Romans 10:3

Romans 10:3 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
• New International Version (NIV)Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
• English Standard Version (ESV)For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
• New King James Version (NKJV)For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

Context of Romans 10:3

1My Christian friends, I want God to save Israel's people. I want that very much. I pray to God that he will save them. 2I can say this about them: They really want to serve God well. But they do not understand the right way to do this. They have not understood the way that God accepts people. Instead, they tried to make their own way to become right with God. They refused to accept God's way that would make them right with him. 4God gave his Law to Israel's people for a purpose. But Christ has finished that purpose. So now, every person who believes in Christ becomes right with God. 5Moses wrote about how God's Law could help people to be right with God. He said, ‘If a person obeys the rules in God's Law, then he will live by them.’

Romans 10:3 word by word

ἀγνοοῦντες γὰρ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ δικαιοσύνην καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν δικαιοσύνην ζητοῦντες στῆσαι τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐχ ὑπετάγησαν.¶Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Forγάρgar · forG1063
• being ignorant ofἀγνοέωagnoeō · be ignorantG50
• God’sθεόςtheos · GodG2316
• righteousnessδικαιοσύνηdikaiosunē · righteousnessG1343
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• going aboutζητέωzēteō · to seekG2212
• to establishἵστημιhistēmi · to standG2476
• their ownἴδιοςidios · one's own/privateG2398
• haveὑποτάσσωhupotassō · to subjectG5293
• notοὐou · noG3756

Cross-references for Romans 10:3

• Romans 1:17The good news explains how God accepts people as right with himself. He does this when they believe in Christ. It is only because of their faith. Nothing else. This is what was written in the Bible long ago: ‘Everyone that God accepts as right will live, because they trust him.’
• Romans 3:22God accepts people as right with himself because Jesus Christ did what God wanted. God accepts every person who believes in Christ. It is the same way for everyone, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.
• Romans 5:19One man did not obey God and, as a result, many people became guilty because of their sins. But, because one man did obey God, many people will become right with God.
• Romans 9:30So, we must think about what all this means. The Gentiles were not trying to become right with God. But some of them have now become right with him. God has accepted them as right, because they have believed in Jesus Christ.
• Psalms 71:15I will tell people that you always do what is right. I will always speak about your power to save people. But you have done more than I will ever know about!
• Isaiah 51:6Look up at the sky! Look down at the earth below! One day, the sky will disappear like smoke that blows away. The earth will become useless, like old clothes. The people who live on it will die. They will fall like flies. But I will keep my people safe for ever. I will always rule with righteousness.
• Isaiah 56:1This is what the Lord says: ‘Always be fair and do what is right. Soon I will come to rescue you. I will do what is right for my people.
• Jeremiah 23:5The Lord says, ‘The time will come when I do this: I will cause a descendant of David to be born. He will be righteous. He will grow like a branch on the tree of David's family. He will rule as king in a wise way. He will do what is right and fair in the land.
• Daniel 9:24God has decided the time of punishment for your people and your holy city. It will continue for 70 weeks. That will finish the punishment for their sins. The people will no longer turn against God. They will have paid the price for their sins. God will cause them to live for ever in a way that is right. God will show that the visions and messages of the prophets are true. The Most Holy Place will belong to God again.
• John 16:9They are wrong about sin, because they do not believe in me.
• 2 Corinthians 5:21Christ never did any wrong thing, but God punished him as if he had. He died as punishment for our sins. As a result, we become right with God when we belong to Christ. We become right, because he is right.
• 2 Peter 1:1This letter is from me, Simon Peter. I am Jesus Christ's servant and his apostle. I am writing to you people who believe in Jesus Christ, as we do. That is a valuable gift that God has given to us all. He has done this because Jesus is completely good and right. Jesus is the one who saves us. He is the God that we serve.
• Romans 9:31But Israel's people tried to find a law that would make them right with God. But they failed to become right with God.
• Isaiah 57:12Now I will speak against the things that you do. You think that they are good and right, but those things will not help you.
• Isaiah 64:6Our sins have made us all like unclean people, who cannot worship you. Even the good things that we try to do are like dirty bits of cloth. Our sins will blow us all away, as the wind blows away dead leaves.
• Luke 10:29But the man wanted to show that he had been right to ask a question. So he asked, ‘Who are the people near to me that I must love?’

Commentaries on Romans 10:3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3For - being ignorant of God's righteousness - Not knowing God's method of saving sinners, which is the only proper and efficient method: and going about to establish their own righteousness - seeking to procure their salvation by means of their own contriving; they have not submitted - they have not bowed to the determinations of the Most High, relative to his mode of saving mankind, viz. through faith in Jesus Christ, as the only available sacrifice for…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3For they being ignorant - The ignorance of the Jews was voluntarily, and therefore criminal. The apostle does not affirm that they could not have known what the plan of God was; for he says Romans 10:18-21 that they had full opportunity of knowing. An attentive study of their own Scriptures would have led them to the true knowledge of the Messiah and his righteousness; see John 5:39; compare Isaiah 53:1-12, etc. Yet the fact that they were ignorant…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3God’s righteousness: See 1:17; 3:21–26. Paul uses this phrase to explain Israel’s failure using the core message of the gospel. God showed his righteousness through the work of Jesus Christ. However, most Jews did not understand what God was doing. This was partly because they were focused on keeping the law as a way to establish their own righteousness, rather than trusting what God had done through Christ.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness--that is, for the justification of the guilty (see on Ro 1:17). and going about--"seeking" to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God--The apostle views the general rejection of Christ by the nation as one act.Read the comment

Topics related to Romans 10:3

• Bigotry
• Justification
• Religion
• Salvation
• Self-Righteousness
• Zeal, Religious

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Confession
• Difference
• Establish
• Faith
• Justification
• Provoke
• Rich
• Zeal

Commentaries on Romans 10

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings