Romans 3

Read the chapter

¹Then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? ✦ ²Great in every respect. First, that they were entrusted with the actual words of God. ✦ ³What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? ✦ ⁴Far from it! Rather, God must prove to be true, though every person be found a liar, as it is written: “So that You are justified in Your words, And prevail when You are judged.” ✦ ⁵But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking from a human viewpoint.) ✦ ⁶Far from it! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? ✦ ⁷But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? ✦ ⁸And why not say (just as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “Let’s do evil that good may come of it”? Their condemnation is deserved. ✦ ⁹What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; ✦ ¹⁰as it is written: “There is no righteous person, not even one; ✦ ¹¹There is no one who understands, There is no one who seeks out God; ✦ ¹²They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, There is not even one.” ✦ ¹³“Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The venom of asps is under their lips”; ✦ ¹⁴“Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”; ✦ ¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood, ✦ ¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their paths, ¹⁷And they have not known the way of peace.” ✦ ¹⁸“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” ✦ ¹⁹Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; ✦ ²⁰because by the works of the Law none of mankind will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes knowledge of sin. ✦ ²¹But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ✦ ²²but it is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction, ✦ ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ✦ ²⁴being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, ✦ ²⁵whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in God’s merciful restraint He let the sins previously committed go unpunished; ✦ ²⁶for the demonstration, that is, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. ✦ ²⁷Where then is boasting? It has been excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. ✦ ²⁸For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. ✦ ²⁹Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ✦ ³⁰since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. ✦ ³¹Do we then nullify the Law through faith? Far from it! On the contrary, 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.

← Romans 2 Romans 4 →