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Romans 3
1Then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the profit of circumcision?
2Much in every way! Because first of all, they were entrusted with the revelations of God.
3For what if some were without ? Will their lack of faith nullify the faithfulness of God?
4May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. As it is written, “that you might be in your words, and might prevail when you come into judgment.”
5But if our unrighteousness commends the of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do.
6May it never be! For then how will God judge the world?
7For if the truth of God through my lie abounded to his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?
8Why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), “Let’s do evil, that good may come?” Those who say so are justly condemned.
9What then? Are we better than they? No, in no way. For we previously warned both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
10As it is written, “There is no one ; no, not one.
11There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God.
12They have all turned away. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not so much as one.”
13“Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used .” “The poison of vipers is under their lips.”
14“Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
15“Their feet are swift to shed blood.
16Destruction and misery are in their ways.
17The way of peace, they haven’t known.”
18“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
20Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
21But now apart from the law, a of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets;
22even the of God through in Jesus to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,
23for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;
24being freely by his through the that is in Jesus,
25whom God sent to be an atoning through in his blood, for a demonstration of his through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance;
26to demonstrate his at this present time, that he might himself be just and the justifier of him who has in Jesus.
27Where then is the boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of .
28We maintain therefore that a man is by apart from the works of the law.
29Or is God the God of Jews only? Isn’t he the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
30since indeed there is one God who will the circumcised by and the uncircumcised through faith.
31Do we then nullify the law through ? May it never be! No, we establish the law.
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Questions this passage answers
What is sin?
Scripture defines sin as lawlessness, as falling short of God's glory, and as failing to do the good we know we should do. It is not only a list of bad actions but a condition of the heart that produces them, and it is first against God rather than only against people. Scripture also says all have sinned, that its wage is death, and that God is faithful to forgive those who confess.
What is the Gospel?
The Gospel is news, not advice. It is the announcement that God became man in Jesus Christ, lived the life we owed, died the death we deserved, rose bodily from the dead, and now freely forgives and reconciles everyone who turns from sin and trusts him. It is something done, reported to us, before it is anything asked of us.
Why did Jesus have to die?
Jesus died because sin has a real penalty, death, and God chose to bear that penalty himself rather than simply overlook it. Scripture presents the cross as a substitution: the sinless one carrying the guilt of the guilty, so that God could remain just and still forgive. It was not an accident that overtook him. It was the plan he came to fulfil.
What must I do to be saved?
Scripture answers this exact question three times, to three different people, and gives the same substance every time even though the words differ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. Repent, and be baptized in his name for the forgiveness of your sins. Sell what you have, and follow me. These are not three different roads to God. They are one road described to a jailer trembling before a magistrate, to a crowd cut to the heart at Pentecost, and to a rich man who trusted his own righteousness. Salvation has always come by grace through faith in Christ, and the obedience each person was called to simply showed where their faith already stood.