Romans 3:10–31

¹⁰As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;

¹¹there is no one who understands;

there is no one who seeks God.

¹²All have turned away,

they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,

not even one.”^bp

¹³“Their throats are open graves;

their tongues practice deceit.”^cq

“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”^dr

¹⁴“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”^es

¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

¹⁶ruin and misery mark their ways,

¹⁷and the way of peace they do not know.”^ft

¹⁸“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”^gu

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says,^v it says to those who are under the law,^w so that every mouth may be silenced^x and the whole world held accountable to God.^{y 20}Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law;^z rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.^a

Righteousness Through Faith

²¹But now apart from the law the righteousness of God^b has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.^{c 22}This righteousness^d is given through faith^e in^h Jesus Christ^f to all who believe.^g There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,^{h 23}for all have sinnedⁱ and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and all are justified^j freely by his grace^k through the redemption^l that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,^im through the shedding of his bloodⁿ—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished^o—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?^p It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. ²⁸For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.^{q 29}Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,^{r 30}since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.^{s 31}Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.