Romans 3–6

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.

Faith Triumphs in Trouble

5Therefore, ^ahaving been justified by faith, ¹we have ^bpeace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ^2cthrough whom also we have access by faith into this grace ^din which we stand, and ^erejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³And not only that, but ^fwe also glory in tribulations, ^gknowing that tribulation produces ²perseverance; ^4hand perseverance, ³character; and character, hope. ⁵ⁱNow hope does not disappoint, ^jbecause the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Christ in Our Place

⁶For when we were still without strength, ⁴in due time ^kChrist died for the ungodly. ⁷For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. ⁸But ^lGod demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Much more then, having now been justified ^mby His blood, we shall be saved ⁿfrom wrath through Him. ¹⁰For ^oif when we were enemies ^pwe were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved ^qby His life. ¹¹And not only that, but we also ^rrejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Death in Adam, Life in Christ

¹²Therefore, just as ^sthrough one man sin entered the world, and ^tdeath through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—¹³(For until the law sin was in the world, but ^usin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, ^vwho is a type of Him who was to come. ¹⁵But the free gift is not like the ⁵offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded ^wto many. ¹⁶And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many ⁶offenses resulted in justification. ¹⁷For if by the one man’s ⁷offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

¹⁸Therefore, as through ⁸one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through ^xone ⁹Man’s righteous act the free gift came ^yto all men, resulting in justification of life. ¹⁹For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by ^zone Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

²⁰Moreover ^athe law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace ^babounded much more, ²¹so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6What shall we say then? ^aShall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ²Certainly not! How shall we who ^bdied to sin live any longer in it? ³Or do you not know that ^cas many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus ^dwere baptized into His death? ⁴Therefore we were ^eburied with Him through baptism into death, that ^fjust as Christ was raised from the dead by ^gthe glory of the Father, ^heven so we also should walk in newness of life.

⁵ⁱFor if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶knowing this, that ^jour old man was crucified with Him, that ^kthe body of sin might be ¹done away with, that we should no longer be…