Romans 3:26-27

3:26 This was ¹  also to demonstrate ²  his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just ³  and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness. ⁴ 

3:27 Where, then, is boasting? ⁵  It is excluded! By what principle? ⁶  Of works? No, but by the principle of faith!

[3:26]  ¹ tn The words “This was” have been repeated from the previous verse to clarify that this is a continuation of that thought. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:26]  ² tn Grk “toward a demonstration,” repeating and expanding the purpose of God’s action in v. 25a.

[3:26]  ³ tn Or “righteous.”

[3:26]  ⁴ tn Or “of the one who has faith in Jesus.” See note on “faithfulness of Jesus Christ” in v. 22 for the rationale behind the translation “Jesus’ faithfulness.”

[3:27]  ⁵ tn Although a number of interpreters understand the “boasting” here to refer to Jewish boasting, others (e.g. C. E. B. Cranfield, “‘The Works of the Law’ in the Epistle to the Romans,” JSNT 43 [1991]: 96) take the phrase to refer to all human boasting before God.

[3:27]  ⁶ tn Grk “By what sort of law?”