Romans 3

What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?

1So is there any good in being a Jew? Is there any good in circumcision?

NoteCircumcision was a small cut made on a boy's body. It was a sign that he belonged to God's people, the Jews.

2Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

2Yes, much good, in every way. Most of all, God gave them his own words to keep.

3For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

3Some of them did not believe God. Does that stop God from keeping his word?

4God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

4No, never! God is always true, even if every person lies. The Bible says, "People will see you are right when you speak. You will win when you are judged."

Note"God forbid" in the old English does not mean God is stopping something. It just means "No, of course not!"

5But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)

5But what if our wrong makes God look even more right? Then is God unfair to punish us? I am only talking the way people talk.

6God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?

6No, never! If God were unfair, how could he judge the whole world?

7For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?

7Someone might say, "My lie makes God's truth look even better. So why am I still called a sinner?"

8And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.

8Then why not say, "Let us do bad things so good can come"? Some people falsely say we teach that. Anyone who talks that way deserves to be judged.

9What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;

9So are we any better than other people? Not at all. We already showed that Jews and everyone else are all under the power of sin.

10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

10The Bible says, "No one is right with God. Not even one person.

11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

11No one understands. No one looks for God.

12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

12Everyone has turned away. Together they have become no good. No one does good, not even one."

13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

13"Their throats are like open graves. Their tongues tell lies." "Snake poison is on their lips."

14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

14"Their mouths are full of mean and bitter words."

15Their feet are swift to shed blood:

15"They run fast to hurt and kill people.

16Destruction and misery are in their ways:

16They leave ruin and sadness behind them.

17And the way of peace have they not known:

17They have never learned the way of peace."

18There is no fear of God before their eyes.

18"They have no fear of God at all."

19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

19We know the law speaks to the people who live under the law. So no one can argue back. The whole world must answer to God.

20Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

20No one is made right with God by keeping the law's rules. The law only shows us what sin is.

21But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

21But now God has shown a way to be right with him. It does not come from the law. The law and the prophets, people who told what God said, both pointed to it.

22Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

22This way of being right with God comes by trusting Jesus Christ. It is for everyone who trusts him. There is no difference between people,

23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

23because everyone has sinned. No one is as good as God is.

24Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

24God makes them right with him as a free gift. Jesus Christ paid the price to set them free.

25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

25God gave Jesus to die, and his blood takes sin away. People receive this by trusting him. God did this to show that he is right. He had been patient and had let past sins go by.

26To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

26God showed right now that he is fair. He is right, and he makes right the person who trusts Jesus.

27Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

27So can anyone brag? No. Why not? Is it because of the rules we keep? No. It is because we trust God.

28Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

28So we say this: a person is made right with God by trusting him, not by keeping the law's rules.

29Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:

29Is God only the God of the Jews? Is he not also God of everyone else? Yes, he is their God too.

30Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

30There is only one God. He makes Jews right with him when they trust him. He makes everyone else right the same way.

NoteIn verse 30 the old words "circumcision" and "uncircumcision" are a short way of saying "the Jews" and "everyone who is not a Jew."

31Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

31So does trusting God throw the law away? No, never! Instead, we hold the law up.