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.

I have a duty to both the Greek and the Barbarian, to both the cultured and the ignorant.

For ever since the creation of the universe God's invisible attributes-his everlasting power and divinity-are to be seen and studied in his works, so that men have no excuse;

Therefore you have nothing to say in your own defense, whoever you are who set yourself up as a judge. In judging others you condemn yourself, for you who set yourself up as a judge do the very same things.

When Gentiles, who have no Law, do instinctively what the Law requires, they, though they have no Law, are a Law to themselves;

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

They have all gone astray; they have one and all become depraved; there is no one who is doing good-no, not one!'

For all have sinned, and all fall short of God's glorious ideal,

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

Not after, but before. And it was as a sign of this that he received the rite of circumcision-to attest the righteousness due to the faith of an uncircumcised man-in order that he might be the father of all who have faith in God even when uncircumcised, that they also may be regarded by God as righteous;

As Scripture says-'I have made thee the Father of many nations.') And this they do in the sight of that God in whom Abraham had faith, and who gives life to the dead, and speaks of what does not yet exist as if it did.

But also with reference to us. Our faith, too, will be regarded by God in the same light, if we have faith in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead;

It is through him that, by reason of our faith, we have obtained admission to that place in God's favor in which we not stand. So let us exult in our hope of attaining God's glorious ideal.

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 if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, much more, now that we have become reconciled, shall we be saved by virtue of Christ's Life.

And not only that, but we exult in God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, through whom we have now obtained this reconciliation.

If we have become united with him by the act symbolic of his death, surely we shall also become united with him by the act symbolic of his resurrection.

And our belief is, that, as we have shared Christ's Death, we shall also share his Life.

Do not offer any part of your bodies to Sin, in the cause of unrighteousness, but once for all offer yourselves to God (as those who, though once dead, now have Life), and devote every part of your bodies to the cause of righteousness.

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.

The very Commandment that should have meant Life I found to result in Death!

And not Nature only; but we ourselves also, though we have already a first gift of the Spirit-we ourselves are inwardly groaning, while we eagerly await our full adoption as Sons-the redemption of our bodies.

But we do know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love him-those who have received the Call in accordance with his purpose.

For these words are the words of a promise-'About this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.'

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.'

As Scripture says-'See, I place a Stumbling-block in Zion-- a Rock which shall prove a hindrance; and he who believes in him shall have no cause for shame.'

As the passage of Scripture says--'No one who believes in him shall have any cause for shame.'

For no distinction is made between the Jew and the Greek, for all have the same Lord, and he is bountiful to all who invoke him.

But how, it may be asked, are they to invoke one in whom they have not learned to believe? And how are they to believe in one whose words they have not heard? And how are they to hear his words unless some one proclaims him?

But I ask 'Is it possible that men have never heard?' No, indeed, for--'Their voices spread through all the earth, and their Message to the very ends of the world.'

But of the people of Israel he says--'All day long I have stretched out my hands to a people who disobey and contradict.'

God has not rejected his People, whom he chose from the first. Have you forgotten the words of Scripture in the story of Elijah- how he appeals to God against Israel?

'Lord, they have killed thy Prophets, they have pulled down thy altars, and I only am left; and now they are eager to take my life.'

But what was the divine response? 'I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have never bowed the knee to Baal.'

And they shall see the fulfillment of my Covenant, when I have taken away their sins.'

Just as you at one time were disobedient to him, but have now found mercy in the day of their disobedience;

So, too, they have now become disobedient in your day of mercy, in order that they also in their turn may now find mercy.

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.

A good action has nothing to fear from Rulers; a bad action has. Do you want to have no reason to fear the Authorities? Then do what is good, and you will win their praise.

This I say, because you know the crisis that we have reached, for the time has already come for you to rouse yourselves from sleep; our Salvation is nearer now than when we accepted the Faith.

The night is almost gone; the day is near. Therefore let us have done with the deeds of Darkness, and arm ourselves with the weapons of Light.

So, then, each one of us will have to render account of himself to God.

But in parts of this letter I have expressed myself somewhat boldly--by way of refreshing your memories--

It is, then, through my union with Christ Jesus that I have a proud confidence in my work for God.

By my words and actions, through the power displayed in signs and marvels, and through the power of the Holy Spirit. And so, starting from Jerusalem and its neighborhood, and going as far as Illyria, I have told in full the Good News of the Christ;

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 my hope is to visit you on my journey, and then to be sent on my way by you, after I have first partly satisfied myself by seeing something of you.

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

Yes, they were glad to do so; and indeed it is a duty which they owe to them. For the Gentile converts who have shared their spiritual blessings are in duty bound to minister to them in the things of this world.

When I have settled this matter, and have secured to the poor at Jerusalem the enjoyment of these benefits, I shall go, by way of you, to Spain.

To Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who have worked hard for the Master; to my dear friend Persis, for she has done much hard work for the Master;