1
{1}Paul, slave of Messiah Jesus, called apostle,
having been set apart for the gospel of God, {2} that which was promised
beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, {3} concerning
his Son, who was descended from the seed of David according to the flesh,
{4} the one declared to be Son of God in power according to the spirit
of holiness through his being raised up from among the dead, Jesus Messiah
our Lord, {5} through whom we have received grace and apostleship toward
the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his Name,
{6} including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Messiah, {7}
To all God's beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you
and peace from God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Messiah.
{8} First of all, I give thanks to my God through
Jesus Messiah concerning all of you, that your faith is proclaimed throughout
the entire cosmos. {9} For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit
in the evangelizing of his Son, that without ceasing I remember you always
in my prayers, {10} asking that by God's will I may somehow at last succeed
in coming to you. {11} For I long to see you so that I may share with you
some spiritual gift to firmly establish you-- {12} or rather so that we
may be mutually encouraged through each other's faith, both yours and mine.
{13} For I want you to know, sisters and brothers, that I have often
intended to come to you, but thus far have been prevented, in order that
I also may reap some harvest among you as among the rest of the Gentiles.
{14} Both to Greeks and to barbarians, wise and foolish, I am a debtor
{15} --hence my eagerness to evangelize even you who are in Rome. {16}
For I am not ashamed of the gospel; for it is God's power toward salvation
for all those believing, to Jews first and also to Greeks. {17} For the
justice of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, "The
one who is righteous will live by faith."
{18} For the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of
those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. {19} For what can be
known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. {20}
Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature,
invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things
he has made. So they are without excuse; {21} for though they knew God,
they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile
in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. {22} Claiming
to be wise, they became fools; {23} and they exchanged the glory of the
immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed
animals or reptiles. {24} Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their
hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves,
{25} because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped
and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!
Amen. {26} For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their
women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, {27} and in the same
way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed
with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and
received in their own persons the due penalty for their error. {28} And
since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased
mind and to things that should not be done. {29} They were filled with
every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, {30} slanderers, God-haters,
insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents,
{31} foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. {32} They know God's decree,
that those who practice such things deserve to die--yet they not only do
them but even applaud others who practice them.
2
{1}Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others;
for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the
judge, are doing the very same things. {2} You say, "We know that God's
judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth." {3}
Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such
things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? {4}
Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience?
Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
{5} But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for
yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.
{6} For he will repay according to each one's deeds: {7} to those who by
patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will
give eternal life; {8} while for those who are self-seeking and who obey
not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. {9} There will
be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also
the Greek, {10} but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good,
the Jew first and also the Greek. {11} For God shows no partiality. {12}
All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the
law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. {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. {14} When Gentiles, who
do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these,
though not having the law, are a law to themselves. {15} They show that
what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience
also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps
excuse them {16} on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through
Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all. {17} But if you call
yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relation to God {18}
and know his will and determine what is best because you are instructed
in the law, {19} and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind,
a light to those who are in darkness, {20} a corrector of the foolish,
a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and
truth, {21} you, then, that teach others, will you not teach yourself?
While you preach against stealing, do you steal? {22} You that forbid adultery,
do you commit adultery? You that abhor idols, do you rob temples? {23}
You that boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? {24}
For, as it is written, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles
because of you." {25} Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law;
but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
{26} So, if those who are uncircumcised keep the requirements of the law,
will not their uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? {27} Then those
who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you that
have the written code and circumcision but break the law. {28} For a person
is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external
and physical. {29} Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real
circumcision is a matter of the heart--it is spiritual and not literal.
Such a person receives praise not from others but from God.
3
{1} Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
{2} Much, in every way. For in the first place the Jews were entrusted
with the oracles of God. {3} What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness
nullify the faithfulness of God? {4} By no means! Although everyone is
a liar, let God be proved true, as it is written, "So that you may be justified
in your words, and prevail in your judging." {5} But if our injustice serves
to confirm the justice of God, what should we say? That God is unjust to
inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) {6} By no means! For then
how could God judge the world? {7} But if through my falsehood God's truthfulness
abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? {8} And
why not say (as some people slander us by saying that we say), "Let us
do evil so that good may come"? Their condemnation is deserved! {9} What
then? Are we any better off? No, not at all; for we have already charged
that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, {10} as it
is written: "There is no one who is righteous, not even one; {11} there
is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. {12} All
have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no one
who shows kindness, there is not even one." {13} "Their throats are opened
graves; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of vipers is under
their lips." {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 speaks 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 human being will be justified in his sight" by deeds prescribed by
the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. {21}
But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and
is attested by the law and the prophets, {22} the righteousness of God
through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction,
{23} since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; {24} they
are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, {25} whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement
by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness,
because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously
committed; {26} it was to prove at the present time that he himself is
righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus. {27} Then
what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works?
