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

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 since the creation of the world God's invisible attributes his eternal power and divine nature have been understood and observed by what he made, so that people are without excuse.

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

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

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

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."

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

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.

Now this hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Now that we have been justified by his blood, how much more will we be saved from wrath through him!

For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his 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 the person who has died has been freed from sin.

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.

And since you have been freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.

But now that you have been freed from sin and have become God's slaves, the benefit you reap is sanctification, and the result is eternal life.

But now we have been released from the Law by dying to what enslaved us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit, not under the old writings.

What should we say, then? Is the Law sinful? Of course not! In fact, I wouldn't have become aware of sin if it had not been for the Law. I wouldn't have known what it means to covet if the Law had not said, "You must not covet."

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

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.

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

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."

Now if some of the branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive branch, have been grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive tree,

Every person must be subject to the governing authorities, for no authority exists except by God's permission. The existing authorities have been established by God,

I know and have been persuaded by the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in and of itself, but it is unclean to a person who thinks it is unclean.

This is why I have so often been hindered from coming to you.

because the believers in Macedonia and Achaia have been eager to share their resources with the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.

Greet Apelles, who has been approved by the Messiah. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus.

Greet Rufus, the one chosen by the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.

but now has been made known through the prophets to all the gentiles, in keeping with the decree of the eternal God to bring them to the obedience that springs from faith