3:1 So then, do the Jews have an advantage over the other nations? Does circumcision do anything for you?
3:2 The answer is yes, in every way. To begin with, God spoke to and through the Jewish people.
3:3 But what if some Jews have been unfaithful? Does the fact that they abandoned their faith zero out God’s faithfulness?
3:4 Absolutely not! If every person on the planet were a liar and thief, God would still be true. It stands written: Whenever You speak, You are in the right. When You come to judge, You will prevail.
3:5 If our perpetual injustice and corruption merely accentuate the purity of God’s justice, what can we say? Is God unjust for unleashing His fury against us? (I am speaking from our limited human perspective.)
3:6 Again, absolutely not! If this were so, how could God stand as Judge over the world?
3:7 But if my lie serves only to point out God’s truth and bring Him glory, then why am I being judged for my sin?
3:8 There are slanderous charges out there that we are saying things like, “Let’s be as wicked as possible so that something good will come from it.” Those malicious gossips will get what they deserve.
3:9 So what then? Are we Jews better off? Not at all. We have made it clear that people everywhere, Jews and non-Jews, are living under the power of sin.
3:10 Here’s what Scripture says: No one is righteous—not even one.
3:11 There is no one who understands the truth; no one is seeking after the one True God.
3:12 All have turned away; together they’ve become worthless. No one does good, not even one.
3:13 What comes out of their mouths is as foul as a rotting corpse; their words stink of flattery. Viper venom hides beneath their lips;
3:14 their mouths are full of curses, lies, and oppression.
3:18 You will never see the fear of God in their eyes.
3:19 We want to be clear that whatever the law says, it says to everyone who is under its authority. Its purpose is to muzzle every mouth, to silence idle talk, and to bring the whole world under the standard of God’s justice.
3:20 Therefore, doing what the law prescribes will not make anyone right in the eyes of God—that’s not its purpose—but the law is capable of exposing the true nature of sin.
3:21 But now for the good news: God’s restorative justice has entered the world, independent of the law. Both the law and the prophets told us this day would come.
3:22 This redeeming justice comes through the faithfulness of Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King, who makes salvation a reality for all who believe—without the slightest partiality.
3:23 You see, all have sinned, and all their futile attempts to reach God in His glory fail.
3:24 Yet they are now saved and set right by His free gift of grace through the redemption available only in Jesus the Anointed.
3:25 When God set Him up to be the sacrifice—the seat of mercy where sins are atoned through faith—His blood became the demonstration of God’s own restorative justice. All of this confirms His faithfulness to the promise, for over the course of human history God patiently held back as He dealt with the sins being committed.
3:26 This expression of God’s restorative justice displays in the present that He is just and righteous and that He makes right those who trust and commit themselves to Jesus.
3:27 So is there any place left for boasting? No. It’s been shut out completely. And how? By what sort of law? The law of works perhaps? No! By the law of faith.
3:28 We hold that people are justified, that is, made right with God through faith, which has nothing to do with the deeds the law prescribes.
3:29 Is God the God of the Jews only? If He created all things, then doesn’t that make Him the God of all people? Jews and non-Jews, insiders and outsiders alike? Yes, He is also the God of all the outsiders.
3:30 So since God is one, there is one way for Jews and outsiders, circumcised and uncircumcised, to be right with Him. That is the way of faith.
3:31 So are we trying to use faith to abolish the law? Absolutely not! In fact, we now are free to uphold the law as God intended.
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