Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and singled out for God’s good news—

and who has been declared to be the powerful Son of God by the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness.

To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now I want you to know, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (but was prevented until now) in order that I might have a fruitful ministry among you, just as among the rest of the Gentiles.

For in it God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.

For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened.

For, as it is written: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

Therefore if an uncircumcised man keeps the law’s requirements, will his uncircumcision not be counted as circumcision?

Absolutely not! God must be true, even if everyone is a liar, as it is written:

That You may be justified in Your words
and triumph when You judge.

But if by my lie God’s truth is amplified to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?

And why not say, just as some people slanderously claim we say, “Let us do what is evil so that good may come”? Their condemnation is deserved!

as it is written:

There is no one righteous, not even one.

God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.

Now to the one who works, pay is not considered as a gift, but as something owed.

And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also.

in God’s sight. As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations. He believed in God, who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned.

So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is life-giving justification for everyone.

For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life.

And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness.

Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?

I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to moral impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification.

Since I am speaking to those who understand law, brothers, are you unaware that the law has authority over someone as long as he lives?

Therefore, did what is good cause my death? Absolutely not! On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.

What the law could not do since it was limited by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin’s domain, and as a sin offering,

And not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits—we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings.

As it is written:
Because of You
we are being put to death all day long;
we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

As it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.

As He also says in Hosea:

I will call Not My People, My People,
and she who is Unloved, Beloved.

And just as Isaiah predicted:

If the Lord of Hosts had not left us offspring,
we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have been made like Gomorrah.

Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.

As it is written:

Look! I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over
and a rock to trip over,
yet the one who believes on Him
will not be put to shame.

And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things!

But I ask, “Did they not hear?” Yes, they did:

Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the inhabited world.

But I ask, “Did Israel not understand?” First, Moses said:

I will make you jealous
of those who are not a nation;
I will make you angry by a nation
that lacks understanding.

I ask, then, has God rejected His people? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

as it is written:

God gave them a spirit of insensitivity,
eyes that cannot see
and ears that cannot hear,
to this day.

I ask, then, have they stumbled in order to fall? Absolutely not! On the contrary, by their stumbling, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous.

And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

The Liberator will come from Zion;
He will turn away godlessness from Jacob.

As you once disobeyed God, but now have received mercy through their disobedience,

Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.

For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.

Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function,

The commandments:

Do not commit adultery;
do not murder;
do not steal;
do not covet;

and whatever other commandment—all are summed up by this: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Let us walk with decency, as in the daylight: not in carousing and drunkenness; not in sexual impurity and promiscuity; not in quarreling and jealousy.

For it is written:

As I live, says the Lord,
every knee will bow to Me,
and every tongue will give praise to God.

For even the Messiah did not please Himself. On the contrary, as it is written, The insults of those who insult You have fallen on Me.

Therefore accept one another, just as the Messiah also accepted you, to the glory of God.

and so that Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written:

Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles,
and I will sing psalms to Your name.

to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of God’s good news. My purpose is that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the good news about the Messiah from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum.

but, as it is written:

Those who were not told about Him will see,
and those who have not heard will understand.