Righteousness through Faith in Christ (Romans 3:21–31)
1 UDB Finally, my fellow believers, continue to rejoice because you belong to the Lord. Though I will now write to you about those same matters that I mentioned to you before, this does not make me tired, and it will protect you from those who would like to harm you. BSB BSB: Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.
3 UDB But as for us, the Spirit of God enables us to truly worship God, we rejoice because we trust in Christ Jesus, and the rituals or ceremonies that people perform mean nothing to us. Therefore we ourselves are what it truly means to be circumcised. BSB BSB: For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—
4 UDB If anyone could have done enough things to please God, it would have been me. BSB BSB: though I myself could have such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
5 UDB They circumcised me seven days after I was born. I was born as one of the people of Israel. I am from the tribe of Benjamin. You cannot find a person more Hebrew than me! My ancestors were all Hebrews. And it was as a Pharisee that I obeyed all the laws of Moses and what our ancestors taught about them. BSB BSB: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
6 UDB I was so passionate to make people obey the law that I caused believers in Christ to suffer. No one could say that I ever disobeyed the law. BSB BSB: as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless.
7 UDB But everything that I then considered to be important I now consider to be worthless because Christ has changed me. BSB BSB: But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 UDB Instead, even more I now consider all things as not only worthless but as useless garbage to throw away compared to how great it is to know Christ Jesus my Lord. I have removed from my life everything worthless in order to benefit from Christ. BSB BSB: More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
9 UDB I now belong completely to Christ. I know that I cannot make myself right in God's sight by keeping the law. Instead I trust totally in Christ, so God has declared me right in His sight. BSB BSB: and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.
10 UDB When God declared me good in his sight, he did this so that I could begin to know Christ, so that God could begin to work in me with the same power with which he raised Christ from the dead, so that I could begin to suffer along with Christ as he suffered, and so that Christ could make me more like him when he died. BSB BSB: I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death,
11 UDB All of this is because I fully expect that God will cause me to live again, as he has promised. BSB BSB: and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Pressing on toward the Goal 13 UDB My fellow believers, I certainly do not yet think that all these things have completely happened to me. But I am like a runner because I do not look backward as I run toward the finish line. BSB BSB: Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
14 UDB Instead, I keep running toward the finish line in order to win the prize, which is to live forever with God. This is what God has called me for and what Christ Jesus has made possible. BSB BSB: I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.
15 UDB So all of us who have become strong believers should think this same way. But if any of you do not think this same way, God will reveal this to you. BSB BSB: All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, God will reveal this to you as well.
16 UDB Whatever is true about us now, however far we have come, let us trust Christ more and more in the same way we have done until now. BSB BSB: Nevertheless, we must live up to what we have already attained.
Citizenship in Heaven 17 UDB My fellow believers, join with others who follow our example, and watch closely those who live according to the example we gave you. BSB BSB: Join one another in following my example, brothers, and carefully observe those who walk according to the pattern we set for you.
18 UDB There are many people who say that they believe in Christ, but they really oppose what he did on the cross for us. I have told you about those people many times before, and now I am sad, even crying, as I tell you about them again. BSB BSB: For as I have often told you before, and now say again even with tears: Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
19 UDB God will destroy them in the end because their god is their desire to eat, and they live shamefully and think about things of the earth. BSB BSB: Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.
20 UDB As for us, we are citizens of heaven. It is from heaven that we are eagerly awaiting our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to return. BSB BSB: But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 UDB He will change the weak and humble bodies we have now into bodies like his own powerful body. He will do this with the same power with which he controls all things. BSB BSB: who, by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself, will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.