No, but by the law of faith. {28} For we hold that a person is justified
by faith apart from works prescribed by the law. {29} Or is God the God
of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
{30} since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground
of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. {31} Do we then
overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold
the law.
4
{1}What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according
to the flesh? {2} For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something
to boast about, but not before God. {3} For what does the scripture say?
"Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." {4}
Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something
due. {5} But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly,
such faith is reckoned as righteousness. {6} So also David speaks of the
blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:
{7} "Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are
covered; {8} blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin."
{9} Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also
on the uncircumcised? We say, "Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness."
{10} How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been
circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. {11} He received
the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by
faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the
ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have
righteousness reckoned to them, {12} and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised
who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith
that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised. {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. {14} If it is the
adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise
is void. {15} For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither
is there violation. {16} For this reason it depends on faith, in order
that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants,
not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith
of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, {17} as it is written, "I
have made you the father of many nations")--in the presence of the God
in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence
the things that do not exist. {18} Hoping against hope, he believed that
he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said,
"So numerous shall your descendants be." {19} He did not weaken in faith
when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for
he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness
of Sarah's womb. {20} No distrust made him waver concerning the promise
of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, {21} being
fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. {22} Therefore
his faith "was reckoned to him as righteousness." {23} Now the words, "it
was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, {24} but for
ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus
our Lord from the dead, {25} who was handed over to death for our trespasses
and was raised for our justification.
5
{1}Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, {2} through whom we have obtained access
to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the
glory of God. {3} And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings,
knowing that suffering produces endurance, {4} and endurance produces character,
and character produces hope, {5} and hope does not disappoint us, because
God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that
has been given to us. {6} For while we were still weak, at the right time
Christ died for the ungodly. {7} Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous
person--though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to
die. {8} But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners
Christ died for us. {9} Much more surely then, now that we have been justified
by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. {10}
For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death
of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved
by his life. {11} But more than that, we even boast in God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. {12}
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came
through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned-- {13}
sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when
there is no law. {14} Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses,
even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who
is a type of the one who was to come. {15} But the free gift is not like
the trespass. For if the many died through the one man's trespass, much
more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the
one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. {16} And the free gift is
not like the effect of the one man's sin. For the judgment following one
trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses
brings justification. {17} If, because of the one man's trespass, death
exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive
the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion
in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. {18} Therefore just as one man's
trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness
leads to justification and life for all. {19} For just as by the one man's
disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience
the many will be made righteous. {20} But law came in, with the result
that the trespass multiplied; but where sin increased, grace abounded all
the more, {21} so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace
might also exercise dominion through justification leading to eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
6
{1}What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that
grace may abound? {2} By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living
in it? {3} Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into his death? {4} Therefore we have been buried with
him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
{5} For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly
be united with him in a resurrection like his. {6} We know that our old
self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed,
and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. {7} For whoever has died is
freed from sin. {8} But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we
will also live with him. {9} We know that Christ, being raised from the
dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. {10}
The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives,
he lives to God. {11} So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin
and alive to God in Christ Jesus. {12} Therefore, do not let sin exercise
dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. {13} No
longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present
yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and
present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. {14} For sin
will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
{15} What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace?
By no means! {16} Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone
as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of
sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
{17} But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have
become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were
entrusted, {18} and that you, having been set free from sin, have become
slaves of righteousness. {19} I am speaking in human terms because of your
natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves
to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members
as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. {20} When you were slaves
of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. {21} So what advantage
did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end
of those things is death. {22} But now that you have been freed from sin
and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is
eternal life. {23} For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of
God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
7
{1}Do you not know, brothers and sisters--for I am speaking to those
who know the law--that the law is binding on a person only during that
person's lifetime? {2} Thus a married woman is bound by the law to her
husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is discharged
from the law concerning the husband. {3} Accordingly, she will be called
an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive.
But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries
another man, she is not an adulteress. {4} In the same way, my friends,
you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong
to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may
bear fruit for God. {5} While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions,
aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
{6} But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us
captive, so that we are slaves not under the old written code but in the
new life of the Spirit. {7} What then should we say? That the law is sin?
By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known
sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said,
"You shall not covet." {8} But sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment,
produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law sin lies dead.
