The Son of Man came eating and drinking with others, and they say, 'Just look at Him! A glutton and a wine-drinker, a chum of tax-collectors and notorious sinners!' And yet wisdom is vindicated by her doings!"

The men of Nineveh will rise with the leaders of this age at the judgment and condemn them, for they turned to the message preached by Jonah, and there is more than Jonah here!

Then the upright will shine out like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let him who has ears listen!

just as the Son of Man has come, not to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom price to set many free."

for this is my blood which ratifies the covenant, the blood which is to be poured out for many for the forgiveness of their sins.

And all the people, even the tax-collectors, when they heard him, vindicated the righteous requirements of God by submitting to John's baptism,

But wisdom is vindicated by all who are truly wise."

For I tell you, what has been written about me must be fulfilled: 'He was classed with the outlaws.' Yes, that saying about me has its fulfillment."

but constantly and earnestly I urged Greeks as well as Jews to turn with repentance to God and to have faith in our Lord Jesus.

And now, why are you waiting? Get up and be baptized and wash your sins away by calling on His name.'

to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from Satan's power to God, so as to have their sins forgiven and have a possession among those that are consecrated by faith in me.'

For in the good news God's Way of man's right standing with Him is uncovered, the Way of faith that leads to greater faith, just as the Scripture says, "The upright man must live by faith."

But in your stubbornness and impenitence of heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when the justice of God's judgments will be uncovered. For when He finally judges, He will pay everyone with exactness for what he has done, read more. eternal life to those who patiently continue doing good and striving for glory, honor, and immortality,

Not at all. Let God prove true, though every man be false! As the Scripture says, "That you may prove yourself upright in words you speak, and win your case when you go into court."

God's own way of giving men right standing with Himself is through faith in Jesus Christ. It is for everybody who has faith, for no distinction at all is made.

God's own way of giving men right standing with Himself is through faith in Jesus Christ. It is for everybody who has faith, for no distinction at all is made. For everybody has sinned and everybody continues to come short of God's glory,

For everybody has sinned and everybody continues to come short of God's glory,

For everybody has sinned and everybody continues to come short of God's glory, but anybody may have right standing with God as a free gift of His undeserved favor, through the ransom provided in Christ Jesus.

but anybody may have right standing with God as a free gift of His undeserved favor, through the ransom provided in Christ Jesus.

Now when a workman gets his pay, it is not considered from the point of view of a favor but of an obligation;

who was given up to death because of our shortcomings and was raised again to give us right standing with God.

who was given up to death because of our shortcomings and was raised again to give us right standing with God.

who was given up to death because of our shortcomings and was raised again to give us right standing with God.

Since we have been given right standing with God through faith, then let us continue enjoying peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Since we have been given right standing with God through faith, then let us continue enjoying peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

For when we were still helpless, Christ at the proper time died for us ungodly men.

For when we were still helpless, Christ at the proper time died for us ungodly men.

But God proves His love for us by the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. So if we have already been brought into right standing with God by Christ's death, it is much more certain that by Him we shall be saved from God's wrath.

And not only that, but this too: we shall continue exulting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained our reconciliation.

But God's free gift is not at all to be compared with the offense. For if by one man's offense the whole race of men have died, to a much greater degree God's favor and His gift imparted by His favor through the one man Jesus Christ, has overflowed for the whole race of men.

But God's free gift is not at all to be compared with the offense. For if by one man's offense the whole race of men have died, to a much greater degree God's favor and His gift imparted by His favor through the one man Jesus Christ, has overflowed for the whole race of men.

But God's free gift is not at all to be compared with the offense. For if by one man's offense the whole race of men have died, to a much greater degree God's favor and His gift imparted by His favor through the one man Jesus Christ, has overflowed for the whole race of men. And the gift is not fit all to be compared with the results of that one man's sin. For that sentence resulted from the offense of one man, and it meant condemnation, but the free gift resulted from the offenses of many, and it meant right standing. read more. For if by one man's offense death reigned through that one, to a much greater degree will those who continue to receive the overflow of His unmerited favor and His gift of right standing with Himself, reign in real life through One, Jesus Christ. So, as through one offense there resulted condemnation for all men, just so through one act of uprightness there resulted right standing involving life for all men.

So, as through one offense there resulted condemnation for all men, just so through one act of uprightness there resulted right standing involving life for all men.

