3:1 Then what ①advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?
▷ ①Lit is the advantage of the Jew
3:2 Great in every respect. First, that they were entrusted with the actual words of God.
3:3 What then? If some ①did not believe, their ②unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?
▷ ①Or were unfaithful ②Or unfaithfulness
3:4 ①Far from it! Rather, God must prove to be true, though every person be found a liar, as it is written:
“SO THAT YOU ARE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS,
AND PREVAIL ②WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED.”
▷ ①Lit May it never happen! And so throughout the ch ②Or in Your judging
3:5 But if our unrighteousness ①demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking from a human viewpoint.)
▷ ①I.e., by requiring His judgment
3:6 Far from it! For otherwise, how will God judge the world?
3:7 But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?
3:8 And why not say (just as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “Let’s do evil that good may come of it”? ①Their condemnation is deserved.
▷ ①Lit Whose
3:9 What then? ①Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;
▷ ①Or Are we worse
3:10 as it is written:
“THERE IS NO RIGHTEOUS PERSON, NOT EVEN ONE;
3:11 THERE IS NO ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,
THERE IS NO ONE WHO SEEKS OUT GOD;
3:12 THEY HAVE ALL TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME ①CORRUPT;
THERE IS NO ONE WHO DOES GOOD,
THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
▷ ①Or depraved
3:13 “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE,
WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,”
“THE VENOM OF ①ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”;
▷ ①I.e., venomous snakes
3:14 “THEIR MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”;
3:15 “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD,
3:16 DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS,
3:17 AND THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN THE WAY OF PEACE.”
3:18 “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”
3:19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are ①under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God;
▷ ①Lit in
3:20 because by the works ①of the Law ②none of mankind will be justified in His sight; for ③through the Law comes ④knowledge of sin.
▷ ①Or of law ②Lit no flesh ③Or through law ④Or recognition
3:21 But now apart ①from the Law the righteousness of God has been revealed, being witnessed by the ②Law and the Prophets,
▷ ①Or from law ②I.e., the Old Testament
3:22 but it is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those ①who believe; for there is no distinction,
▷ ①Or who believe. For there is
3:23 for all ①have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
▷ ①Or sinned
3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,
3:25 whom God displayed publicly as a ①propitiation ②in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, ③because in God’s merciful restraint He let the sins previously committed go unpunished;
▷ ①I.e., a means of reconciliation between God and mankind by paying the penalty for sin ②Or by ③Lit because of the passing over of the sins previously committed, in the restraint of God
3:26 for the demonstration, that is, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who ①has faith in Jesus.
▷ ①Lit is of the faith of Jesus
3:27 Where then is boasting? It has been excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.
3:28 ①For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from works ②of the Law.
▷ ①One early ms Therefore ②Or of law
3:29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
3:30 since indeed God who will justify the ①circumcised ②by faith and the ③uncircumcised through faith is one.
▷ ①Lit circumcision ②Lit out of ③Lit uncircumcision
3:31 Do we then nullify ①the Law through faith? Far from it! On the contrary, we establish the Law.
▷ ①Or law