- Mat
- Mar
- Luk
- Jon
- Act
- Rom
- 1Co
- 2Co
- Gal
- Eph
- Php
- Col
- 1Th
- 2Th
- 1Tm
- 2Tm
- Tts
- Phm
- Heb
- Jms
- 1Pt
- 2Pt
- 1Jn
- 2Jn
- 3Jn
- Jud
- Rev
Romans
3:1So what is the advantage in being a Judean, or what is the benefit of circumcision?3:2Much in every way! Above all, they were entrusted with the oracles of God.3:3But what if some didn’t believe; wouldn’t that nullify the faithfulness of God?3:4Absolutely not! God is always true, so everyone who opposes is a liar; as it has been written, “So that you were justified in your words and will be awarded the verdict when you go to court.”3:5But if our injustice makes God’s justice look even better, can’t we say that it is wrong for God to release his rage on us? (I’m using a human argument.)3:6Absolutely not! How else would God judge the world?3:7Yet if my falsehood made the truth of God even clearer, why am I still being judged as a failure?3:8And why not say (as some falsely accuse us of saying) that we should do evil so that good will come of it? They will get the judgment they deserve!
3:9So then, does this mean we are exempt? Of course not, because we have already shown that both Judeans and Greeks are all failures,3:10just as it is written:
“No one is righteous, not even one.3:11Not one understands, not one seeks out God.3:12They all turned away from him and became useless; no one shows kindness; not even one!
3:13“Their throats are open graves; with their tongues they deceive. The venom of asps is behind their lips;3:14Their mouths are crammed full of curses and bitterness;
3:15“Their feet are quick to shed blood;3:16bone-crushing labor is in their paths,3:17and they do not know the way of peace.
3:18“There is no respect for God in their eyes.”
3:19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under it, so that every mouth will be silenced and the entire world will stand trial before God.3:20After all, no one will be justified in his sight by keeping the law, since its purpose is to expose failures.3:21Instead, a justice outside of law has appeared, to which the Law and the Prophets attest.3:22This justice from God comes through faith in Jesus the Anointed and is for all believers, with no exceptions.3:23For all failed and lack God’s honor,3:24and all are justified by his generous gift, being ransomed by Anointed Jesus.3:25God presented him as a sacrifice to remove our failures by means of faith in his spilled blood. This demonstrated his justice, because he had written off the penalty for failures committed beforehand.3:26This happened in order to demonstrate his justice at the right time, the current age, showing him to be fair and making things right with those who put their trust in Jesus.
3:27So then, what basis is there for bragging? It was thrown out of court! And by what law, of good deeds? No! It was excluded by the law of faith.3:28For we argue that a person is justified by faith apart from legal performance.3:29It is ridiculous to think God is only the God of the Judeans! Is he not also the God of the non-Judeans? Yes, also of the non-Judeans!3:30There is but one God, and he will justify both the circumcised and the uncircumcised by faith.3:31Then do we nullify law by means of faith? Absolutely not! Rather, we uphold law.