A quotation from Ps. 36:1. Paul began this series of quotations with a general statement about the sinfulness of all men. He then referred to some of the various manifestations of sin. Finally he quotes a statement as to the origin of sin. Wickedness springs from a lack of reverence for God. Where there is no regard or reverence for the character, authority, and honor of God, there is no restraint from evil (see also Rom. 1:32).

 These quotations from the OT have served to support Paul’s contention that the Jews are far from being exempt from the universal sinfulness of man. In view of these descriptions of the condition of the Jewish people, a Jew certainly could not hope to be saved simply because he was a Jew. And if such was the character of the chosen people, with all their privileges and advantages, what must have been the condition of the less enlightened heathen? It is thus not difficult to believe the terrible description of the pagan world in ch. 1. Indeed, the whole world is involved in sin, and all its inhabitants are polluted, ruined, and helpless. The ruin could well lead one to hopeless despondency were it not that the God of mercy has pitied us in our low estate and has devised a plan by which lost, fallen man may be exalted to “glory and honour and immortality” (ch. 2:7).