1Then what advantage has the Jew? 2What is the value of circumcision? Great, in every way. In the first place, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3What if some of them were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness cancel the faithfulness of God? 4 [ Ps.51.4. ] Certainly not! God must be true though every man living were a liar; for we read in Scripture, 'When thou speakest thou shalt be vindicated, and win the verdict when thou art on trial.'
5Another question: if our injustice serves to bring out God's justice, what are we to say? Is it unjust of God (I speak of him in human terms) to bring retribution upon us? 6Certainly not! If God were unjust, how could he judge the world?
7Again, if the truth of God brings him all the greater honour because of my falsehood, why should I any longer be condemned as a sinner? 8Why not indeed 'do evil that good may come', as some libellously report me as saying? To condemn such men as these is surely no injustice.
9What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all! For we have already formulated the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under the power of sin. 10 [ Ps.14.1-3, Ps.53.1, Ec.7.20. ] This has scriptural warrant:
21BUT NOW, quite independently of law. God's justice has been brought to light. The Law and the prophets both bear witness to it: 22it is God's way of righting wrong, effective through faith in Christ for all who have such faith—all, without distinction. 23For all alike have sinned, and are deprived of the divine splendour, 24and all are justified by God's free grace alone, through his act of liberation in the person of Christ Jesus. 25For God designed him to be the means of expiating sin by his sacrificial death, effective through faith. God meant by this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had overlooked the sins of the past— 26to demonstrate his justice now in the present, showing that he is himself just and also justifies any man who puts his faith in Jesus.
27What room then is left for human pride? It is excluded. And on what principle? The keeping of the law would not exclude it, but faith does. 28For our argument is that a man is justified by faith quite apart from success in keeping the law.
29Do you suppose God is the God of the Jews alone? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Certainly, of Gentiles also, if it be true that God is one. 30And he will therefore justify both the circumcised in virtue of their faith, and the uncircumcised through their faith. 31Does this mean that we are using faith to undermine law? By no means: we are placing law itself on a firmer footing.
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