Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, separated for the gospel of God that he had promised earlier through his prophets, in the holy scriptures concerning his Son, who came of David’s seed according to the flesh and was set apart as Son of God, with power according to the spirit of holiness, by resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ, our Lord. Through him we received grace and mission, so that for the sake of his name there would be obedience of faith among all the nations, and you are among them, called to belong to Jesus Christ. 1/6

To all who are in Rome, the beloved of God, called to be holy ones:

Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 1/7

First, I thank my God for all of you through Jesus Christ, because your faith is declared throughout the world. God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you, always asking in my prayers if, somehow, I may soon be helped onward in God's will and come to be with you. For I long to see you so that I may share some spiritual gift with you, in order to steady you and so be encouraged with you by one another’s faith, both yours and mine. 1/12

Brothers, I do not want you to be unaware that I have often intended to come to you, but have been prevented until now, so that I might have some harvest among you as well as among the other nations. I am a debtor to Greeks and to all others, both to wise and to foolish, and so I am personally eager to have brought the gospel to you who are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, since it is God's power for the salvation of everyone who believes, first of the Jew and of the Greek also. For God’s righteousness is revealed in it, from faith to faith. As it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” 1/17

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all the irreligion and unrighteousness of men and women, of those holding on to the truth in unrighteousness, because what can be known about God is evident among them, for God made it clear to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible qualities being perceived from what was made, his everlasting power and divine nature are plainly in view. So they have no excuse, because knowing God they neither glorified him as God nor thanked him. Instead, they became futile in their arguments and their undiscerning hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became foolish and changed the splendor of the immortal God into a resemblance, an image of mortal humanity or birds or four-footed beasts or reptiles. Therefore God handed them over to impurity in the desires of their hearts, to dishonouring their bodies with each other. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and they worshipped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed for the ages. Amen. 1/25

Because of this, God handed them over to dishonourable passions. For even their females exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural and, in the same way, males also abandoned natural intercourse with females and burned with their desire for each other, males producing this impropriety with males and receiving in themselves the necessary repayment for their error. And since they did not test keeping God in their understanding, God handed them over to a disproven mind, to do what is not suitable. They were filled with all kinds of unrighteousness, harmfulness, greed and malice: full of envy, murder, quarrelling, deceit and bad customs. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of wrong, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, without familial affection, merciless. Understanding God’s just requirement that those who practise such things are worthy of death, they not only do them, but they are also pleased with those who practise them. 1/32

Therefore, you, a human being, are without excuse – everyone who judges. For in whatever respect you judge another you condemn yourself, since you, the one judging, do the same things. Yet we know that the judgment of God upon those who do such things is in accord with truth. Do you count on this – you, a human being, who judges those who practise such things and does them yourself – that you will escape God’s judgment? Do you look down upon the wealth of his kindness and forbearance and patience, being unaware that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your obstinacy and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on a day of wrath and a revealing of the righteous judgment of God, who will give back to each of us in accordance with our deeds. 2/6

To those who by endurance in doing good strive for glory and honour and immortality, he will give life eternal. But to those who act out of rivalries, and disobey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be affliction and adversity for the soul of everyone who does what is bad, of the Jew first and of the Greek, but there will be glory and honour and peace for everyone who does what is good, for the Jew first and for the Greek, since there is no favouritism with God. For as many as sinned without the law will perish without the law also, and as many as sinned with the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous. For when nations who have no law do by nature what is in the law, then they, who have no law, are their own law. They demostrate the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with it, and between the one and the other their thoughts accusing or even defending, on the day when God judges the secrets of men and women, through Jesus Christ according to my gospel. 2/16

But if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on law and boast of God and know his will and test things that differ, having been instructed from the law, and you have convinced yourself that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness, a tutor to the foolish, a teacher of children, and that in the law you have the embodiment of knowledge and of truth, then you, the one teaching another, do you not teach yourself? You, the one proclaiming not to steal, do you steal? You, the one saying ‘no adultery,’ do you commit adultery? You, the one disgusted by idols, do you desecrate temples? You, who boasts in the law, do you dishonour God by transgression of the law? Just as it is written: “Because of you, the name of God is slandered among the nations.” 2/24

