First of all, I want to thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being told about throughout the whole world.

For God's extreme anger is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people who restrain the truth [from being known and obeyed] by their wickedness.

For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities of eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, [capable of] being perceived through the things that He has made. So, these people have no excuse [i.e., for not believing in Him].

anguish and distress. He will bring these upon every human being who does wrong, upon the Jews first, then also upon the Greeks [i.e., Gentiles].

For God's name is being spoken against among the Gentiles because of your behavior, just as it is written. [See Isa. 52:5].

Now if our wrongdoing serves to emphasize more clearly that God does what is right, what should we say about that? Is God being unjust for sending [His] wrath [on the world]? (I am raising a human objection).

This is because no human being can be considered right with God by [obeying] the requirements of a law. [Note: It is difficult to determine the exact sense in which "law" is used in these verses. It may be law generally, or the law of Moses specifically. See Bruce, pages 52-58]. For the knowledge of what sin is comes from the law of Moses.

But now [i.e., under the Gospel age], a way of being considered right with God apart from [any] law has been made known. [The writings of] the law [i.e., the Pentateuch] and the prophets bear witness to this.

Being considered right with God is [obtained] through faith in Jesus Christ by every person who believes [in Him], for there is no favoritism [with God],

But people are made right with Him as a free gift by His unearned favor, through being bought back [from Satan] by Christ Jesus.

Where then is the [basis for] boasting [i.e., over being right with God]? There is not any. Is it by [obedience to] a law? Is it by doing certain deeds? Not at all, but by a law of faith.

But to the person who believes in God, who makes ungodly people right with Himself apart from doing good deeds, that person's faith is considered by God [as the basis] for being righteous.

[But] when was he given credit [i.e., for being righteous]? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was before he was circumcised, not afterward.

He received the sign of circumcision as a seal [confirming] that he had been [considered] righteous because of the faith he had before being circumcised. Thus, he became the [spiritual] father of all people who believe [in God], even though they have not been circumcised, so that they could be considered righteous [by their faith].

For it was not through [obedience to] law [See 3:31] that the promise to Abraham or his descendants of inheriting [the best of] the world [was made], but through their being considered righteous because of faith [in God].

For this reason, the promise [i.e., of being made right with God] comes through faith [in God], according to His unearned favor, so that it may be [given] with certainty to all of Abraham's descendants. The promise is given not only to those [who live] under the law [i.e., the Jews], but also to [all] those [who live] by faith, like Abraham. Abraham is the [spiritual] father of all of us [believers],

Through Jesus we have also gained access by [our] faith to this unearned favor [of God]. We stand firm in it, and are glad that we have the hope of being honored by God.

And [having such] hope keeps us from being disappointed, because God's love [for us] has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us [by God].

For even before the law of Moses, sin was [being committed] in the world. But man is not responsible for [his] sin when there is no law.

For if [physical] death ruled [over mankind] because of the sin of the one man [i.e., Adam], how much more will those who receive the abundance of God's unearned favor, and the gift of being right with Him, rule in [never ending] life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

So then, just as [God's] judgment came, condemning all people [to physical death] because of one sin [i.e., Adam's]; even so the free gift of being made right with God and [resulting in] life may be received by all people because of one man's [i.e., Christ's] act of righteousness. [Note: This "life" may refer to spiritual life now, or to being made alive in the resurrection, which would reverse the curse of physical death caused by Adam's sin].

For, if we have become united with Christ in an act similar to His death [i.e., by being buried in water], we will also be [united with Him] in an act similar to His resurrection from the dead [i.e., our rising from the water to live a new life].

For when you were [once] slaves to [the practice of] sin, you were free from [being controlled by] righteousness.

And I was [once] alive before being aware of the law [i.e., complacent and without a sense of guilt]; but when [awareness of] the commandment [not to sin] came, sin sprang to life,

But if the Spirit of God [truly] lives in your heart, you are not [being controlled] by the flesh, but by the Holy Spirit. But if any person does not have the Spirit of Christ [living in him], he does not belong to Christ.

And if Christ lives in your hearts, even though the body is [doomed to] death because of [Adam's ?] sin; yet the spirit is [destined to] live [forever] because of being [made] right with God. [Note: Some take "spirit" here to be "Spirit" and make it "The Holy Spirit gives you life." See next verse].

Just as it is written [Psa. 44:22], "We are [in danger of being] killed all the time. We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

For they did not know about God's way of making people right with Himself, so they attempted to establish their own way. In doing this they did not submit to God's way for being made right with Him.

So, Christ has brought an end to the law [as a means] of being made right with God for every person who believes [in Him].

For Moses wrote [Lev. 18:5] about a person being made right with God by obeying the requirements of the law of Moses, that he would gain [never ending] life for doing this.

But the [means of] being made right with God by faith [in Christ] is described in the Scripture this way [Deut. 30:12-13], "Do not ask yourself, 'Who will go up into heaven?'" (in order to bring Christ down [to earth]).

"And [do not ask yourself], 'Who will go down into the deep hole?'" (in order to bring Christ up from the dead). [Note: This "deep hole" probably refers to the unseen place of departed spirits, or possibly the grave. Being made right with God does not require something as difficult as bringing Christ down from heaven or up from the dead (which God had already done), but is within easy reach of everyone].

But what does the Scripture say [about being made right with God]? [Deut. 30:14 says], "The message of God is near you [i.e., it is not difficult to comprehend]. It is on your lips and in your heart." This is the message of faith [in Christ] which we [apostles] preach.

It is now being made known through the writings of the prophets, as commanded by the eternal God, to [people of] all the nations, in order to bring about their obedience to the faith