1:17 For the righteousness ¹  of God is revealed in the gospel ²  from faith to faith, ³  just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.” ⁴ 

1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people ⁵  who suppress the truth by their ⁶  unrighteousness, ⁷  1:19 because what can be known about God is plain to them, ⁸  because God has made it plain to them. 1:20 For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people ⁹  are without excuse. 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts ¹⁰  were darkened. 1:22 Although they claimed ¹¹  to be wise, they became fools 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings ¹²  or birds or four-footed animals ¹³  or reptiles.

1:24 Therefore God gave them over ¹⁴  in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor ¹⁵  their bodies among themselves. ¹⁶  1:25 They ¹⁷  exchanged the truth of God for a lie ¹⁸  and worshiped and served the creation ¹⁹  rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, ²⁰  1:27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women ²¹  and were inflamed in their passions ²²  for one another. Men ²³  committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, ²⁴  God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. ²⁵  1:29 They are filled ²⁶  with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with ²⁷  envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 1:31 senseless, covenant-breakers, ²⁸  heartless, ruthless. 1:32 Although they fully know ²⁹  God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, ³⁰  they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them. ³¹ 

2:1 Therefore ³³  you are without excuse, ³⁴  whoever you are, ³⁵  when you judge someone else. ³⁶  For on whatever grounds ³⁷  you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things. 2:2 Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth ³⁸  against those who practice such things. 2:3 And do you think, ³⁹  whoever you are, when you judge ⁴⁰  those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, ⁴¹  that you will escape God’s judgment? 2:4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know ⁴²  that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? 2:5 But because of your stubbornness ⁴³  and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed! ⁴⁴  2:6 He ⁴⁵  will reward ⁴⁶  each one according to his works: ⁴⁷  2:7 eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality, 2:8 but ⁴⁸  wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition ⁴⁹  and do not obey the truth but follow ⁵⁰  unrighteousness. 2:9 There will be ⁵¹  affliction and distress on everyone ⁵²  who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek, ⁵³  2:10 but ⁵⁴  glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek. 2:11 For there is no partiality with God. 2:12 For all who have sinned apart from the law ⁵⁵  will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 2:13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous. ⁵⁶  2:14 For whenever the Gentiles, ⁵⁷  who do not have the law, do by nature ⁵⁸  the things required by the law, ⁵⁹  these who do not have the law are a law to themselves. 2:15 They ⁶⁰  show that the work of the law is written ⁶¹  in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend ⁶²  them, ⁶³  2:16 on the day when God will judge ⁶⁴  the secrets of human hearts, ⁶⁵  according to my gospel ⁶⁶  through Christ Jesus.

2:17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law ⁶⁷  and boast of your relationship to God ⁶⁸  2:18 and know his will ⁶⁹  and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, ⁷⁰  2:19 and if you are convinced ⁷¹  that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 2:20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth – 2:21 therefore ⁷²  you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 2:22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor ⁷³  idols, do you rob temples? 2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 2:24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” ⁷⁴ 

2:25 For circumcision ⁷⁵  has its value if you practice the law, but ⁷⁶  if you break the law, ⁷⁷  your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys ⁷⁸  the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 2:27 And will not the physically uncircumcised man ⁷⁹  who keeps the law judge you who, despite ⁸⁰  the written code ⁸¹  and circumcision, transgress the law? 2:28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 2:29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart ⁸²  by the Spirit ⁸³  and not by the written code. ⁸⁴  This person’s ⁸⁵  praise is not from people but from God.

3:1 Therefore what advantage does the Jew have, or what is the value of circumcision? 3:2 Actually, there are many advantages. ⁸⁶  First of all, ⁸⁷  the Jews ⁸⁸  were entrusted with the oracles of God. ⁸⁹  3:3 What then? If some did not believe, does their unbelief nullify the faithfulness of God? 3:4 Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being ⁹⁰  shown up as a liar, ⁹¹  just as it is written: “so that you will be justified ⁹²  in your words and will prevail when you are judged.” ⁹³ 

3:5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates ⁹⁴  the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he? ⁹⁵  (I am speaking in human terms.) ⁹⁶  3:6 Absolutely not! For otherwise how could God judge the world? 3:7 For if by my lie the truth of God enhances ⁹⁷  his glory, why am I still actually being judged as a sinner? 3:8 And why not say, “Let us do evil so that good may come of it”? – as some who slander us allege that we say. ⁹⁸  (Their ⁹⁹  condemnation is deserved!)

