Romans 3
3
Paul Answers an Objection
1So what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? 2Considerable in every way. First, they were entrusted#Dt 4:8; Ps 147:19; Rm 9:4 with the very words of God.#Ac 7:38 3What then? If some were unfaithful,#Rm 10:16; Heb 4:2 will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? 4Absolutely not!#Lk 20:16; Rm 3:31 Let God be true, even though everyone is a liar,#Ps 116:11 as it is written:
That you may be justified in your words
and triumph when you judge. # 3:4 Ps 51:4 #
Ps 51:4
5But if our unrighteousness highlights#3:5 Or shows, or demonstrates God’s righteousness,#Rm 5:8; 2Co 6:4; Gl 2:18 what are we to say?#Rm 4:1; 7:7; 8:31; 9:14,30 I am using a human argument:#3:5 Lit I speak as a man#Rm 6:19; 1Co 9:8; 15:32; Gl 3:15 Is God unrighteous to inflict wrath? 6Absolutely not! Otherwise, how will God judge the world?#Rm 2:16 7But if by my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?#Rm 9:19 8And why not say, just as some people slanderously claim we say, “Let us do what is evil so that good may come”?#Rm 6:1 Their condemnation is deserved!
The Whole World Guilty before God
9What then? Are we any better off?#3:9 Are we Jews any better than the Gentiles? Not at all! For we have already charged that both Jews#Rm 2:1–29 and Greeks#Rm 1:18–32 are all under sin,#3:9 Under sin’s power or dominion#Rm 3:19,23; 11:32; Gl 3:22 10as it is written:
There is no one righteous, not even one.
11 There is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away;
all alike have become worthless.
There is no one who does what is good,
not even one. # 3:10–12 Ps 14:1–3; 53:1–3; Ec 7:20 #
Ps 14:1–3; 53:1–3; Ec 7:20
13 Their throat is an open grave;
they deceive with their tongues. # 3:13 Ps 5:9 #
Ps 5:9
Vipers’ venom is under their lips. # 3:13 Ps 140:3 #
Ps 140:3
14 Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. # 3:14 Ps 10:7 #
Ps 10:7
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and wretchedness are in their paths,
17 and the path of peace they have not known. # 3:15–17 Is 59:7–8 #
Is 59:7–8
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes. # 3:18 Ps 36:1 #
Ps 36:1
19Now we know that whatever the law says,#Jn 10:34 it speaks to those who are subject to the law,#3:19 Lit those in the law#Rm 2:12 so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God’s judgment.#3:19 Or become guilty before God, or may be accountable to God#Rm 2:9 20For no one will be justified#3:20 Or will be declared righteous, or will be acquitted in his sight by the works of the law,#Ps 143:2; Ac 13:39; Gl 2:16 because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.#Rm 4:15; 5:13,20; 7:7
The Righteousness of God through Faith
21But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed,#Rm 1:17; 9:30 attested by the Law and the Prophets.#3:21 When capitalized, the Law and the Prophets = OT#Ac 10:43; Rm 1:2 22The righteousness of God is through faith#Rm 4:5 in Jesus Christ#3:22 Or through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ#Ac 3:16; Gl 2:16,20; 3:22; Eph 3:12 to all who believe,#Rm 4:11,16; 10:4 since there is no distinction.#Rm 10:12; Gl 3:28; Col 3:11 23For all have sinned#Rm 3:9 and fall short of the#3:23 Or and lack the glory of God; 24they are justified freely by his grace#Rm 4:4,16; Eph 2:8 through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.#1Co 1:30; Eph 1:7; Col 1:14; Heb 9:15 25God presented him as the mercy seat#3:25 Or propitiation, or place of atonement#1Jn 2:2; 4:10 by his blood,#1Co 5:7; Heb 9:14,28; 1Pt 1:19; Rv 1:5 through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God#Rm 2:4 passed over the sins previously committed.#Ac 17:30; 14:16 26God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
Boasting Excluded
27Where, then, is boasting?#Rm 2:17,23; 4:2; 1Co 1:29–31 It is excluded. By what kind of law?#3:27 Or what principle?#Rm 9:31 By one of works? No, on the contrary, by a law#3:27 Or a principle of faith. 28For we conclude that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.#Ac 13:39; Rm 9:31; Eph 2:9; Jms 2:20,24,26 29Or is God the God of Jews only?#Ac 10:34; Rm 9:24; 10:12; 15:9; Gl 3:28 Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30since there is one God#Rm 10:12 who will justify the circumcised by faith#Rm 4:11,16; Gl 3:8 and the uncircumcised through faith. 31Do we then nullify the law through faith? Absolutely not!#Lk 20:16; Rm 3:4 On the contrary, we uphold the law.#Mt 5:17; Rm 4:3; 8:4
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Romans 3: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Romans 3
3
1WHAT advantage then hath the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?
2Much every way. First indeed, because the words of God were committed to them.
3For what if some of them have not believed? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid.
4But God is true; and every man a liar, as it is written, That thou mayest be justified in thy words, and mayest overcome when thou art judged.
5But if our injustice commend the justice of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust, who executeth wrath?
6(I speak according to man.) God forbid: otherwise how shall God judge this world?
7For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie, unto his glory, why am I also yet judged as a sinner?
8And not rather (as we are slandered, and as some affirm that we say) let us do evil, that there may come good? whose damnation is just.
9What then? Do we excel them? No, not so. For we have charged both Jews, and Greeks, that they are all under sin.
10As it is written: There is not any man just.
11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12All have turned out of the way; they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, there is not so much as one.
13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have dealt deceitfully. The venom of asps is under their lips.
14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15Their feet swift to shed blood:
16Destruction and misery in their ways:
17And the way of peace they have not known:
18There is no fear of God before their eyes.
19Now we know, that what things soever the law speaketh, it speaketh to them that are in the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be made subject to God.
20Because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before him. For by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21But now without the law the justice of God is made manifest, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
22Even the justice of God, by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe in him: for there is no distinction:
23For all have sinned, and do need the glory of God.
24Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption, that is in Christ Jesus,
25Whom God hath proposed to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to the shewing of his justice, for the remission of former sins,
26Through the forbearance of God, for the shewing of his justice in this time; that he himself may be just, and the justifier of him, who is of the faith of Jesus Christ.
27Where is then thy boasting? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.
28For we account a man to be justified by faith, without the works of the law.
29Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also.
30For it is one God, that justifieth circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
31Do we, then, destroy the law through faith? God forbid: but we establish the law.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.