Circumcision is indeed useful, if you put law into practice. But if you are a transgressor of law, your circumcision becomes as if uncircumcised. Therefore, if one who is uncircumcised observes the just requirements of the law, will not his lack of circumcision be counted as circumcision? And one who from an uncircumcised nature brings the law to completion will judge you, who by means of letter and circumcision are a transgressor of law. For one is not a Jew by what is evident, neither is circumcision by what is evident in the flesh, but what makes one a Jew is concealed and circumcision is of the heart, by spirit not letter. Their praise does not come from people, but from God. 2/29

What then is exceptional about the Jew and of what benefit is circumcision? Much in every respect. In the first place, they were entrusted with the sayings of God. What if some did not believe? Will their disbelief do away with the faithfulness of God? Not so. But let God be true, although everyone a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be declared righteous in your sayings and will overcome when you are judged.” 3/4

But if our unrighteousness introduces the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous to inflict his anger? I speak as a man. Not so. For then how would God judge the world? But if the truthfulness of God, by my lie, has overflowed to his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner? And why not say, as some slander us and claim that we say, let us do bad things so that good things may come? Their condemnation is just. What then? Are we any better? No at all. For we have already charged that all are under sin, both Jews and Greeks. 3/9

As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not one.
There is no one with comprehension. There is no one seeking God.
All have turned away. Together they have become useless.
There is no one who shows kindness. There is not so much as one.
Their throat is an opened grave. With their tongues they deceive.
The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood.
Ruin and misery are in their paths and they have not learned the path of peace.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 3/18

But we know that whatever the law says it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth would be shut and the whole world would be answerable to God, because it is not by works of law that all flesh will be declared righteous in his sight. For through law comes an understanding of sin. 3/20

But now, apart from law, God’s righteousness has been made clear, being witnessed to by the law and the prophets. But God's righteousness, through faith in Jesus Christ, is for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and are declared righteous as a gift, by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God set him forward as an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for evidence of his righteousness in letting go the already existing sins, with the forbearance of God, and as evidence of his righteousness at the present time, in order for him to be righteous and to declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus. 3/26

Where then is boasting? It is shut out. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith, for we consider that a person is declared righteous by faith, apart from works of law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Not of the nations also? Yes, of the nations also, since there is one God who will declare the circumcised to be righteous by faith and the uncircumcised through their faith. So then, do we do away with law by this faith? Not so, but we establish law. 3/31

What then shall we say that Abraham found, he who was our ancestor according to the flesh? If Abraham was declared righteous by works, then he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God and it was counted for him as righteousness.” Yet to one who is working wages are not counted as a grace but as an obligation. But to those who are not working, and who believe in the one who declares the irreligious to be righteous, their faith is counted for them as righteousness. Similarly, David speaks of the blessedness of the person for whom God counts a righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered over. Blessed is one whose sin the Lord will not take into account.” 4/8

Then is this blessing only for the circumcised or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted for Abraham as righteousness. How was it counted then? Was it when he was circumcised or before he was circumcised? It was not when he was circumcised, but before he was circumcised, and he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of his faith while among the uncircumcised. In this way he would be a father to all those who believe without having been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be counted for them, and a father to the circumcised, who are not only circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of our father Abraham’s faith when he was not circumcised. For the promise that he would be heir to the world did not come to Abraham or his seed through law, but through a righteousness of faith. For if those who are of law are heirs, then faith is emptied and the promise is done away with, since the law produces wrath. But where there is no law, nor is there transgression. Because of this it is of faith, and so according to grace, in order that the promise may be secure for all his seed, not only for those who have the law but also for those who have the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written: “I have placed you as the father of many nations.” 4/17

Facing toward him, Abraham believed God, who gives life to the dead and summons what has no being into being. Beyond hope, he believed in hope, so that he became a father of many nations. Just as it had been said: “So shall your seed be.” And without weakening in faith, he considered his own body as having died, being about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. Yet he did not doubt the promise of God in unbelief, but he was strengthened in his faith, giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what he has promised he is able to do also. And therefore, “It was counted for him as righteousness.” And “It was counted for him” was written not only for him but also for us, for whom it is going to be counted, we who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, he who was handed over for our misdeeds and was raised for our justification. Therefore, declared righteous because of faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and through him we have gained access into this grace in which we stand; and we boast in hope of the glory of God. 5/2

