Romans 3

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¹What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? ✦ ²Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. ✦ ³For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? ✦ ⁴Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, And may overcome when You are judged.” ✦ ⁵But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) ✦ ⁶Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world? ✦ ⁷For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? ✦ ⁸And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just. ✦ ⁹What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. ✦ ¹⁰As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; ✦ ¹¹There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. ✦ ¹²They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” ✦ ¹³“Theirthroat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; ✦ ¹⁴“Whosemouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” ✦ ¹⁵“Theirfeet are swift to shed blood; ✦ ¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their ways; ¹⁷And the way of peace they have not known.” ✦ ¹⁸“Thereis no fear of God before their eyes.” ✦ ¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those 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 no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. ✦ ²¹But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ✦ ²²even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; ✦ ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ✦ ²⁴being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ✦ ²⁵whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, ✦ ²⁶to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. ✦ ²⁷Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. ✦ ²⁸Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. ✦ ²⁹Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, ✦ ³⁰since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. ✦ ³¹Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! 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.

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