Romans 3-4

Tree of Life Version

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,

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,

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.

Abraham Set Right by Faith

4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? ² For if Abraham was set right by works, he has something to boast about—but not before God. ³ For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” ^{[j] 4} Now to the one who works, the pay is not credited as a gift, but as what is due. ⁵ But to the one who does not work, but trusts in Him who justifies the ungodly, his trust is credited as righteousness— ⁶ just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

⁷ “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

⁸ Blessed is the man whose sin Adonai will never count against him.”^[k]

⁹ Is this blessing then only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? For we say, “trust was credited to Abraham as righteousness.”^[l]

¹⁰ In what state then was it credited? While circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised! ¹¹ And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the trust he had while he was uncircumcised, so he might be the father of all who are trusting while uncircumcised—that righteousness might be credited to them as well. ¹² Also he is the father of the circumcised, to those not only circumcised but also walking in the footsteps of the trust of our father Abraham before his circumcision.^[m]

Trusting in the Promise

¹³ For the promise to Abraham or to his seed—to become heir of the world—was not through law, but through the righteousness based on trust. ¹⁴ For if those who are of the Torah are heirs, trust has become empty and the promise is made ineffective. ¹⁵ For the Torah brings about wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there a violation.

¹⁶ For this reason it depends on trust, so that the promise according to grace might be guaranteed to all the offspring—not only to those of the Torah but also to those of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all ¹⁷ (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”^[n]). He is our father in the sight of God in whom he trusted, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence that which does not exist. ¹⁸ In hope beyond hope, he trusted that he would become the father of many nations according to what was spoken—“So shall your descendants be.” ^{[o] 19} And without becoming weak in faith, he considered his own body—as good as dead, since he was already a hundred years old—and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰ Yet he did not waver in unbelief concerning the promise of God. Rather, he was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. ²¹ He was fully convinced that what God has promised, He also is able to do. ^{[p] 22} That is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”^[q]

²³ Now not only for his sake was it written that it was credited to him, ²⁴ but for our sake as well. It is credited to us as those who trust in Him who raised Yeshua our Lord from the dead. ²⁵ He was handed over for our transgressions and raised up for the sake of setting us right.^[r]