Romans 3-4

New King James Version

God’s Judgment Defended

3 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? ²Much in every way! Chiefly because ^(A)to them were committed the ^[a]oracles of God. ³For what if ^(B)some did not believe? ^(C)Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? ⁴^(D)Certainly not! Indeed, let ^(E)God be ^[b]true but ^(F)every man a liar. As it is written:

^(G)“That You may be justified in Your words,
And may overcome when You are judged.”

⁵But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? ^(H)(I speak as a man.) ⁶Certainly not! For then ^(I)how will God judge the world?

⁷For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? ⁸And why not say, ^(J)“Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their ^[c]condemnation is just.

All Have Sinned^(K)

⁹What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that ^(L)they are all under sin.

¹⁰As it is written:

^(M)“There is none righteous, no, not one;
¹¹There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
¹²They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
¹³“Their^(N) throat is an open ^[d]tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;
^(O)“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
¹⁴“Whose^(P) mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
¹⁵“Their^(Q) feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their ways;
¹⁷And the way of peace they have not known.”
¹⁸“There^(R) is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹Now we know that whatever ^(S)the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that ^(T)every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become ^[e]guilty before God. ²⁰Therefore ^(U)by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

God’s Righteousness Through Faith

²¹But now ^(V)the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, ^(W)being witnessed by the Law ^(X)and the Prophets, ²²even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all ^[f]and on all who believe. For ^(Y)there is no difference; ²³for ^(Z)all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴being justified ^[g]freely ^(AA)by His grace ^(AB)through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵whom God set forth ^(AC)as a ^[h]propitiation ^(AD)by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over ^(AE)the sins that were previously committed, ²⁶to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Boasting Excluded

²⁷^(AF)Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸Therefore we conclude ^(AG)that a man is ^[i]justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. ²⁹Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, ³⁰since ^(AH)there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. ³¹Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

Abraham Justified by Faith^(AI)

4 What then shall we say that ^(AJ)Abraham our ^(AK)father^[j] has found according to the flesh? ²For if Abraham was ^(AL)justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³For what does the Scripture say? ^(AM)“Abraham believed God, and it was ^[k]accounted to him for righteousness.” ⁴Now ^(AN)to him who works, the wages are not counted ^[l]as grace but as debt.

David Celebrates the Same Truth

⁵But to him who ^(AO)does not work but believes on Him who justifies ^(AP)the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, ⁶just as David also ^(AQ)describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

⁷“Blessed^(AR) are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
⁸Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”

Abraham Justified Before Circumcision

⁹Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. ¹⁰How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. ¹¹And ^(AS)he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that ^(AT)he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, ¹²and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father ^(AU)Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

The Promise Granted Through Faith

¹³For the promise that he would be the ^(AV)heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴For ^(AW)if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, ¹⁵because ^(AX)the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶Therefore it is of faith that it might be ^(AY)according to grace, ^(AZ)so that the promise might be ^[m]sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, ^(BA)who is the father of us all ¹⁷(as it is written, ^(BB)“I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, ^(BC)who gives life to the dead and calls those ^(BD)things which do not exist as though they did; ¹⁸who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ^(BE)“So shall your descendants be.” ¹⁹And not being weak in faith, ^(BF)he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), ^(BG)and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, ²¹and being fully convinced that what He had promised ^(BH)He was also able to perform. ²²And therefore ^(BI)“it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

²³Now ^(BJ)it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, ²⁴but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe ^(BK)in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵^(BL)who was delivered up because of our offenses, and ^(BM)was raised because of our justification.