¹The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God,” they are corrupt, and have committed abominable injustice; there is no one who does good … ⁶Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When God restores His captive people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

Foolish deniers of the existence of God will always be with us, but we don’t have to succumb to anxiety or fear of them. We who are faithful to the Lord both desire and expect that He will eventually give us the upper hand. This is our great hope. In NT terms, our hope is assured because of the historical fact of Jesus’ resurrection, as the apostle Peter puts it:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead … (1 Peter 1:3)

Before the death and resurrection of our Lord, David’s hope was no less assured because he had the same faith as we do today. His faith looks forward to the future when God would restore His people, thus proving the God-deniers wrong. He and we have much to rejoice in—God will come through!

This psalm reflects Psalm 14, which is almost identical. Some commentators see this as a retelling of the earlier psalm as a celebration of a specific victory over an enemy that had been holding Israel captive:

There they were in great fear where no fear had been; for God scattered the bones of him who encamped against you; You put them to shame, because God had rejected them. (Ps. 53:5)

Also to be noted is the change from Psalm 14’s three references to God as “Yahweh” (rendered in English with small caps “Lord”) to this psalm’s using the term “Elohim” instead. We may surmise that denial of Yahweh as the covenant-keeping God of Israel (Psalm 14) and the rejection of the Creator God of the universe (Psalm 53) are seen as foolishness. We can’t help but see a correlation to the fool of Proverbs, who rejects wisdom, and in particular, has no “fear of the Lord.”

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction … The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Prov. 1:7, 9:10)

This does not mean a foolish person is stupid. No, God-deniers can be very intelligent people, but their refusal to acknowledge God leads them ultimately to corruption of character and “abominable injustice.” Without God as the reference point of life, people flounder for another foundation on which to build their lives, usually themselves. But that is like throwing an anchor overboard in the ocean of life, only to have it land on a lower deck!

God assesses that there is ultimately nothing good in that person. Their deeds may seem on the surface to be benevolent, but ultimately their goal and purposes are centered on themselves—even their sacrifices accrue to them some self-serving self-satisfaction (even pride) in being benevolent. But it is all about them. That is the problem, and it is their ruin.

Now, David, the author of these thoughts, refers to the evil nations that have warred against Israel. He can’t possibly be including himself and other Israelites who faithfully seek God. He distinguishes between the foolish God-deniers and “My people” (vs. 4). Certainly, David himself is doing good in writing these words down and reflecting on these truths.

David can’t be included in the verse, “There is no one who does good… Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Or can he? Two psalms earlier, he wrote,

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight… (Ps. 51:3–4a)

Therefore, while the immediate context of Psalm 53 focuses on the complete corruption of God-deniers, this doesn’t exclude the wider assessment of the human race as a whole. In fact, the apostle Paul makes this very application in the book of Romans in showing that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). He begins his argument with humanity’s fallen instinct to deny God:

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (Rom. 1:21)

We see in Romans 3:10-12 the apostle applying snippets from Psalm 53:

All are all under sin; 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.” (Rom. 3:9b–12)

Lord, though I once did not honor You, I have come to believe You exist and are active in my life. In faith, I consciously and purposely honor You with my existence.