1. What advantage is there then in being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
2. Much, in every respect. [For] in the first place, they were entrusted with the utterances of God.
3. What if some were unfaithful? Will their infidelity nullify the fidelity of God?
4. Of course not! God must be true, though every human being is a liar, as it is written:“That you may be justified in your words,and conquer when you are judged.”
5. But if our wickedness provides proof of God’s righteousness, what can we say? Is God unjust, humanly speaking, to inflict his wrath?
6. Of course not! For how else is God to judge the world?
7. But if God’s truth redounds to his glory through my falsehood, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?
8. And why not say—as we are accused and as some claim we say—that we should do evil that good may come of it? Their penalty is what they deserve.
9. Well, then, are we better off? Not entirely, for we have already brought the charge against Jews and Greeks alike that they are all under the domination of sin,