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Romans 3
Christian Standard Bible

Paul Answers an Objection

3 So what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? 2 Considerable in every way. First, they were entrusted(A) with the very words of God.(B) 3 What then? If some were unfaithful,(C) will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 Absolutely not!(D) Let God be true, even though everyone is a liar,(E) as it is written:

That you may be justified in your words
and triumph when you judge.[a](F)

5 But if our unrighteousness highlights[b] God’s righteousness,(G) what are we to say?(H) I am using a human argument:[c](I) Is God unrighteous to inflict wrath? 6 Absolutely not! Otherwise, how will God judge the world?(J) 7 But if by my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?(K) 8 And why not say, just as some people slanderously claim we say, “Let us do what is evil so that good may come”?(L) Their condemnation is deserved!

The Whole World Guilty before God

9 What then? Are we any better off?[d] Not at all! For we have already charged that both Jews(M) and Greeks(N) are all under sin,[e](O) 10 as 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.[f](P)
13 Their throat is an open grave;
they deceive with their tongues.[g](Q)
Vipers’ venom is under their lips.[h](R)
14 Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.[i](S)
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.[j](T)
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.[k](U)

19 Now we know that whatever the law says,(V) it speaks to those who are subject to the law,[l](W) so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God’s judgment.[m](X) 20 For no one will be justified[n] in his sight by the works of the law,(Y) because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.(Z)

The Righteousness of God through Faith

21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed,(AA) attested by the Law and the Prophets.[o](AB) 22 The righteousness of God is through faith(AC) in Jesus Christ[p](AD) to all who believe,(AE) since there is no distinction.(AF) 23 For all have sinned(AG) and fall short of the[q] glory of God; 24 they are justified freely by his grace(AH) through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.(AI) 25 God presented him as the mercy seat[r](AJ) by his blood,(AK) through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God(AL) passed over the sins previously committed.(AM) 26 God 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

27 Where, then, is boasting?(AN) It is excluded. By what kind of law?[s](AO) By one of works? No, on the contrary, by a law[t] of faith. 28 For we conclude that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.(AP) 29 Or is God the God of Jews only?(AQ) Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is one God(AR) who will justify the circumcised by faith(AS) and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then nullify the law through faith? Absolutely not!(AT) On the contrary, we uphold the law.(AU)

Footnotes

  1. 3:4 Ps 51:4
  2. 3:5 Or shows, or demonstrates
  3. 3:5 Lit I speak as a man
  4. 3:9 Are we Jews any better than the Gentiles?
  5. 3:9 Under sin’s power or dominion
  6. 3:10–12 Ps 14:1–3; 53:1–3; Ec 7:20
  7. 3:13 Ps 5:9
  8. 3:13 Ps 140:3
  9. 3:14 Ps 10:7
  10. 3:15–17 Is 59:7–8
  11. 3:18 Ps 36:1
  12. 3:19 Lit those in the law
  13. 3:19 Or become guilty before God, or may be accountable to God
  14. 3:20 Or will be declared righteous, or will be acquitted
  15. 3:21 When capitalized, the Law and the Prophets = OT
  16. 3:22 Or through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ
  17. 3:23 Or and lack the
  18. 3:25 Or propitiation, or place of atonement
  19. 3:27 Or what principle?
  20. 3:27 Or a principle
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Romans 3
The Voice

When God’s people—or people who claim to be God’s people—are hypocrites, then God is the one who gets the bad name. How often do we say one thing and do another? How often have we set a standard for others only to break it ourselves? The saying is true: we practice every day what we believe; all the rest is religious talk. There is a lot of religious talk out there, a lot of smugness and self-satisfaction. But every day people readily violate their consciences and the Lord’s reasonable teachings. For faith to matter, it has to get under your skin.

3 So then, do the Jews have an advantage over the other nations? Does circumcision do anything for you? 2 The answer is yes, in every way. To begin with, God spoke to and through the Jewish people. 3 But what if some Jews have been unfaithful? Does the fact that they abandoned their faith zero out God’s faithfulness? 4 Absolutely not! If every person on the planet were a liar and thief, God would still be true. It stands written:

Whenever You speak, You are in the right.
    When You come to judge, You will prevail.[a]

5 If our perpetual injustice and corruption merely accentuate the purity of God’s justice, what can we say? Is God unjust for unleashing His fury against us? (I am speaking from our limited human perspective.) 6 Again, absolutely not! If this were so, how could God stand as Judge over the world? 7 But if my lie serves only to point out God’s truth and bring Him glory, then why am I being judged for my sin? 8 There are slanderous charges out there that we are saying things like, “Let’s be as wicked as possible so that something good will come from it.” Those malicious gossips will get what they deserve.

