To all in Rome who are dear to God and have been called to become Christ's People, From Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, who has been called to become an Apostle, and has been set apart to tell God's Good News.

And among these nations are you-you who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ.

I want you to know, Brothers, that I have many times intended coming to see you-but until now I have been prevented-that I might find among you some fruit of my labors, as I have already among the other nations.

And, having been carefully instructed from the Law, have learned to appreciate the finer moral distinctions.

'Blessed are those whose wrong-doings have been forgiven and over whose sins a veil has been drawn!

Therefore, having been pronounced righteous as the result of faith, let us enjoy peace with God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Much more, then, now that we have been pronounced righteous by virtue of the shedding of his blood, shall we be saved through him from the Wrath of God.

For the man who has so died has been pronounced righteous and released from Sin.

But now that you have been set free from the control of Sin, and have become servants to God, the fruit that you reap is an ever-increasing holiness, and the end Immortal Life.

What are we to say, then? That Law and sin are the same thing? Heaven forbid! On the contrary, I should not have learned what sin is, had not it been for Law. If the Law did not say 'Thou shalt not covet,' I should not know what it is to covet.

We know, indeed, that all Nature alike has been groaning in the pains of labor to this very hour.

Bears me out when I say that there is a great weight of sorrow upon me and that my heart is never free from pain.

It is as Isaiah foretold-'Had not the Lord of Hosts spared some few of our race to us, we should have become like Sodom and been made to resemble Gomorrah.'

Brothers, for fear that you should think too highly of yourselves, I want you to recognize the truth, hitherto hidden, that the callousness which has come over Israel is only partial, and will continue only till the whole Gentile world has been gathered in.

In fulfillment of the charge with which I have been entrusted, I bid every one of you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think till he learns to think soberly--in accordance with the measure of faith that God has allotted to each.

Let every one obey the supreme Authorities. For no Authority exists except by the will of God, and the existing Authorities have been appointed by God.

Yet always with the ambition to tell the Good News where Christ's name had not previously been heard, so as to avoid building upon another man's foundations.

But as Scripture says--'They to whom he had never been proclaimed shall see; and they who have never heard shall understand!'

That is why I have so often been prevented from coming to you.

But now there are no further openings for me in these parts, and I have for several years been longing to come to you whenever I may be going to Spain.

For Macedonia and Greece have been glad to make a collection for the poor among Christ's People at Jerusalem.

To that eminent Christian, Rufus, and to his mother, who has been a mother to me also;

Now to him who is able to strengthen you, as promised in the Good News entrusted to me and in the proclamation of Jesus Christ, in accordance with the revelation of that hidden purpose, which in past ages was kept secret but now has been revealed