Oh, and to address the original post and Romans 3-23 it has to be read in context..All through the chapter beginning with verse 10 Paul is speaking of the wicked, not the righteous..
Romans 3
There is none good not one)? What is Paul referencing from the OT? The fact that Paul began his declaration by saying "it is written" goes completely ignored by most...
Every single PASSAGE Paul was quoting from in the old testament the wicked were CONTRASTED against the righteous.. I ask you: why by your own words do you always number yourself among the wicked…
Romans 3
1 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?
2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. 5 But if our unrighteousness (the Jews as a nation, Isaiah 64) commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) 6 God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?
7 For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? 8 And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just. 9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; (the Jewish nation and the Gentile nations, not individuals per say) An example of this is found in Isaiah 64. Whereas the righteous prophet Isaiah was speaking to a wicked and perverse nation, Israel. In that all of her righteousness was as filthy rags fading away in their iniquities).
10 As it is written, (Paul is drawing from the OT) There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
In examining Paul's declarations to the Romans in chapter 3, let's use two OT examples, Joseph and Hanna, and see if their works are being referenced by Paul. Or could it be that Paul is speaking about other kinds of people? Possibly the wicked and not the righteous? Joseph and Hanna are but two of the many righteous men/women in the OT, I contend that Paul is not speaking of the righteous in verses 10-18 in Romans 3. But rather Paul is referencing the wicked in Psalms 14, 53, 5, 140, 10, 36 and Proverbs 1-16, 16-8, and Isaiah 59-7,8
Psalms 14-1, the wicked who say there is no God. Psalms 53-1 the wicked who are corrupt and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. None of the wicked do good. Not in any of these verses in which Paul quotes from is he referring to the righteous. Like all chapters, and in both of these occasions, the righteous are always separated from the wicked. Would these OT quotes be speaking about the likes of Joseph, or Hanna etc? Absolutely not! These two Psalms are speaking about the fools who believe not God and the wicked that obey not God. If both Psalms are examined carefully we can find the wicked spoken of in contrast to the righteous. So, in drawing from these two Psalms, Paul is most defiantly speaking of the unrighteous, not the righteous. Therefore types like Joseph and Hanna cannot be who Paul is referencing when he says "There is none righteous, no, not one".
Romans 3- 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
Psalm 53-3, 5-9, 140-3 in NONE of the quotes by Paul is David speaking of the righteous. But rather the wicked, when they are conceived of Satan, that go astray, venturing out from his influential womb (Mystery Babylon, his church), doing his bidding and speaking his lies, (when he speaks a lie he speaketh of "his own" John 8-44).Does this sound like Joseph and Hanna? Nay, may God forbid such slanders upon the righteous and worthy! They use this false teaching to promote the Luther/Calvin lie of total depravity. I ask: Can we place Joseph and Hanna in this same category too? No!!!
but two of the many righteous men/women in the OT, I contend that Paul is not speaking of the righteous in verses 10-18 in Romans 3. But rather Paul is referencing the wicked in Psalms 14, 53, 5, 140, 10, 36 and Proverbs 1-16, 16-8, and Isaiah 59-7,8
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: (this is not the mouth of Mary for she praised God and spoke not curses to men)
Psalm 10-7 In this chapter it speaks of the wicked in their pride that persecute the righteous with curses of bitterness out of their mouths of which the apostle James warns against in chapter 3. Do we ever find Joseph and Hanna speaking such things? No!
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17 And the way of peace have they not known:
Here Paul is drawing in generalities from Proverbs 1-16, 16-8, and Isaiah 59-7,8. In all three chapters it is speaking of a heart that devises evil schemes and the wicked deeds that they madly scurry after. Their feet rush into battle. This sounds more like the wicked deeds of King Saul, and not Joseph and Hanna.
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Paul cant be speaking about Mary, for she feared God)
Psalm 36-1 David has a message from God in his heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked because there is no fear of God before their eyes. Did Joseph and Hanna have the fear of the Lord? Yes!!!
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So, in brief, listed here is a concise reference of whom the apostle Paul is speaking about in verses 10-18. Sadly, not only do the Pundits claim that all of mankind is wicked, but they even apply this to those after conversion as well by falsely parroting "if we say we have no continuous sin in us we are liars the truth is not in us". Somehow overlooking such people as Nathaniel, Cornelius, and Lydia in the NT.