Not only that, but we boast of affliction also, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance testing, and testing hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Indeed, when we were without strength, yet at the right time, Christ died for the irreligious. Scarcely anyone will die for the righteous, although perhaps someone would dare to die for a good person, but God introduces his love for us in that Christ died for us when we were still sinners. Much more so now, declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved by him from the wrath. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, even more so, having been reconciled, we will be saved by his life. Not only that, but also we boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation. 5/11

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death spread to all people in that all have sinned. For sin was in the world before law, but sin is not taken into account when there is no law. However, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in a way similar to the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one coming. But the gift is not like the misdeed. For if the many died by the one man’s misdeed, much more so, the grace of God and the gift by grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, has overflowed to the many. And the gift is not like that which came through one man having sinned. For indeed the judgment came from one misdeed, leading to condemnation, but the gift came from many misdeeds, leading to a just requirement. For if by the one man’s misdeed death reigned through the one man, much more so, those who accept the abundance of this grace, and the gift of this righteousness, will reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. So then, just as through one misdeed came condemnation to all men, so also, through one just requirement comes justification of life to all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also, through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law came in so that the misdeed would increase, but where sin increased, grace overflowed even more, so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace may reign through righteousness to life eternal, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 5/21

What shall we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may increase? Not so. How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? So then, we were buried with him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also, we may walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in likeness to his death, then we will to his resurrection also. We know this, that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would be done away with, in order for us no longer to slave in sin, since one who has died has been declared righteous from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will live with him also, knowing this: that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer has lordship over him. In that he died, he died to sin at the same time, but in that he lives, he lives to God. In the same way also, count yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies so that you obey its desires, and do not present sin with the parts of your bodies as weapons of unrighteousness. Instead, present yourselves to God as raised from the dead and living, and present the parts of your bodies to God as weapons of righteousness. For sin will not have lordship over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 6/14

What then? May we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Not so. Are you unaware that to whomever you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of whomever you obey, either of sin, leading to death, or of obedience, leading to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, although you were slaves of sin, you have begun to obey from your hearts the type of teaching to which you were handed over, and having been freed from sin, you have been made slaves to righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you once presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to impurity, and to lawlessness after lawlessness, so now present the parts of your bodies as slaves to righteousness, leading to consecration, since when you were slaves of sin you were free from righteousness. So what fruit did you obtain then from those things of which you are ashamed now? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and have been made slaves to God, you have your fruit for consecration and its end is life eternal. For the pay of sin is death but the gift of God is life eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord. 6/23

Or are you unaware, brothers, since I speak to those who know law, that the law has lordship over a person only during the time the person is alive? For a married woman is bound to her living husband by law, but if her husband dies, she is discharged from the law in regard to that husband. So then, while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress if she becomes married to another man, but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, in which she is not an adulteress after being married to another man. And so, my brothers, you also have been made dead to the law through the body of the Christ, for you to become married to another, to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. For when we were in the flesh the sinful passions were at work in our bodies through the law, to bear fruit for death. But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that by which we were held, so as to serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter. 7/6

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Not so. Rather, I did not know sin other than through law. For example, I would not have recognized coveting if the law did not say, “You will not covet.” But having found an incentive through the command, sin produced all kinds of covetousness in me. Apart from law sin is dead, and I lived apart from law at one time, but when the command came, sin came to life again and I died, since for me the command intended for life was found to be for death. For sin deceived me, having found an incentive through the command and killed me by means of it. So then, the law is holy and the command is holy and just and good. Therefore, has that which is good become death to me? Not so. But sin, in order that it may appear as sin, produced death for me by means of the good, so that by means of the command sin would become further sinful. 7/13

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, having been sold into slavery under sin. For I do not recognize the behaviour I produce, since what I intend is not what I put into practice, but the thing I hate, I do that. Yet if do that, and not what I intend, I agree that the law is good. But now, I am no longer producing the action, but rather the sin dwelling in me. For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The intention comes to me, but does not produce the good. For I do not do the good I intend, but what I do not intend, which is bad, that I put into practice. And if I do that, and not what I intend, I am no longer producing the action, but rather the sin dwelling in me. So I find this law, that when I intend to do the good, the bad comes to me. For I delight in the law of God according to my inner man, but I see a different law at work within the parts of my body, warring against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner by the law of sin that is within my body. Wretched man that I am, who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 7/25

