Through him we received grace and a commission as an apostle to bring about faithful obedience among all the gentiles for the sake of his name.

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now), so that I might reap a harvest among you, just as I have among the rest of the gentiles.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power for the salvation of everyone who believes, of the Jew first and of the Greek as well.

For in the gospel God's righteousness is being revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, "The righteous will live by faith."

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. Instead, their thoughts turned to worthless things, and their senseless hearts were darkened.

For this reason, God delivered them to sexual impurity as they followed the lusts of their hearts and dishonored their bodies with one another.

For this reason, God delivered them to degrading passions as their females exchanged their natural sexual function for one that is unnatural.

There will be suffering and anguish for every human being who practices doing evil, for Jews first and for Greeks as well.

But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who practices doing good, initially for Jews but also for Greeks as well,

as you teach others, do you fail to teach yourself? As you preach against stealing, do you steal?

As you forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? As you abhor idols, do you rob temples?

As you boast about the Law, do you dishonor God by breaking the Law?

As it is written, "God's name is being blasphemed among the gentiles because of you."

So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the requirements of the Law, his uncircumcision will be regarded as circumcision, won't it?

Of course not! God is true, even if everyone else is a liar. As it is written, "You are right when you speak, and win your case when you go into court."

For if through my falsehood God's truthfulness glorifies him even more, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?

Or can we say as some people slander us by claiming that we say "Let's do evil that good may result"? They deserve to be condemned!

As it is written, "Not even one person is righteous.

whom God offered as a place where atonement by the Messiah's blood would occur through faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because he had waited patiently to deal with sins committed in the past.

For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

However, to someone who does not work, but simply believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Likewise, David also speaks of the blessedness of the person whom God regards as righteous apart from actions:

Now does this blessedness come to the circumcised alone, or also to the uncircumcised? For we say, "Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness."

Afterward he received the mark of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. Therefore, he is the ancestor of all who believe while uncircumcised, in order that righteousness may be credited to them.

As it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations." Abraham acted in faith when he stood in the presence of God, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that don't yet exist.

Hoping in spite of hopeless circumstances, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," just as he had been told: "This is how many descendants you will have."

His faith did not weaken when he thought about his own body (which was already as good as dead now that he was about a hundred years old) or about Sarah's inability to have children,

This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness."

Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death resulted from sin, therefore everyone dies, because everyone has sinned.

But God's free gift is not like Adam's offense. For if many people died as the result of one man's offense, how much more have God's grace and the free gift given through the kindness of one man, Jesus the Messiah, been showered on many people!

Consequently, just as one offense resulted in condemnation for everyone, so one act of righteousness results in justification and life for everyone.

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

so that, just as sin ruled by bringing death, so also grace might rule by bringing justification that results in eternal life through Jesus the Messiah, our Lord.

Of course not! How can we who died as far as sin is concerned go on living in it?

Therefore, through baptism we were buried with him into his death so that, just as the Messiah was raised from the dead by the Father's glory, we too may live an entirely new life.

For when he died, he died once and for all as far as sin is concerned. But now that he is alive, he lives for God.

In the same way, you too must continuously consider yourselves dead as far as sin is concerned, but living for God through the Messiah Jesus.

Stop offering the parts of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness. Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have been brought from death to life and the parts of your body as instruments of righteousness to God.

Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

I am speaking in simple terms because of the frailty of your human nature. Just as you once offered the parts of your body as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater disobedience, so now, in the same way, you must offer the parts of your body as slaves to righteousness that leads to sanctification.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were "free" as far as righteousness was concerned.

Don't you realize, brothers for I am speaking to people who know the Law that the Law can press its claims over a person only as long as he is alive?

In the same way, my brothers, through the Messiah's body you also died as far as the Law is concerned, so that you may belong to another person, the one who was raised from the dead, and may bear fruit for God.

Now, did something good bring me death? Of course not! But in order that sin might be recognized as being sin, it used something good to cause my death, so that through the rule, sin might become more exposed as being sinful than ever before.

