3:1  THEN WHAT advantage remains to the Jew? [How is he favored?] Or what is the value {or} benefit of circumcision?

3:2  Much in every way. To begin with, to the Jews were entrusted the oracles (the brief communications, the intentions, the utterances) of God.

3:3  What if some did not believe {and} were without faith? Does their lack of faith {and} their faithlessness nullify {and} make ineffective {and} void the faithfulness of God {and} His fidelity [to His Word]?

3:4  By no means! Let God be found true though every human being is false {and} a liar, as it is written, That You may be justified {and} shown to be upright in what You say, and prevail when You are judged [by sinful men].

3:5  But if our unrighteousness thus establishes {and} exhibits the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust {and} wrong to inflict His wrath upon us [Jews]? I speak in a [purely] human way.

3:6  By no means! Otherwise, how could God judge the world?

3:7  But [you say] if through my falsehood God's integrity is magnified {and} advertised {and} abounds to His glory, why am I still being judged as a sinner?

3:8  And why should we not do evil that good may come?--as some slanderously charge us with teaching. Such [false teaching] is justly condemned by them.

3:9  Well then, are we [Jews] superior {and} better off than they? No, not at all. We have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks (Gentiles), are under sin [held down by and subject to its power and control].

3:10  As it is written, None is righteous, just {and} truthful {and} upright {and} conscientious, no, not one.

3:11  No one understands [no one intelligently discerns {or} comprehends]; no one seeks out God.

3:12  All have turned aside; together they have gone wrong {and} have become unprofitable {and} worthless; no one does right, not even one!

3:13  Their throat is a yawning grave; they use their tongues to deceive (to mislead and to deal treacherously). The venom of asps is beneath their lips.

3:14  Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

3:15  Their feet are swift to shed blood.

3:16  Destruction [as it dashes them to pieces] and misery mark their ways.

3:17  And they have no experience of the way of peace [they know nothing about peace, for a peaceful way they do not even recognize].

3:18  There is no [reverential] fear of God before their eyes.

3:19  Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that [the murmurs and excuses of] every mouth may be hushed and all the world may be held accountable to God.

3:20  For no person will be justified (made righteous, acquitted, and judged acceptable) in His sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law. For [the real function of] the Law is to make men recognize {and} be conscious of sin [not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character].

3:21  But now the righteousness of God has been revealed independently {and} altogether apart from the Law, although actually it is attested by the Law and the Prophets,

3:22  Namely, the righteousness of God which comes by believing {with} personal trust {and} confident reliance on Jesus Christ (the Messiah). [And it is meant] for all who believe. For there is no distinction,

3:23  Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor {and} glory which God bestows {and} receives.

3:24  [All] are justified {and} made upright {and} in right standing with God, freely {and} gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,

3:25  Whom God put forward [before the eyes of all] as a mercy seat {and} propitiation by His blood [the cleansing and life-giving sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation, to be received] through faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over {and} ignored former sins without punishment.

3:26  It was to demonstrate {and} prove at the present time (in the now season) that He Himself is righteous and that He justifies {and} accepts as righteous him who has [true] faith in Jesus.

3:27  Then what becomes of [our] pride {and} [our] boasting? It is excluded (banished, ruled out entirely). On what principle? [On the principle] of doing good deeds? No, but on the principle of faith.

3:28  For we hold that a man is justified {and} made upright by faith independent of {and} distinctly apart from good deeds (works of the Law). [The observance of the Law has nothing to do with justification.]

3:29  Or is God merely [the God] of Jews? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,

3:30  Since it is one and the same God Who will justify the circumcised by faith [which germinated from Abraham] and the uncircumcised through their [newly acquired] faith. [For it is the same trusting faith in both cases, a firmly relying faith in Jesus Christ].

3:31  Do we then by [this] faith make the Law of no effect, overthrow it {or} make it a dead letter? Certainly not! On the contrary, we confirm {and} establish {and} uphold the Law.