Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech: Romans | Page 3

of the young, because in the Law you possess an outline of real knowledge and an outline of the truth: 002:021 you then who teach your fellow man, do you refuse to teach yourself? You who cry out against stealing, are you yourself a thief? 002:022 You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who loathe idols, do you plunder their temples? 002:023 You who make your boast in the Law, do you offend against its commands and so dishonour God? 002:024 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentile nations because of you, as Holy Writ declares. 002:025 Circumcision does indeed profit, if you obey the Law; but if you are a Law-breaker, the fact that you have been circumcised counts for nothing. 002:026 In the same way if an uncircumcised man pays attention to the just requirements of the Law, shall not his lack of circumcision be overlooked, and, 002:027 although he is a Gentile by birth, if he scrupulously obeys the Law, shall he not sit in judgement upon you who, possessing, as you do, a written Law and circumcision, are yet a Law-breaker? 002:028 For the true Jew is not the man who is simply a Jew outwardly, and true circumcision is not that which is outward and bodily. 002:029 But the true Jew is one inwardly, and true circumcision is heart-circumcision--not literal, but spiritual; and such people receive praise not from men, but from God. 003:001 What special privilege, then, has a Jew? Or what benefit is to be derived from circumcision? 003:002 The privilege is great from every point of view. First of all, because the Jews were entrusted with God's truth. 003:003 For what if some Jews have proved unfaithful? Shall their faithlessness render God's faithfulness worthless? 003:004 No, indeed; let us hold God to be true, though every man should prove to be false. As it stands written, "That Thou mayest be shown to be just in the sentence Thou pronouncest, and gain Thy cause when Thou contendest." 003:005 But if our unrighteousness sets God's righteousness in a clearer light, what shall we say? (Is God unrighteous-- I speak in our everyday language--when He inflicts punishment? 003:006 No indeed; for in that case how shall He judge all mankind?) 003:007 If, for instance, a falsehood of mine has made God's truthfulness more conspicuous, redounding to His glory, why am I judged all the same as a sinner? 003:008 And why should we not say--for so they wickedly misrepresent us, and so some charge us with arguing--"Let us do evil that good may come"? The condemnation of those who would so argue is just. 003:009 What then? Are we Jews more highly estimated than they? Not in the least; for we have already charged all Jews and Gentiles alike with being in thraldom to sin. 003:010 Thus it stands written, "There is not one righteous man. 003:011 There is not one who is really wise, nor one who is a diligent seeker after God. 003:012 All have turned aside from the right path; they have every one of them become corrupt. There is no one who does what is right--no, not so much as one." 003:013 "Their throats resemble an opened grave; with their tongues they have been talking deceitfully." "The venom of vipers lies hidden behind their lips." 003:014 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." 003:015 "Their feet move swiftly to shed blood. 003:016 Ruin and misery mark their path; 003:017 and the way to peace they have not known." 003:018 "There is no fear of God before their eyes." 003:019 But it cannot be denied that all that the Law says is addressed to those who are living under the Law, in order that every mouth may be stopped, and that the whole world may await sentence from God. 003:020 For on the ground of obedience to Law no man living will be declared righteous before Him. Law simply brings a sure knowledge of sin. 003:021 But now a righteousness coming from God has been brought to light apart from any Law, both Law and Prophets bearing witness to it-- 003:022 a righteousness coming from God, which depends on faith in Jesus Christ and extends to all who believe. No distinction is made; 003:023 for all alike have sinned, and all consciously come short of the glory of God, 003:024 gaining acquittal from guilt by His free unpurchased grace through the deliverance which is found in Christ Jesus. 003:025 He it is whom God put forward as a Mercy-seat, rendered efficacious through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness--because of the passing over, in God's forbearance, of the sins previously committed-- 003:026 with a view to demonstrating, at the present time, His righteousness,