³What if some Jews did not believe? Will the fact that they don’t have faith keep God from being faithful? ⁴Not at all! God is true, even though every human being is a liar. It is written,

“You are right when you sentence me.

You are fair when you judge me.”

⁵Doesn’t the fact that we are wrong prove more clearly that God is right? Then what can we say? Can we say that God is not fair when he brings his anger down on us? As you can tell, I am just using human ways of thinking. ⁶God is certainly fair! If he weren’t, how could he judge the world?

⁷Someone might argue, “When I lie, it becomes clearer that God is truthful. It makes his glory shine more brightly. Why then does he find me guilty of sin?”

⁸Why not say, “Let’s do evil things so that good things will happen”? Some people actually lie by reporting that this is what we say. They are the ones who should be found guilty.

No One Is Right With God

⁹What should we say then? Are we Jews any better? Not at all! We have already claimed that Jews are sinners. The same is true of those who aren’t Jews.

¹⁰It is written,

“No one is right with God, no one at all.

¹¹No one understands.

No one trusts in God.

¹²All of them have turned away.

They have all become worthless.

No one does anything good,

no one at all.”

¹³“Their throats are like open graves.

With their tongues they tell lies.”

“The words from their lips are like the poison of a snake.”

¹⁴“Their mouths are full of curses and bitterness.”

¹⁵“They run quickly to commit murder.

¹⁶They leave a trail of failure and pain.

¹⁷They do not know the way of peace.”

¹⁸“They don’t have any respect for God.”

¹⁹What the law says, it says to those who are ruled by the law. Its purpose is to shut every mouth and make the whole world accountable to God. ²⁰So it can’t be said that anyone will be made right with God by obeying the law. Not at all! The law makes us more aware of our sin.

Becoming Right With God

²¹But now God has shown us how to become right with him. The Law and the Prophets give witness to this. It has nothing to do with obeying the law. ²²We are made right with God by putting our faith in Jesus Christ. That happens to all who believe.

It is no different for the Jews than for anyone else. ²³Everyone has sinned. No one measures up to God’s glory. ²⁴The free gift of God’s grace makes all of us right with him. Christ Jesus paid the price to set us free. ²⁵God gave him as a sacrifice to pay for sins. So he forgives the sins of those who have faith in his blood.

God did all of that to prove that he is fair. Because of his mercy he did not punish people for the sins they had committed before Jesus died for them. ²⁶God did that to prove in our own time that he is fair. He proved that he is right. He also made right with himself those who believe in Jesus.

²⁷So who can brag? No one! Are people saved by obeying the law? Not at all! They are saved because of their faith. ²⁸We firmly believe that people are made right with God because of their faith. They are not saved by obeying the law.

²⁹Is God the God of Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of those who aren’t Jews? Yes, he is their God too. ³⁰There is only one God. When those who are circumcised believe in him, he makes them right with himself. When those who are not circumcised believe in him, he also makes them right with himself. ³¹Does faith make the law useless? Not at all! We agree with the law.

Abraham’s Faith Made Him Right With God

4What should we say about those things? What did our father Abraham discover about being right with God? ²Did he become right with God because of something he did? If so, he could brag about it. But he couldn’t brag to God. ³What do we find in Scripture? It says, “Abraham believed God. God accepted Abraham’s faith, and so his faith made him right with God.”

⁴When a man works, his pay is not considered a gift. It is owed to him. ⁵But things are different with God. He makes evil people right with himself. If people trust in him, their faith is accepted even though they do not work. Their faith makes them right with God.

⁶King David says the same thing. He tells us how blessed some people are. God makes those people right with himself. But they don’t have to do anything in return. David says,

⁷“Blessed are those

whose lawless acts are forgiven.

Blessed are those

whose sins are taken away.

⁸Blessed is the man

whose sin the Lord never counts against him.”

⁹Is that blessing only for those who are circumcised? Or is it also for those who are not circumcised? We have been saying that God accepted Abraham’s faith, and so his faith made him right with God. ¹⁰When did it happen? Was it after Abraham was circumcised, or before? It was before he was circumcised, not after! ¹¹He was circumcised as a sign of the covenant God had made with him. It showed that his faith had made him right with God before he was circumcised.

So Abraham is the father of all believers who have not been circumcised. God accepts their faith. So their faith makes them right with him. ¹²Abraham is also the father of the circumcised who believe. So just being circumcised is not enough. Those who are circumcised must also follow the steps of our father Abraham. He had faith before he was circumcised.

¹³Abraham and his family received a promise. God promised that Abraham would receive the world. It would not come to him because he obeyed the law. It would come because of his faith, which made him right with God.

¹⁴Do those who obey the law receive the promise? If they do, faith would have no value. God’s promise would be worthless. ¹⁵The law brings God’s anger. Where there is no law, the law can’t be broken.

¹⁶The promise is based on God’s grace. The promise comes by faith. All of Abraham’s children will certainly receive the promise. And it is not only for those who are ruled by the law. Those who have the same faith that Abraham had are also included. He is the father of us all.

¹⁷It is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” God considers Abraham to be our father. The God that Abraham believed in gives life to the dead. Abraham’s God also speaks of things that do not exist as if they do exist.

¹⁸When there was no reason for hope, Abraham believed because he had hope. He became the father of many nations, exactly as God had promised. God said, “That is how many children you will have.”

¹⁹Without becoming weak in his faith, Abraham accepted the fact that he was past the time when he could have children. At that time he was about 100 years old. He also realized that Sarah was too old to have children.

²⁰But he kept believing in God’s promise. He became strong in his faith. He gave glory to God. ²¹He was absolutely sure that God had the power to do what he had promised. ²²That’s why “God accepted Abraham because he believed. So his faith made him right with God.”

²³The words “God accepted Abraham’s faith” were written not only for Abraham. ²⁴They were written also for us. We believe in the God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. So God will accept our faith and make us right with himself.

²⁵Jesus was handed over to die for our sins. He was raised to life in order to make us right with God.

Peace and Joy

5We have been made right with God because of our faith. Now we have peace with him because of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²Through faith in Jesus we have received God’s grace. In that grace we stand. We are full of joy because we expect to share in God’s glory.

³And that’s not all. We are full of joy even when we suffer. We know that our suffering gives us the strength to go on. ⁴The strength to go on produces character. Character produces hope. ⁵And hope will never let us down. God has poured his love into our hearts. He did it through the Holy Spirit, whom he has given to us.

⁶At just the right time Christ died for ungodly people. He died for us when we had no power of our own. ⁷It is unusual for anyone to die for a godly person. Maybe someone would be willing to die for a good person. ⁸But here is how God has shown his love for us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹The blood of Christ has made us right with God. So we are even more sure that Jesus will save us from God’s anger. ¹⁰Once we were God’s enemies. But we have been brought back to him because his Son has died for us. Now that God has brought us back, we are even more secure. We know that we will be saved because Christ lives.

¹¹And that is not all. We are full of joy in God because of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of him, God has brought us back to himself.

Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ

¹²Sin entered the world because one man sinned. And death came because of sin. Everyone sinned, so death came to all people.

¹³Before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not judged when there is no law. ¹⁴Death ruled from the time of Adam to the time of Moses. Death ruled even over those who did not sin as Adam did. He broke God’s command. But he also became a pattern of the One who was going to come.

¹⁵God’s gift is different from Adam’s sin. Many people died because of the sin of that one man. But it was even more sure that God’s grace would also come through one man. That man is Jesus Christ. God’s gift of grace was more than enough for the whole world.

¹⁶The result of God’s gift is different from the result of Adam’s sin. God judged one sin. That brought guilt. But after many sins, God’s gift made people right with him.

¹⁷One man sinned, and death ruled because of his sin. But we are even more sure of what will happen because of what the one man, Jesus Christ, has done. Those who receive the rich supply of God’s grace will rule with Christ in his kingdom. They have received God’s gift and have been made right with him.

¹⁸One man’s sin brought guilt to all people. So also one right act made…

Read in Logos

This passage has been shortened. Keep reading Romans 3–6 in Logos