For I am not ashamed of the good news, for it is God's power for the salvation of everyone who has faith, of the Jew first and then of the Greek.

For all that can be known of God is clearly before them; God has shown it to them.

Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible nature??is eternal power and divine character??ave been clearly perceptible through what he has made. So they have no excuse,

That is why God has abandoned them to degrading passions. Their women have exchanged their natural function for one that is unnatural,

And just as they refused to recognize God any longer, God has abandoned them to unworthy impulses and indecent conduct.

For he will pay every man for what he has done.

But, you say, if a falsehood of mine has brought great honor to God by bringing out his truthfulness, why am I tried for being a sinner?

But now God's way of uprightness has been disclosed without any reference to law, though the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it.

Then what becomes of our boasting? It is shut out. On what principle? What a man does? No, but whether a man has faith.

For we hold that a man is made upright by faith; the observance of the Law has nothing to do with it.

but a man who has no work to offer, but has faith in him who can make the ungodly upright, has his faith credited to him as uprightness.

and hope will not disappoint us. For, through the holy Spirit that has been given us, God's love has flooded our hearts.

Then law slipped in, and multiplied the offense. But greatly as sin multiplied, God's mercy has far surpassed it,

for we know that Christ, once raised from the dead, will never die again; death has no more hold on him.

In reality, it is not I that do these things; it is sin, which has possession of me.

But if I do the things that I do not want to do, it is not I that am acting, it is sin, which has possession of me.

For the life-giving law of the Spirit through Christ Jesus has freed you from the Law of sin and death.

But you are not physical but spiritual, if God's Spirit has really taken possession of you; for unless a man has Christ's spirit, he does not belong to Christ.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead has taken possession of you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give your mortal bodies life through his Spirit that has taken possession of you.

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.

We know that all creation has been groaning in agony together until now.

We know that in everything God works with those who love him, whom he has called in accordance with his purpose, to bring about what is good.

and those whom he has predestined he calls, and those whom he calls he makes upright, and those whom he makes upright he glorifies.

Who can bring any accusation against those whom God has chosen? God pronounces them upright;

nor any supernatural forces either of height or depth will be able to separate us from the love God has shown in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Not that God's message has failed. For not everybody who is descended from Israel really belongs to Israel,

So he has mercy on anyone he pleases, and hardens the heart of anyone he pleases.

Has not the potter with his clay the right to make from the same lump one thing for exalted uses and another for menial ones?

Then what if God, though he wanted to display his anger and show his power, has shown great patience toward the objects of his anger, already ripe for destruction,

so as to show all the wealth of his glory in dealing with the objects of his mercy, whom he has prepared from the beginning to share his glory,

including us whom he has called not only from among the Jews but from among the heathen?

as the Scripture says, "See, I will put a stone on Zion to make people stumble, and a rock to trip over, But no one who has faith in it will be disappointed."

For Christ marks the termination of law, so that now anyone who has faith may attain uprightness.

For the Scripture says, "No one who has faith in him will be disappointed."

It is true, they have not all accepted the good news, for Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what we have told?"

I ask then, has God repudiated his people? By no means. Why, I am an Israelite myself, I am descended from Abraham, and I belong to the tribe of Benjamin.

God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel?

The rest became callous; as the Scripture says, "God has thrown them into a state of spiritual insensibility, with eyes that cannot see and cars that cannot hear, that has lasted down to this day."

I ask then, has their stumbling led to their absolute ruin? By no means. Through their false step salvation has gone to the heathen, so as to make the Israelites jealous.

But if their false step has so enriched the world, and their defeat has so enriched the heathen, how much more good the addition of their full number will do!

For if their rejection has meant the reconciling of the world, what can the acceptance of them mean but life from the dead?

Those others too, if they do not cling to their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.

For to keep you from thinking too well of yourselves, brothers, I do not want you to miss this secret, that only partial insensibility has come upon Israel, to last until all the heathen have come in,

For God has made all men prisoners of disobedience so as to have mercy upon them all.

"Who has ever known the Lord's thoughts, or advised him?

"Or who has advanced anything to him, for which he will have to be repaid?"

By the favor that God has shown me, I would tell every one of you not to think too highly of himself, but to think reasonably, judging himself by the degree of faith God has allowed him.

We have gifts that differ with the favor that God has shown us, whether it is that of preaching, differing with the measure of our faith,

so that anyone who resists the authorities sets himself in opposition to what God has ordained, and those who oppose him will bring down judgment upon themselves.

The man who does right has nothing to fear from the magistrates, as the wrongdoer has. If you want to have no fear of the authorities, do right, and they will commend you for it,

Owe nobody anything??xcept the duty of mutual love, for whoever loves his fellow-men has fully satisfied the Law.

The man who will eat anything must not look down on the man who abstains from some things, and the man who abstains from them must not criticize the one who does not, for God has accepted him.

For your part, you must keep the faith you have to yourself, as between God and you. He is a happy man who has no fault to find with himself in following the course that he approves,

but the man who has misgivings about eating, and then eats, is thereby condemned, for he is not following his convictions, and anything that does not rest on conviction is wrong.

Therefore, treat one another like brothers, in God's honor, just as Christ has treated you.

I hold that Christ has become an agent of circumcision to show God's truthfulness in carrying out the promises made to our forefathers,

But, just to refresh your memories, I have written you pretty boldly on some points, because of the favor God has shown me

For I will venture to speak only of what Christ has accomplished through me in winning the heathen to obedience, by word and action,

In all this it has been my ambition to preach the good news only where Christ's name was unknown, so as not to build on foundations other men had laid.

Welcome her as a Christian, as God's people should welcome one another, and give her whatever help she may need from you. For she has herself been a protection to many, including myself.

Remember me to Mary, who has worked so hard for you.

Remember me to Tryphaena and Tryphosa, those hard workers in the Lord's cause. Remember me to my dear Persis, who has worked so hard for the Lord,

Remember me to Rufus, that eminent Christian, and to his mother, who has been a mother to me.

Everyone has heard of your obedience, and I am very happy about you, but I want you to be wise about what is good and guileless about what is bad.