Romans 3:18

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

It should be borne in mind that all these charges must be understood, not as mere prejudice on Paul's part, but as the pronouncements of the true prophets of God in the old institution. These things are what the Jewish scriptures say about the Jews. This verse is a quotation from Psalms 36:1, and seems to be presented here as a climax of all the wickedness already documented. Where there is no fear of God in the hearts of people, there is no practical restraint of any kind upon their deeds. The unregenerated man who does not fear God or, for that matter, even believe that God exists - such a man quickly proves what a vicious and unprincipled beast the natural man becomes, once he has drifted, or fallen, beyond the reach of heavenly influence. This statement is the final in a list of twelve classes of wickedness charged against Israel by Paul, every one of which he documented by quotations from the prophets of the Old Testament. That the sins catalogued in these verses must be understood as the crimes of Israel is apparent, not merely from the fact that Paul directed these words to Israel, but from the further fact of their being mentioned in the Old Testament.