So, as through one offense there resulted condemnation for all men, just so through one act of uprightness there resulted right standing involving life for all men. For just as by that man's disobedience the whole race of men were constituted sinners, so by this One's obedience the whole race of men may be brought into right standing with God.

For just as by that man's disobedience the whole race of men were constituted sinners, so by this One's obedience the whole race of men may be brought into right standing with God. Then law crept in to multiply the offense. Though sin has multiplied, yet God's favor has surpassed it and overflowed,

Then law crept in to multiply the offense. Though sin has multiplied, yet God's favor has surpassed it and overflowed, so that just as sin had reigned by death, so His favor too might reign in right standing with God which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

so that just as sin had reigned by death, so His favor too might reign in right standing with God which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

so that just as sin had reigned by death, so His favor too might reign in right standing with God which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

so that just as sin had reigned by death, so His favor too might reign in right standing with God which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Not at all! Since we have ended our relation to sin, how can we live in it any longer? Or, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into union with Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

What benefit did you then derive from doing the things of which you are now ashamed? None, for they end in death.

For the wages paid by sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life through union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

So, my brothers, you too in the body of Christ have ended your relation to the law, so that you may be married to another husband, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

What are we then to conclude? Is the law sin? Of course not! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I should not have learned what sin was, for I should not have known what an evil desire was, if the law had not said, "You must not have an evil desire." Sin found its rallying point in that command and stirred within me every sort of evil desire, for without law, sin is lifeless.

Sin found its rallying point in that command and stirred within me every sort of evil desire, for without law, sin is lifeless. I was once alive when I had no connection with the law, but when the command came, sin revived, and then I died; read more. and so, in my case, the command which should have meant life turned out to mean death. For sin found its rallying point in that command and through it deceived me and killed me. So the law itself is holy, and its specific commands are holy, right, and good. Did that which is good, then, result in death to me? Of course not! It was sin that did it, so that it might show itself as sin, for by means of that good thing it brought about my death, so that through the command sin might appear surpassingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am made of flesh that is frail, sold into slavery to sin. Indeed, I do not understand what I do, for I do not practice what I want to do, but I am always doing what I hate. But if I am always doing what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is right. Now really it is not I that am doing these things, but it is sin which has its home within me. For I know that nothing good has its home in me; that is, in my lower self; I have the will but not the power to do what is right. Indeed, I do not do the good things that I want to do, but I do practice the evil things that I do not want to do. But if I do the things that I do not want to do, it is really not I that am doing these things, but it is sin which has its home within me. So I find this law: When I want to do right, the wrong is always in my way. For in accordance with my better inner nature I approve God's law, but I see another power operating in my lower nature in conflict with the power operated by my reason, which makes me a prisoner to the power of sin which is operating in my lower nature. Wretched man that I am! Who can save me from this deadly lower nature?

Wretched man that I am! Who can save me from this deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has been done through Jesus Christ our Lord! So in my higher nature I am a slave to the law of God, but in my lower nature, to the law of sin.

For the life-giving power of the Spirit through union with Christ Jesus has set us free from the power of sin and death. For though the law could not do it, because it was made helpless through our lower nature, yet God, by sending His own Son in a body similar to that of our lower nature, and as a sacrifice for sin, passed sentence upon sin through His body, read more. so that the requirement of the law might be fully met in us who do not live by the standard set by our lower nature, but by the standard set by the Spirit.

For you do not have a sense of servitude to fill you with dread again, but the consciousness of adopted sons by which we cry, "Abba," that is, "Father."

What are we then to say to facts like these? If God is for us, who can be against us? Since He did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not with Him graciously give us everything else? read more. Who can bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who declared them in right standing; who can condemn them? Christ Jesus who died, or rather, who was raised from the dead, is now at God's right hand, and is actually pleading for us.

What are we then to conclude? That heathen peoples who were not in search for right standing with God have obtained it, and that a right standing conditioned on faith;

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.

we are preaching the Christ who was crucified -- a message that is a trap-stick to the Jews and nonsense to the Greeks, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks alike, the Christ who is God's power and God's wisdom. read more. It is so, because God's nonsense is wiser than men's wisdom, and God's weakness is mightier than men's might. For consider, brothers, the way God called you; that not many of you, in accordance with human standards, were wise, not many influential, not many of high birth. Just the opposite: God chose what the world calls foolish to put the wise to shame, what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame, what the world calls of low degree, yea, what it counts as nothing and what it thinks does not exist, God chose to put a stop to what it thinks exists, so that no mortal man might ever boast in the presence of God. So you owe it all to Him through union with Christ Jesus, whom God has made our wisdom, our means of right standing, our consecration, and our redemption, so that, as the Scripture says, "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

and put His seal upon us, and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a first installment of future rewards.

