Romans 3  Romans 3 is the third chapter of the Epistle to the Romans in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It was composed by Paul the Apostle, while he was in Corinth in the mid 50s CE, with the help of an amanuensis (secretary), Tertius, who added his own greeting in . In this chapter, Paul asks a series of rhetorical questions in order to develop his theological message, and quotes extensively from the Hebrew Bible. Theologian Albert Barnes suggests that "the design of the first part of this chapter is to answer some of the objections which might be offered by a Jew to the statements in the previous chapter". The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 31 verses. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:   The chief advantage, or benefit, or responsibility, or superiority  of the Jewish people is their possession of the Hebrew Bible (, "ta logia tou theou", "the very words of God" in verse 2 New International Version). Traditional translations (the Geneva Bible, King James Version, American Standard Version and Revised Standard Version) refer to the "oracles of God". The Jewish "advantage" (, to "perissov") is really an act of entrustment (Romans 3:2). Nonconformist theologian Matthew Poole stated that "to the Jews were credited, or given in custody, the Holy Scriptures". Stephen, whose martyrdom Paul had witnessed before his conversion, called the scriptures the "living oracles" (, "logia zonta"). In verse 8, Paul refers to slanderous accusations made by "some people"  that believers say “Let’s do evil that good may result”. Bishop Charles Ellicott suggests that these accusers might have been the Jews or "the Judaizing party"; Barnes says it is "doubtless" that they were Jews; the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges argues that they were Paul's "inveterate adversaries in the Church". This section (extending to verse 31) revisits 'the grand theme', "the righteousness of God", which is introduced in the Thanksgiving part of chapter 1. Comprising one paragraph, verses 21–26 is called by Stuhlmacher as 'the heart of the letter to the Romans', stating that 'the divine character—faithful, gracious, forgiving, and merciful—has been revealed in Jesus Christ, specifically in his death as "a sacrifice for sin effective through faith".