9 So what then? Are we Jews better off? Not at all. We have made it clear that people everywhere, Jews and non-Jews, are living under the power of sin. 10 Here’s what Scripture says:

No one is righteous—not even one.
11 There is no one who understands the truth;
    no one is seeking after the one True God.
12 All have turned away; together they’ve become worthless.
    No one does good, not even one.[b]
13 What comes out of their mouths is as foul as a rotting corpse;
    their words stink of flattery.[c]
Viper venom hides beneath their lips;[d]
14     their mouths are full of curses, lies, and oppression.[e]
15 Their feet race to violence and bloodshed;
16     destruction and trouble line the roads of their lives,
17 And they’ve never taken the road to peace.[f]
18     You will never see the fear of God in their eyes.[g]

Sin is more than just wrong choices, bad decisions, and willful acts of disobedience that violate God’s Word and are contrary to His will. It is that and much more. Paul knows sin is missing the mark or deliberately stepping over the line, but he also knows that sin is a power at work in him and every child of Adam. As strange as it may sound, sin seems to have a will of its own. Like an addiction, sin takes hold of us and causes us to act in ways we never wanted. For Paul the cross of Jesus deals finally and definitively with the dual reality of sin. Not only are we forgiven of our sins—our willful acts of disobedience—but we are also liberated from the power of sin.

19 We want to be clear that whatever the law says, it says to everyone who is under its authority. Its purpose is to muzzle every mouth, to silence idle talk, and to bring the whole world under the standard of God’s justice. 20 Therefore, doing what the law prescribes will not make anyone right in the eyes of God—that’s not its purpose—but the law is capable of exposing the true nature of sin.

21 But now for the good news: God’s restorative justice has entered the world, independent of the law. Both the law and the prophets told us this day would come. 22 This redeeming justice comes through the faithfulness of Jesus,[h] the Anointed One, the Liberating King, who makes salvation a reality for all who believe—without the slightest partiality. 23 You see, all have sinned, and all their futile attempts to reach God in His glory fail. 24 Yet they are now saved and set right by His free gift of grace through the redemption available only in Jesus the Anointed. 25 When God set Him up to be the sacrifice—the seat of mercy where sins are atoned through faith—His blood became the demonstration of God’s own restorative justice. All of this confirms His faithfulness to the promise, for over the course of human history God patiently held back as He dealt with the sins being committed. 26 This expression of God’s restorative justice displays in the present that He is just and righteous and that He makes right those who trust and commit themselves to Jesus.

In the incarnation and sacrificial death of Jesus, God is at work to extend salvation to those who fall under sin’s addiction. They are liberated from its power, cleansed of its stain. By “God’s restorative justice,” Paul means first the justice that belongs to God and reflects His character. God is just, fair, or in a word, righteous. But character is dynamic, not static. This means that God’s justice must express itself in some way. So it is in the nature of God’s justice that He acts to restore and repair a world that is not the way it should be. Above all, it is God’s saving actions through Jesus that constitute the gift of God’s restorative justice.

27 So is there any place left for boasting? No. It’s been shut out completely. And how? By what sort of law? The law of works perhaps? No! By the law of faith. 28 We hold that people are justified, that is, made right with God through faith, which has nothing to do with the deeds the law prescribes.

29 Is God the God of the Jews only? If He created all things, then doesn’t that make Him the God of all people? Jews and non-Jews, insiders and outsiders alike? Yes, He is also the God of all the outsiders. 30 So since God is one, there is one way for Jews and outsiders, circumcised and uncircumcised, to be right with Him. That is the way of faith. 31 So are we trying to use faith to abolish the law? Absolutely not! In fact, we now are free to uphold the law as God intended.

Footnotes

  1. 3:4 Psalm 51:4
  2. 3:10–12 Psalms 14:1–3; 53:1–3
  3. 3:13 Psalm 5:9
  4. 3:13 Psalm 140:3
  5. 3:14 Psalm 10:7
  6. 3:15–17 Isaiah 59:7–8
  7. 3:18 Psalm 36:1
  8. 3:22 Often translated “faith in Jesus”
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The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

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The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.