Chapter 3

God Remains Faithful

¹What, then, is the advantage of being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? ²Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words^a of God.

³What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? ⁴Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written:

“So that You may be proved right when You speak

and victorious when You judge.”^b

⁵But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms. ⁶Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world? ⁷However, if my falsehood accentuates God’s truthfulness, to the increase of His glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner? ⁸Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say, “Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved!

There Is No One Righteous

Psalms 14:1–7; Psalms 53:1–6; Isaiah 59:1–17

⁹What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin. ¹⁰As it is written:

“There is no one righteous,

not even one.

¹¹There is no one who understands,

no one who seeks God.

¹²All have turned away,

they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,

not even one.”^c

¹³“Their throats are open graves;

their tongues practice deceit.”^d

“The venom of vipers is on their lips.”^e

¹⁴“Their mouths are full

of cursing and bitterness.”^f

¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

¹⁶ruin and misery lie in their wake,

¹⁷and the way of peace they have not known.”^g

¹⁸“There is no fear of God

before their eyes.”^h

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ²⁰Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

Righteousness through Faith in Christ

Philippians 3:1–11

²¹But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets. ²²And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

²⁵God presented Him as the atoning sacrificeⁱ through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand. ²⁶He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

²⁷Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on that of faith. ²⁸For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

²⁹Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, ³⁰since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

³¹Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the law.