New Testament · Letters

Romans chapter 3

So what’s the advantage of being ? What’s the point of ?A lot, actually — in every way! First and foremost, the Jewish people were entrusted with .But what if some of them were ? Does their unfaithfulness cancel out God’s ?Absolutely not! Let God be proven true even if every person is a liar. As it’s written: “So that you are shown to be when you speak, and you win when you are challenged.”But if our actually highlights how just God is, what do we say? That God is unfair for punishing us? (I’m using a human way of thinking here.)Absolutely not! If God weren’t just, how could he ?But someone might argue, “If my dishonesty makes God’s truthfulness stand out even more and brings him greater , why am I still being condemned as someone who’s ?”Why not just say, “Let’s do terrible things so good things come from it”? Some people actually slander us by claiming that’s what we teach. They deserve what’s coming to them.So are we Jews any better off? Not at all. We’ve already made the case that everyone — Jewish and alike — is under the power of .As it’s written: “No one is — not a single person.No one truly understands. No one is genuinely looking for God.Everyone has . Together they’ve become . No one does what is good — not even one.”“Their throats are . Their tongues are full of lies.” “Snake venom drips from their lips.”“Their mouths are full of cursing and venom.”“They rush to shed blood.Destruction and misery follow wherever they go.They’ve never learned the path of .”“They have no at all.”Now we know that everything says is directed at those who are under the law, so that every excuse is silenced and the whole world is held accountable to God.Because no human being will be by following the law. The law’s real purpose is to make us aware of .But now, completely apart from the law, God has revealed how he — and actually back this up.God makes people right with himself through the of Jesus, — and this is for everyone who in him, without distinction.Because everyone has and fallen short of .Yet they are made right with God freely by his , through the paid by Jesus, The One.God publicly presented Jesus as — through his , received by . He did this to demonstrate that he is just, since in his patience he had let past failures go unpunished.He did this to demonstrate his justice right now — in this present moment — so that he is both himself and the one who everyone who trusts in Jesus.So what room is left for ? None at all. On what basis? Following the law? No — on the basis of trust.Because we’re convinced that a person is , not by following the law.Or is God only the God of the Jewish people? Isn’t he the God of non-Jewish people too? Of course he is —since there is one God, who will make the right through trust and the uncircumcised right through that same trust.So does this trust-based approach cancel the law? Absolutely not! We actually the law on its proper foundation.