Romans 3

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¹What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? ✦ ²Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. ✦ ³For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? ✦ 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. ✦ ⁵But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) ✦ ⁶God forbid: for then how shall God judge the 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? ✦ 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. ✦ 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; ✦ ¹⁰As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: ✦ ¹¹There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. ✦ ¹²They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. ✦ ¹³Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: ✦ ¹⁴Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: ✦ ¹⁵Their feet are swift to shed blood: ✦ ¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their ways: ¹⁷And the way of peace have they not known: ✦ ¹⁸There is no fear of God before their eyes. ✦ 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. ✦ 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. ✦ ²¹But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; ✦ 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: ✦ ²³For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; ✦ ²⁴Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: ✦ 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; ✦ ²⁶To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. ✦ ²⁷Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. ✦ ²⁸Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. ✦ ²⁹Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: ✦ ³⁰Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. ✦ ³¹Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish 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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