| 3:1 | Therefore what advantage does the Jew have, or what is the value of circumcision? |
| 3:2 | Actually, there are many advantages.* First of all,* the Jews* were entrusted with the oracles of God.* |
| 3:3 | What then? If some did not believe, does their unbelief nullify the faithfulness of God? |
| 3:4 | Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being* shown up as a liar,* just as it is written: “so that you will be justified* in your words and will prevail when you are judged.”* |
| 3:5 | But if our unrighteousness demonstrates* the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he?* (I am speaking in human terms.)* |
| 3:6 | Absolutely not! For otherwise how could God judge the world? |
| 3:7 | For if by my lie the truth of God enhances* his glory, why am I still actually being judged as a sinner? |
| 3:8 | And why not say, “Let us do evil so that good may come of it”? – as some who slander us allege that we say.* (Their* condemnation is deserved!) |
| 3:9 | What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin, |
| 3:10 | just as it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one, |
| 3:11 | there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. |
| 3:12 | All have turned away, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.”* |
| 3:13 | “Their throats are open graves,* they deceive with their tongues, the poison of asps is under their lips.”* |
| 3:14 | “Their mouths are* full of cursing and bitterness.”* |
| 3:15 | “Their feet are swift to shed blood, |
| 3:16 | ruin and misery are in their paths, |
| 3:17 | and the way of peace they have not known.”* |
| 3:18 | “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”* |
| 3:19 | 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 may be held accountable to God. |
| 3:20 | For no one is declared righteous before him* by the works of the law,* for through the law comes* the knowledge of sin. |
| 3:21 | But now* apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets)* has been disclosed – |
| 3:22 | namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ* for all who believe. For there is no distinction, |
| 3:23 | for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. |
| 3:24 | But they are justified* freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. |
| 3:25 | God publicly displayed* him* at his death* as the mercy seat* accessible through faith.* This was to demonstrate* his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed.* |
| 3:26 | This was* also to demonstrate* his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just* and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness.* |
| 3:27 | Where, then, is boasting?* It is excluded! By what principle?* Of works? No, but by the principle of faith! |
| 3:28 | For we consider that a person* is declared righteous by faith apart from the works of the law.* |
| 3:29 | Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles too? Yes, of the Gentiles too! |
| 3:30 | Since God is one,* he will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. |
| 3:31 | Do we then nullify* the law through faith? Absolutely not! Instead* we uphold the law. |
Romans 3 - NET Bible [draft]
