Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, having been separated to the good news of God --

concerning his Son, having been born of the seed of David according to the flesh;

having been ordained the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, from the resurrection of the dead, of Jesus Christ our Lord:

Through whom grace has been given to us, sending us out to make disciples to the faith among all nations, for his name:

You, too, are among those who have been called to belong to Jesus the Messiah.

to all the beloved of God who are in Rome, saints having been called. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Furthermore, I want you to know, brothers, that I have often planned to come to see you (though until now I have been prevented), in order that I may gather some fruit among you too, as I have among the rest of the heathen.

For the righteousness of God in it is revealed from faith to faith, according as it hath been written, 'And the righteous one by faith shall live,'

For whatever is to be known of God is plain to them; God himself has made it plain ??20 for ever since the world was created, his invisible nature, his everlasting power and divine being, have been quite perceptible in what he has made. So they have no excuse.

Forever since the creation of the world, His invisible characteristics -- His eternal power and divine nature -- have been made intelligible and clearly visible by His works. So they are without excuse,

because, although they once knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give Him thanks, but became silly in their senseless speculations, and so their insensible hearts have been shrouded in darkness.

and males too have forsaken the natural function of females and been consumed by flaming passion for one another, males practicing shameful vice with other males, and continuing to suffer in their persons the inevitable penalty for doing what is improper.

having been filled with all unrighteousness, whoredom, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil dispositions; whisperers,

and know his will, and approve of what is best because you have been instructed in the Law;

for the name of God because of you is evil spoken of among the nations, according as it hath been written.

For circumcision is valuable if you observe the Law, but if you break the Law, your having been circumcised has no more value than if you were uncircumcised.

There are all kinds of advantages! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the utterances of God.

What, indeed, if some have been unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness overthrow the faithfulness of God?

let it not be! and let God become true, and every man false, according as it hath been written, 'That Thou mayest be declared righteous in Thy words, and mayest overcome in Thy being judged.'

But if by a falsehood of mine the truthfulness of God has been made to redound to his glory, why am I still tried as a sinner?

according as it hath been written -- 'There is none righteous, not even one;

"Their throats resemble an opened grave; with their tongues they have been talking deceitfully." "The venom of vipers lies hidden behind their lips."

And now apart from law hath the righteousness of God been manifested, testified to by the law and the prophets,

even the righteousness which is of God through faith in Jesus Christ, hath been made manifest to all and for all believers. For there is no distinction.

whom God put forward as the means of propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to demonstrate the justice of God in view of the fact that sins previously committed during the time of God's forbearance had been passed over;

What, then, is there to boast about? That has been eliminated. On what principle? On that of actions? No, but on the principle of faith.

For if Abraham has been justified on the principle of works, he has whereof to boast: but not before God;

but to him who without performing works hath faith in him who accepteth as righteous one that hath been ungodly, his faith is accounted as righteousness;

"Happy are they whose transgressions have been forgiven, whose sins were covered up;

Does this blessedness then rest on the circumcision, or also on the uncircumcision? For we say that faith has been reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.

Under what circumstances was it credited? Was he circumcised or uncircumcised? He had not yet been circumcised, but was uncircumcised.

And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, so that he would become the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, that they too could have righteousness credited to them.

For if the law party is to possess the world, then faith has been nullified and the promise has been made null and void.

because the effect of the law is punishment: for if there had been no law, there could have been no transgression.

who is father of us all (according as it hath been written -- 'A father of many nations I have set thee,') before Him whom he did believe -- God, who is quickening the dead, and is calling the things that be not as being.

Abraham, building on hope in spite of hopeless circumstances, had faith, and so he actually became the father of many nations, just as it had been told him, "So numberless shall your descendants be."

and not having been weak in the faith, he did not consider his own body, already become dead, (being about a hundred years old,) and the deadness of Sarah's womb,

and having been fully persuaded that what He hath promised He is able also to do:

And these words counted to him have not been written for him alone

who has been delivered for our offences and has been raised for our justification, it will be reckoned.

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

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace by which we have been established, and we boast because of our hope in God's glory.

endurance produces character, and character produces hope ??5 a hope which never disappoints us, since God's love floods our hearts through the holy Spirit which has been given to us.

and hope never disappoints us; for through the Holy Spirit that has been given us, God's love has flooded our hearts.

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.

For if while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, it is much more certain that since we have been reconciled we shall finally be saved through His new life.

Not only that, but we also continue to boast about God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah, through whom we have now been reconciled.

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!

For as indeed by the disobedience of the one man the many have been constituted sinners, so also by the obedience of the one the many will be constituted righteous.

Or, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into union with Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

So through baptism we have been buried with Him in death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father's glorious power, so we too should live an entirely new life.

