re: Pope Francis is under fire after claiming that human beings are “fundamentally good”

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So Paul is not speaking of individuals when verse 10 starts. He is speaking corporately. He is making the point that all nations (not individuals) are in bondage to sin and in need of salvation

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Maybe. Or, maybe Paul is speaking to the issue division between Jew and gentile.

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Not even the Jews, with their advantage of being God's covenant and blessed people, have been able to rise above their fallen nature and crowd sin out of their lives.

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Amen to that. I think that was the primary message.

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If none are righteous, who are these righteous people that David is referring to in Psalm 14:5?

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David could have been referring to the blessed man whose sin God does not remember. Paul could have been using that as a reference to those who now have the imputed righteousness of Christ. Could have been.

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Obviously

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Mmmmm…


I’m going to bed soon, so please forgive my brevity. I absolutely love your exegesis, here. I would just like to add one caveat. It’s not that all people are all bad all the time. It’s that all it takes is one time (James 2:10). And that even if it’s just not one time, you (as a created being) are incapable of paying that fine by any other means than death. Which is precisely why Jesus paid the price for our sins. Those who are counted as righteous in God’s eyes are so due solely to His grace and mercy- not of our own works(lest any man should boast). Our righteousness is as filthy rags. We have a very different definition of good than that which God has. There in lies the problem.