Romans 3
1 What is the advantage, then, of being a Jew? Or what is the good of circumcision?
Quid ergo amplius Judæo est? aut quæ utilitas circumcisionis?
2 Great in every way. First of all, because the Jews were entrusted with God’s utterances.
Multum per omnem modum. Primum quidem quia credita sunt illis eloquia Dei.
3 What follows then? Some, no doubt, showed a want of faith; but will their want of faith make God break faith? Heaven forbid!
Quid enim si quidam illorum non crediderunt? numquid incredulitas illorum fidem Dei evacuabit? Absit.
4 God must prove true, though everyone prove a liar! As scripture says of God – “That you may be pronounced righteous in what you say, and gain your cause when people would judge you.”
Est autem Deus verax: omnis autem homo mendax, sicut scriptum est: [Ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis: et vincas cum judicaris.]
5 But what if our wrongdoing makes God’s righteousness all the clearer? Will God be wrong in inflicting punishment? (I can but speak as a person.) Heaven forbid!
Si autem iniquitas nostra justitiam Dei commendat, quid dicemus? Numquid iniquus est Deus, qui infert iram?
6 Otherwise how can God judge the world?
secundum hominem dico. Absit. Alioquin quomodo judicabit Deus hunc mundum?
7 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?
Si enim veritas Dei in meo mendacio abundavit in gloriam ipsius: quid adhuc et ego tamquam peccator judicor?
8 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 people is indeed just!
et non (sicut blasphemamur, et sicut aiunt quidam nos dicere) faciamus mala ut veniant bona: quorum damnatio justa est.
9 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.
Quid ergo? præcellimus eos? Nequaquam. Causati enim sumus Judæos et Græcos omnes sub peccato esse,
10 As scripture says – “There is not even one who is righteous,
sicut scriptum est: [Quia non est justus quisquam:
11 not one who understands, not one who is searching for God!
non est intelligens, non est requirens Deum.
12 They have all gone astray; they have one and all become depraved; there is no one who is doing good – no, not one!”
Omnes declinaverunt, simul inutiles facti sunt: non est qui faciat bonum, non est usque ad unum.
13 “Their throats are like opened graves; they deceive with their tongues.” “The venom of snakes lies behind their lips,”
Sepulchrum patens est guttur eorum, linguis suis dolose agebant: venenum aspidum sub labiis eorum:
14 “And their mouths are full of bitter curses.”
quorum os maledictione, et amaritudine plenum est:
15 “Swift are their feet to shed blood.
veloces pedes eorum ad effundendum sanguinem:
16 Distress and trouble dog their steps,
contritio et infelicitas in viis eorum:
17 and the path of peace they do not know.”
et viam pacis non cognoverunt:
18 “The fear of God is not before their eyes.”
non est timor Dei ante oculos eorum.]
19 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 to bring the whole world under God’s judgment.
Scimus autem quoniam quæcumque lex loquitur, iis, qui in lege sunt, loquitur: ut omne os obstruatur, et subditus fiat omnis mundus Deo:
20 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.
quia ex operibus legis non justificabitur omnis caro coram illo. Per legem enim cognitio peccati.
21 But now, quite apart from Law, the divine righteousness stands revealed, and to it the Law and the prophets bear witness –
Nunc autem sine lege justitia Dei manifestata est: testificata a lege et prophetis.
22 the divine righteousness which is bestowed, through faith in Jesus Christ, on all, without distinction, who believe in him.
Justitia autem Dei per fidem Jesu Christi in omnes et super omnes qui credunt in eum: non enim est distinctio:
23 For all have sinned, and all fall short of God’s glorious ideal,
omnes enim peccaverunt, et egent gloria Dei.
24 but, in his loving kindness, are being freely pronounced righteous through the deliverance found in Christ Jesus.
Justificati gratis per gratiam ipsius, per redemptionem quæ est in Christo Jesu,
25 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 people had previously committed;
quem proposuit Deus propitiationem per fidem in sanguine ipsius, ad ostensionem justitiæ suæ propter remissionem præcedentium delictorum
26 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 person who takes their stand on faith in Jesus.
in sustentatione Dei, ad ostensionem justitiæ ejus in hoc tempore: ut sit ipse justus, et justificans eum, qui est ex fide Jesu Christi.
27 What, then, becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what sort of Law? A Law requiring obedience? No, a Law requiring faith.
Ubi est ergo gloriatio tua? Exclusa est. Per quam legem? Factorum? Non: sed per legem fidei.
28 For we conclude that a person is pronounced righteous on the ground of faith, quite apart from obedience to Law.
Arbitramur enim justificari hominem per fidem sine operibus legis.
29 Or can it be that God is the God only of the Jews? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles?
An Judæorum Deus tantum? nonne et gentium? Immo et gentium:
30 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.
quoniam quidem unus est Deus, qui justificat circumcisionem ex fide, et præputium per fidem.
31 Do we, then, use this faith to abolish Law? Heaven forbid! No, we establish Law.
Legem ergo destruimus per fidem? Absit: sed legem statuimus.
