1 Brothers, my heart's good will goes out for them, and my prayer to God is that they may be saved.
2 For I can testify that they are zealous for God, but they are not intelligently so.
3 For they were ignorant of God's way of right standing and were trying to set up one of their own, and so would not surrender to God's way of right standing.
4 For Christ has put an end to law as a way to right standing for everyone who puts his trust in Him.
5 For Moses says of the law-way to right standing with God that whoever can perform the law will live by it.
6 But here is what the faith-way to right standing says, "Do not say to yourself, 'Who will go up to heaven?'" that is, to bring Christ down;
7 or "'Who will go down into the depths?'" that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.
8 But what does it say? "God's message is close to you, on your very lips and in your heart"; that is, the message about faith which we preach.
9 For if with your lips you acknowledge the fact that Jesus is Lord, and in your hearts you believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For in their hearts people exercise the faith that leads to right standing, and with their lips they make the acknowledgment which means salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, "No one who puts his faith in Him will ever be put to shame."
12 But there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is over them all, because He is infinitely kind to all who call upon Him.
13 For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
14 But how can people call upon One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in One about whom they have not heard? And how can people hear without someone to preach to them?
15 And how can men preach unless they are sent to do so? As the Scripture says, "How beautiful are the feet of men who bring the glad news of His good things!"
16 However, they have not all given heed to the good news, for Isaiah says, "Lord, who has put faith in what we told?"
17 So faith comes from hearing what is told, and hearing through the message about Christ.
18 But may I ask, They had no chance to hear, did they? Yes, indeed: "All over the earth their voices have gone, to the ends of the world their words."
19 But again I ask, Israel did not understand, did they? For in the first place Moses says: "I will make you jealous of a nation that is no nation; I will provoke you to anger at a senseless nation."
20 Then Isaiah was bold enough to say: "I have been found by a people who were not searching for me; I have made known myself to people who were not asking to know me."