Romans 3:1–4:23
3 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? 2 Much in every way! Chiefly because ato them were committed the 1oracles of God. 3 For what if bsome did not believe? cWill their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? 4 dCertainly not! Indeed, let eGod be 2true but fevery man a liar. As it is written:
g“That You may be justified in Your words,
And may overcome when You are judged.”
5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? h(I speak as a man.) 6 Certainly not! For then ihow will God judge the world?
7 For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say, j“Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their 3condemnation is just.
9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that kthey are all under sin.
l“There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
13 “Their mthroat is an open 4tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;
n“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
14 “Whose omouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their pfeet are swift to shed blood;
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways;
17 And the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There qis no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever rthe law says, it says to those who are under the law, that severy mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become 5guilty before God. 20 Therefore tby the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
God’s Righteousness Through Faith
21 But now uthe righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, vbeing witnessed by the Law wand the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all 6and on all who believe. For xthere is no difference; 23 for yall have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified 7freely zby His grace athrough the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth bas a 8propitiation cby His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over dthe sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 eWhere is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude fthat a man is 9justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. 29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 since gthere is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
4 What then shall we say that aAbraham our bfather 1has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was cjustified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? d“Abraham believed God, and it was 2accounted to him for righteousness.” 4 Now eto him who works, the wages are not counted 3as grace but 3as debt.
David Celebrates the Same Truth
5 But to him who fdoes not work but believes on Him who justifies gthe ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also hdescribes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed iare those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”
Abraham Justified Before Circumcision
9 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. 11 And jhe received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that khe might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father lAbraham had while still uncircumcised.
The Promise Granted Through Faith
13 For the promise that he would be the mheir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For nif those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because othe law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.
16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be paccording to grace, qso that the promise might be 4sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, rwho is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, s“I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, twho gives life to the dead and calls those uthings which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, v“So shall your descendants be.” 19 And not being weak in faith, whe did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), xand the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised yHe was also able to perform. 22 And therefore z“it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
23 Now ait was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him,