Who the fool is

Who is the following passage referring to?  Are they the same rebels at the Tower of Babel whom God gave up in Romans 1:18-34?

Psalm 14:1-3

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.  The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.  They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Although it may be applied to those gentiles at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 (who definitely rebelled against the knowledge of the True and Living God that they had to go after idols), the direct interpretation of the verse is to both unbelieving Jew and Gentile because the Holy Ghost tells that to us through our Apostle Paul!

In Romans chapter 3, our Apostle actually quotes the passage in reference to how God saw the entire world of humanity at the time of Israel's fall.

Romans 3:9-12

What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

In the context, our Apostle is demonstrating particularly to the Jews why God was more than just to condemn them along with the gentiles because of their unbelief!

Notice what Paul says in verse 9: What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;

Therefore, the "we" in the passage are the Jews, and the "they" are the Gentiles. So at the fall of Israel, both Jew and Gentile fulfill those verses from Psalm 14.

Psalm 53:1

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.

Romans 1:21

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Hopefully this helps! 

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Northern California Grace Fellowship

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