Though they knew God, they have not glorified him as God nor given thanks to him; they have turned to futile speculations till their ignorant minds grew dark.

For what does scripture say? Abraham believed God and this was counted to him as righteousness.

Now a worker has his wage counted to him as a due, not as a favour;

but a man who instead of 'working' believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, has his faith counted as righteousness.

Just as David himself describes the bliss of the man who has righteousness counted to him by God apart from what he does ??7 Blessed are they whose breaches of the Law are forgiven, whose sins are covered!

Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not count to him.

Now is that description of bliss meant for the circumcised, or for the uncircumcised as well? Abraham's faith, I repeat, was counted to him as righteousness.

He only got circumcision as a sign or seal of the righteousness which belonged to his faith as an uncircumcised man. The object of this was to make him the father of all who believe as uncircumcised persons and thus have righteousness counted to them,

The promise made to Abraham and his offspring that he should inherit the world, did not reach him through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.

no unbelief made him waver about God's promise; his faith won strength as he gave glory to God

Hence his faith was counted to him as righteousness.

And these words counted to him have not been written for him alone

but for our sakes as well; faith will be counted to us as we believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,

Through him we have got access to this grace where we have our standing, and triumph in the hope of God's glory.

Much more then, now that we are justified by his blood, shall we be saved by him from Wrath.

Nevertheless, from Adam to Moses death reigned even over those whose sins were not like Adam's transgression. Adam prefigured Him who was to come,

For if we have grown into him by a death like his, we shall grow into him by a resurrection like his,

knowing as we do that our old self has been crucified with him in order to crush the sinful body and free us from any further slavery to sin

We believe that as we have died with Christ we shall also live with him;

for we know that Christ never dies after his resurrection from the dead ??death has no more hold over him;

(I use this human analogy to bring the truth home to your weak nature.) As you once dedicated your members to the service of vice and lawlessness, so now dedicate them to the service of righteousness that means consecration.

It is the same in your case, my brothers. The crucified body of Christ made you dead to the Law, so that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead that we might be fruitful to God.

I lived at one time without law myself, but when the command came home to me, sin sprang to life and I died;

God will! Thanks be to him through Jesus Christ our Lord! [Move second part of this vers to follow vs 23] (Thus, left to myself, I serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.)

But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells within you. Anyone who does not possess the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.

And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells within you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies live by his indwelling Spirit in your lives.

For creation was not rendered futile by its own choice, but by the will of Him who thus made it subject,

The God who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, surely He will give us everything besides!

No, in all this we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

they are not all children of Abraham because they are descended from Abraham. No, it is through Isaac that your offspring shall be reckoned ??8 meaning that instead of God's children being the children born to him by natural descent, it is the children of the Promise who are reckoned as his true offspring.

But who are you, my man, to speak back to God? Is something a man has moulded to ask him who has moulded it, "Why did you make me like this?"

And why? Simply because Israel has relied not on faith but on what they could do. They have stumbled over the stone that makes men stumble ??33 as it is written, Here I lay a stone in Sion that will make men stumble, even a rock to trip them up; but he who believes in Him will never be disappointed.

Confess with your mouth that 'Jesus is Lord,' believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, and you will be saved;

No one who believes in him, the scripture says, will ever be disappointed. No one ??12 for there is no distinction of Jew and Greek, the same Lord is Lord of them all, with ample for all who invoke him.

Who has first given to him and has to be repaid?

All comes from him, all lives by him, all ends in him. Glory to him for ever, Amen!

Instead of being moulded to this world, have your mind renewed, and so be transformed in nature, able to make out what the will of God is, namely, what is good and acceptable to him and perfect.

if your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him drink; for in this way you will make him feel a burning sense of shame.

The eater must not look down upon the non-eater, and the non-eater must not criticize the eater, for God has welcomed him.

Who are you to criticize the servant of Another? It is for his Master to say whether he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Master has power to make him stand.

But if anyone has doubts about eating and then eats, that condemns him at once; it was not faith that induced him to eat, and any action that is not based on faith is a sin.

Each of us must please his neighbour, doing him good by building up his faith.

or again, Extol the Lord, all Gentiles, let all the peoples praise him;

or again, as Isaiah says, Then shall the Scion of Jessai live, he who rises to rule the Gentiles; on him shall the Gentiles set their hope.

but that (as it is written) They should see who never had learned about him, and they who had never heard of him should understand.

[Now to Him who can strengthen you by my gospel, by the preaching of Jesus Christ, by revealing the secret purpose which after the silence of long ages