Romans 3

Berean Standard Bible · Compare translations · AD 56 – AD 57 · The early church · Tap a verse to copy, share or highlight ·

31 verses · 553 words · ~3 min read · ~4 min listen

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 of God.

³What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify Godʼs 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.”

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 Godʼs 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.”

¹³“Their throats are open graves;

their tongues practice deceit.”

“The venom of vipers is on their lips.”

¹⁴“Their mouths are full

of cursing and bitterness.”

¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

¹⁶ruin and misery lie in their wake,

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

¹⁸“There is no fear of God

before their eyes.”

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 an atoning sacrifice in His blood through faith, 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.

Footnotes (9)

a v2 Or the oracles
b v4 Or when You are judged; Psalm 51:4(see also LXX)
c v12 Psalm 14:1–3and Psalms 53:1–3(see also LXX)
d v13 Psalms 5:9
e v13 Psalm 140:3
f v14 Psalm 10:7(see also LXX)
g v17 Isaiah 59:7–8(see also LXX)
h v18 Psalms 36:1
i v25 Or as a propitiation

Study notes on this chapter · 2

Type / patternDebated

The mercy seat and the means of atonement

The lid of the ark, where atoning blood was sprinkled on the Day of Atonement, is the 'mercy seat'. In Romans 3:25 Paul says God put Christ forward as a 'hilasterion', the same Greek word the Septuagint uses for the mercy seat. The word's best translation is disputed, and translations render it as 'propitiation', 'expiation', 'sacrifice of atonement' or 'mercy seat'.

When: Sinai era; Romans, c. AD 57.

Original passageExodus 25:17–22Leviticus 16:14–15

Echoed inRomans 3:23–26Hebrews 9:5

Ways people read this (4)

Propitiation: Christ's death turns aside God's wrath (Reformed, evangelical and many Catholic readers).
Expiation: the emphasis is on cleansing and removing sin, not on appeasing wrath.
Mercy seat: Christ is the place where God and humanity meet, fulfilling the ark's lid.
Christus Victor and other traditions stress other dimensions of the atonement alongside these.

Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.

QuotationLinked by the New Testament

There is no one righteous

In Romans 3 Paul assembles a chain of scriptural quotations from the Psalms and Isaiah to show that all, Jew and Gentile, are under sin. The chain opens with a line from Psalm 14 ('there is no one who does good') and Paul uses it to silence every mouth before God.

When: Psalms of David and Isaiah; Romans, c. AD 57.

Original passagePsalms 14:1–3Psalms 5:9Isaiah 59:7–8Psalms 36:1

Where the New Testament applies itRomans 3:9–20

Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.

See all prophecy & fulfillment notes →