3:1 Therefore what advantage does the Jew have, or what is the value of circumcision? 3:2 Actually, there are many advantages. ¹  First of all, ²  the Jews ³  were entrusted with the oracles of God. ⁴  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 ⁵  shown up as a liar, ⁶  just as it is written: “so that you will be justified ⁷  in your words and will prevail when you are judged.” ⁸ 

3:5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates ⁹  the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he? ¹⁰  (I am speaking in human terms.) ¹¹  3:6 Absolutely not! For otherwise how could God judge the world? 3:7 For if by my lie the truth of God enhances ¹²  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. ¹³  (Their ¹⁴  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.” ¹⁵ 

3:13 “Their throats are open graves, ¹⁶ 

they deceive with their tongues,

the poison of asps is under their lips.” ¹⁷ 

3:14 “Their mouths are ¹⁸  full of cursing and bitterness.” ¹⁹ 

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.” ²⁰ 

3:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” ²¹ 

3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ²²  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 ²³  by the works of the law, ²⁴  for through the law comes ²⁵  the knowledge of sin. 3:21 But now ²⁶  apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) ²⁷  has been disclosed – 3:22 namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ ²⁸  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 ²⁹  freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 3:25 God publicly displayed ³⁰  him ³¹  at his death ³²  as the mercy seat ³³  accessible through faith. ³⁴  This was to demonstrate ³⁵  his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. ³⁶  3:26 This was ³⁷  also to demonstrate ³⁸  his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just ³⁹  and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness. ⁴⁰ 

3:27 Where, then, is boasting? ⁴¹  It is excluded! By what principle? ⁴²  Of works? No, but by the principle of faith! 3:28 For we consider that a person ⁴³  is declared righteous by faith apart from the works of the law. ⁴⁴  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, ⁴⁵  he will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 3:31 Do we then nullify ⁴⁶  the law through faith? Absolutely not! Instead ⁴⁷  we uphold the law.

4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, ⁴⁸  has discovered regarding this matter? ⁴⁹  4:2 For if Abraham was declared righteous ⁵⁰  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 ⁵¹  to him as righteousness.” ⁵²  4:4 Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation. ⁵³  4:5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, ⁵⁴  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 ⁵⁵  are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;

4:8 blessed is the one ⁵⁶  against whom the Lord will never count ⁵⁷  sin.” ⁵⁸ 

4:9 Is this blessedness ⁵⁹  then for ⁶⁰  the circumcision ⁶¹  or also for ⁶²  the uncircumcision? For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” ⁶³  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, ⁶⁴  so that he would become ⁶⁵  the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, ⁶⁶  that they too could have righteousness credited to them. 4:12 And he is also the father of the circumcised, ⁶⁷  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. ⁶⁸ 

4:13 For the promise ⁶⁹  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. ⁷⁰  4:15 For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression ⁷¹  either. 4:16 For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, ⁷²  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, ⁷³  who is the father of us all 4:17 (as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). ⁷⁴  He is our father ⁷⁵  in the presence of God whom he believed – the God who ⁷⁶  makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. ⁷⁷  4:18 Against hope Abraham ⁷⁸  believed ⁷⁹  in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations ⁸⁰  according to the pronouncement, ⁸¹  “so will your descendants be.” ⁸²  4:19 Without being weak in faith, he considered ⁸³  his own body as dead ⁸⁴  (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 4:20 He ⁸⁵  did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. 4:21 He was ⁸⁶  fully convinced that what God ⁸⁷  promised he was also able to do. 4:22 So indeed it was credited to Abraham ⁸⁸  as righteousness.

4:23 But the statement it was credited to him ⁸⁹  was not written only for Abraham’s ⁹⁰  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 ⁹¹  was given over ⁹²  because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of ⁹³  our justification. ⁹⁴ 

5:1 ⁹⁵ Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have ⁹⁶  peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 5:2 through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice ⁹⁷  in the hope of God’s glory. 5:3 Not ⁹⁸  only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 5:4 and endurance, character, and character, hope. 5:5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God ⁹⁹  has been poured out ¹⁰⁰  in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

5:6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 5:7 (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.) ¹⁰¹  5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 5:9 Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous ¹⁰²  by his blood, ¹⁰³  we will be saved through him from God’s wrath. ¹⁰⁴  5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? 5:11 Not ¹⁰⁵  only this, but we also rejoice ¹⁰⁶  in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

5:12 So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people ¹⁰⁷  because ¹⁰⁸  all sinned – 5:13 for before the law was given, ¹⁰⁹  sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin ¹¹⁰  when there is no law. 5:14 Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type ¹¹¹  of the coming one) transgressed. ¹¹²  5:15 But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. ¹¹³  For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, ¹¹⁴  how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many! 5:16 And the gift is not like the one who sinned. ¹¹⁵  For judgment, resulting from the one transgression, ¹¹⁶  led to condemnation, but ¹¹⁷  the gracious gift from the many failures ¹¹⁸  led to justification. 5:17 For if, by the transgression of the one man, ¹¹⁹  death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!

5:18 Consequently, ¹²⁰  just as condemnation ¹²¹  for all people ¹²²  came ¹²³  through one transgression, ¹²⁴  so too through the one righteous act ¹²⁵  came righteousness leading to life ¹²⁶  for all people. 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man ¹²⁷  many ¹²⁸  were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man ¹²⁹  many ¹³⁰  will be made righteous. 5:20 Now the law came in ¹³¹  so that the transgression ¹³²  may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, 5:21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.