So then, with my mind indeed, I myself serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. 7/25

Now, therefore, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, for the law of the spirit of life within Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death. For God did what the law was unable to do, in that it was weak because of the flesh. He sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and, because of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled by us, those who walk not according to flesh but according to spirit. For those in accord with flesh set their minds on the things of flesh, but those in accord with spirit on the things of the Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death – but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace – because the mind of the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God nor indeed can it. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God, and you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed God's Spirit dwells within you. But if anyone does not have Christ's Spirit, this is not one of his. Yet if Christ is within you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells within you, then he, who raised Christ Jesus from the dead, will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling within you. 8/11

So then, brothers, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to flesh, you are going to die, but if by spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by God's Spirit, those are sons of God. For you have not received again a spirit of slavery to fear. Instead, you have received a spirit of adoption, by which we cry, “Abba, Father.” This same Spirit testifies to our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him so that we may be glorified with him also. For I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy of the glory soon to be revealed to us. 8/18

For the creation waits expectantly for the revealing of the sons of God, because the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of the one subjecting it to hope, since even the creation itself will be set free from the slavery of decay into the glorious freedom of God's children. For we know that up to the present all of creation is groaning together and is suffering together the pains of birth. And not only that, but also we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves as we await adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For we were saved in hope, but hope being seen is not hope, since what anyone sees, do they hope for it also? But if we hope for what we do not see, we await it with endurance. 8/25

And in the same way, the Spirit lends a helping hand in our weakness, since we do not know what we should pray, but the same Spirit intercedes for us with wordless groans. And the one who searches our hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the holy in accord with God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those called according to a purpose. Because those whom he knew in advance he set apart in advance also, conformed to the likeness of his Son, so that he would be the first born among many brothers. Those whom he set apart in advance, those also he called, and those whom he called, those also he declared righteous, but those whom he declared righteous, those also he glorified. 8/30

What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for all of us, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen? God is the one declaring righteous. Who is the one condemning? Christ Jesus, who died and moreover has been raised, is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the Christ's love? Will affliction or adversity or persecution or hunger or exposure or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we are killed all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.” 8/36

But in all these things we more than overcome through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor what is present, nor what is coming, nor miraculous powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 8/39

I speak the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. For I have been praying to be accursed from the Christ, I myself, for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh, those who are Israelites. To them belong the adoption and the glory and the covenants, the giving of the law and the temple service and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, came the Christ. The one who is God over all be blessed for the ages. Amen. 9/5

But it is not as if the word of God has failed. For not all those descended from Israel are Israel, nor because they are Abraham’s seed are they all his children, but: “Within Isaac seed will be named for you.” It is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as seed. For this is the word of promise: “At the appointed time I will return and Sarah will have a son.” And not only Sarah, but Rebecca also, she conceived twins from one man, our father Isaac, yet before they were born or had done anything, good or bad, she was told, “the elder will serve the younger.” This is so that the purpose of God might remain according to a choice, not from works but from the one who calls. As it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” 9/13

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness at the side of God? Not so. For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy; I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then, it is not from the one intending nor from the one running, but from God having mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very thing, so that I would demonstrate my power in you and in this way my name would be passed onward in all the earth.” So then, God has mercy on whomever he intends and he hardens whomever he intends. 9/18

Then you will say to me, “Why does he still blame us, since who has resisted his will?” But rather, you, a human being, who are you to answer back to God? Will the thing molded say to the one who molded it, “Why did you make me like this?” Does not the potter have authority over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honour and another for dishonour? What if, while intending to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, God has endured with great patience vessels of wrath made ready for destruction? And what if he did so in order to make known the riches of his glory to vessels of mercy, which first he produced for glory, including us, whom he called not only from the Jews but also from the nations? 9/24

And as he says in Hosea:
“Those not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her that was not loved, ‘beloved.’
And in the place where it was said to them, ‘you are not my people,’
there they will be called sons of the living God.” 9/26

Isaiah cries aloud concerning Israel:
“Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
only a remnant will be saved,
for the Lord will execute sentence on the earth, completely and quickly.” 9/28

And as Isaiah predicted:
“If the Lord of hosts had not left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.” 9/29

