1So what advantage does being a Jew offer? Or what good is circumcision?
2There are many advantages in every way! The most important is that God trusted them with his messages.
3What if some of them were unfaithful? Does their lack of faith cancel out God’s faithfulness?
4Absolutely not! God must always be true, even if everyone else is a liar. As the Scriptures say, “You will be proven right in what you say, and you will win when you are judged.”
5But if our wrongdoing highlights God’s goodness, what should we say? Is God unfair when he punishes us? (I am speaking in a human way.)
6No, definitely not! If he were unfair, how could God judge the world?
7If my lie makes God’s truth shine even brighter and brings him more glory, why am I still judged as a sinner?
8And why shouldn’t we say, as some falsely claim we do, “Let’s do evil so good may come”? Those who say such things deserve to be condemned.
9So, are we Jews better than others? Not at all! We have already shown that both Jews and non-Jews are all controlled by sin.
10As the Scriptures say: “No one is righteous, not even one.
11No one understands, no one seeks God.
12Everyone has turned away; together they have become worthless. No one does good, no, not even one.”
13“Their throats are open graves; with their tongues they practice deceit.” “The poison of snakes is under their lips.”
14“Their mouths are full of curses and bitterness.”
15“Their feet are quick to shed blood.
16They leave ruin and misery wherever they go.
17They do not know the way of peace.”
18“They have no respect for God.”
19We know that everything the law says applies to those under the law. This is so no one can make excuses, and the whole world will be accountable to God.
20Because no one can be made right with God by following the law. The law only shows us what sin is.
21But now God has shown us how we can be made right with him, and it has nothing to do with the law. The Law and the Prophets explained that this would happen.
22God makes people right with him through their faith in Jesus Christ. This applies to everyone who believes, because there is no difference between people.
23Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.
24They are made right with God freely by his grace, through the rescue that Christ Jesus provides.
25God presented Jesus as a sacrifice for sins, effective through faith in his blood. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his patient tolerance, he overlooked the sins committed before Jesus came.
26He did this to show his righteousness now, so that he himself is fair and also makes fair anyone who trusts in Jesus.
27So where is there anything to boast about? It is excluded. By what kind of law? A law that requires good deeds? No, but by a law that requires faith.
28Therefore, we believe that a person is made right with God by faith, separate from following the law's requirements.
29Is God only the God of Jewish people? Isn't he also the God of non-Jewish people? Yes, he is also the God of non-Jewish people,
30because there is only one God. He will declare Jewish people right with him through faith, and non-Jewish people right with him through the same faith.
31So, do we then get rid of the law by having faith? Absolutely not! Instead, we uphold the law.