Shared Word Translation
Romans 3
God’s Faithfulness and Human Unfaithfulness
Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
Much in every way. To begin with, they were entrusted with the oracles of God.
What if some were unfaithful? Does their unfaithfulness nullify the faithfulness of God?
By no means! Let God be shown to be true, though every human being a liar, as it is written,
“So that you may be justified in your words,
and prevail when you are judged.”
But if our injustice serves to reveal the justice of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world? But if through my falsehood God’s truthfulness abounds to God’s glory, why am I still being judged as a sinner? And why not say—as some slanderously charge us with saying—“Let us do evil so that good may come”? Their condemnation is just.
No One Is Righteous
What then? Are we any better off? Not at all. For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under the power of sin, as it is written:
there is no one who understands,
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
there is no one who shows kindness,
not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of vipers is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery are in their paths,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For no human being will be set right in God’s sight by works of the law, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
God’s Righteousness Revealed
But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the law and the prophets— the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, for all who trust. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are set right freely by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God put forward as a place of atonement by his blood, to be received through trust. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in divine forbearance God had passed over former sins; it was to show God’s righteousness at the present time, so that God may be shown to be just and the one who sets right those who live from the faithfulness of Jesus.
Boasting Excluded
Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of trust. For we hold that a person is set right by trust apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is God not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one, who will set right the circumcised from trust and the uncircumcised through trust. Do we then overthrow the law through trust? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.