1 What, then, is the advantage of being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
2 Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
3 What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?
4 Certainly not! Let God be TRUE and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.”
5 But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms.
6 Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world?
7 However, if my falsehood accentuates God’s truthfulness, to the increase of His glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?
8 Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say, “ Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved!
9 What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin.
10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one.
11 There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery lie in their wake,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
