Romans 3
1 What is the advantage, then, of being a Jew? Or what is the good of circumcision?
What special privilege, then, has a Jew? Or what benefit is to be derived from circumcision?
2 Great in every way. First of all, because the Jews were entrusted with God’s utterances.
The privilege is great from every point of view. First of all, because the Jews were entrusted with God's truth.
3 What follows then? Some, no doubt, showed a want of faith; but will their want of faith make God break faith? Heaven forbid!
For what if some Jews have proved unfaithful? Shall their faithlessness render God's faithfulness worthless?
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.’
No, indeed; let us hold God to be true, though every man should prove to be false. As it stands written, "That Thou mayest be shown to be just in the sentence Thou pronouncest, and gain Thy cause when Thou contendest."
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!
But if our unrighteousness sets God's righteousness in a clearer light, what shall we say? (Is God unrighteous--I speak in our everyday language-- when He inflicts punishment?
6 Otherwise how can God judge the world?
No indeed; for in that case how shall He judge all mankind?)
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?
If, for instance, a falsehood of mine has made God's truthfulness more conspicuous, redounding to His glory, why am I judged all the same as a sinner?
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!
And why should we not say--for so they wickedly misrepresent us, and so some charge us with arguing--"Let us do evil that good may come"? The condemnation of those who would so argue is just.
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.
What then? Are we Jews more highly estimated than they? Not in the least; for we have already charged all Jews and Gentiles alike with being in thraldom to sin.
10 As scripture says – ‘There is not even one who is righteous,
Thus it stands written, "There is not one righteous man.
11 not one who understands, not one who is searching for God!
There is not one who is really wise, nor one who is a diligent seeker after God.
12 They have all gone astray; they have one and all become depraved; there is no one who is doing good – no, not one!’
All have turned aside from the right path; they have every one of them become corrupt. There is no one who does what is right--no, not so much as one."
13 ‘Their throats are like opened graves; they deceive with their tongues.’ ‘The venom of snakes lies behind their lips,’
"Their throats resemble an opened grave; with their tongues they have been talking deceitfully." "The venom of vipers lies hidden behind their lips."
14 ‘And their mouths are full of bitter curses.’
"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."
15 ‘Swift are their feet to shed blood.
"Their feet move swiftly to shed blood.
16 Distress and trouble dog their steps,
Ruin and misery mark their path;
17 and the path of peace they do not know.’
and the way to peace they have not known."
18 ‘The fear of God is not before their eyes.’
"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
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.
But it cannot be denied that all that the Law says is addressed to those who are living under the Law, in order that every mouth may be stopped, and that the whole world may await sentence from God.
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.
For on the ground of obedience to Law no man living will be declared righteous before Him. Law simply brings a sure knowledge of sin.
21 But now, quite apart from Law, the divine righteousness stands revealed, and to it the Law and the prophets bear witness –
But now a righteousness coming from God has been brought to light apart from any Law, both Law and Prophets bearing witness to it--
22 the divine righteousness which is bestowed, through faith in Jesus Christ, on all, without distinction, who believe in him.
a righteousness coming from God, which depends on faith in Jesus Christ and extends to all who believe. No distinction is made;
23 For all have sinned, and all fall short of God’s glorious ideal,
for all alike have sinned, and all consciously come short of the glory of God,
24 but, in his loving kindness, are being freely pronounced righteous through the deliverance found in Christ Jesus.
gaining acquittal from guilt by His free unpurchased grace through the deliverance which is found in Christ Jesus.
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;
He it is whom God put forward as a Mercy-seat, rendered efficacious through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness-- because of the passing over, in God's forbearance, of the sins previously committed--
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.
with a view to demonstrating, at the present time, His righteousness, that He may be shown to be righteous Himself, and the giver of righteousness to those who believe in Jesus.
27 What, then, becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what sort of Law? A Law requiring obedience? No, a Law requiring faith.
Where then is there room for your boasting? It is for ever shut out. On what principle? On the ground of merit? No, but on the ground of faith.
28 For we conclude that a person is pronounced righteous on the ground of faith, quite apart from obedience to Law.
For we maintain that it is as the result of faith that a man is held to be righteous, apart from actions done in obedience to Law.
29 Or can it be that God is the God only of the Jews? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles?
Is God simply the God of the Jews, and not of the Gentiles also? He is certainly the God of the Gentiles also,
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.
unless you can deny that it is one and the same God who will pronounce the circumcised to be acquitted on the ground of faith, and the uncircumcised to be acquitted through the same faith.
31 Do we, then, use this faith to abolish Law? Heaven forbid! No, we establish Law.
Do we then by means of this faith abolish the Law? No, indeed; we give the Law a firmer footing.
