New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Romans 3
2
There is great value in every way! First of all, the Jews have been given the very words of God.
Reference
3
What if some Jews did not believe? Will the fact that they don't have faith keep God from being faithful?
Reference
Faith
2 Timothy 2:13
Hebrews 4:2
Romans 10:16
2 Thessalonians 1:3
Parallel theme
Isaiah 55:11
1 Samuel 15:29
Matthew 24:35
References God
Romans 9:6
Psalm 84:7
Numbers 23:19
4
Not at all! God is true, even though every human being is a liar. It is written, "You are right when you sentence me. You are fair when you judge me." --(Psalm 51:4)
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 116:11
References God
Hebrews 6:18
Titus 1:2
Righteousness
Psalm 51:4
Galatians 2:17
Deuteronomy 32:4
Job 36:3
Psalm 119:160
Truth
1 John 5:20
Psalm 100:5
5
Doesn't the fact that we are wrong prove more clearly that God is right? Then what can we say? Can we say that God is not fair when he brings his anger down on us? As you can tell, I am just using human ways of thinking.
Reference
Parallel theme
Galatians 3:15
1 Corinthians 9:8
Romans 4:1
References God
Romans 7:7
Nahum 1:2
Righteousness
Romans 6:19
Romans 2:5
7
Someone might argue, "When I lie, it becomes clearer that God is truthful. It makes his glory shine more brightly. Why then does he find me guilty of sin?"
Reference
Judgment
Romans 3:4
8
Why not say, "Let's do evil things so that good things will happen"? Some people actually lie by reporting that this is what we say. They are the ones who should be found guilty.
Reference
9
What should we say then? Are we Jews any better? Not at all! We have already claimed that Jews are sinners. The same is true of those who aren't Jews.
Reference
10
It is written, "No one is right with God, no one at all.
Reference
Parallel theme
Romans 3:23
Jeremiah 17:9
Matthew 15:19
Mark 10:18
Titus 3:3
1 Peter 1:16
Job 14:4
Righteousness
Job 15:14
Job 25:4
Romans 3:4
11
No one understands. No one trusts in God.
Reference
Parallel theme
Titus 3:3
Isaiah 65:1
Isaiah 55:6
Jeremiah 4:22
References God
Psalm 53:2
Romans 8:7
Hosea 4:6
12
All of them have turned away. They have all become worthless. No one does anything good, no one at all." --(Psalms 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Ecclesiastes 7:20)
Reference
Good
Psalm 14:3
Ecclesiastes 7:20
Parallel theme
Isaiah 64:6
Isaiah 59:8
Isaiah 53:6
Ecclesiastes 7:29
1 Peter 2:25
13
"Their throats are like open graves. With their tongues they tell lies." --(Psalm 5:9) "The words from their lips are like the poison of a snake." --(Psalm 140:3)
Reference
16
They leave a trail of failure and pain.
19
What the law says, it says to those who are ruled by the law. Its purpose is to shut every mouth and make the whole world accountable to God.
Reference
Parallel theme
Romans 3:9
Psalm 107:42
1 Corinthians 1:29
Job 5:16
John 8:9
References God
Ezekiel 16:63
Romans 3:23
Romans 1:20
Word
Galatians 3:10
Galatians 5:18
20
So it can't be said that anyone will be made right with God by obeying the law. Not at all! The law makes us more aware of our sin.
Reference
21
But now God has shown us how to become right with him. The Law and the Prophets give witness to this. It has nothing to do with obeying the law.
Reference
Parallel theme
Acts 15:11
Prophecy
Acts 10:43
Righteousness
Jeremiah 33:16
Isaiah 61:10
Isaiah 51:8
Philippians 3:9
Isaiah 46:13
Romans 5:19
Romans 1:17
Word
Romans 1:2
22
We are made right with God by putting our faith in Jesus Christ. That happens to all who believe. It is no different for the Jews than for anyone else.
