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. |