As you read Rom.3:10-12, remember Paul had these scriptures in his head. He inundates his readers with a flood of OT passages (mostly from psalms) that they should have been familiar with. Like stringing pearls, each of his quotations drives home the point that the Jews aren’t quite as good as they think they are. The first quotation is a paraphrase of Ps.14:1-3. It lists six indictments: Firstly, there is no one righteous (v10) – not one person, apart from Jesus, who has lived a sinless life. Secondly, (v11a) we are all spiritually ignorant. Thirdly, (11b) people are all rebellious. They avoid Him. Of course, they don’t shirk the duties of religion. People like pageantry and they like to do things that make them feel religious. But seeking God with all one’s heart is a bit more threatening than our human solutions. 

Fourthly, people not only fail to seek God, but they deliberately turn away from Him, like a soldier running the wrong way in the midst of battle. Fifthly, Paul charges that the natural person is “worthless” (v12, NIV). It is the same word used of milk when it has gone bad. Human nature without God is soured and useless. 

Lastly, “no one…does good” (v12). That charge is both a repetition of the first one and a summary of the previous five charges. We are all under the power of sin (V9). Paul wants his readers to sense the depth of their need so that we will humble ourselves and bow to Him at the foot of the cross in humility. 

Before we are ready for the “good news”, we need to accept that we are all sinners – damaged emotionally, physically, and spiritually. We need to get used to that and not obsess over the faults of others. A holy and perfect God, through Christ, accepts us as we are: you who are hardly holy and perfect, must do the same with others. Our righteousness is like the moon – always waxing and waning – at its best full of holes. God’s grace is like the sun, pouring out fully, instantaneously, and without interruption. Never concentrate on your love for God but concentrate on God’s love for you.