Reference
Faith
Galatians 2:16
Philippians 3:9
Acts 15:9
James 2:23
Parallel theme
Romans 10:12
Romans 2:1
References Christ
Colossians 3:11
References Jesus
Galatians 3:28
Romans 8:1
Righteousness
Isaiah 61:10
24
The free gift of God's grace makes all of us right with him. Christ Jesus paid the price to set us free.
Reference
Grace
Romans 4:16
Redemption
Colossians 1:14
Titus 2:14
Matthew 20:28
1 Timothy 2:6
Revelation 5:9
Righteousness
Romans 5:9
1 Corinthians 1:30
1 Corinthians 6:11
25
God gave him as a sacrifice to pay for sins. So he forgives the sins of those who have faith in his blood. God did all of that to prove that he is fair. Because of his mercy he did not punish people for the sins they had committed before Jesus died for them.
Reference
Faith
Hebrews 11:7
Romans 5:1
Parallel theme
Revelation 13:8
References God
Acts 17:30
Righteousness
Romans 5:9
Psalm 22:31
Sin
1 John 4:10
1 John 2:2
Hebrews 10:4
Leviticus 16:15
26
God did that to prove in our own time that he is fair. He proved that he is right. He also made right with himself those who believe in Jesus.
Reference
27
So who can brag? No one! Are people saved by obeying the law? Not at all! They are saved because of their faith.
Reference
28
We firmly believe that people are made right with God because of their faith. They are not saved by obeying the law.
Reference
Faith
Galatians 3:8
Romans 3:26
James 2:24
Galatians 3:24
Galatians 2:16
Romans 4:5
Romans 5:1
Parallel theme
Ephesians 2:9
Righteousness
Titus 3:7
Word
Romans 8:3
29
Is God the God of Jews only? Isn't he also the God of those who aren't Jews? Yes, he is their God too.
Reference
Parallel theme
Colossians 3:11
Zechariah 2:11
Ephesians 3:6
Galatians 3:14
Jeremiah 16:19
Romans 10:12
References God
Romans 1:16
30
There is only one God. When those who are circumcised believe in him, he makes them right with himself. When those who are not circumcised believe in him, he also makes them right with himself.
Reference
Faith
Galatians 3:8
Galatians 5:6
Parallel theme
Galatians 6:15
Galatians 3:28
References God
Galatians 3:20
Philippians 3:3
Summary of Romans 3
Romans 3 brings Paul's argument about human sin to a major turning point by explaining that Jews have received great spiritual advantages through God's promises and Scriptures, but those advantages do not mean that Jewish people are automatically righteous before God.
Paul first asks whether being Jewish provides any benefit, and he answers that there is a great benefit because the Jewish people were entrusted with God's revealed words.
However, human unfaithfulness does not make God unfaithful.
Even if people fail to keep their promises, God remains completely trustworthy, and His righteousness does not change because of human behavior.
Paul then answers several possible objections about God's justice, making it clear that the existence of human sin never gives people an excuse to continue doing evil.
He strongly rejects the idea that people should do evil so that good can come from it, because God's ability to bring good out of a bad situation does not make the bad action acceptable.
Paul then asks whether Jews are better than Gentiles and gives a powerful answer: both are under the power of sin.
To support this, he quotes several passages from the Jewish Scriptures that describe humanity as sinful, showing that people often reject God, use their words to hurt others, pursue violence, and fail to live in peace.
Paul's description moves through the whole person.
Human thinking is affected, human speech becomes destructive, human actions can become violent, relationships become damaged, and at the deepest level people fail to properly honor God.
Paul then explains the purpose of the Law.
The Law cannot give people a perfect record before God because no human being keeps it perfectly.
Instead, the Law makes people aware of their sin and leaves them accountable before God.
This means that no one can stand before God and say, "I am righteous because I am a good person," or "I am safe because I belong to the right religious group."
After establishing humanity's problem, Paul introduces the central good news of Romans.
He explains that God's righteousness has now been revealed apart from the Law, although the Law and the Prophets had already pointed toward this coming solution.
This righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ and is available to everyone who believes.
Paul then gives one of the most important statements in the entire letter: all people have sinned and fallen short of God's glory.
This removes every reason for human boasting.
Jew and Gentile, educated and uneducated, religious and nonreligious, rich and poor—all stand in need of God's grace.
Paul then explains the answer to this universal problem.
People are made right with God freely by His grace through Jesus Christ.
Salvation is not something a person earns by collecting enough good deeds or religious achievements.
Instead, it is God's gift.
Paul describes Jesus as the one through whom God provides forgiveness and deals with the problem of sin, showing that God remains just while also making forgiveness possible.
This means God's mercy is not simply ignoring wrongdoing.
Rather, through Christ, God deals seriously with sin while offering forgiveness to those who trust in Him.
Paul therefore asks, "Where is boasting?"
His answer is that boasting has no place because salvation is based on God's grace and received through faith.
A person cannot look at another person and say, "God accepted me because I was better than you."
Everyone comes to God in the same basic way: through faith and dependence on His grace.
Paul then makes the argument even broader by saying that God is the God of both Jews and Gentiles.
There is only one God, so there is also one saving way for both groups.
Circumcised Jews and uncircumcised Gentiles are both justified through faith.
This becomes extremely important for the early Christian church because Jewish and Gentile believers were learning how to live together as one people of God.
Paul finishes by clarifying that faith does not destroy God's Law.
Instead, faith establishes the Law by recognizing its true purpose and showing that the Scriptures ultimately point toward God's plan of salvation.
Historical Context
Romans was probably written around AD 56–58, most likely while Paul was in Corinth near the end of his major missionary journeys.
At this time, the Christian movement included both Jewish and Gentile believers, and questions about circumcision, the Law of Moses, Jewish identity, and Gentile inclusion were important issues.
The city of Rome was the center of the Roman Empire and contained people from many different nations and backgrounds.
Paul was writing to a Christian community that he had not personally founded, so Romans serves partly as an explanation of the Gospel he preached and partly as preparation for his planned visit to Rome.
The Jewish Scriptures were extremely important to Paul's argument.
Rather than presenting Christianity as something completely disconnected from Israel's faith, Paul repeatedly shows that the Gospel is connected to what God had already revealed through the Law and the Prophets.
The chapter's discussion of sacrifice and atonement also makes sense within the Jewish religious world of the first century, where sacrifices were connected with forgiveness, cleansing, and reconciliation with God.
Paul's explanation of Jesus' death presents Christ as the fulfillment of these deeper themes.
Main Message of Romans 3
Romans 3 can be understood through four major ideas:
1. Everyone is accountable to God.
Religious identity, knowledge, or background does not remove personal responsibility.
2. Everyone has sinned.
Paul removes every basis for claiming moral superiority because both Jews and Gentiles need God's mercy.
3. Salvation is God's gift.
People are made right with God through His grace and through faith in Jesus Christ rather than by earning salvation through works.
4. There is one God and one saving plan.
Because there is one God, both Jews and Gentiles can receive His salvation through faith.
The chapter therefore moves from human failure to God's grace, making Romans 3 one of the most important chapters for understanding Paul's message about sin, grace, faith, justification, and salvation.
Paul first asks whether being Jewish provides any benefit, and he answers that there is a great benefit because the Jewish people were entrusted with God's revealed words.
However, human unfaithfulness does not make God unfaithful.
Even if people fail to keep their promises, God remains completely trustworthy, and His righteousness does not change because of human behavior.
Paul then answers several possible objections about God's justice, making it clear that the existence of human sin never gives people an excuse to continue doing evil.
He strongly rejects the idea that people should do evil so that good can come from it, because God's ability to bring good out of a bad situation does not make the bad action acceptable.
Paul then asks whether Jews are better than Gentiles and gives a powerful answer: both are under the power of sin.
