Romans 3

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¹What, then, is the advantage of being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? ✦ ²Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God. ✦ ³What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? ✦ ⁴Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.” ✦ ⁵But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms. ✦ ⁶Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world? ✦ ⁷However, if my falsehood accentuates God’s truthfulness, to the increase of His glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner? ✦ ⁸Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say, “Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved! ✦ ⁹What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin. ✦ ¹⁰As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. ✦ ¹¹There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. ✦ ¹²All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” ✦ ¹³“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.” ✦ ¹⁴“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” ✦ ¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood; ✦ ¹⁶ruin and misery lie in their wake, ¹⁷and the way of peace they have not known.” ✦ ¹⁸“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” ✦ ¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ✦ ²⁰Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin. ✦ ²¹But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets. ✦ ²²And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, ✦ ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ✦ ²⁴and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. ✦ ²⁵God presented Him as the atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand. ✦ ²⁶He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus. ✦ ²⁷Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on that of faith. ✦ ²⁸For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law. ✦ ²⁹Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, ✦ ³⁰since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. ✦ ³¹Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the law. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Where this chapter connects

Rom 3 ·28 Gal 3 ·21 Rom 5 ·14 Rom 4 ·13 Rom 11 ·13 Rom 9 ·12 Rom 7 ·11 Gal 2 ·11

Christ at the center

Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.

How Romans 3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
VideoMike Winger — BibleThinkerMike Winger · Free · reformed
Free verse-by-verse studies through whole books plus careful apologetics — "learn to think biblically about everything." (Reformed-leaning, non-denominational.)

Pastoral

★ Start hereSermonMLJ Trust — Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermonsMartyn Lloyd-Jones · Free · reformed
1,600+ free sermons from "the Doctor," including landmark verse-by-verse series (Romans, John, Ephesians, Acts) — a gold standard of expository preaching.
SermonGrace to You — John MacArthurJohn MacArthur · Free · reformed
Decades of careful verse-by-verse expository sermons, especially through the New Testament. (MacArthur, d. 2025; archive remains free.)
SermonGospel in Life — Tim KellerTim Keller · Free · reformed
Tim Keller's gospel-centered preaching — sermons stream free (the complete downloadable archive is paid).
ArticleRecommended NT commentaries (9Marks / Schreiner)Thomas R. Schreiner · Free · reformed
A trusted pastor-oriented guide to the best commentary on each New Testament book.
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.
VideoVerse By Verse Ministry InternationalVerse By Verse Ministry Int'l · Free · evangelical
In-depth, verse-by-verse expository teaching book-by-book — strong for working straight through a whole New Testament book.
VideoLook at the Book — John PiperJohn Piper · Free · reformed
Watch Piper trace the logic of a passage phrase by phrase on screen — a model of close reading.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Romans videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Romans 3YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Romans 3David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on RomansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Romans 3Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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