For it was through Christ that God was reconciling the world to Himself instead of debiting men's offenses against them, and He has committed to me the message of this reconciliation.

For it was through Christ that God was reconciling the world to Himself instead of debiting men's offenses against them, and He has committed to me the message of this reconciliation. So I am an envoy to represent Christ, because it is through me that God is making His appeal. As one representing Christ I beg you, be reconciled to God. read more. He made Him who personally knew nothing of sin to be a sin-offering for us, so that through union with Him we might come into right standing with God.

He made Him who personally knew nothing of sin to be a sin-offering for us, so that through union with Him we might come into right standing with God.

I have been crucified with Christ, and I myself no longer live, but Christ is living in me; the life I now live as a mortal man I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

I have been crucified with Christ, and I myself no longer live, but Christ is living in me; the life I now live as a mortal man I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

and the law has nothing to do with faith, but it says, "It is the man who does these things that will live by doing them." Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us -- for the Scripture says, "Cursed be everyone who is hanged on a tree" --

Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us -- for the Scripture says, "Cursed be everyone who is hanged on a tree" --

For all of you are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

to ransom those who were subject to law, so that we might be adopted as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, "Abba," that is, "Father."

I again insist that if any man lets himself be circumcised, he is under obligation to obey the whole law.

For in union with Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor lack of it counts for anything; but only faith that is spurred on to action by love.

It is through union with Him that we have redemption by His blood and the forgiveness of our shortcomings, in accordance with the generosity of His unmerited favor

You too, as you have heard the message of the truth, the good news that means your salvation, and as you have trusted in Him too, have been stamped with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit,

for we can never for a moment before our God forget your energizing faith, your toiling love, and your enduring hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Undoubtedly the mystery of our religion is a great wonder: "He was made visible in human form; He was vindicated by the Spirit; He was seen by angels; He was proclaimed among the heathen; He was trusted in throughout the world; He was taken up to glory."

Undoubtedly the mystery of our religion is a great wonder: "He was made visible in human form; He was vindicated by the Spirit; He was seen by angels; He was proclaimed among the heathen; He was trusted in throughout the world; He was taken up to glory."

but we do see Jesus, who was made inferior to the angels for a little while, crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by God's favor He might experience death for every human being.

and not with blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He once for all went into the real sanctuary and secured our eternal redemption.

So, on the one hand, the copies of the original things in heaven had to be purified with such sacrifices; but on the other hand, the original things themselves in heaven with better sacrifices than these.

For when these are forgiven, there is no more need of an offering for sin.

My brothers, what good is there in a man's saying that he has faith, if he has no good deeds to prove it? Such faith cannot save him, can it? If some brother or sister is thinly clad and has no food for the day, read more. and one of you says to him, "Blessings on you, keep warm, eat until you have aplenty," without giving him the things that are needed for the body, what good does it do? So faith by itself, if it has no deeds to back it up, is dead. But someone may say, "You have faith, and I have good deeds. Show me your faith without any good deeds, but I will show you mine by my good deeds." Do you believe in one God? Very well; the demons, too, believe that, and shudder. But, O senseless man, are you willing to learn that faith without good deeds is worthless? Was not our forefather Abraham shown to be upright by his good deeds, namely, by offering Isaac his son upon the altar? You see that faith cooperated with his good deeds, and by his good deeds faith was made complete; and so the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham put his faith in God, and it was credited to him for uprightness, and he was called God's friend." You see that a man is shown to be upright by his good deeds, and not merely by his faith. Was not even Rahab the prostitute shown to be upright by her good deeds, namely, by entertaining the scouts and sending them off by a different road? Just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without good deeds is dead.

and from Jesus Christ the trustworthy witness, the First-born of the dead, and the Sovereign of the kings of the earth. To Him who ever loves us and once for all released us from our sins by His blood,

The heathen were enraged, but now your anger has come, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for you to reward your slaves the prophets and your people, great and small, who revere your name, and to destroy the destroyers of the earth."