3:9 What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin, 3:10 just as it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one,

3:11 there is no one who understands,

there is no one who seeks God.

3:12 All have turned away,

together they have become worthless;

there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.” ¹⁰⁰ 

3:13 “Their throats are open graves, ¹⁰¹ 

they deceive with their tongues,

the poison of asps is under their lips.” ¹⁰² 

3:14 “Their mouths are ¹⁰³  full of cursing and bitterness.” ¹⁰⁴ 

3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,

3:16 ruin and misery are in their paths,

3:17 and the way of peace they have not known.” ¹⁰⁵ 

3:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” ¹⁰⁶ 

3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ¹⁰⁷  the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 3:20 For no one is declared righteous before him ¹⁰⁸  by the works of the law, ¹⁰⁹  for through the law comes ¹¹⁰  the knowledge of sin. 3:21 But now ¹¹¹  apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) ¹¹²  has been disclosed – 3:22 namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ ¹¹³  for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 3:24 But they are justified ¹¹⁴  freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 3:25 God publicly displayed ¹¹⁵  him ¹¹⁶  at his death ¹¹⁷  as the mercy seat ¹¹⁸  accessible through faith. ¹¹⁹  This was to demonstrate ¹²⁰  his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. ¹²¹  3:26 This was ¹²²  also to demonstrate ¹²³  his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just ¹²⁴  and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness. ¹²⁵ 

3:27 Where, then, is boasting? ¹²⁶  It is excluded! By what principle? ¹²⁷  Of works? No, but by the principle of faith! 3:28 For we consider that a person ¹²⁸  is declared righteous by faith apart from the works of the law. ¹²⁹  3:29 Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles too? Yes, of the Gentiles too! 3:30 Since God is one, ¹³⁰  he will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 3:31 Do we then nullify ¹³¹  the law through faith? Absolutely not! Instead ¹³²  we uphold the law.

4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, ¹³³  has discovered regarding this matter? ¹³⁴  4:2 For if Abraham was declared righteous ¹³⁵  by the works of the law, he has something to boast about – but not before God. 4:3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited ¹³⁶  to him as righteousness.” ¹³⁷  4:4 Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation. ¹³⁸  4:5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, ¹³⁹  his faith is credited as righteousness.

4:6 So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

4:7 “Blessed ¹⁴⁰  are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;

4:8 blessed is the one ¹⁴¹  against whom the Lord will never count ¹⁴²  sin.” ¹⁴³ 

4:9 Is this blessedness ¹⁴⁴  then for ¹⁴⁵  the circumcision ¹⁴⁶  or also for ¹⁴⁷  the uncircumcision? For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” ¹⁴⁸  4:10 How then was it credited to him? Was he circumcised at the time, or not? No, he was not circumcised but uncircumcised! 4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, ¹⁴⁹  so that he would become ¹⁵⁰  the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, ¹⁵¹  that they too could have righteousness credited to them. 4:12 And he is also the father of the circumcised, ¹⁵²  who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised. ¹⁵³ 

4:13 For the promise ¹⁵⁴  to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 4:14 For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. ¹⁵⁵  4:15 For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression ¹⁵⁶  either. 4:16 For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, ¹⁵⁷  with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants – not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, ¹⁵⁸  who is the father of us all 4:17 (as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). ¹⁵⁹  He is our father ¹⁶⁰  in the presence of God whom he believed – the God who ¹⁶¹  makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. ¹⁶²  4:18 Against hope Abraham ¹⁶³  believed ¹⁶⁴  in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations ¹⁶⁵  according to the pronouncement, ¹⁶⁶  “so will your descendants be.” ¹⁶⁷  4:19 Without being weak in faith, he considered ¹⁶⁸  his own body as dead ¹⁶⁹  (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 4:20 He ¹⁷⁰  did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. 4:21 He was ¹⁷¹  fully convinced that what God ¹⁷²  promised he was also able to do. 4:22 So indeed it was credited to Abraham ¹⁷³  as righteousness.

4:23 But the statement it was credited to him ¹⁷⁴  was not written only for Abraham’s ¹⁷⁵  sake, 4:24 but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 4:25 He ¹⁷⁶  was given over ¹⁷⁷  because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of ¹⁷⁸  our justification. ¹⁷⁹