Romans 3–4

God’s Judgment Defended

3What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? ²Much in every way! Chiefly because ^ato them were committed the ¹oracles of God. ³For what if ^bsome did not believe? ^cWill their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? ^4dCertainly 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.”

⁵But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? ^h(I speak as a man.) ⁶Certainly not! For then ⁱhow will God judge the world?

⁷For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? ⁸And 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.

All Have Sinned

⁹What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that ^kthey are all under sin.

¹⁰As it is written:

^l“There is none righteous, no, not one;

¹¹There is none who understands;

There is none who seeks after God.

¹²They 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;

¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their ways;

¹⁷And the way of peace they have not known.”

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

¹⁹Now 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. ²⁰Therefore ^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

²¹But now ^uthe righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, ^vbeing witnessed by the Law ^wand the Prophets, ²²even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all ⁶and on all who believe. For ^xthere is no difference; ²³for ^yall have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴being justified ⁷freely ^zby His grace ^athrough the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵whom 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, ²⁶to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Boasting Excluded

^27eWhere is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸Therefore we conclude ^fthat a man is ⁹justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. ²⁹Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, ³⁰since ^gthere is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. ³¹Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

Abraham Justified by Faith

4What then shall we say that ^aAbraham our ^bfather ¹has found according to the flesh? ²For if Abraham was ^cjustified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³For what does the Scripture say? ^d“Abraham believed God, and it was ²accounted to him for righteousness.” ⁴Now ^eto him who works, the wages are not counted ³as grace but as debt.

David Celebrates the Same Truth

⁵But to him who ^fdoes not work but believes on Him who justifies ^gthe ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, ⁶just 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;

⁸Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”

Abraham Justified Before Circumcision

⁹Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. ¹⁰How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. ¹¹And ^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, ¹²and 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

¹³For 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. ¹⁴For ⁿif those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, ¹⁵because ^othe law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶Therefore 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; ¹⁸who, 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.” ¹⁹And 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. ²⁰He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, ²¹and being fully convinced that what He had promised ^yHe was also able to perform. ²²And therefore ^z“it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

²³Now ^ait was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, ²⁴but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe ^bin Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, ^25cwho was delivered up because of our offenses, and ^dwas raised because of our justification.