Romans
So then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what profit is there in
circumcision?
Much, in many ways! First of all, the Jews were entrusted
with God’s oracles.
But what if some of them did not believe? Will their
lack of faith negate the faithfulness of God?
Absolutely not! Let God be
proved true even if every human being is proved a liar. As it is written, “so
that You will be found right in Your words, and triumph when You are
criticized.”
But if our unrighteousness shows the righteousness of God, what can we say? Is the God who inflicts His anger on us unjust? (I am speaking from a human
perspective.)
Absolutely not! For how then could God judge the world?
For if through my lie God’s truth increases to His glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?
Why not, as we are slanderously reported to say, “Let us do evil
so that good may result”? Those who say this deserve to be condemned.
So then, are we Jews better than others? No, in no way! We already
charged that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin.
As it is written,
“There is no one who is righteous, not one.
There is no one who
understands; there is no one who seeks God.
They have all gone astray;
they have together become useless. There is no one who does what is good, not a
single one.
Their throats are like open tombs; with their tongues they deceive;
the poison of snakes is in their lips.
Their mouths are full of cursing and
bitterness;
their feet are swift to shed blood.
Destruction and misery are in
their ways,
and the way of peace they have never 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 shut, and the whole world may be
held accountable to God.
For by the works of the Law no one will be made
right in His sight, because through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
But now, apart from the Law, God’s way of being right has been
revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets.
That is, God’s way of being right is
through the faith of Jesus Messiah for everyone who believes,
and there is
no distinction.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
We
are all made right freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in
Messiah Jesus.
God displayed him publicly as the atoning sacrifice by
his blood,
effective through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness,
because in His forbearance God passed over prior sins.
And He
demonstrates His righteousness at this present time, that He is right
and He makes right those who have the faith of Jesus.
Where then is boasting? There is no place for it. By what kind of law? Of
works? No, but by the law of faith.
For we maintain that people are made
right by faith
and not by works of the Law.
Or is God the God
of Jews only?
Is He not the God of Gentiles also?
Yes, of Gentiles
also,
because God is only one Person,
and He will make the circumcised right by faith and the uncircumcised right through the same faith.
Are we then negating the Law by faith? Absolutely not! No, we are
upholding the Law.
Romans