3
“God Will Certainly Prove True to His Word”
1 So, in light of these things, what are the special privileges that have been bestowed on the Jews? What are the benefits that accompany circumcision?
2 There are many. To begin with, they were entrusted with the covenant promises of God.
3 What, then, is the situation? If some were unfaithful, surely their lack of faithfulness isn’t going to stop God from being faithful to do what he promised, is it?
4 Absolutely not! God will certainly prove true to his word, even if “all men are liars.”+ As it is written:
“and so ˢyou are acknowledged to be in the right in your words,
and are the victor in your judgment.”+
5 “But,” someone might say, “our unrighteousness serves a good purpose, doesn’t it, in that it furnishes evidence for the righteousness of God himself? If so, then isn’t it unrighteous for God to send his wrath against us?” (It is a merely human argument that I am presenting here.)
6 Absolutely not! If that were true, how in the world would he be qualified to judge the universe?
7 “But,” someone will still argue, “if the faithfulness of God stands out even more on account of my own unfaithfulness, thus bringing him glory, why am I still to be condemned as a sinner?”
8 You might as well just go ahead and say (as some people slanderously accuse us of saying), “Let us do what is wicked so that good may result.” Such people’s condemnation is very well-deserved.
“The Entire Human Race...Is Under the...Power of Sin”
9 What, then, are we to conclude? Are we exempt? By no means! We have already made the charge that the entire human race, both Jews and Gentiles alike, is under the enslaving and tyrannical power of sin.
10 As it is written:
“No human being is without guilt, not even one.
11 There is no one who is truly wise,
no one who seeks out God.
12 The entire human race has deviated from the righteous path;
they have all become corrupt.
There is no one who does what is good,
13 “Their speech is as foul and defiling as an open tomb,
off their tongues roll deceitful flatteries.”+
“There is under their lips the venom of asps.”+
14 “From their mouths constantly come curses and bitter words.”+
15 “Swift are their feet to shed blood;
16 left behind wherever they go are devastation and misery,
17 and they do not know the path of peace.”+
18 “They see no need to fear God.”+
19 Now, we know that anything that Torah says, it is to those who know it and are subject to it that it is speaking, so that every excuse may be silenced, and all mankind become answerable to God.
20 For it is not by deeds of Torah that any corrupt member of the human race “will be held to be righteous in his sight.”+ Through Torah, you see, comes the full knowledge of sin.
“Now, however, Is Disclosed the Very Righteousness of God”
21 Now, however, is disclosed the very righteousness of God, apart from Torah, solemnly promised and foretold by Torah and the Prophets,
22 the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus the Messiah+ for all who place their faith in him. The same terms apply to all, you see,
23 because all have sinned and are in need of the glory of God,
24 being held to be righteous as a gracious gift through the paid release from slavery that takes place in Messiah Jesus,
25 whom God placed on public display as the atonement cover, through the faith he showed when he shed his blood. He did this to prove his righteousness, since he had left unpunished the sins previously committed, in his patient restraint;
26 he did this to prove his righteousness in the present appointed time, demonstrating himself to be both righteous and ready to mercifully regard as righteous the person who shares the faith of Jesus.+
“So Where Does All of This Leave High and Exalted Claims?”
27 So where does all of this leave high and exalted claims? There is no place for them. Through what kind of Torah?+ Of those deeds? No, through a Torah of faith.+
28 Indeed, our stance is that a person is held to be righteous by faith apart from deeds of Torah.
29 Or is it the Jews only over whom God is ruler and judge? He is ruler and judge over the Gentiles, too, is he not? Of course he is.
30 Since God is one, he will hold the circumcised to be righteous by faith and the uncircumcised to be righteous through the same.
31 Well then, what about Torah? Are we doing away with it by placing so much emphasis on faith? Absolutely not! On the contrary, we are upholding+ Torah.