{9} I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came,
sin revived {10} and I died, and the very commandment that promised life
proved to be death to me. {11} For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment,
deceived me and through it killed me. {12} So the law is holy, and the
commandment is holy and just and good. {13} Did what is good, then, bring
death to me? By no means! It was sin, working death in me through what
is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment
might become sinful beyond measure. {14} For we know that the law is spiritual;
but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. {15} I do not understand
my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I
hate. {16} Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good.
{17} But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within
me. {18} For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my
flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. {19} For I do not
do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. {20} Now if
I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells
within me. {21} So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is
good, evil lies close at hand. {22} For I delight in the law of God in
my inmost self, {23} but I see in my members another law at war with the
law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
{24} Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
{25} Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind
I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law
of sin.
8
{1}There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus. {2} For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you
free from the law of sin and of death. {3} For God has done what the law,
weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, {4}
so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk
not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. {5} For those who
live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh,
but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things
of the Spirit. {6} To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the
mind on the Spirit is life and peace. {7} For this reason the mind that
is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law--indeed
it cannot, {8} and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. {9} But
you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God
dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong
to him. {10} But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of
sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. {11} If the Spirit of
him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ
from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit
that dwells in you. {12} So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors,
not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- {13} for if you live
according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death
the deeds of the body, you will live. {14} For all who are led by the Spirit
of God are children of God. {15} For you did not receive a spirit of slavery
to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When
we cry, "Abba! Father!" {16} it is that very Spirit bearing witness with
our spirit that we are children of God, {17} and if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ--if, in fact, we suffer with him
so that we may also be glorified with him. {18} I consider that the sufferings
of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be
revealed to us. {19} For the creation waits with eager longing for the
revealing of the children of God; {20} for the creation was subjected to
futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected
it, in hope {21} that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage
to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
{22} We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until
now; {23} and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first
fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption
of our bodies. {24} For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is
not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? {25} But if we hope for what
we do not see, we wait for it with patience. {26} Likewise the Spirit helps
us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that
very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. {27} And God, who
searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit
intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. {28} We know that
all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called
according to his purpose. {29} For those whom he foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the
firstborn within a large family. {30} And those whom he predestined he
also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom
he justified he also glorified. {31} What then are we to say about these
things? If God is for us, who is against us? {32} He who did not withhold
his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give
us everything else? {33} Who will bring any charge against God's elect?
It is God who justifies. {34} Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who
died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed
intercedes for us. {35} Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will
hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword? {36} As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all
day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered." {37} No, in all
these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. {38}
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, {39} nor height, nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from
the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
9
{1}I am speaking the truth in Christ--I am not lying; my conscience
confirms it by the Holy Spirit-- {2} I have great sorrow and unceasing
anguish in my heart. {3} For I could wish that I myself were accursed and
cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according
to the flesh. {4} They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption,
the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;
{5} to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh,
comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. {6} It is
not as though the word of God had failed. For not all Israelites truly
belong to Israel, {7} and not all of Abraham's children are his true descendants;
but "It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you." {8}
This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children
of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants. {9}
For this is what the promise said, "About this time I will return and Sarah
shall have a son." {10} Nor is that all; something similar happened to
Rebecca when she had conceived children by one husband, our ancestor Isaac.
{11} Even before they had been born or had done anything good or bad (so
that God's purpose of election might continue, {12} not by works but by
his call) she was told, "The elder shall serve the younger." {13} As it
is written, "I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau." {14} What then
are we to say? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! {15} For
he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I have compassion." {16} So it depends not on human
will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy. {17} For the scripture says
to Pharaoh, "I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power
in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth." {18} So then
he has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever
he chooses. {19} You will say to me then, "Why then does he still find
fault? For who can resist his will?" {20} But who indeed are you, a human
being, to argue with God? Will what is molded say to the one who molds
it, "Why have you made me like this?" {21} Has the potter no right over
the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another
for ordinary use? {22} What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make
known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that
are made for destruction; {23} and what if he has done so in order to make
known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he has prepared
beforehand for glory-- {24} including us whom he has called, not from the
Jews only but also from the Gentiles? {25} As indeed he says in Hosea,
"Those who were not my people I will call 'my people," and her who was
not beloved I will call 'beloved.'" {26} "And in the very place where it
was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they shall be called children
of the living God." {27} And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, "Though
the number of the children of Israel were like the sand of the sea, only
a remnant of them will be saved; {28} for the Lord will execute his sentence
on the earth quickly and decisively." {29} And as Isaiah predicted, "If
the Lord of hosts had not left survivors to us, we would have fared like
Sodom and been made like Gomorrah." {30} What then are we to say? Gentiles,
who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness
through faith; {31} but Israel, who did strive for the righteousness that
is based on the law, did not succeed in fulfilling that law. {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, {33}
as it is written, "See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make people
stumble, a rock that will make them fall, and whoever believes in him will
not be put to shame."
