God's Righteousness Upheld
1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
2
Much in every way. To begin with,
1the Jews were entrusted with
2the oracles of God.
3
3What if some were unfaithful?
4Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?
4
By no means!
5Let God be true though
6every one were a liar, as it is written,
7"That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you
8are judged."
5
But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict
9wrath on us? (
10I speak in a human way.)
6
By no means! For then how could
11God judge the world?
7
But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory,
12why am I still being condemned as a sinner?
8
And why not
13do evil that good may come?--as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
No One Is Righteous
9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both
14Jews and
15Greeks, are
16under sin,
10
as it is written:
17"None is righteous, no, not one;
11
no one understands; no one seeks for God.
12
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."
13
18"Their throat is
19an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive."
20"The venom of asps is under their lips."
14
21"Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."
15
22"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16
in their paths are ruin and misery,
17
and
23the way of peace they have not known."
18
24"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
19
Now we know that whatever
25the law says it speaks to those who are under the law,
26so that every mouth may be stopped, and
27the whole world may be held accountable to God.
20
For
28by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since
29through the law comes knowledge of sin.
The Righteousness of God Through Faith
21 But now
30the righteousness of God
31has been manifested apart from the law, although
32the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it--
22
the righteousness of God
33through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
34For there is no distinction:
23
for
35all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24
36and are justified
37by his grace as a gift,
38through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25
whom God
39put forward as
40a propitiation
41by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in
42his divine forbearance he had passed over
43former sins.
26
It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
27
44Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.
28
For we hold that one is justified by faith
45apart from works of the law.
29
Or
46is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
30
since
47God is one--who will justify the circumcised by faith and
48the uncircumcised through faith.
31
Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.