Thomas Aquinas, on Ps 52:3

“God looked down from heaven on the children of men: to see if there were any that did understand, or did seek God.”

“"All have turned aside." And first he touches upon the departure from the root. Second he says what follows from this. And concerning this he explains. He says, therefore, he inquires here, but he finds that "all have turned aside, together they have become useless"; and again, "there is none who does good." From the understanding and seeking of God "all have departed." Is. 53: "Each one has turned aside to his own way." From this it follows that they are useless, both to themselves and to others. For those who do not have the love of God do not have true faith; whatever works of a good kind they do, they are useless to themselves for the reward of eternal life. Therefore he says, "Together they have become useless," that is, they have done useless works. 1 Cor. 13: "If I distribute all my goods to feed the poor," etc. Is. 14: "Cast out from your tomb," etc. And he explains how they are useless: because "there is none who does good," because those things which are not done in the power of faith and are not informed by the love of God are not good simply. Rom. 14: "Whatever is not from faith is dead." And that they have turned aside he shows when he says, "There is none, not even one," that is, not even one is found to be good. But is there no one good in the whole universe? It must be said that in one way, if it refers to the company of the wicked, no one is good. In another way, universally, "there is none, not even one," that is, up to Christ there is no one who is good by his own power. Phil. 2: "God who works in us."”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.