of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 16:8). He also energizes the spirit to respond in faith. We believe “through grace” (Acts 18:27). (Cf. “To you it has been granted…to believe in Him,” Phil. 1:29). And, when the individual reaches out in faith and becomes a new creation in Christ, it is only by the continuing ministry of the Spirit of God that Christlike conduct is produced (Gal. 5:22-23).