What shall we say then? That the nations who did not pursue righteousness took hold of righteousness, but a righteousness from faith, while Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, did not reach the law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith but as if it came from works, they stumbled over the stone of stumbling. 9/32

As it is written:
“See, I place in Zion a stone of stumbling, a rock of falling,
and one who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 9/33

Brothers, the desire of my heart and my prayer to God on their behalf is for salvation. I give witness of them that they have a zeal for God, but not based on understanding. For being unaware of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of law, for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness from law, that "the one who does these things will live by them." But the righteousness from faith speaks like this: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down) or ‘Who will descend into the depths?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.” This is the saying of faith that we proclaim, that if you confess Lord Jesus with your mouth and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For belief with the heart leads to righteousness and confession with the mouth leads to salvation. The scripture says: “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all gives richly to all who call on him. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 10/13

How then are they to call upon one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear apart from one who proclaims? And how are they to proclaim if they are not sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” But they did not all pay attention to the gospel, for Isaiah says: “Lord, who has believed what they heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, but hearing through a saying of Christ. 10/17

But I say, did they not hear? Indeed they did.
“Their voice has gone out to all the earth and their sayings to end of the world.” 10/18

But I say, did Israel not know? First, Moses says:
“I will make you jealous of what is not a nation.
With an undiscerning nation, I will make you angry.” 10/19

But Isaiah is very bold and says:
“I was found by those not seeking me.
I showed myself to those not asking of me.” 10/20

But about Israel he says:
“All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contradictory people.” 10/21

I say, therefore, has God rejected his people? Not so. For I am an Israelite also, of Abraham’s seed, of Benjamin’s tribe. God did not reject his people whom he knew in advance. Or do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God concerning Israel? “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have torn down your altars and I alone am left and they seek my life.” But what is the divine response to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bent the knee to Baal.” So then, in the present also, there is a remnant chosen by grace, but if it is by grace it is no longer from works, or grace would no longer be grace. 11/6

What then? What Israel seeks it has not attained, but the chosen have attained it and the rest were hardened. As it is written:
“God gave them a spirit of drowsiness,
eyes, but not to see, and ears, but not to hear, up to the present day.” 11/8

And David says:
“May their table become a snare and a trap, an obstacle and a retribution to them.
Let their eyes be darkened so they cannot see and let their backs be always bent.” 11/10

I ask, then, did they not stumble so they would fall? Not so. Rather, by their misdeed salvation has come to the nations to make Israel jealous. But if their misdeed enriches the world and their failure enriches the nations, how much more will their fullness bring? 11/12

But it is to you, the nations, to whom I speak. In as much as I am an apostle to the nations, I glorify my service to see if I may make some of my own flesh jealous and so may save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what would their acceptance mean if not life from the dead? And if the first fruits are holy, so is the whole batch, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, who are a wild olive, were grafted in among them and have come to share in the root of the olive’s richness, do not boast in regard to those branches. But if you do boast, it is not you who carry the root but the root that carries you. 11/18

So you will say, “Branches were broken off, so that I might be grafted in.” That's fine. They were broken off for unbelief but you stand by faith. Do not think high thoughts but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. So then, see the kindness and the severity of God, severity to the fallen but to you God’s kindness, if you continue in that kindness. Otherwise, you will be cut off also. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, since God has the power to graft them in again. For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and, contrary to nature, were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more easily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? 11/24

I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers, that you are not being sensible by yourselves. For hardening has come to a part of Israel until the fullness of the nations has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. 11/26

As it is written:
“Out of Zion will come the deliverer.
He will turn irreligion away from Jacob.
And this is my covenant with them,
when I take away their sins.” 11/27

In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to the chosen they are beloved for the sake of the patriarchs. For the gifts and the calling of God are without regret. For just as you were once disobedient to God, but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, in the same way, now they are disobedient also, so that by the mercy shown to you, now they may receive mercy also. For God has confined all people to disobedience, so that he may have mercy on all. 11/32

O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and untraceable his paths. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor? Or who has given to him first so as to be repaid? All things are from him and by him and for him. Glory to him for the ages. Amen. 11/36

I encourage you then, brothers, by God’s mercies, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, your rational worship. And do not be conformed to this age but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order for you test what is the will of God, his good and pleasing and complete will. 12/2

