The Meaning of Romans 3:30 Explained

Romans 3:30

KJV: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

YLT: yes, also of nations; since one is God who shall declare righteous the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through the faith.

Darby: since indeed it is one God who shall justify the circumcision on the principle of faith, and uncircumcision by faith.

ASV: if so be that God is one, and he shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Seeing  [it is] one  God,  which  shall justify  the circumcision  by  faith,  and  uncircumcision  through  faith. 

What does Romans 3:30 Mean?

Context Summary

Romans 3:21-31 - All Freely Justified By Grace
From the universal need the Apostle turns to the all-sufficient remedy. The Law and the Prophets hinted dimly at justification by faith, but did not unveil it. God's way of justification is to impute righteousness to the believer. He places us in that position in law, before proceeding by the Holy Spirit to bring us into the condition of holiness. The perfect day is imputed to the dawn, the perfect flower to the seed, the finished picture to the crude sketch. As soon as we trust in Jesus we are viewed as standing in Him and justified before the Law; but before us lies the great work of assimilation to His perfect likeness by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
It is sin to come short, Romans 3:23; and who among us has fulfilled his possibilities of godlikeness? Romans 3:24; Genesis 1:26-27. Though justification costs us nothing but the sacrifice of our pride, it has cost Christ His own blood, Romans 3:25. The propitiatory, or mercy seat, was the golden lid of the Ark which the high priest sprinkled with blood. See Hebrews 9:5. Faith has no room in her household for vaunting and boasting, Romans 3:27. The Law is best honored when the Lawgiver, dwelling within us, fulfills it through us. [source]

Chapter Summary: Romans 3

1  The Jews prerogative;
3  which they have not lost;
9  howbeit the law convinces them also of sin;
20  therefore no one is justified by the law;
28  but all, without difference, by faith, only;
31  and yet the law is not abolished

Greek Commentary for Romans 3:30

If so be that God is one [ειπερ εις ο τεος]
Correct text rather than επειπερ — epeiper It means “if on the whole.” “By a species of rhetorical politeness it is used of that about which there is no doubt” (Thayer. Cf. 1 Corinthians 8:5; 1 Corinthians 15:15; Romans 8:9. [source]
By faith [εκ πιστεως]
“Out of faith,” springing out of. Through faith (δια της πιστεως — dia tēs pisteōs). “By means of the faith” (just mentioned). Εκ — Ek denotes source, δια — dia intermediate agency or attendant circumstance. [source]
Through faith [δια της πιστεως]
“By means of the faith” (just mentioned). Εκ — Ek denotes source, δια — dia intermediate agency or attendant circumstance. [source]
By faith - through faith [ἐκ - διά]
Some make the two prepositions equivalent. The difference may be explained from the fact that the real Jew has already a germinating faith from the completion of which justification arises as fruit from a tree. So Wordsworth: “The Jews are justified out of ( ἐκ ) the faith which their father Abraham had, and which they are supposed to have in him The Gentiles must enter that door and pass through it in order to be justified.” Compare Ephesians 2:17. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Romans 3:30

