Cornilus did in Acts.10!
Maybe Romans 3:11 is hybolic to make a point that both Jews and Gentiles are both equally in sin.
After all, not all men are as wicked as the description of those who follow in vs 13-18.
I know that verse is one of the Calvinist key proof texts, but the fact is men do seek God even if blindly, needing God's light (Acts.17:27,30)
That was the point Paul was making to the Greeks with their worship of idols, that they were seeking but needed the truth.
The Jews likewise were seeking,but had 'zeal without knowledge' seeking to work their way to God and rejecting faith as a means of salvation.
Cornelius did in Acts.10! Maybe Romans 3:11 is hy[per]bolic to make a point that both Jews and Gentiles are both equally in sin.
A fundamental rule of Scriptural interpretation is that when you can choose between a straightforward interpretation and an obscure interpretation the former is to be preferred. The straightforward interpretation is so clear in this case that the text needs no elaboration: "No one seeks for God." To respond "Cornelius did" is to accuse God of contradication.
There is at least one simpler alternative to understanding Acts 10. Cornelius was a "devout man who feared God with all his household" [Acts 10:2a] because God had already regenerated him. He was already a believer, but one who lacked much knowledge. God singled him out, as the passage indicates, as the first Gentile to give the Holy Spirit to once Peter had arrived, in order to teach the Jews that God doesn't show favoritism. Cornelius' seeking was the response to, and not the cause of, his regeneration.
This view of the text may not be the correct understanding, but it's a reasonable possibility, unlike saying that God really meant "Some people seek God" when he said "No one seeks God."
After all, not all men are as wicked as the description of those who follow in vs 13-18.
This is an astonishing claim: Although the Bible says men are thoroughly wicked -- (None is righteous, no, not one, no one understands, no one seeks God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one....[Romans 3:10-12]) -- you know better.
You may know better, but I don't. All I know is that the Bible says we're so totally depraved that we're all "dead in sin." My imagination may be too unenlightened, but I just can't see how one could be more wicked than "dead in sin." Maybe "really and truly dead in sin?" Maybe, "I meant it when I said 'dead in sin.'"... But how are these any more clear, any more emphatic than all the "No ones" above?
FTD: Cornilus did in Acts.10!
Careful there, man. Building a doctrine out of Acts is dangerous, given that Acts portrays the transition from the Old Testament dispensation to the New.
Besides, this would indicate he was regenerate, after the pattern of the Old Testament saints:
"[Cornelius was] a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually." -- Acts 10:2 [NASB]
Maybe Romans 3:11 is hybolic to make a point that both Jews and Gentiles are both equally in sin.
Yes, to some extent: it shows that all men are completely evil. This is what Total Depravity means -- that man is as bad off as he can be.
After all, not all men are as wicked as the description of those who follow in vs 13-18.
Really now? I know I was. This described me completely before salvation, and alas, it still describes my old nature. It describes every single person on this board.
I know that verse is one of the Calvinist key proof texts, but the fact is men do seek God even if blindly, needing God's light (Acts.17:27,30)
Actually Acts 17:27 says, "if perhaps they might grope for him," as if it anticipates that men do not. In other words, God is there working in our lives, and not hiding himself, so that if we sought after him, we'd find him. But, because we are utterly and completely sinful, we do not, so we are without excuse. We cannot claim, "well, if he showed Himself to be God, I would believe Him." Well, He has, and many of us still do not believe Him.
No one seeks God, no not one.