They are all gone out of the way
In ( Psalms
14:3 ) ; it is said, "they are all gone aside"; as persons in
debt: man had a considerable stock of righteousness, holiness,
knowledge but he has run through all, has contracted large and
numerous debts, has been obliged to hide himself, has been used
as a bankrupt, and turned out of house and home: Christ indeed
has undertook to pay, and he has paid all the debts of his
people; and has put them into a better state than ever Adam was
in: in ( Psalms 53:3 ) , it is
rendered, "everyone of them is gone back"; that is, from God;
from his commands, and from their former state and condition:
here the phrase is rendered by the apostle, "they are all gone
out of the way": that is, out of the way of God and his precepts,
out of the way of holiness and righteousness, of light and life;
into their own ways, the ways of sin, Satan, and the world of
darkness, and of death: so Aben Ezra explains it, "out of the
right way"; Kimchi and Ben Melech paraphrase it, "out of the good
way: and so"
they are together become unprofitable;
the word (wxlan) , in (
Psalms 14:3 )
and ( Psalms
53:3 ) ; is translated, "they are become filthy"; which R.
Aben Ezra interprets by (wtxvn) , "they are corrupt"; and R. Solomon Jarchi by
(lwqlql wkphn) , "they are
turned to corruption"; the metaphor is taken from stinking flesh,
which is tainted and corrupted, and so good for nothing, hence
here rendered "unprofitable"; for so men being corrupted by sin,
are of no use, service, and advantage to God, to men, or to
themselves; but, on the contrary, nauseous to God, and to all
that are good, and hurtful to themselves and others: for
there is none that does good, no, not one;
and therefore must be unprofitable. There is none that can do
good in a spiritual manner, without the grace of God, strength
from Christ, and the assistance of the Spirit; and there is not
even a spiritual man, that can do good perfectly, and without
sin.