Romans 3:20 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

²⁰ For no human will be justified before him by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

²⁰ Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

²⁰ For no person will be justified (made righteous, acquitted, and judged acceptable) in His sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law. For [the real function of] the Law is to make men recognize and be conscious of sin [not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character].

American Standard Version (1901)

²⁰ because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin.

Common English Bible

²⁰ It follows that no human being will be treated as righteous in his presence by doing what the Law says, because the knowledge of sin comes through the Law.

Catholic Public Domain Version

²⁰ For in his presence no flesh shall be justified by the works of the law. For knowledge of sin is through the law.

Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version

²⁰ Because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before him. For by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Romans 3:20 Cross References

Job 15:15

God puts no trust even in his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his sight;

Psalm 130:3

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?

Psalm 143:2

Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.

Acts 13:39

by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

Romans 2:13

For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight but the doers of the law who will be justified.

Romans 3:28

For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.

Romans 4:13

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

Romans 4:15

For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.

Romans 5:13

for sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law.

Romans 5:20

But law came in, so that the trespass might increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

Romans 7:11

For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

Romans 9:32

Why not? Because they did not strive for it on the basis of faith but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,

1 Corinthians 15:56

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

Galatians 2:16

yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through the faith of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.

Galatians 2:19

For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ,

Galatians 5:4

You who want to be reckoned as righteous by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

Hebrews 7:19

(for the law made nothing perfect); there is, on the other hand, the introduction of a better hope through which we approach God.