Commentary - Psalm 14:1-3

Bird's-eye view

Psalm 14 is a grim and necessary diagnostic of the human condition apart from grace. David, under the inspiration of the Spirit, lays the axe to the root of all human evil, which is a practical atheism of the heart. This is not primarily about the loudmouth on the street corner, but about the secret unbelief that can fester even within the covenant community. The psalm gives us God's own verdict on the human race, a verdict that the apostle Paul will later pick up and use as a cornerstone of his argument in the book of Romans. The picture is one of universal corruption and inability. From God's heavenly vantage point, no one seeks Him, no one does good. This total indictment is designed to shut every mouth and to make the subsequent announcement of salvation from Zion (v. 7) the only possible hope. It is a death that must precede a resurrection.

The structure is straightforward. David begins with the internal confession of the fool (v. 1a), moves to the external consequences of that confession in corrupt deeds (v. 1b), describes God's universal investigation from Heaven (v. 2), and delivers the devastating summary judgment (v. 3). This is the foundation upon which the rest of the psalm, and indeed the entire gospel, is built. Without this unvarnished truth about our natural state, the grace of God in Christ cannot be seen as the marvel that it is.

Outline

Context In Psalms

Psalm 14, and its very close parallel in Psalm 53, serves as a foundational statement in the Psalter about the nature of sin and the character of unregenerate man. It is a wisdom psalm that starkly contrasts the fool with the righteous. It provides the theological bedrock for the cries for deliverance and the imprecations against the wicked that we find elsewhere. When David prays for salvation from his enemies, it is these very "workers of iniquity," who devour God's people like bread (v. 4), that he has in mind. This psalm is God's declaration that the problem is not just a few bad actors; the problem is systemic, universal, and rooted in a heart that has rejected God. This makes the need for a divine intervention, a salvation from Zion, not just a preference but an absolute necessity.

Key Issues

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 The wicked fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They act corruptly, they commit abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.

David begins by identifying the taproot of all wickedness. Notice where the declaration is made: "in his heart." This is crucial. We are often exercised by overt, philosophical atheism, but the Bible is far more concerned with practical atheism. A man can say all the right things with his mouth, he can be a member of the church in good standing, and still be saying to himself, in the secret council of his own heart, "There is no God." What does this mean? It's not necessarily a denial of God's existence as a metaphysical proposition. Rather, it is a functional denial. It is to live as though there is no God who sees, no God who judges, no God to whom I must give an account. It is the creed of the autonomous man. And the Bible has a name for this man: "fool." In Scripture, folly is not an intellectual deficiency; it is a moral and spiritual one. Proud men would rather be called many wicked things, but God cuts to the quick and calls them fools.

The connection between this internal creed and external conduct is immediate and causal. Because they say "No God" in the heart, "they act corruptly." The fruit reveals the root. The life becomes putrid because the heart is. Their deeds are not just mistaken; they are "abominable," detestable to a holy God. And the summary is stark: "There is no one who does good." This is not hyperbole. From the divine perspective, any action not proceeding from a heart of faith in Him is not, and cannot be, a "good" deed. It is dead works. This sets the stage for the universal declaration to come.

2 Yahweh looks down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there is anyone who has insight, Anyone who seeks after God.

Here the perspective shifts from the fool's heart to God's throne. Yahweh, the covenant God, is not an absentee landlord. He is an active observer and judge. He "looks down from heaven." This is the vantage point of omniscience. We see ourselves from our own cramped, self-justifying perspective. God sees the whole landscape, every heart, every motive. And what is He looking for? He is searching for two things that mark true spiritual life: "insight" and "seeking." Does anyone understand their state? Does anyone grasp their creaturely dependence? And flowing from that, does anyone actually seek after God? The unregenerate man may seek after blessings, or religious experiences, or a fire escape from hell, but he does not seek after God for His own sake. To seek God is to desire Him above all else, to orient one's entire life toward Him. This is what God is looking for.

3 They have all turned aside, altogether they have become worthless; There is no one who does good, not even one.

And here is the divine verdict, the result of the heavenly investigation. The search turns up nothing. The language is devastatingly comprehensive. "They have all turned aside." Not some, not most, but all. The entire human race, left to its own devices, has wandered off the path. The word for "worthless" or corrupt here has the sense of something that has gone sour, like milk. There is a moral putrefaction that has set in. And then, for emphasis, the psalmist repeats the charge from verse 1, but with a hammer blow of finality: "There is no one who does good, not even one."

This is the verse, quoted by Paul in Romans 3, that establishes the universal guilt of all mankind, Jew and Gentile alike. This is the doctrine of total depravity. It does not mean that every man is as wicked as he could possibly be, but rather that sin has corrupted every part of his being, his mind, his will, his affections, so that he is utterly unable to save himself or to please God. He is not sick and in need of a little help; he is dead and in need of a resurrection. This dark backdrop is absolutely essential. It is only against this black velvet that the diamond of God's grace in the gospel can shine with its true brilliance. God shuts all men up under sin, so that He might have mercy upon all (Rom. 11:32).

Application

First, we must take this diagnosis seriously. The temptation for the modern Christian is to soften this. We want to flatter the unbeliever, to find some common ground of innate goodness. But the gospel is not advanced by flattery. We must recognize that apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, we are all just as corrupt as the most strident atheist. "There but for the grace of God go I" is not a pious platitude; it is bedrock biblical truth.

Second, this psalm should drive us to our knees in gratitude. If this is our natural state, then our salvation is nothing short of a miracle. God did not look down and find a few promising candidates. He looked down and found a world of rebels. And in His inexplicable mercy, He sent salvation out of Zion. He sent His Son into our corruption to redeem us from it. Our entire standing before God is one of mercy, not justice.

Finally, this understanding of human sinfulness must shape our evangelism. We are not recruiters trying to talk sick people into taking some medicine. We are heralds, like Ezekiel, preaching to a valley of dry bones. We declare the truth about sin and judgment, and we declare the glorious truth about the cross and resurrection, and we trust the Spirit of God to do what only He can do: raise the dead.