Question:
Answer:
In Romans 3:10–11, St. Paul says that “as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God.’” And in verses 22–23, he says, “For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
These passages are sometimes used to “disprove” Mary’s Immaculate Conception by arguing that this literally means everyone is a sinner. But is Paul really trying to say that there are no righteous individuals who have ever lived? This reading does not work.
First, we know Jesus Christ is both fully man and sinless. It’s tempting to say, “Well, obviously, Paul doesn’t mean to include Jesus,” but if your argument is that “no one” literally means no one, you can’t make one exception.
Second, we know that there were righteous men and women in the Old Testament. Paul spends time in Romans talking about Abraham (Rom. 4:1–12; see Gen. 15:6), but there are plenty of others. For instance, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation” (Gen. 6:9).
Third, we know that there were men and women who sought God in the Old and New Testaments alike. 2 Chronicles 15:3–4, for instance, talks about how the Israelites went astray from God, but then sought him again.
So, if Paul isn’t trying to say that literally no people have ever been without sin, or have ever been righteous, or have ever sought God, what is going on here? There are two clues. The first clue is that Paul says, “as it is written.” In other words, if you want to understand what Paul is talking about, you need to understand the reference.
The reference is to Psalm 14, which is clearly using poetic and hyperbolic language. In verses 2–3, the Psalmist says that “the Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God. They have all gone astray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good, no, not one.” But just two verses later, he says that the godless “shall be in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous.” So clearly, the righteous do exist, since they are being persecuted by the unrighteous.
The second clue is the phrase “for there is no distinction.” Naturally, we should be asking, distinction between whom? In context, it’s perfectly clear: Paul is saying that “all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin” (Rom. 3:9).
In other words, he’s not saying anything for or against the sinlessness of Mary (or of Jesus). He’s instead showing that both Jews and Gentiles need the gospel, which “is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). So the “no one” in question in Romans 3:11 refers to no tribe or group or class of people.