ESTUDIO DEL CAPÍTULO

Romans 3 — All Have Sinned, Justified by Faith

Romans 3 defends the continuing value of being Jewish, silences objections to God's justice, indicts all humanity under sin, and proclaims justification by faith through Christ as propitiation.

Escritura

  1. 1.¿Qué ventaja tiene, pues, el judío? ¿o de qué aprovecha la circuncisión?What advantage then hath the Jew? or what is the profit of circumcision?
  2. 2.Mucho, en todas maneras. Primero, ciertamente, que les ha sido confiada la palabra de Dios.Much every way: first of all, that they were intrusted with the oracles of God.
  3. 3.¿Pues qué, si algunos de ellos han sido incrédulos? ¿Su incredulidad habrá hecho nula la fidelidad de Dios?For what if some were without faith? shall their want of faith make of none effect the faithfulness of God?
  4. 4.De ninguna manera; antes bien sea Dios veraz, y todo hombre mentiroso; como está escrito:Para que seas justificado en tus palabras, Y venzas cuando fueres juzgado.God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment.
  5. 5.Y si nuestra injusticia hace resaltar la justicia de Dios, ¿qué diremos? ¿Será injusto Dios que da castigo? (Hablo como hombre.)But if our righteousness commendeth the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who visiteth with wrath? (I speak after the manner of men.)
  6. 6.En ningua manera; de otro modo, ¿cómo juzgaría Dios al mundo?God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?
  7. 7.Pero si por mi mentira la verdad de Dios abundó para su gloria, ¿por qué aún soy juzgado como pecador?But if the truth of God through my lie abounded unto his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?
  8. 8.¿Y por qué no decir (como se nos calumnia, y como algunos, cuya condenación es justa, afirma que nosotros decimos): Hagamos males para que vengan bienes?and why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that good may come? whose condemnation is just.
  9. 9.¿Qué, pues? Somos nosotros mejores que ellos? En ninguna manera; pues ya hemos acusado a judíos y a gentiles, que todos están bajo pecado.What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin;
  10. 10.Como está escrito:No hay justo, ni aun uno;as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one;
  11. 11.No hay quien entienda. No hay quien busque a Dios.There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God;
  12. 12.Todos se desviaron, a una se hicieron inútiles; No hay quien haga lo bueno, no hay ni siquiera uno.They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that doeth good, no, not, so much as one:
  13. 13.Sepulcro abierto es su garganta; Con su lengua engañan. Veneno de áspides hay debajo de sus labios;Their throat is an open sepulchre; With their tongues they have used deceit: The poison of asps is under their lips:
  14. 14.Su boca está llena de maldición y de amargura.Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
  15. 15.Sus pies se apresuran para derramar sangre;Their feet are swift to shed blood;
  16. 16.Quebranto y desventura hay en sus caminos;Destruction and misery are in their ways;
  17. 17.Y no conocieron camino de paz.And the way of peace have they not known:
  18. 18.No hay temor de Dios delante de sus ojos.There is no fear of God before their eyes.
  19. 19.Pero sabemos que todo lo que la ley dice, lo dice a los que están bajo la ley, para que toda boca se cierre y todo el mundo quede bajo el juicio de Dios;Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it speaketh to them that are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God:
  20. 20.ya que por las obras de la ley ningún ser humano será justificado delante de él; porque por medio de la ley es el conocimiento del pecado.because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin.
  21. 21.Pero ahora, aparte de la ley, se ha manifestado la justicia de Dios, testificada por la ley y por los profetas;But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
  22. 22.la justicia de Dios por medio de la fe en Jesucristo, para todos los que creen en él. Porque no hay diferencia,even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe; for there is no distinction;
  23. 23.por cuanto todos pecaron, y están destituidos de la gloria de Dios,for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;
  24. 24.siendo justificados gratuitamente por su gracia, mediante la redención que es en Cristo Jesús,being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
  25. 25.a quien Dios puso como propiciación por medio de la fe en su sangre, para manifestar su justicia, a causa de haber pasado por alto, en su paciencia, los pecados pasados,whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God;
  26. 26.con la mira de manifestar en este tiempo su justicia, a fin de que él sea el justo, y el que justifica al que es de la fe de Jesús.for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.
  27. 27.¿Dónde, pues, está la jactancia? Queda excluida. ¿Por cuál ley? ¿Por la de las obras? No, sino por la ley de la fe.Where then is the glorying? It is excluded. By what manner of law? of works? Nay: but by a law of faith.
  28. 28.Concluimos, pues, que el hombre es justificado por fe sin las obras de la ley.We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
  29. 29.¿Es Dios solamente Dios de los judíos? ¿No es también Dios de los gentiles? Ciertamente, también de los gentiles.Or is God the God of Jews only? is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yea, of Gentiles also:
  30. 30.Porque Dios es uno, y él justificará por la fe a los de la circuncisión, y por medio de la fe a los de la incircuncisión.if so be that God is one, and he shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.
  31. 31.¿Luego por la fe invalidamos la ley? En ninguna manera, sino que confirmamos la ley.Do we then make the law of none effect through faith? God forbid: nay, we establish the law.

