Romans 3:10-12

The context

Paul has spent the first part of the letter building a case that both Gentiles and Jews stand under judgment, and here he gathers scriptural lines into a chain. The quotations come from psalms and from wisdom literature, stitched together into a single indictment. The catena runs on past this verse into images of throats, tongues, and feet.

What it establishes

It establishes a universal claim without exceptions: not a few bad people but the whole range of humanity, described as turned aside and useless for the good. Paul uses it to close the door before he introduces justification.

What it does not establish

It is not a psychological inventory. The verses are poetic and hyperbolic in their original settings, and Paul presses them into an argument. The passage does not analyze capacity, motivation, or guilt, and none should be read as a statistical report.

Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.

Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.