For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am merely human, sold as a slave to sin.

As it is, I am no longer the one who is doing it, but it is the sin that is living in me.

However, not only the creation, but we who have the first fruits of the Spirit also groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

In the same way, the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, since we do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words,

The one who did not spare his own Son, but offered him as a sacrifice for all of us, surely will give us all things, along with his Son, won't he?

As it is written, "For your sake we are being put to death all day long. We are thought of as sheep headed for slaughter."

Now it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all Israelis truly belong to Israel,

That is, it is not merely the children born through natural descent who were regarded as God's children, but it is the children born through the promise who were regarded as descendants.

You may ask me, "Then why does God still find fault with anybody? For who can resist his will?"

including us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but from the gentiles as well?

As the Scripture says in Hosea, "Those who are not my people I will call my people, and the one who was not loved I will call my loved one.

Isaiah also calls out concerning Israel, "Although the descendants of Israel are as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, only a few will be saved.

It is just as Isaiah predicted: "If the Lord of the Heavenly Armies had not left us some descendants, we would have become like Sodom and would have been compared to Gomorrah."

Why not? Because they did not pursue it on the basis of faith, but as if it were based on achievements. They stumbled over the stone that causes people to stumble.

As it is written, "Look! I am placing a stone in Zion over which people will stumble a large rock that will make them fall and the one who believes in him will never be ashamed."

For the Messiah is the culmination of the Law as far as righteousness is concerned for everyone who believes.

For Moses writes about the righteousness that comes from the Law as follows: "The person who obeys these things will find life by them."

And how can people preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are those who bring the good news!"

But I ask, "Didn't they hear?" Certainly they did! In fact, "Their voice has gone out into the whole world, and their words to the ends of the earth."

Again I ask, "Did Israel not understand?" Moses was the first to say, "I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that doesn't understand."

So I ask, "God has not rejected his people, has he?" Of course not! I am an Israeli myself, a descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin.

As it is written, "To this day God has put them into deep sleep. Their eyes do not see, and their ears do not hear."

And so I ask, "They have not stumbled so as to fall, have they?" Of course not! On the contrary, because of their stumbling, salvation has come to the gentiles to make the Jews jealous.

In this way, all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.

As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake, but as far as election is concerned, they are loved for the sake of their ancestors.

For just as you disobeyed God in the past but now have received his mercy because of their disobedience,

so they, too, have now disobeyed. As a result, they may receive mercy because of the mercy shown to you.

I therefore urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercies, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices that are holy and pleasing to God, for this is the reasonable way for you to worship.

For by the grace given to me I ask every one of you not to think of yourself more highly than you should think, rather to think of yourself with sober judgment on the measure of faith that God has assigned each of you.

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live in peace with all people.

For the commandments, "You must not commit adultery; you must not murder; you must not steal; you must not covet," and every other commandment are summed up in this statement: "You must love your neighbor as yourself."

Let's behave decently, as people who live in the light of day. No wild parties, drunkenness, sexual immorality, promiscuity, quarreling, or jealousy!

For it is written, "As certainly as I live, declares the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will praise God."

Do not allow what seems good to you to be spoken of as evil.

As for the faith you do have, have it as your own conviction before God. How blessed is the person who has no reason to condemn himself because of what he approves!

For even the Messiah did not please himself. Instead, as it is written, "The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me."

Now may God, the source of endurance and encouragement, allow you to live in harmony with each other as you follow the Messiah Jesus,

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

so that the gentiles may glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "That is why I will praise you among the gentiles; I will sing praises to your name."

Now may God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace as you believe, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

However, on some points I have written to you rather boldly, both as a reminder to you and because of the grace given me by God

by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of God's Spirit, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of the Messiah from Jerusalem as far as Illyricum.

Rather, as it is written, "Those who were never told about him will see, and those who have never heard will understand."

But now, having no further opportunities in these regions, I want to come to you, as I've desired to do for many years.

Welcome her in the Lord as is appropriate for saints, and provide her with anything she may need from you, for she has assisted many people, including me.

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