³ Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.^(A)

¹⁵ He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves^(A) in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts.^(B) What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.

⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,^(A) but that which is through faith in^[a] Christ—the righteousness^(B) that comes from God on the basis of faith.^(C)

²¹ God made him who had no sin^(A) to be sin^[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.^(B)

¹⁷ For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed^(A)—a righteousness that is by faith^(B) from first to last,^[a] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”^[b](C)

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness^(A) and looked down on everyone else,^(B) Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray,^(C) one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself^(D) and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast^(E) twice a week and give a tenth^(F) of all I get.’

²⁹ But he wanted to justify himself,^(A) so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”