ἔστι (estin) in Romans 3:12: Verb Third Person Singular Present Active Indicative

Verb: the word names an act or state of being, and here it expresses existence or presence in the clause.

Present: often views the action as in progress, customary, or presently in view. Context decides the exact force.

Active: presents the subject as doing or carrying the action.

Indicative: presents the verbal idea as an assertion or statement in the clause.

Third person: the form speaks about someone or something rather than directly as I/we or you.

Not applicable: this verb form is not using noun case to mark its sentence role.

Singular: the form is third person singular, so it takes a singular subject in ordinary agreement.

Not applicable: this verb form does not use grammatical gender to make its point.

οὐκ ... ποιῶν χρηστότητα

The verb is negated by οὐκ and followed by the participial phrase that describes the one doing good, so it functions as a statement of absence within the verse.

It serves as a present existential or impersonal claim: there is no one who does kindness.

It does not itself name the person in view, and it does not by itself supply the content of the action beyond asserting nonexistence or absence.

High: The negated verb states the absence that intensifies Paul's universal indictment.

Negated existential predicate. states that no person fitting the description is present in the claim. Attached to the no-one-doing-good clause. Governed by the negation and participial phrase. The verb gives the absence statement its force, while Romans 3 supplies the theological argument.

What absence does the clause assert? It asserts that there is no one doing good within the scope of Paul's cited indictment.

Direct: The verb directly supports an existential rendering such as "there is not."

The universality should be read inside Paul's argument and citation chain, not isolated from Romans 3.

Grammar alone defines total depravity: The grammar states the absence claim; doctrine must be drawn from the whole argument.

The witness reads ἔστι in Romans 3:12, within the sequence οὐκ ἔστι ποιῶν χρηστότητα, and the form is consistent across the provided TR/Scrivener record.

The lemma is εἰμί, the common verb to be or exist, and in this context it functions in a basic existential way rather than introducing a new lexical idea.

The singular present indicative fits a general statement about absence, while the negated participle phrase supplies the descriptive content: no one is performing kindness.

The verse is part of a broader indictment, and this form helps communicate that the speaker is denying the presence of any person characterized by goodness in this setting.

Within Romans 3, the wording contributes to the scriptural summary of universal human failure without turning the verb form into a separate doctrinal claim.

In translation and teaching, this form is best heard as a simple present assertion of absence: there is not one who does good.

Do not derive personhood, gendered theology, or a special metaphysical claim from the singular form alone, and do not let morphology override the verse's immediate negated context.