Romans 3:11

Romans 3:10-12 (see also Isaiah 53:6)
As it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, there is not even one.”

​Similarly, Isaiah 53:6 states: “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” 













































Romans 3:11-12: “There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, there is not even one.”

Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Isaiah 53:6: “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” 

So the 5-Point Calvinist will agree that with each of these universal terms, but only until we arrive at the part about whose iniquity has fallen on the Messiah? The iniquity of us “all” has fallen on Christ. Jesus loves you. Jesus died for you. Whosoever will may call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. (Romans 10:13) Jesus knocks on the door of our heart. We do not seek after Him out to knock on the door of His heart. Again, man does not seek Jesus, so Jesus must seek man. Jesus states: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)

Adrian Rogers: “In evangelism today, sometimes we hear about seeker sensitive services. Now they say to preachers today, ‘Now if you want to build a church, all these people who come who are seeking God, you be sensitive to them.’ Well, humanity is not seeking God. Do you know who the seeker is? His name is Jesus. Luke 19:10 says the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. Isn’t that great? So you know we need to be sensitive to the seeker, but we need to be sensitive to the seeker which is the Holy Spirit, and not sensitive to the sinner who couldn’t give a hoot, because we are dependent upon the Holy Spirit to convict him. And that’s the reason we have to pray and soak all that we do in prayer, because there is none that seek after God. No, not one.” (God vs. Humanity: Rom. 3:9-10)

So the irony of the “Seeker Sensitive” movement is that the real Seeker is Jesus. Now the point of debate relative to Calvinism and Arminianism is whether the Seeker seeks with Irresistible Grace or Prevenient Grace. Irresistible Grace requires that one become preemptively placed in Christ, prior to being sealed in Christ, as per Ephesians 1:13, and that’s a tough sell for Calvinists to try to make.


Ask the Calvinist:  At Romans 3:11, who does it say that “seeks for God”?

  • The Calvinist will correctly answer “no one.” 

Ask the Calvinist:  Do you mean “no one” of the elect, or literally no one at all?

  • The Calvinist will correctly answer “no one at all.” 

Ask the Calvinist:  At Romans 3:12, who does it say that have “turned aside”?

  • The Calvinist will correctly answer “all.” 

Ask the Calvinist:  Do you mean “all” of the elect, or literally all?

  • The Calvinist will correctly answer, literally “all.” 

Ask the Calvinist:  For whom did Jesus die?

  • The 5-Point Calvinist will insist that the answer is “the elect.” 

Now have the Calvinist turn to Isaiah 53:6: “All of us like sheep have gone astray (who?), each of us has turned to his own way (who?, Romans 3:12); but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all (who?) to fall on Him.”

Ask the 5-Point Calvinist:  Given that there is literally “no one” who seeks after God, and that literally “all” we like sheep have turned aside, and that literally each of us has turned to his own way, whose iniquity has fallen on Christ?

  • The 5-Point Calvinist will incorrectly answer “the elect.” 

The 5-Point Calvinist had agreed every step of the way through Romans 3:10-12 with universal terms until we got to the part about “for whom Jesus died,” as referenced from Isaiah 53:6. Literally “no one” seeks after God, literally “all” we like sheep have turned away, but somehow not literally “all” whose iniquity has fallen on Christ.