Qué significa este pasaje

Verses 1–8 form a dialogue with an imagined Jewish interlocutor. Paul grants a continuing advantage to the Jew (v. 1) and identifies it primarily as the entrusting of the oracles of God (v. 2). Hypothetical objections are then raised: that Jewish unfaithfulness nullifies God's faithfulness (v. 3), that human unrighteousness highlights God's righteousness and makes God unjust (v. 5), and that Paul's gospel implies one should do evil for good (v. 8). Each is dismissed with the strong negative μὴ γένοιτο (v. 4, 6), since a God who justifies the wicked would have no right to judge the world (v. 6).

Verses 9–20 string together Old Testament quotations (Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah) to demonstrate that both Jews and Greeks are under sin (v. 9). The catena moves from the absence of any righteous person (v. 10) through corrupt speech (vv. 13–14) to violent deeds (vv. 15–17), concluding that the entire human race lacks the fear of God (v. 18). Verse 19 explains the function of these texts: the law shuts every mouth and brings the whole world under divine judgment, and verse 20 states that no flesh will be justified by works of the law, since the law's role is to give knowledge of sin.

Verses 21–31 announce the revelation of God's righteousness apart from the law, attested by law and prophets (v. 21). It comes through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe (v. 22), grounded in the universal reality that all have sinned and fall short of God's glory (v. 23). Justification is by grace through redemption in Christ Jesus (v. 24), whom God presented as a propitiation in his blood (v. 25) to demonstrate his righteousness while justifying the one who has faith in Jesus (v. 26). Boasting is excluded (v. 27) by a law of faith; the oneness of God means he justifies both circumcised and uncircumcised through faith (vv. 29–30); and far than annulling the law, faith establishes it (v. 31).

Contexto

Romans 3 sits at the hinge between Romans 1:18–32 (God's wrath against unrighteousness) and Romans 1:18–3:20 (the universal indictment), and the exposition of justification by faith in Romans 3:21–31. The dialogic style of 3:1–8 looks back to the anticipation in 2:1–16 that God judges impartially, and prepares the ground for the catena of Scripture quotations. Paul's use of ὁ λόγια τοῦ θεοῦ in 3:2 for the Jewish scriptures draws on a venerable Jewish way of speaking about revealed speech entrusted to a particular people.

Palabras clave del original

  • G4061 περιτομή, circumcision. Paul frames the question of Jewish advantage around this covenant sign (v. 1) and then argues in v. 30 that the same God who justifies the circumcised by faith also justifies the uncircumcised through faith, relativizing the rite's role in salvation.
  • G1343 δικαιοσύνη, righteousness or justification. The same word names both God's own righteousness (v. 5) and the righteousness from God that comes through faith (v. 21–22). Paul ties them together: God demonstrates his righteousness in order to justify the sinner (v. 26).

Versículos relacionados

  • Ecclesiastes 7:20 Ecclesiastes' wisdom observation that there is no one on earth who does good and does not sin matches Paul's quotation in Romans 3:10, 12 that there is none righteous, no, not one, showing that even the wise tradition acknowledges the inevitability of sin.
  • Galatians 3:22 Galatians 3:22 states that scripture shut up all things under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to believers, paralleling Romans 3:9, 19–20, where the law's function is to silence every mouth and confine all under judgment before faith in Christ is offered.
  • Romans 11:32 Romans 11:32 declares that God shut up all unto disobedience in order to show mercy to all, echoing Romans 3:9–12 where Paul concludes that both Jew and Greek are under sin and that no flesh is justified by works of the law.

Preguntas frecuentes

Does Romans 3 deny any continuing value to being Jewish?

No. Verse 2 explicitly grants the Jew much advantage in every way, first of all because they were entrusted with the oracles of God. Romans 3 then argues that this privilege does not translate into a justifying advantage apart from faith (vv. 21–31).

What is the function of the Old Testament quotations in verses 10–18?

The catena of passages from Psalms, Isaiah, and Ecclesiastes provides scriptural proof that every human being—Jew and Greek—is under sin. Verse 19 states that the law's purpose is to silence every mouth and bring the whole world under divine judgment.

What does it mean that God set forth Christ as a propitiation?

Verse 25 says God presented Christ Jesus as a propitiation through faith in his blood, to demonstrate his righteousness because of the passing over of former sins in God's forbearance. The language ties Christ's atoning death to the covering of sin so that God can be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (v. 26).

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