Naturally Corrupt

The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

Psalm 14:1

Below is the beginning of some commentary on this text from Stephen Charnock. Charnock wrote in ways we don ot write today so I will do my best to "commentate" on his commentary. He does a great job exegeting and explaining this text so we can understand it and apply it to our lives and worldview.

This Psalm is a description of the deplorable corruption by nature of every son of Adam, since the withering of that common root. Some restrain it to the Gentiles, as a wilderness full of briers and thorns, as not concerning the Jews, the garden of God, planted by his grace, and watered by the dew of heaven. But the apostle, the best interpreter, rectifies this in extending it by name to Jews as well as Gentiles, (Romans 3:9)--"We have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;" and verses 10-12 cite part of this psalm and other passages of scripture for the further evidence of it, concluding by Jews and Gentiles, every person in the world naturally in this state of corruption.

Charnock begins by explaining that this foolishness describes the condition of all of us by nature: not just Jews but Gentiles (non-Jews) as well; Not just Gentiles but Jews as well...and every single one of us. Adam was the first man and when he sinned he contaminated the entire human race with sin so that we all are born from that root, that sinful withering root. We are all born with a sinful nature. We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. It is our nature.

The apostle he mentions is Paul, writing in the book of Romans. Paul cited this passage and some others in chapter 3 in describing the condition of all men, and he defined all men specifically as Jew and Gentile.

This is the bad news. We are all born fools. We are born with the inclination to sin. We are all born with the will to fight the idea of God as He really is. Even those of us raised in "Christian homes" may accept the idea of God, and some things about Him, but it is often a struggle, even in that setting, to accept God for all He is. Many people live today calling themselves "Christians" who actually hate who God really is. They hate his sovereignty especially. They hate that His sovereignty usurps their imagined autonomy. God defines God. We cannot judge "Godness" by some standard outside of God's own standard. But that is our nature. And why are we like this? Because our nature is corrupt. More later...