God’s Faithfulness

3 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? ² Much in every way!^(A) First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.^(B)

³ What if some were unfaithful?^(C) Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness?^{(D) 4} Not at all! Let God be true,^(E) and every human being a liar.^(F) As it is written:

⁶ God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”^{[a](A) 7} To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor^(B) and immortality,^(C) he will give eternal life.^{(D) 8} But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil,^(E) there will be wrath and anger.^{(F) 9} There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil:^(G) first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;^{(H) 10} but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.^{(I) 11} For God does not show favoritism.^(J)

¹² All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law^(K) will be judged by the law. ¹³ For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey^(L) the law who will be declared righteous. ¹⁴ (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law,^(M) they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵ They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) ¹⁶ This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets^(N) through Jesus Christ,^(O) as my gospel^(P) declares.

The Jews and the Law

¹⁷ Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God;^{(Q) 18} if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; ¹⁹ if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— ²¹ you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?^{(R) 22} You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?^{(S) 23} You who boast in the law,^(T) do you dishonor God by breaking the law? ²⁴ As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”^[b](U)

²⁵ Circumcision has value if you observe the law,^(V) but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.^{(W) 26} So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements,^(X) will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised?^{(Y) 27} The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you^(Z) who, even though you have the^[c] written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.

²⁸ A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly,^(AA) nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.^{(AB) 29} No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart,^(AC) by the Spirit,^(AD) not by the written code.^(AE) Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.^(AF)

The Call of Abram

12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household^(A) to the land^(B) I will show you.^(C)

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot^(I) went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old^(J) when he set out from Harran.^{(K) 5} He took his wife Sarai,^(L) his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated^(M) and the people^(N) they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan,^(O) and they arrived there.

⁶ Abram traveled through the land^(P) as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh^(Q) at Shechem.^(R) At that time the Canaanites^(S) were in the land. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram^(T) and said, “To your offspring^[c] I will give this land.^(U)”^(V) So he built an altar there to the Lord,^(W) who had appeared to him.

¹⁵ See, I set before you today life^(A) and prosperity,^(B) death^(C) and destruction.^{(D) 16} For I command you today to love^(E) the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live^(F) and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, ¹⁸ I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed.^(G) You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

¹⁹ This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you^(H) that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.^(I) Now choose life, so that you and your children may live ²⁰ and that you may love^(J) the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life,^(K) and he will give^(L) you many years in the land^(M) he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

³⁵ This is what the Lord says,

³⁷ This is what the Lord says:

Psalm 51^[a]

For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.^(A)

¹³ When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; ¹⁴ but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own^(A) evil desire and enticed.

⁵ But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly,^(A) what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.)^{(B) 6} Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?^{(C) 7} Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory,^(D) why am I still condemned as a sinner?”^{(E) 8} Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”?^(F) Their condemnation is just!

No One Is Righteous

⁹ What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage?^(A) Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.^{(B) 10} As it is written: