among whom you also, called, as you have been, to belong to Jesus Christ, are numbered:

And I desire you to know, brethren, that I have many a time intended to come to you--though until now I have been disappointed--in order that among you also I might gather some fruit from my labours, as I have already done among the rest of the Gentile nations.

For, from the very creation of the world, His invisible perfections--namely His eternal power and divine nature--have been rendered intelligible and clearly visible by His works, so that these men are without excuse.

Circumcision does indeed profit, if you obey the Law; but if you are a Law-breaker, the fact that you have been circumcised counts for nothing.

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

But now a righteousness coming from God has been brought to light apart from any Law, both Law and Prophets bearing witness to it--

"Blessed," he says, "are those whose iniquities have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered over.

What then were the circumstances under which this took place? Was it after he had been circumcised, or before?

and that this hope never disappoints, because God's love for us floods our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

If therefore we have now been pronounced free from guilt through His blood, much more shall we be delivered from God's anger through Him.

But God's free gift immeasurably outweighs the transgression. For if through the transgression of the one individual the mass of mankind have died, infinitely greater is the generosity with which God's grace, and the gift given in His grace which found expression in the one man Jesus Christ, have been bestowed on the mass of mankind.

And do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

But thanks be to God that though you were once in thraldom to Sin, you have now yielded a hearty obedience to that system of truth in which you have been instructed.

But now that you have been set free from the tyranny of Sin, and have become the bondservants of God, you have your reward in being made holy, and you have the Life of the Ages as the final result.

What follows? Is the Law itself a sinful thing? No, indeed; on the contrary, unless I had been taught by the Law, I should have known nothing of sin as sin. For instance, I should not have known what covetousness is, if the Law had not repeatedly said, "Thou shalt not covet."

You have not for the second time acquired the consciousness of being--a consciousness which fills you with terror. But you have acquired a deep inward conviction of having been adopted as sons--a conviction which prompts us to cry aloud, "Abba! our Father!"

It is *in hope* that we have been saved. But an object of hope is such no longer when it is present to view; for when a man has a thing before his eyes, how can he be said to hope for it?

As it stands written in the Scripture, "For Thy sake they are, all day long, trying to kill us. We have been looked upon as sheep destined for slaughter."

And how are men to preach unless they have been sent to do so? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good!"

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

And Isaiah, with strange boldness, exclaims, "I have been found by those who were not looking for Me, I have revealed Myself to those who were not inquiring of Me."

For if their having been cast aside has carried with it the reconciliation of the world, what will their being accepted again be but Life out of death?

And if some of the branches have been pruned away, and you, although you were but a wild olive, have been grafted in among them and have become a sharer with others in the rich sap of the root of the olive tree,

"Branches have been lopped off," you will say, "for the sake of my being grafted in."

so now they also have been disobedient at a time when you are receiving mercy; so that to them too there may now be mercy.

Therefore do not let the boon which is yours in common be exposed to reproach.

For all that was written of old has been written for our instruction, so that we may always have hope through the power of endurance and the encouragement which the Scriptures afford.

But now, as there is no more unoccupied ground in this part of the world, and I have for years past been eager to pay you a visit,

Yes, they have kindly done this, and, in fact, it was a debt they owed them. For seeing that the Gentiles have been admitted in to partnership with the Jews in their spiritual blessings, they in turn are under an obligation to render sacred service to the Jews in temporal things.

that you may receive her as a fellow Christian in a manner worthy of God's people, and may assist her in any matter in which she may need help. For she has indeed been a kind friend to many, including myself.

Greetings to Rufus, who is one of the Lord's chosen people; and to his mother, who has also been a mother to me.

but has now been brought fully to light, and by the command of the God of the Ages has been made known by the writings of the Prophets among all the Gentiles to win them to obedience to the faith--