Romans 3

3 ¹ What advantage, then, does the Jew have? Or what is the value of circumcision? ² Much in every way. First of all, they were entrusted with the very words of our Father. ³ What then? If some were unfaithful, will their unfaithfulness nullify the faithfulness of our Father? ⁴ Certainly not! Let our Father be true, even if every person is a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged."

⁵ But if our unrighteousness shows the righteousness of our Father more clearly, what shall we say? Is our Father unjust to inflict his wrath on us? (I am speaking in a human way.) ⁶ Certainly not! For then how could our Father judge the world? ⁷ But if through my falsehood the truth of our Father abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? ⁸ And why not say, as some slanderously charge us with saying, "Let us do evil that good may come"? Their condemnation is deserved.

No One Is Righteous

⁹ What then? Are we any better off? Not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, ¹⁰ as it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; ¹¹ no one understands; no one seeks our Father. ¹² All have turned away; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. ¹³ "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. " "The venom of snakes 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 mark their ways, ¹⁷ and the way of peace they have not known. ¹⁸ "There is no fear of our Father before their eyes.

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to our Father. ²⁰ For by works of the law no one will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

Made Right Through Faith in Jesus

²¹ But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of our Father has been revealed, testified to by the Law and the Prophets ^a a v21 Here "the righteousness of God" is not a standard that condemns us but our Father's own saving righteousness — given as a gift to his children through faith, not earned by keeping the law. ²² —This righteousness of our Father comes through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, ²³ since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of our Father, ²⁴ and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. ²⁵ Our Father put him forward as the sacrifice that clears away our sins, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had passed over the sins committed beforehand ^b b v25 Not humans appeasing an angry god — our Father himself provides the sacrifice to bring us home. ²⁶ —it was to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the one who justifies the person who has faith in Jesus.

²⁷ Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸ For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law. ²⁹ Or is our Father the Father of Jews only? Is he not the Father of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰ since our Father is one—and he will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

³¹ Do we then nullify the law through this faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we uphold the law.