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All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.
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For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.
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(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law.
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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.)
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The Jews and the Law
Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God;
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if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law;
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an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—
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You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
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Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.
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So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised?
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The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
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Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
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Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
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Righteousness Through Faith
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
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Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith.
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For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
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Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
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It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
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For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless,
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because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
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Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
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To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.
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The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
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For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
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Slaves to Righteousness
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!