Romans 3:20 Be justified [δικαιωθήσεται]
For the kindred adjective δίκαιος righteoussee on Romans 1:17. 1. Classical usage. The primitive meaning is to make right. This may take place absolutely or relatively. The person or thing may be made right in itself, or with reference to circumstances or to the minds of those who have to do with them. Applied to things or acts, as distinguished from persons, it signifies to make right in one's judgment. Thus Thucydides, ii. 6,7. “The Athenians judged it right to retaliate on the Lacedaemonians.” Herodotus, i., 89, Croesus says to Cyrus: “I think it right to shew thee whatever I may see to thy advantage.”-DIVIDER-
A different shade of meaning is to judge to be the case. So Thucydides, iv., 122: “The truth concerning the revolt was rather as the Athenians, judged the case to be.” Again, it occurs simply in the sense to judge. Thucydides, v., 26: “If anyone agree that the interval of the truce should be excluded, he will not judge correctly “In both these latter cases the etymological idea of right is merged, and the judicial element predominates. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
In ecclesiastical usage, to judge to be right or to decide upon in ecclesiastical councils. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Applied to persons, the meaning is predominantly judicial, though Aristotle (“Nichomachaean Ethics,” v., 9) uses it in the sense of to treat one rightly. There is no reliable instance of the sense to make right intrinsically; but it means to make one right in some extrinsic or relative manner. Thus Aeschylus, “Agamemnon,” 390-393: Paris, subjected to the judgment of men, tested ( δικαιωθεὶς ) is compared to bad brass which turns black when subjected to friction. Thus tested or judged he stands in right relation to men's judgments. He is shown in the true baseness of his character. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Thus the verb acquires the meaning of condemn; adjudge to be bad. Thucydides, iii., 40: Cleon says to the Athenians, “If you do not deal with the Mitylenaeans as I advise, you will condemn yourselves.” From this readily arises the sense of punish; since the punishment of a guilty man is a setting him in right relation to the political or moral system which his conduct has infringed. Thus Herodotus, i., 100: “Deioces the Mede, if he heard of any act of oppression, sent for the guilty party and punished him according to his offense.” Compare Plato, “Laws,” ii., 934. Plato uses δικαιωτήρια to denote places of punishment or houses of correction (“Phaedrus,” 249). According to Cicero, δικαιόω was used by the Sicilians of capital punishment: “ Ἑδικαιώθησαν , that is, as the Sicilians say, they were visited with punishment and executed” (“Against Verres,” v., 57). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
To sum up the classical usage, the word has two main references: 1, to persons; 2, to things or acts. In both the judicial element is dominant. The primary sense, to make right, takes on the conventional meanings to judge a thing to be right, to judge, to right a person, to treat rightly, to condemn, punish, put to death. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
2. New Testament usage. This is not identical with the classical usage. In the New Testament the word is used of persons only. In Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:35, of a quality, Wisdom, but the quality is personified. It occurs thirty-nine times in the New Testament; twenty-seven in Paul; eight in the Synoptists and Acts; three in James; one in the Revelation. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
A study of the Pauline passages shows that it is used by Paul according to the sense which attaches to the adjective δίκαιος , representing a state of the subject relatively to God. The verb therefore indicates the act or process by which a man is brought into a right state as related to God. In the A.V. confusion is likely to arise from the variations in translation, righteousness, just, justifier, justify. See Romans 3:24, Romans 3:26, Romans 3:28, Romans 3:30; Romans 4:2; Romans 5:1, Romans 5:9; Galatians 2:16; Galatians 3:8, Galatians 3:11, Galatians 3:24; Titus 3:7. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
The word is not, however, to be construed as indicating a mere legal transaction or adjustment between God and man, though it preserves the idea of relativity, in that God is the absolute standard by which the new condition is estimated, whether we regard God's view of the justified man, or the man's moral condition when justified. The element of character must not only not be eliminated from it; it must be foremost in it. Justification is more than pardon. Pardon is an act which frees the offender from the penalty of the law, adjusts his outward relation to the law, but does not necessarily effect any change in him personally. It is necessary to justification, but not identical with it. Justification aims directly at character. It contemplates making the man himself right; that the new and right relation to God in which faith places him shall have its natural and legitimate issue in personal rightness. The phrase faith is counted for righteousness, does not mean that faith is a substitute for righteousness, but that faith is righteousness; righteousness in the germ indeed, but still bona fide righteousness. The act of faith inaugurates a righteous life and a righteous character. The man is not made inherently holy in himself, because his righteousness is derived from God; neither is he merely declared righteous by a legal fiction without reference to his personal character; but the justifying decree, the declaration of God which pronounces him righteous, is literally true to the fact in that he is in real, sympathetic relation with the eternal source and norm of holiness, and with the divine personal inspiration of character. Faith contains all the possibilities of personal holiness. It unites man to the holy God, and through this union he becomes a partaker of the divine nature, and escapes the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1:4). The intent of justification is expressly declared by Paul to be conformity to Christ's image (Romans 8:29, Romans 8:30). Justification which does not actually remove the wrong condition in man which is at the root of his enmity to God, is no justification. In the absence of this, a legal declaration that the man is right is a fiction. The declaration of righteousness must have its real and substantial basis in the man's actual moral condition. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Hence justification is called justification of life (Romans 5:18); it is linked with the saving operation of the life of the risen Christ (Romans 4:25; Romans 5:10); those who are in Christ Jesus “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1); they exhibit patience, approval, hope, love (Romans 5:4, Romans 5:5). Justification means the presentation of the self to God as a living sacrifice; non-conformity to the world; spiritual renewal; right self-estimate - all that range of right practice and feeling which is portrayed in the twelfth chapter of this Epistle. See, further, on Romans 4:5.Knowledge ( ἐπίγνωσις )Clear and exact knowledge. Always of a knowledge which powerfully influences the form of the religions life, and hence containing more of the element of personal sympathy than the simple γνῶσις knowledgewhich may be concerned with the intellect alone without affecting the character. See Romans 1:28; Romans 10:2; Ephesians 4:13. Also Philemon 1:9, where it is associated with the abounding of love; Colossians 3:10; Philemon 1:6, etc. Hence the knowledge of sin here is not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character. [source]