For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you: Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought to think, but think in a sensible way, as God has apportioned a measure of faith to each of you. For just as we have many parts in one body, but all the parts do not have the same activity, similarly we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and we, each one of us, are parts of one another. But we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: if prophecy, in proportion to faith; if serving, in the service; if a teacher, in the teaching; if an encourager, in the encouragement; a contributor, in single-heartedness; a leader, in diligence; one showing mercy, in cheerfulness. 12/8

Let love be unpretended, repelled by what is harmful, holding fast to what is good. Be affectionate to one another with brotherly love, leading the way with honour for one another. Serve the Lord with diligence, not with reluctance but in a vibrant spirit: rejoicing in hope, enduring in affliction, persisting in prayer, contributing to the needs of the holy, practising hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with the rejoicing; weep with the weeping. Think the same way in regard to one another, not thinking of what is high, but getting along with the lowly. 12/16

Do not become sensible in your own sight. Return wrong for wrong to no one, but think ahead to things that are good in the sight of all people. If possible, so far as it depends on you, seek peace with all people. Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for his wrath. For it is written: “‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them, if they are thirsty, give them a drink, for by doing this you will pile burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by what is bad but overcome what is bad with what is good. 12/21

Let everyone submit to the protecting authorities. For there is no authority except under God and those that exist have been assigned under God. So then one opposing this authority stands against God's arrangement and those standing against it will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a source of fear to good conduct but to bad. Do you want to have no fear of the authority? Do what is good and you will have its praise, since it is the servant of God for your good. But if you do what is bad be afraid, since it does not wear the sword for no reason. It is the servant of God, an agent of justice to bring wrath to the one who does what is bad. Therefore, it is necessary to submit, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. And because of this you pay taxes completely, for they are ministers of God continually employed in the same thing. 13/6

Pay to everyone what is owed to them: to one owed taxes, the taxes; to one final fees, the final fees; to one fear, the fear; to one honour, the honour. Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another, since one who loves the other has fulfilled the law. For, “you will not commit adultery,” “you will not murder,” “you will not steal,” “you will not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word: “You will love your neighbour as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbour. So then, love is the fullness of the law. 13/10

And recognize the time: that it is now the hour for you to wake from sleep, since salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night has advanced and the day draws near. Therefore, let us put away the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. As in the daytime, let us behave properly, not in partying and in drunkenness, not in beds and in licentiousness, not in quarrelling and in jealousy, but rather let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh and its desires. 13/14

Accept one who is weak in faith, but not for decisions about arguments. One person believes in eating anything, but the weak eat only vegetables. The one eating should not dismiss those who do not eat, and the one not eating should not judge those who do eat, since God has accepted them. Who are you to judge the servants of another? They stand or fall before their own Lord, and they will be made to stand, since the Lord is able to make them stand. One person judges one day above another, but another judges every day the same. The mind of each should be fully convinced. The one who is observing the day observes it to the Lord, and the one who is eating eats to the Lord, since they give thanks to God. And the one who is not eating does not eat to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For we do not live to ourselves and we do not die to ourselves, since if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For Christ died and came to life so that he would have lordship over both the dead and the living. 14/9

But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you, why do you dismiss your brother? For we will all present ourselves to the judgment seat of God. For it is written: “‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bend to me and every tongue will acknowledge God.’” So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Therefore let us no longer judge one another, instead let us decide not to place an obstacle or a stumbling block before our brother. I know, and I am convinced in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself, except that if someone considers something to be unclean, to such a one it is unclean. If, because of food, your brother is made to sorrow, you are no longer walking in love. Do not, with your food, destroy the one for whom Christ died. Do not let what is good to you be slandered. For the kingdom of God does not consist in eating and drinking, but in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, since one serving the Christ in this way is pleasing to God and proven to people. So then, let us pursue what makes for peace and for building one another up. 14/19

Do not tear down God’s work for the sake of food. Indeed, all things are clean, but they are bad for the person whose eating becomes an obstacle. It is good not to eat meat, not to drink wine, not to do anything over which your brother might stumble. As for you, the faith you hold in agreement with yourself, hold it in the sight of God. Blessed are those who do not judge themselves for what they test. But those doubting if they may eat are condemned, because they do not act from faith, and everything that does not come from faith is sin. 14/23

We who are strong ought to carry the weaknesses of those without strength and not to please ourselves. Each of us ought to please our neighbours for their good, to build them up. For even the Christ did not please himself. But as it is written: “The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.” For whatever was written previously was written for our instruction, so that by endurance and by encouragement from the scriptures we may have hope. And may the God of endurance and encouragement grant that you think the same way among one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore accept each other, as the Christ accepted us also, for the glory of God. 15/7

For I say that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises of the patriarchs and the nations are to glorify God for mercy. 15/8

As it is written:
“Therefore I will acknowledge you among the nations
and will sing praises to your name.” 15/9

And again it is said:
“Be glad, O nations, with his people.” 15/10

And again:
“Praise the Lord, all the nations, and let all the peoples praise him.” 15/11

And again, Isaiah says:
“The root of Jesse will come,
one who arises to rule the nations.
Upon him the nations will hope.” 15/12

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may overflow with hope in the power of the Holy Spirit. 15/13

But I am convinced about you, my brothers, I myself, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. Yet I have written to you very boldly, in part as a reminder for you, because of the grace given to me by God that I would be a servant of Christ Jesus to the nations. I serve the gospel of God as a minister so that the offering of the nations may become acceptable, made holy by the Holy Spirit. 15/16

Therefore, in Christ Jesus, I have the boast of what is due to God. For I will not dare to speak of anything other than what Christ has produced through me, to bring about the obedience of the nations by word and deed, by power of signs and wonders, by power of spirit. And so from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum I have fulfilled my work for the gospel of the Christ. And this being so, I make it a point of honour to bring the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that I do not build on another’s foundation. Instead, as it written: “Those who were not told of him will see and those who have not heard will comprehend.” This is why I have so often been diverted from coming to you. 15/22

But now I no longer have room to work in these regions, and for several years I have wanted to come to you when I go to Spain. For I hope to see you when I am passing through and to be helped onward by you, if first I may partly satisfy my desire for your company. But now I am going to Jerusalem in service to the holy. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to express some fellowship toward those who are poor among the holy in Jerusalem. They were pleased to do so and they are their debtors. For if the nations have shared in their spiritual things, indeed the nations are indebted to minister to them in bodily things. So then, after I have completed this and after I have sealed this fruit to them, I will depart for Spain by way of you. And I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of Christ’s blessing. 15/29

But I encourage you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in the struggle by your prayers to God on my behalf. In this way, I may be rescued from the disobedient in Judea and my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the holy, and so I may come to you with joy, by the will of God, and be refreshed in your company. May the God of peace be with all of you. Amen. 15/33

I recommend to you our sister, Phoebe, who is a servant of the church in Cenchreae, that you would receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the holy and would stand by her with any action she needs from you. Indeed, she has been the benefactor of many and of myself also. 16/2

Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my life. Not only do I thank them, but all the churches of the nations do also. And greet the church in their house. 16/5

Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first fruits of Asia for Christ.

Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you.

Greet Andronicus and Junius, my kinsmen and fellow prisoners. They are notable among the apostles, and indeed, they were in Christ before I was.

Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.

Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. 16/9

Greet Apelles, proven in Christ.

Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobolus. 16/10

Greet Herodian, my kinsman.

Greet those of the family of Narcissus who are in the Lord.

Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who are working in the Lord.

Greet my beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord.

Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, a mother to me also.

Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the brothers with them.

Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister and Olympas and all the holy with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of the Christ greet you. 16/16

I encourage you, brothers, to keep an eye on those who create divisions and stumbling blocks beyond the teaching that you have learned, and turn away from them. For such people do not serve our Lord Christ but their own stomachs, and by speaking well and flattering they deceive the hearts of the innocent. Your obedience has become known to all, so I rejoice because of you, but I want you to be wise in regard to what is good and untainted in regard to what is bad. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. 16/20

Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you, as do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen.

I, Tertius, having written this letter down, greet you in the Lord.

Gaius, host to me and to all the church, greets you.

Erastus, the city manager, and Quartus, his brother, greet you. 16/23

To him who is able to steady you – according to my gospel and to the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revealing of a mystery kept secret for ages of time but now made clear through the prophetic scriptures and, by command of the eternal God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith – to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ages of ages. Amen. 16/27