Romans 3:6-20

⁶Otherwise how can God judge the world?

⁷But, if my falsehood redounds to the glory of God, by making his truthfulness more apparent, why am I like others, still condemned as a sinner?

⁸Why should we not say — as some people slanderously assert that we do say — ‘Let us do evil that good may come’? The condemnation of such people is indeed just!

⁹What follows, then? Are we Jews in any way superior to others? Not at all. Our indictment against both Jews and Greeks was that all alike were in subjection to sin.

¹⁰As scripture says — ‘There is not even one who is righteous,

¹¹not one who understands, not one who is searching for God!

¹²They have all gone astray; they have one and all become depraved; there is no one who is doing good — no, not one!’

¹³‘Their throats are like opened graves; they deceive with their tongues.’ ‘The venom of snakes lies behind their lips,’

¹⁴‘And their mouths are full of bitter curses.’

¹⁵‘Swift are their feet to shed blood.

¹⁶Distress and trouble dog their steps,

¹⁷and the path of peace they do not know.’

¹⁸‘The fear of God is not before their eyes.’

¹⁹Now we know that everything said in the Law is addressed to those who are under its authority, in order that every mouth may be closed, and to bring the whole world under God's judgement.

²⁰For no human being will be pronounced righteous before God as the result of obedience to Law; for it is Law that shows what sin is.