10
{1}Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them
is that they may be saved. {2} I can testify that they have a zeal for
God, but it is not enlightened. {3} For, being ignorant of the righteousness
that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they have not
submitted to God's righteousness. {4} For Christ is the end of the law
so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. {5} Moses
writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that "the
person who does these things will live by them." {6} But the righteousness
that comes from faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend
into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) {7} "or 'Who will descend
into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). {8} But
what does it say? "The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart"
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); {9} because if you confess
with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you will be saved. {10} For one believes with the heart
and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
{11} The scripture says, "No one who believes in him will be put to shame."
{12} For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is
Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. {13} For, "Everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." {14} But how are they
to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe
in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without
someone to proclaim him? {15} And how are they to proclaim him unless they
are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring
good news!" {16} But not all have obeyed the good news; for Isaiah says,
"Lord, who has believed our message?" {17} So faith comes from what is
heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ. {18} But I ask,
have they not heard? Indeed they have; for "Their voice has gone out to
all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." {19} Again I
ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, "I will make you jealous
of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry."
{20} Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, "I have been found by those who
did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me."
{21} But of Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a
disobedient and contrary people."
11
{1}I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself
am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
{2} God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what
the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? {3}
"Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars;
I alone am left, and they are seeking my life." {4} But what is the divine
reply to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed
the knee to Baal." {5} So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen
by grace. {6} But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works,
otherwise grace would no longer be grace. {7} What then? Israel failed
to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were
hardened, {8} as it is written, "God gave them a sluggish spirit, eyes
that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day."
{9} And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling
block and a retribution for them; {10} let their eyes be darkened so that
they cannot see, and keep their backs forever bent." {11} So I ask, have
they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their stumbling salvation
has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. {12} Now if their
stumbling means riches for the world, and if their defeat means riches
for Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! {13} Now I
am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles,
I glorify my ministry {14} in order to make my own people jealous, and
thus save some of them. {15} For if their rejection is the reconciliation
of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead! {16}
If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole
batch is holy; and if the root is holy, then the branches also are holy.
{17} But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive
shoot, were grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive
tree, {18} do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember that
it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you. {19}
You will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in."
{20} That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but
you stand only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe.
{21} For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not
spare you. {22} Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity
toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness toward you, provided you
continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. {23} And
even those of Israel, if they do not persist in unbelief, will be grafted
in, for God has the power to graft them in again. {24} For if you have
been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary
to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural
branches be grafted back into their own olive tree. {25} So that you may
not claim to be wiser than you are, brothers and sisters, I want you to
understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until
the full number of the Gentiles has come in. {26} And so all Israel will
be saved; as it is written, "Out of Zion will come the Deliverer; he will
banish ungodliness from Jacob." {27} "And this is my covenant with them,
when I take away their sins." {28} As regards the gospel they are enemies
of God for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved, for the
sake of their ancestors; {29} for the gifts and the calling of God are
irrevocable. {30} Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now
received mercy because of their disobedience, {31} so they have now been
disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now
receive mercy. {32} For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that
he may be merciful to all. {33} O the depth of the riches and wisdom and
knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable
his ways! {34} "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been
his counselor?" {35} "Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift
in return?" {36} For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever. Amen.
12
{1}I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies
of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
to God, which is your spiritual worship. {2} Do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may
discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect.
{3} For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think
of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober
judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
{4} For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have
the same function, {5} so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and
individually we are members one of another. {6} We have gifts that differ
according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; {7}
ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; {8} the exhorter, in
exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate,
in cheerfulness. {9} Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast
to what is good; {10} love one another with mutual affection; outdo one
another in showing honor. {11} Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit,
serve the Lord. {12} Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere
in prayer. {13} Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality
to strangers. {14} Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse
them. {15} Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. {16}
Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with
the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. {17} Do not repay anyone
evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.
{18} If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with
all. {19} Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath
of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
{20} No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give
them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals
on their heads." {21} Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with
good.
13
{1}Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there
is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have
been instituted by God. {2} Therefore whoever resists authority resists
what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. {3} For
rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have
no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its
approval; {4} for it is God's servant for your good. But if you do what
is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword
in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. {5}
Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because
of conscience. {6} For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities
are God's servants, busy with this very thing. {7} Pay to all what is due
them--taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect
to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. {8} Owe no one anything,
except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled
the law. {9} The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall
not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment,
are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." {10} Love
does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
{11} Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for
you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we
became believers; {12} the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then
lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; {13} let
us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in
debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. {14} Instead,
put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify
its desires.