To support this, he quotes several passages from the Jewish Scriptures that describe humanity as sinful, showing that people often reject God, use their words to hurt others, pursue violence, and fail to live in peace.
Paul's description moves through the whole person.
Human thinking is affected, human speech becomes destructive, human actions can become violent, relationships become damaged, and at the deepest level people fail to properly honor God.
Paul then explains the purpose of the Law.
The Law cannot give people a perfect record before God because no human being keeps it perfectly.
Instead, the Law makes people aware of their sin and leaves them accountable before God.
This means that no one can stand before God and say, "I am righteous because I am a good person," or "I am safe because I belong to the right religious group."
After establishing humanity's problem, Paul introduces the central good news of Romans.
He explains that God's righteousness has now been revealed apart from the Law, although the Law and the Prophets had already pointed toward this coming solution.
This righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ and is available to everyone who believes.
Paul then gives one of the most important statements in the entire letter: all people have sinned and fallen short of God's glory.
This removes every reason for human boasting.
Jew and Gentile, educated and uneducated, religious and nonreligious, rich and poor—all stand in need of God's grace.
Paul then explains the answer to this universal problem.
People are made right with God freely by His grace through Jesus Christ.
Salvation is not something a person earns by collecting enough good deeds or religious achievements.
Instead, it is God's gift.
Paul describes Jesus as the one through whom God provides forgiveness and deals with the problem of sin, showing that God remains just while also making forgiveness possible.
This means God's mercy is not simply ignoring wrongdoing.
Rather, through Christ, God deals seriously with sin while offering forgiveness to those who trust in Him.
Paul therefore asks, "Where is boasting?"
His answer is that boasting has no place because salvation is based on God's grace and received through faith.
A person cannot look at another person and say, "God accepted me because I was better than you."
Everyone comes to God in the same basic way: through faith and dependence on His grace.
Paul then makes the argument even broader by saying that God is the God of both Jews and Gentiles.
There is only one God, so there is also one saving way for both groups.
Circumcised Jews and uncircumcised Gentiles are both justified through faith.
This becomes extremely important for the early Christian church because Jewish and Gentile believers were learning how to live together as one people of God.
Paul finishes by clarifying that faith does not destroy God's Law.
Instead, faith establishes the Law by recognizing its true purpose and showing that the Scriptures ultimately point toward God's plan of salvation.
Historical Context
Romans was probably written around AD 56–58, most likely while Paul was in Corinth near the end of his major missionary journeys.
At this time, the Christian movement included both Jewish and Gentile believers, and questions about circumcision, the Law of Moses, Jewish identity, and Gentile inclusion were important issues.
The city of Rome was the center of the Roman Empire and contained people from many different nations and backgrounds.
Paul was writing to a Christian community that he had not personally founded, so Romans serves partly as an explanation of the Gospel he preached and partly as preparation for his planned visit to Rome.
The Jewish Scriptures were extremely important to Paul's argument.
Rather than presenting Christianity as something completely disconnected from Israel's faith, Paul repeatedly shows that the Gospel is connected to what God had already revealed through the Law and the Prophets.
The chapter's discussion of sacrifice and atonement also makes sense within the Jewish religious world of the first century, where sacrifices were connected with forgiveness, cleansing, and reconciliation with God.
Paul's explanation of Jesus' death presents Christ as the fulfillment of these deeper themes.
Main Message of Romans 3
Romans 3 can be understood through four major ideas:
1. Everyone is accountable to God.
Religious identity, knowledge, or background does not remove personal responsibility.
2. Everyone has sinned.
Paul removes every basis for claiming moral superiority because both Jews and Gentiles need God's mercy.
3. Salvation is God's gift.
People are made right with God through His grace and through faith in Jesus Christ rather than by earning salvation through works.
4. There is one God and one saving plan.
Because there is one God, both Jews and Gentiles can receive His salvation through faith.
The chapter therefore moves from human failure to God's grace, making Romans 3 one of the most important chapters for understanding Paul's message about sin, grace, faith, justification, and salvation.