Romans 3
1 So what advantage does the Jew have, or what is the profit of circumcision?
What is the advantage, then, of being a Jew? or what is the good of circumcision?
2 Much in every way! First of all, because they were entrusted with the oracles of God.
Great in every way. First of all, because the Jews were entrusted with God’s utterances.
3 So, what if some did not believe? Their unbelief will not nullify God's faithfulness, will it?
What follows then? Some, no doubt, showed a want of faith; but will their want of faith make God break faith? Heaven forbid!
4 Of course not! Rather, let God be found true, but every man a liar; just as it is written: “That you may be justified in your words, and may overcome when you are judged.”
God must prove true, though every man prove a liar! As Scripture says of God — ‘That thou mayest be pronounced righteous in what thou sayest, and gain thy cause when men would judge thee.’
5 Now if our unrighteousness highlights God's righteousness, what shall we say? God is not unrighteous for inflicting His wrath, is He? (I speak as a man.)
But what if our wrong-doing makes God’s righteousness all the clearer? Will God be wrong in inflicting punishment? (I can but speak as a man.) Heaven forbid!
6 Of course not! Otherwise, how will God judge the world?
Otherwise how can God judge the world?
7 Still, if the truth of God abounded to His glory by my falsehood, just why am I still judged as a sinner?
But, if my falsehood redounds to the glory of God, by making his truthfulness more apparent, why am I like others, still condemned as a sinner?
8 However, we must not say, “Let us do evil so that good may come” (as some people slanderously claim that we do)—their condemnation is well deserved!
Why should we not say — as some people slanderously assert that we do say — ‘Let us do evil that good may come’? The condemnation of such men is indeed just!
9 What then? Are we any better? Not at all! For we have already charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
What follows, then? Are we Jews in any way superior to others? Not at all. Our indictment against both Jews and Greeks was that all alike were in subjection to sin.
10 Just as it is written: “No one is righteous, not even one;
As Scripture says — ‘There is not even one who is righteous,
11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
not one who understands, not one who is searching for God!
12 All have turned aside, together they have been made useless; there is no one who shows kindness, no, not so much as one.”
They have all gone astray; they have one and all become depraved; there is no one who is doing good — no, not one!’
13 “Their throat is an opened grave; they habitually deceive with their tongues.” “Viper's venom is under their lips”;
‘Their throats are like opened graves; they deceive with their tongues.’ ‘The venom of serpents lies behind their lips,’
14 “whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
‘And their mouths are full of bitter curses.’
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
‘Swift are their feet to shed blood.
16 ruin and wretchedness are in their paths,
Distress and trouble dog their steps,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
and the path of peace they do not know.’
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
‘The fear of God is not before their eyes.’
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world become accountable to God.
Now we know that everything said in the Law is addressed to those who are under its authority, in order that every mouth may be closed, and the whole world become liable to the judgment of God.
20 It follows that no flesh will be justified in His sight by the works of the law, because through the law comes the real knowledge of sin.
For ‘no human being will be pronounced righteous before God’ as the result of obedience to Law; for it is Law that shows what sin is.
21 But now, apart from law, a righteousness from God has been revealed, being attested by the Law and the Prophets,
But now, quite apart from Law, the Divine Righteousness stands revealed, and to it the Law and the Prophets bear witness —
22 namely, a righteousness from God through faith in Jesus Christ, into all and upon all those who believe. There is no difference:
the Divine Righteousness which is bestowed, through faith in Jesus Christ, upon all, without distinction, who believe in him.
23 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
For all have sinned, and all fall short of God’s glorious ideal,
24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;
but, in his loving-kindness, are being freely pronounced righteous through the deliverance found in Christ Jesus.
25 whom God has openly made available as a propitiation through the faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness because of the passing over, in God's forbearance, of the previously committed sins;
For God set him before the world, to be, by the shedding of his blood, a means of reconciliation through faith. And this God did to prove his righteousness, and because, in his forbearance, he had passed over the sins that men had previously committed;
26 to demonstrate His righteousness at this present time, so as to be just, Himself, and the justifier of him who is of the Faith of Jesus.
as a proof, I repeat, at the present time, of his own righteousness, that he might be righteous in our eyes, and might pronounce righteous the man who takes his stand on faith in Jesus.
27 Where then is the boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law, that of works? No, but by a law of faith.
What, then, becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what sort of Law? A Law requiring obedience? No, a Law requiring faith.
28 Therefore we conclude that a person is justified by faith apart from works of law.
For we conclude that a man is pronounced righteous on the ground of faith, quite apart from obedience to Law.
29 Or is God for Jews only? Is He not also for Gentiles? Yes, also for Gentiles,
Or can it be that God is the God only of the Jews? Is not he also the God of the Gentiles?
30 since indeed there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through the Faith.
Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is only one God, and he will pronounce those who are circumcised righteous as the result of faith, and also those who are uncircumcised on their showing the same faith.
31 Do we then nullify law through the Faith? Of course not! Rather, we uphold law.
Do we, then, use this faith to abolish Law? Heaven forbid! No, we establish Law.
