God’s Righteousness Upheld
3 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, tthe Jews were entrusted with the uoracles of God. 3 vWhat if some were unfaithful? wDoes their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,
x“That you may be justified in your words,
and prevail when you are judged.”
5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, ywhat shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 By no means! For then how could zGod judge the world? 7 But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And awhy not do 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 Jews1 any better off?2 No, not at all. For we have already charged that ball, both cJews and dGreeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:
e“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 f“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
g“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 h“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 i“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 j“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are kunder the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For lby works of the law no human being3 will be justified in his sight, since mthrough the law comes knowledge of sin.
The Righteousness of God Through Faith
21 But now the nrighteousness of God has been omanifested apart from the law, palthough the Law and the Prophets qbear witness to it— 22 the rrighteousness of God through sfaith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is tno distinction: 23 for uall have vsinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are wjustified xby his grace as a ygift, through the zredemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a apropitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine bforbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of cthe one who has faith in Jesus.
27 Then what becomes of our dboasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the elaw of faith. 28 For fwe hold that one is gjustified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 hOr is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since iGod is one—jwho will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 kDo we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
Abraham Justified by Faith
4 lWhat then shall we say was gained by Abraham, mour forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to nboast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? o“Abraham believed God, and it was pcounted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now qto the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but rbelieves in1 him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
7 s“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not tcount his sin.”
9 Is this ublessing then only for the circumcised, vor also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received wthe sign of circumcision as a seal of the xrighteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
The Promise Realized Through Faith
13 For the ypromise to Abraham and his offspring zthat he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 aFor if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but bwhere there is no law cthere is no transgression.
16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to dthe one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, e“I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God fin whom he believed, who ggives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, h“So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith iwhen he considered his own body, which was jas good as dead (since he was about ka hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness2 of Sarah’s womb. 20 No lunbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was m“counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but nfor ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in ohim who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up pfor our trespasses and qraised for our rjustification.
Peace with God Through Faith
5 Therefore, since we have been sjustified by faith, we1 have tpeace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained uaccess by faith2 into this grace in which we stand, and we3 rejoice4 vin hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we wrejoice in our sufferings, xknowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and yhope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been zpoured into our hearts athrough the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
6 For bwhile we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us cin that dwhile we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the ewrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were freconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also grejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Death in Adam, Life in Christ
12 Therefore, hjust as sin came into the world ithrough one man, and jdeath kthrough sin, and so death spread to all men5 because lall sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before mthe law was given, but nsin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, owho was a ptype of the one who was to come.
15 But the free qgift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded rfor many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
18 Therefore, as one trespass6 led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness7 leads to sjustification and life for tall men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s uobedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Dead to Sin, Alive to God
6 vWhat shall we say then? wAre we to continue in sin that xgrace may abound? 2 By no means! yHow can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been zbaptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were aburied therefore with him by baptism into death, bin order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in cnewness of life.
5 For if we have been dunited with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our eold self1 was fcrucified with him in order that the gbody of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be henslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free2 from sin. 8 Now iif we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being jraised from the dead, will knever die again; ldeath mno longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, nonce for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves odead to sin and palive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its qpassions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but rpresent yourselves to God as those who have been brought sfrom death to life, and your members to God as instruments tfor righteousness. 14 For sin will have no udominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Slaves to Righteousness
15 What then? vAre we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,3 you are slaves of the one whom you obey, weither of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once xslaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set yfree from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking zin human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to asanctification.
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But bwhat fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the cfruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 dFor the wages of sin is death, but the efree gift of God is eternal flife in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Released from the Law
7 Or do you not know, brothers1—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For ga married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.2 3 Accordingly, she will be called an hadulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have idied to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful jpassions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit kfor death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve lin the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the mwritten code.3
The Law and Sin
7 nWhat then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! oYet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, p“You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. qFor apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment rthat promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So sthe law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For tI do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now uit is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that vnothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a wlaw that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I xdelight in the law of God, in my yinner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this zbody of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