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

knowing this, that our old man hath been crucified with him, that the body of sin might be abolished, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

for he who hath died hath been set free from the sin.

But if we have been dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

knowing that Christ, having been raised up out of the dead, doth no more die, death over him hath no more lordship;

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.

But, thank God, that though you once were slaves of sin, you became obedient from your hearts to that form of teaching in which you have been instructed,

and since you have been freed from sin, you have become the slaves of right-doing.

But now, since you have been freed from sin and have become the slaves of God, the immediate result is consecration, and the final destiny is eternal life.

for the married woman to the living husband hath been bound by law, and if the husband may die, she hath been free from the law of the husband;

So that, my brethren, ye also have been made dead to the law by the body of the Christ, to be to another, who has been raised up from among the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

But now we have been freed from our relation to the law; we have ended our relation to that by which we once were held in bonds, so that we may serve in a new spiritual way and not in the old literalistic way.

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."

We know that the Law is spiritual, but I am a creature of the flesh [worldly, self-reliant—carnal and unspiritual], sold into slavery to sin [and serving under its control].

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.

It is not a consciousness of servitude that has been imparted to you, to fill you with fear again, but the consciousness of adoption as sons, which makes us cry, "Abba!" that is, Father.

For the creation has been subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of the one who subjected [it], in hope

For we know that all the rest of creation has been groaning with the pains of childbirth up to the present time.

For by hope we have been saved: now hope seen is not hope; for that which any man seeth how doth he yet hope for?

And we are conscious that all things are working together for good to those who have love for God, and have been marked out by his purpose.

Who is the one to condemn? It is the Messiah Jesus who is interceding on our behalf. He died, and more importantly, has been raised and is seated at the right hand of God.

(according as it hath been written -- 'For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long, we were reckoned as sheep of slaughter,')

the Israelites. These people are God's adopted children; they have [experienced] His glorious presence; they have [received] His Agreements; they have been given the law of Moses; they possess the [Temple] service and the promises [of God].

But not as that the word of God has been a failure. For these are not all Israel who are of Israel;

Yet before their children had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God's plan of election might continue to operate

according as it hath been written, 'Jacob I did love, and Esau I did hate.'

if the divine Being has patiently bore with those objects of his displeasure, that had been working out their own destruction, why may he not reveal himself to make them feel his vindictive power,

Since he is completing and finishing quickly a matter in righteousness, because a matter that has been cut short upon the earth, Lord will perform.

And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.

according as it hath been written, 'Lo, I place in Sion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence; and every one who is believing thereon shall not be ashamed.'

For not knowing the justice of God, and seeking to establish their own justice, they have not been subjected to the justice of God.

and how shall they preach, if they may not be sent? according as it hath been written, 'How beautiful the feet of those proclaiming good tidings of peace, of those proclaiming good tidings of the good things!'

And this proves that faith comes from a Message heard, and that the Message comes through its having been spoken by Christ.

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."

But about Israel he says; All the day my hands have been stretched out to a people whose hearts were turned away, and who put themselves against my word.

"Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone have been left, and they are trying to kill me."

But what answer does God make to him? I have still seven thousand men whose knees have not been bent to Baal.

So then also in the present time a remnant according to the choice of grace there hath been;

What then? That which Israel seeketh after, the same, it hath not obtained: - the election, however, have obtained it, and, the rest, have been hardened; -

according as it hath been written, 'God gave to them a spirit of deep sleep, eyes not to see, and ears not to hear,' -- unto this very day,

For, if by their putting away, the rest of men have been made friends with God, what will their coming back again be, but life from the dead?

If some of the branches have been broken off, and yet you, although you were wild olive suckers, have been grafted in among the native branches, and been made to share the rich sap of the native olive's root,

Then you will say, "Branches have been broken off for us to be grafted in."

Well: by their want of faith, they have been broken out, - and, thou, by thy faith, dost stand! - Regard not lofty things, but be afraid;

See then that God is good but his rules are fixed: to those who were put away he was hard, but to you he has been good, on the condition that you keep in his mercy; if not, you will be cut off as they were.

For if you have been cut from an olive wild by nature, and grafted contrary to nature into a good olive, how much more shall they according to nature be grafted into their own olive.

For it is my desire, brothers, that this secret may be clear to you, so that you may not have pride in your knowledge, that Israel has been made hard in part, till all the Gentiles have come in;

and so all Israel shall be saved, according as it hath been written, 'There shall come forth out of Sion he who is delivering, and he shall turn away impiety from Jacob,

Though they are violently prejudiced against the gospel upon your account: yet they are objects of favour upon the account of their having been chosen out of respect to your fore-fathers.