Romans 3

Let God be true

What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? ²Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. ³What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness?a

⁴Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”b ⁵But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) ⁶Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?

⁷Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” ⁸Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!c

There is no one righteous

⁹What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.d ¹⁰As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;e ¹¹there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.f

¹²All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”g ¹³“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.”h ¹⁴“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”i ¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood;j ¹⁶ruin and misery mark their ways, ¹⁷and the way of peace they do not know.”k ¹⁸“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”l ¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.m

²⁰Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.n

Justified freely by his grace

²¹But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.o ²²This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,p ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,q ²⁴and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.r

²⁵God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—s ²⁶he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. ²⁷Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith.t

²⁸For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.u ²⁹Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,v ³⁰since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

³¹Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.w