The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (161 page)

12
 All who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
¹³
For it is
not the hearers
of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be
justified
.
¹⁴
When Gentiles who have not the law do
by nature
what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.
¹⁵
They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them
¹⁶
on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

The Jews and the Law

17
 But
if you call yourself a Jew
and rely upon the law and boast of your relation to God
¹⁸
and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed in the law,
¹⁹
and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind,
a light to those who are in darkness
,
²⁰
a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—
²¹
you then who teach others, will you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal?
²²
You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
²³
You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
²⁴
For, as it is written, "
The name of God
is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

25
 Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
²⁶
So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?
²⁷
Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.
²⁸
For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical.
²⁹
He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and
real circumcision
is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal. His praise is not from men but from God.

3
  Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
²
Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews are entrusted with
the oracles of God
.
³
What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the
faithfulness
of God?
⁴
By no means! Let God be true though every man be false, as it is written,

  
"
That you may be justified
in your words,

  
and prevail when you are judged."

⁵
But if our wickedness serves to show the justice of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)
⁶
By no means! For then how could God judge the world?
⁷
But if through my falsehood God's truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?
⁸
And why not
do evil that good may come
?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

None Is Righteous

9
 What then? Are we Jews any better off?
^c
No, not at all; for I
^d
have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are
under the power of sin
,
¹⁰
as
it is written
:

  
"None is righteous, no, not one;

¹¹
no one understands, no one seeks for God.

¹²
All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong;

  
no one does good, not even one."

¹³
"Their throat is an open grave,

  
they use their tongues to deceive."

  
"The venom of asps is under their lips."

¹⁴
"Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."

¹⁵
"Their feet are swift to shed blood,

¹⁶
in their paths are ruin and misery,

¹⁷
and the way of peace they do not know."

¹⁸
"There is no fear of God before their eyes."

19
 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
²⁰
For no human being will be justified in his sight by
works of the law
, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Righteousness through Faith

21
 
But now
the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although
the law and the prophets
bear witness to it,
²²
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction;
²³
since
all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God,
²⁴
they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the
redemption
which is in Christ Jesus,
²⁵
whom God put forward as
an expiation
by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins;
²⁶
it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.

27
 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On the principle of works? No, but on the principle of faith.
 
*
²⁸
For we hold that a man is
justified by faith
apart from works of law.
²⁹
Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
³⁰
since
God is one
; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of their faith and the uncircumcised through their faith.
³¹
Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

The Example of the Faith of Abraham

4
  
What then
shall we say about
^e
Abraham,
our forefather
according to the flesh?
²
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to
boast
about, but not before God.
³
For what does the Scripture say? "
Abraham believed God
, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."
⁴
Now to
one who works
, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due.
⁵
And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.
⁶
So also David pronounces a blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:

 
⁷
"
Blessed are those
whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;

 ⁸
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not reckon his sin."

9
 Is this blessing pronounced only upon the circumcised, or also upon the uncircumcised? We say that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.
¹⁰
How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.
¹¹
He received circumcision as a sign or seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the
father of all who believe
without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them,
¹²
and likewise the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but also follow the example of the faith which our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

God's Promise Realized through Faith

13
 The promise to Abraham and his descendants, that they should
inherit the world
, did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
¹⁴
If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
¹⁵
For
the law brings wrath
, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

16
 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants—not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, for he is the father of us all,
¹⁷
as it is written, "
I have made you
the father of many nations"—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
¹⁸
In hope he
believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told, "
So shall your descendants
be."
¹⁹
He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the
barrenness
of Sarah's womb.
²⁰
No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
²¹
fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
²²
That is why his faith was "reckoned to him as righteousness."
²³
But the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone,
²⁴
but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,
²⁵
who was put to death for our trespasses and
raised for our justification
.

Results of Justification

5
  Therefore, since
we are justified
by faith, we
^f
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
²
Through him we have obtained access
^g
to this grace in which we stand, and we
^h
rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
³
More than that, we
^h
rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
⁴
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
⁵
and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

6
 While we were yet helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
⁷
Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man—though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die.
⁸
But
God shows his love
for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.
⁹
Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
¹⁰
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled,
shall we be saved
by his life.
¹¹
Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation.