None Righteous, No Not One (Rom. 3:10)?

“There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10-12).

Calvinists interpret this passage as a statement of universal human depravity, emphasizing that no one is righteous or does good. This interpretation is often used to support the doctrine of Total Depravity, which posits that humanity is completely without righteousness and goodness, and that only God’s grace can provide this. Calvinists argue this passage is consistent with the broader Calvinist view of human nature and the necessity of divine intervention for salvation.

But is this really what Romans 3:10 is teaching? The scriptural evidence says no!

To start with, if Paul meant there were no righteous individuals, then he was sorely mistaken. After all, there are righteous people mentioned all throughout Scripture. Noah was righteous (Gen. 7:1). Daniel was righteous (Ezek. 14:14). Job was righteous (Ezek. 14:14). John the Baptists parents were righteous (Luke 1:5-6). And Simeon was righteous (Luke 2:25, ESV).

Even some non-Jews/non-Christians were righteous. The book of Acts describes the Gentile Cornelius—who was not a Jew (or a Christian yet)—as “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always” (Acts 10:1-2). And Cornelius’ prayers were heard (Acts 10:31). Keep in mind, God does not hear the prayers of the unrighteous (John 9:31, James 5:16). Peter then said about Cornelius and other non-Jews/non-Christians:

“In every nation whoever fears Him [God] and works righteousness is accepted by Him” (Acts 10:35).

The Bible is filled with examples of righteous people! In fact, Paul himself talked about righteous people. Right after saying “there is none righteous” (Rom. 3:10), Paul then mentions righteous people:

“For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die” (Rom. 5:7).

Righteous man. Good man. Either Paul contradicted his own teaching within a span of two chapters, or Paul did not mean what Calvinists assert in Romans 3:10.

What Did Paul Mean?

The key to understanding Paul’s statement “there is none righteous” is the previous sentence:

“Are we [Jews] better than they [Gentiles]? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one’” (Rom. 3:9-10).

Paul’s point is that Jews are no more righteous than Gentiles. In other words, there are no righteous clans/groups/nations. The Jews in Paul’s day thought they were righteous simply because they were Jews; and Paul blasts that notion out of the water by saying there are no righteous groups and then giving Old Testament examples of unrighteous Jews (see Rom. 3:10-18). Paul’s point is that Jews are no more righteous than Gentiles. But he is not referring to individuals, as his references to righteous individuals (above) clearly show.

Paul Was Quoting from Psalms 14

When Paul said, “there is none righteous” (Rom. 3:10), he was quoting from Psalms 14, where King David had lamented about the Israelites of his day:

“They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one” (Ps. 14:3).

In this passage, David was lamenting that there were so few righteous people in his day. But David didn’t literally mean there were no righteous people. We can be sure of this for two reasons: First, David described himself as righteous:

“For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his rules were before me, and from his statutes I did not turn aside. I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from guilt. And the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight” (2 Sam 22:21-25).

Clearly, David saw himself as righteous. Was David a sinner? Of course. Even righteous people sin. But David was righteous overall. That is, although he slipped from time to time, he got back up, dusted himself off, and went back to following God. That’s the biblical definition of a righteous person (aka: a saint).

The second reason we can be sure David did not literally mean there were no righteous individuals (in Psalms 14) is that right after saying “there is none who does good” (Ps. 14:3), David then went on to mention righteous people:

“For God is with the generation of the righteous” (Ps. 14:5).

Unlike Calvinists, David believed there are righteous generations. Unfortunately, David’s generation was not one of them, which is why he said, “there is none who does good.”

And the reason why Paul quoted this passage (in Romans 3:10) is because he found himself in a similar situation. Most of the Jews in his day had turned aside from God, which is why they rejected their Messiah. But Paul didn’t reject Christ. Paul was one of the righteous ones. In fact, Paul describes himself as “blameless concerning the Law” (Phil. 3:6). The rest of Jesus’ first-century apostles/disciples were righteous too. Unfortunately, though, most of the Jews in that day were not. This was a wicked generation (Matt. 17:17; Acts 2:40; Phil. 2:15).

These passages plainly show that the Calvinist interpretation of Romans 3:10—which asserts that it teaches Total Depravity—is inaccurate. It’s time to drop that unbiblical notion.

By Alex Polyak, founder of Answering Calvinism, 10/10/25.