14
{1}Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of
quarreling over opinions. {2} Some believe in eating anything, while the
weak eat only vegetables. {3} Those who eat must not despise those who
abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat;
for God has welcomed them. {4} Who are you to pass judgment on servants
of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they
will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand. {5} Some judge
one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike.
Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. {6} Those who observe the
day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor
of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain
in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God. {7} We do not live to ourselves,
and we do not die to ourselves. {8} If we live, we live to the Lord, and
if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die,
we are the Lord's. {9} For to this end Christ died and lived again, so
that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. {10} Why do you
pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your
brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
{11} For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow
to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God." {12} So then, each of
us will be accountable to God. {13} Let us therefore no longer pass judgment
on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance
in the way of another. {14} I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that
nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it
unclean. {15} If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat,
you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin
of one for whom Christ died. {16} So do not let your good be spoken of
as evil. {17} For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. {18} The one who thus serves Christ
is acceptable to God and has human approval. {19} Let us then pursue what
makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. {20} Do not, for the sake of
food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong
for you to make others fall by what you eat; {21} it is good not to eat
meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble.
{22} The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed
are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they
approve. {23} But those who have doubts are condemned if they eat, because
they do not act from faith; for whatever does not proceed from faith is
sin.
15
{1}We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak,
and not to please ourselves. {2} Each of us must please our neighbor for
the good purpose of building up the neighbor. {3} For Christ did not please
himself; but, as it is written, "The insults of those who insult you have
fallen on me." {4} For whatever was written in former days was written
for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement
of the scriptures we might have hope. {5} May the God of steadfastness
and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance
with Christ Jesus, {6} so that together you may with one voice glorify
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. {7} Welcome one another, therefore,
just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. {8} For I tell you
that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth
of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,
{9} and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As
it is written, "Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing
praises to your name"; {10} and again he says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with
his people"; {11} and again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let
all the peoples praise him"; {12} and again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse
shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles
shall hope." {13} May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
{14} I myself feel confident about you, my brothers and sisters, that you
yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to
instruct one another. {15} Nevertheless on some points I have written to
you rather boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by
God {16} to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly
service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may
be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. {17} In Christ Jesus, then,
I have reason to boast of my work for God. {18} For I will not venture
to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to
win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed, {19} by the power of
signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem
and as far around as Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the good news of
Christ. {20} Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the good news, not
where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone
else's foundation, {21} but as it is written, "Those who have never been
told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand."
{22} This is the reason that I have so often been hindered from coming
to you. {23} But now, with no further place for me in these regions, I
desire, as I have for many years, to come to you {24} when I go to Spain.
For I do hope to see you on my journey and to be sent on by you, once I
have enjoyed your company for a little while. {25} At present, however,
I am going to Jerusalem in a ministry to the saints; {26} for Macedonia
and Achaia have been pleased to share their resources with the poor among
the saints at Jerusalem. {27} They were pleased to do this, and indeed
they owe it to them; for if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual
blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material things.
{28} So, when I have completed this, and have delivered to them what has
been collected, I will set out by way of you to Spain; {29} and I know
that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of
Christ. {30} I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ
and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in earnest prayer to God on my
behalf, {31} that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, and that
my ministry to Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, {32} so that
by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.
{33} The God of peace be with all of you. Amen.
16
{1}I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae,
{2} so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints,
and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor
of many and of myself as well. {3} Greet Prisca and Aquila, who work with
me in Christ Jesus, {4} and who risked their necks for my life, to whom
not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. {5}
Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was
the first convert in Asia for Christ. {6} Greet Mary, who has worked very
hard among you. {7} Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives who were in
prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in
Christ before I was. {8} Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. {9} Greet
Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. {10} Greet Apelles,
who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus.
{11} Greet my relative Herodion. Greet those in the Lord who belong to
the family of Narcissus. {12} Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena
and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord.
{13} Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; and greet his mother--a mother to
me also. {14} Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and
the brothers and sisters who are with them. {15} Greet Philologus, Julia,
Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.
{16} Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet
you. {17} I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep an eye on those who
cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you
have learned; avoid them. {18} For such people do not serve our Lord Christ,
but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the
hearts of the simple-minded. {19} For while your obedience is known to
all, so that I rejoice over you, I want you to be wise in what is good
and guileless in what is evil. {20} The God of peace will shortly crush
Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
{21} Timothy, my co-worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater,
my relatives. {22} I Tertius, the writer of this letter, greet you in the
Lord. {23} Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you.
Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you. {24} {25}
Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the
proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery
that was kept secret for long ages {26} but is now disclosed, and through
the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to
the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith--
{27} to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever!
Amen.