Romans 3:9–23

All People Are Guilty

⁹So are we Jews better than others? No! We have already said that Jews and those who are not Jews are all guilty of sin. ¹⁰As the Scriptures say:

“There is no one who always does what is right,

not even one.

¹¹There is no one who understands.

There is no one who looks to God for help.

¹²All have turned away.

Together, everyone has become useless.

There is no one who does anything good;

there is not even one.”

¹³“Their throats are like open graves;

they use their tongues for telling lies.”

“Their words are like snake poison.”

¹⁴“Their mouths are full of cursing and hate.”

¹⁵“They are always ready to kill people.

¹⁶Everywhere they go they cause ruin and misery.

¹⁷They don’t know how to live in peace.”

¹⁸“They have no fear of God.”

¹⁹We know that the law’s commands are for those who have the law. This stops all excuses and brings the whole world under God’s judgment, ²⁰because no one can be made right with God by following the law. The law only shows us our sin.

How God Makes People Right

²¹But God has a way to make people right with him without the law, and he has now shown us that way which the law and the prophets told us about. ²²God makes people right with himself through their faith in Jesus Christ. This is true for all who believe in Christ, because all people are the same: ²³Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard,