“Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man. Everyone utters lies to his neighbor …” (Ps. 12:1-2)
Just like when we speak, “everyone” rarely means everyone in the Bible. Two psalms later, David says there is none who does good (14:1). Part of what they do wrong, though, is eat up God’s people (v. 4). In verse 5 David announces that God is with the generation of the righteous, and you can see from many of his Psalms that he regards himself as among the righteous, not among the “none who does good.”
In Romans 3, Paul is not trying to say that no one has ever done any good; he is telling the Jews that they are as bad as the Gentiles in disobeying God, often being so bad that they run to shed blood. You can see this in verse 19, which says, “We know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law.” In other words, this passage I just quoted from Psalm 14 is about you Jews, not the Gentiles. The law is not making you any more righteous than other nations because righteousness doesn’t come from the law but from faith in God.
Ezekiel 14 tells us twice that Daniel, Noah, and Job were righteous. They were not among the none who do good, nor were Joseph, nor the Rechabites (Jer. 35).
We teach some nonsense as Biblical truth, and even as foundational biblical truth. Jesus’ came because God was not looking for “a few good men,” but for a righteous people, zealous for good works (Tit. 2:11-15).
There are a lot of opinions and rumors about Constantine, the Council of Nicea, and the events of the fourth century that changed Christianity to Christendom. Not only will you get the incredible story, with all its twists, plots, and intrigues, but you will find out how history is done and never wonder what is true again.
The Rest of the Old, Old Story 
Yes, exactly!
Thank you, Paul, for your True Grace/Holy Ghost Spirit Empowered answer and observation.
Hi Paul
I’m wondering, how could Noah be considered righteous in light of the drunken naked incident at the end of Genesis 9?
Jon
Perhaps he Repented, which the text does not say he did but there is that possibility even thou the scripture text is silent about it. If he is forgiven, then he is righteous.
Thank you. This is Dakota, right?
Wow. This is IMPORTANT! This question could explain a lot of the difficulties you’ve written me about over the years. Righteousness is not an incident; righteousness is a pattern. Eternal life is a reward for those who patiently continue to do good, says Rom. 2:7. It is not a reward for sinless perfection, but for those who don’t grow tired of living a righteous life (Gal. 6:9).
Continuing in righteousness does not mean that we have never committed sin, nor that we have never committed a major sin. It means that we repented, really repented, of the sins we have done, minor or major, and that we have lived our lives with noticeable righteousness. In Noah’s case, we know little of his life outside that one drunk night. On the other hand, we know a lot about David’s zeal for God outside his problems with women, Bathsheba being a horrific example of that problem.
In the end, though God calls Noah righteous in Ezekiel 14:14 and 14:20. He was not sinlessly perfect. John wrote his first epistle so that we would not sin at all, but he was not unaware that all or most of his followers sinned, so in 1 John 2:2, he writes, “But if you do sin …”
An overactive conscience can kill a person. We have to be able to come boldly to the throne of God’s favor (grace) in order to obtain mercy, but if we think it is something other than a throne of favor, we won’t come boldly, and though he is offering his mercy, an overactive conscience can reject it, choosing to punish oneself even when God has chosen to simply show mercy.
We love him because he first loved us. We need to receive his love and mercy in order love God and do his will. We know that Noah offended God one day, and we know that God counted him righteous anyway. We should learn from that. (We should also learn from Joseph and Daniel who seem to have been more righteous even than Noah, as far as living their life.)
Thanks for the encouragement Paul.
I think a similar point could be made about the figures mentioned in Hebrews 11. A number of them we can read of their imperfections in the Old Testament, but they are nevertheless commended for their faith.