Romans 3:12
They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.”
Truth to Learn
Doing religious things our own way is useless.
Behind the Words
The word translated, “turned aside” is ekklinō, which is made up of ek, meaning “out of” and klinō, meaning “to bend, or to turn aside.” Hence, ekklinō means “to turn aside out of the way.” The image is of someone who is walking down a path and turns off the path. So, when we take our own path instead of the one that God desires for us, we have “turned aside.”
“Have become unprofitable” is the Greek word achreioō, which literally means, “to become useless.” It is a word that is used of food which has spoiled and is no longer useful as food.
Meaning Explained
In today’s verse the Apostle Paul continues his quotation from Psalms 53. He says we have all turned out of the way and have become useless. As a result, none of us does anything truly good; no, not even one of us!
Paul, like other writers of Holy Scripture, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, depicts life as a journey, walking down the pathways of life. We have God as our guide on the path as long as we are willing to listen to Him. He knows the pathway for us to take which will glorify Him. But we often ignore His leading and travel the pathways that we want to take. Inevitably, however, the path we choose leads us into trouble and we have to call out to our Guide for help. The wonderful part of this is that whenever we call out to Him and admit our selfish sinfulness, He is right there to rescue us and to lead us back to the right path.
In today’s verse Paul tells us that when we sin, we have turned out of the way God intended for us, going our own way. Not only will this likely result in us getting into trouble, Paul tells us that we are no longer useful to God in accomplishing His desire for us. His desire is to use us for His glory, but our sins prevent that from happening. As a result, we become useless to Him like spoiled food.
It doesn’t matter whether we are Jews or Gentiles. It doesn’t matter whether we attend church every Sunday. It doesn’t matter if we read our Bibles every day. It doesn’t matter if we pray without ceasing. It doesn’t matter if we serve on the worship team, as an usher, as a Sunday school teacher, work in the nursery, serve on a committee, or give of our time to work on the church building. It doesn’t matter if we witness faithfully or do any other good deed. When we fail to listen to the still, small voice of God, we fail to follow His leading and we turn aside to do these things for ourselves, instead of doing them for His glory. And Paul tells us that we become useless to God and the things we do are not good things.
Application
God expects us to give of our time, talents, and treasure for the furtherance of His kingdom. If we serve Him with the wrong attitude, if we serve Him for the wrong reason, if we serve Him simply because we want to do it or because we feel pressured into doing it, we’re walking down the wrong path and we don’t glorify God. But if we do anything because the Holy Spirit has lead us to do it, this is good and it pleases God.
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2009 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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