No One Is Acceptable
3 Then what is the advantage of being Jewish? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. First of all, they were entrusted with the sayings of God. 3 So what if some did not trust? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 May it never be! Let God be true even if every man is a liar, as it is written,
“that You may be righteous in Your words
and prevail when You are judged.”[a]
5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? God is not unrighteous to inflict wrath, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.) 6 May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? 7 But if by my lie the truth of God abounds to His glory, why am I still judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say, “Let us do evil, so that good may come”—just as we are being slandered and as some claim that we say. Their condemnation is deserved!
9 What then? Are we better than they? No, not at all.[b] For we have already made the case that all—both Jewish and Greek people—are under sin. 10 As it is written,
“There is no one righteous—no, not one.
11 There is no one who understands,
no one who seeks after God.
12 All have turned aside;
together they have become worthless.
There is no one who does good—no, not even one!
13 Their throat is an open grave;
with their tongues they keep deceiving.
The poison of vipers is under their lips.
14 Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood.
16 Ruin and misery are in their paths,
17 and the way of shalom they have not known.
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.”[c]
19 Now we know that whatever the Torah says, it says to those within the Torah, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become accountable to God. 20 For no human, on the basis of Torah observance, will be set right in His sight[d]—for through the Torah comes awareness of sin.
How God Accepts Us
21 But now God’s righteousness apart from the Torah has been revealed, to which the Torah and the Prophets bear witness— 22 namely, the righteousness of God through putting trust in Messiah Yeshua,[e] to all who keep on trusting. For there is no distinction, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 They are set right as a gift of His grace, through the redemption that is in Messiah Yeshua. [f] 25 God set forth Yeshua as an atonement,[g] through faith in His blood, to show His righteousness in passing over sins already committed. 26 Through God’s forbearance, He demonstrates His righteousness at the present time—that He Himself is just and also the justifier of the one who puts his trust in Yeshua.[h]
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what principle? Of works? No, but by the principle of faith. [i] 28 For we consider a person to be set right apart from Torah observance. 29 Is God the God of the Jewish people only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. 30 Since God is One, He will set right the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then nullify the Torah through faithfulness? May it never be! On the contrary, we uphold the Torah.
Footnotes
- Romans 3:4 Ps. 51:4b(50:6b LXX).
- Romans 3:9 Or possibly, What then do we hold before ourselves as a defense?
- Romans 3:18 Ecc. 7:20; Ps. 13:2-3; Ps. 5:10; Ps. 139:4; Ps. 9:28; Isa. 59:7-8; Ps. 35:2.
- Romans 3:20 cf. Ps. 143:2.
- Romans 3:22 Or the faithfulness of Messiah Yeshua; cf. Ps. 143:1-2.
- Romans 3:25 cf. Isa. 53:10-12.
- Romans 3:25 Lit. a mercy seat, the place of atonement (Heb. kaporet); cf. Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:19, 21.
- Romans 3:26 Or the one who lives on the basis of Yeshua’s faithfulness.
- Romans 3:28 cf. Eph. 2:8-9.