Romans 8:9 But in the spirit [αλλα εν πνευματι]
Probably, “in the Holy Spirit.” It is not Pantheism or Buddhism that Paul here teaches, but the mystical union of the believer with Christ in the Holy Spirit. If so be that (ειπερ — eiper). “If as is the fact” (cf. Romans 3:30). The Spirit of Christ The same as “the Spirit of God” just before. See also Philemon 1:19; 1 Peter 1:11. Incidental argument for the Deity of Christ and probably the meaning of 2 Corinthians 3:18 “the Spirit of the Lord.” Condition of first class, assumed as true. [source]
Romans 8:9 If so be that [ειπερ]
“If as is the fact” (cf. Romans 3:30). [source]
Galatians 3:7 They which are of faith [οἱ ἐκ πίστεως]
Ἑκ πίστεως fromor out of faith, is found with the verb to justify (Romans 3:26, Romans 3:30; Romans 5:1): with other verbs, as live (Romans 1:17); eat (Romans 14:23): with the noun δικαιοσύνη righteousness(Romans 1:17; Romans 9:30; Romans 10:6): with other nouns, as promise (Galatians 3:22), law (Galatians 3:12). For parallels to the phrase οἱ ἐκ πίστεως , see Romans 3:26; Romans 4:16; Romans 14:23; Galatians 3:9. It denotes believers as sprung from, or receiving their spiritual condition from that which specially characterizes them. Comp. οἱ ἐξ ἐριθίας theywho are of faction, Romans 2:8; οἱ ἐκ νόμου theywho are of the law, Romans 4:14; ὁ ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας hewho is of the truth, John 18:37. [source]
Ephesians 2:17 Them that were nigh []
Jews. See on Romans 3:30. As children of the messianic covenant. See on Ephesians 2:12. Compare Isaiah 57:9, where the Septuagint reads, peace upon peace to those who are far and to those who are near. [source]
Philippians 3:9 Through the faith of Christ [διὰ πίστεως Χριστοῦ]
Rev., better, through faith in Christ. Faith as opposed to the law. The change of prepositions, through ( διὰ ) faith, and of ( ἐκ ) the law, as turning on the distinction between faith represented as the medium, and the law as the source of justification, cannot be insisted upon as a rule, since both the prepositions are used with faith, as in Galatians 2:16. Compare Romans 3:30; Romans 5:1. [source]
2 Thessalonians 1:6 Seeing it is [εἴπερ]
More literally, if so be that. Confirming, in a hypothetical form, the assertion of God's judgment upon persecutors, 2 Thessalonians 1:5. It implies no doubt, but rhetorically puts a recognized fact as a supposition. So Romans 3:30; Romans 8:9, Romans 8:17; 1 Corinthians 8:5. [source]
1 Timothy 2:5 For [γὰρ]
The universality of the grace is grounded in the unity of God. Comp. Romans 3:30. One divine purpose for all implies one God who purposes. [source]
1 Timothy 2:5 One God [εις τεος]
Regular Pauline argument for a universal gospel (Galatians 3:20; Romans 3:30; Ephesians 4:6). [source]

What do the individual words in Romans 3:30 mean?

since indeed One - God [is] who will justify [the] circumcision by faith and [the] uncircumcision through the [same]
εἴπερ εἷς Θεός ὃς δικαιώσει περιτομὴν ἐκ πίστεως καὶ ἀκροβυστίαν διὰ τῆς

εἴπερ  since  indeed 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: εἴπερ  
Sense: if indeed, since, if after all.
εἷς  One 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: εἷς  
Sense: one.
  - 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
Θεός  God  [is] 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: θεός  
Sense: a god or goddess, a general name of deities or divinities.
δικαιώσει  will  justify 
Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: δικαιόω  
Sense: to render righteous or such he ought to be.
περιτομὴν  [the]  circumcision 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: περιτομή  
Sense: circumcised.
πίστεως  faith 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: πίστις  
Sense: conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it.
ἀκροβυστίαν  [the]  uncircumcision 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: ἀκροβυστία  
Sense: having the foreskin, uncircumcised.
διὰ  through 
Parse: Preposition
Root: διά  
Sense: through.
τῆς  the  [same] 
Parse: Article, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.