“There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.”
My Notes
What Does Romans 3:11 Mean?
Paul quotes Psalm 14:2-3 in his comprehensive indictment of humanity: "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." The double "none" eliminates every exception. The darkness isn't partial or selective. Nobody understands. Nobody seeks. The entire human race, apart from divine intervention, operates in ignorance and apathy toward God.
The word "understandeth" (suniōn) means to put together, to comprehend, to perceive with insight. Nobody naturally grasps the reality of God. The spiritual blindness isn't an information deficit (God's existence is evident in creation, Romans 1:20). It's a comprehension deficit. The data is available. The understanding is absent.
"None that seeketh after God" (ekzētōn ton theon) is even more radical: nobody naturally pursues God. Every religious impulse, every spiritual search, every attempt to reach the divine—apart from God's initiating grace—falls short of genuine seeking. The natural human direction is away from God, not toward Him. If anyone seeks God, it's because God sought them first.
Reflection Questions
- 1.If 'none seeketh after God' naturally, what does that mean about the spiritual searching you've done? Who initiated it?
- 2.Do you naturally understand God, or have you needed help—from the Spirit, from Scripture, from others—to comprehend what creation displays?
- 3.If the default human direction is away from God, what keeps pulling you back? Could it be God's initiative rather than your own?
- 4.Paul says 'none.' How does that universality level the playing field between the religious and the irreligious?
Devotional
"There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God." None. Not some. Not most. None. The universal human condition is spiritual blindness and spiritual apathy. Nobody naturally understands God. Nobody naturally pursues God. The default human direction is away, not toward.
This verse offends the modern spiritual searcher who believes humanity is naturally inclined toward God—that people are innately spiritual, instinctively seeking the divine. Paul says the opposite: left to ourselves, we don't seek God. We run from Him. Every religious impulse that actually reaches God was initiated by God, not by us. If you found yourself seeking God, it's because He was seeking you first. The search was never yours to begin.
The "none that understandeth" is equally sweeping. The evidence for God is everywhere (Romans 1:20—creation declares it). But understanding—actually comprehending what the evidence means, actually grasping who God is—doesn't happen naturally. You can look at the stars and miss the Creator. You can study the complexity of the cell and miss the Designer. The data is available. The comprehension requires something the data alone can't provide: the Spirit's illumination.
If you're seeking God right now—if something in you is reaching toward Him, hungry for Him, wanting to understand—that impulse isn't self-generated. It's God-initiated. The fact that you're seeking is evidence that He found you first. None seeks after God naturally. Every genuine search was started by the one being searched for.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
They are all gone out of the way,.... In Psa 14:3; it is said, "they are all gone aside"; as persons in debt: man had a…
There is none that understandeth - In the Hebrew Psa 14:2, God is represented as looking down from heaven to see, that…
I. Here the apostle answers several objections, which might be made, to clear his way. No truth so plain and evident but…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture