14. “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15. “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
16. ruin and misery are in their paths,
17. and the way of peace they have not known.”
18. “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
20. For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
21. But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed –
22. namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction,
23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
24. But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
25. God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed.
26. This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness.