PAUL, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart to the gospel of God,??2 which he promised by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures,??3 concerning his Son born of the posterity of David as to the flesh,

(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)

regarding his Son. He was a descendant of David with respect to his humanity

He was appointed to be the Son of God with power through the Spirit of holiness [Note: This could refer to the Holy Spirit] when He was raised from the dead.

First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for what He has done for all of you; for the report of your faith is spreading through the whole world.

For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers

Asking that, if he be willing, I may some day at last find the way open to visit you.

And I want you to be aware, brothers, of how frequently I [had] planned to visit you (but was prevented from doing so until now). I wanted to come in order to bear some fruit [i.e., make additional converts] among you, just as I have done among the other Gentiles [i.e., unconverted people].

For, a righteousness of God, is therein revealed, - by faith unto faith: even as it is written - But, he that is righteous, by faith, shall live.

because what may be known about Him is plain to their inmost consciousness; for He Himself has made it plain to them.

For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

For they had bartered the reality of God for what is unreal, and had offered divine honours and religious service to created things, rather than to the Creator--He who is for ever blessed. Amen.

And since these people refused to acknowledge God, He has allowed [or, abandoned] them to have degraded minds and to practice those things which they should not do.

Which men, though they knew the righteousness of God, how that they which such things commit are worthy of death: yet not only do the same, but also have pleasure in them that do them.

Either despisest thou the riches of his goodness and patience, and long sufferance? And rememberest not how that the kindness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

He will pay back to each person according to his deeds [justly, as his deeds deserve]:

to those who by persistence in doing good seek [unseen but certain heavenly] glory, honor, and immortality, [He will give the gift of] eternal life.

anguish and distress. He will bring these upon every human being who does wrong, upon the Jews first, then also upon the Greeks [i.e., Gentiles].

But [He will bring] glory, honor and peace upon every person who does what is good; upon the Jews first, then also upon the Greeks,

On the day when God passes judgment on men's inmost lives, as the Good News that I tell declares that he will do through Christ Jesus.

You say that a person should not commit adultery [i.e., sexual unfaithfulness to their mate], [but] do you commit adultery? You [claim to] hate idols, [but] do you rob [their] temples? [Note: It is difficult to determine how the Jews were doing this. Perhaps they were guilty of the "spirit" of idolatry by devoting their efforts and affections to material things instead of to God].

So, if an uncircumcised person [i.e., a Gentile] obeys [the rest of] the requirements of the law, will not the fact that he is not circumcised be considered [by God] as though he were?

although he is a Gentile by birth, if he scrupulously obeys the Law, shall he not sit in judgement upon you who, possessing, as you do, a written Law and circumcision, are yet a Law-breaker?

For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Then what is the advantage of the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?

But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? God, who inflicts wrath, [is] not unjust, [is he]? (I am speaking according to a human perspective.)

God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?

But if my "lie" [i.e., as you Jews call it] would result in God's truthfulness [about you Jews] increasing the honor He receives, why am I also still judged to be a sinner [by you]?

What say we then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise. For we have already proved how that both Jews and gentiles are all under sin,

They have not known [how to walk on] a peaceful pathway."

Yea and we know that whatsoever the law saith, he saith it to them which are under the law: That all mouths may be stopped, and all the world be subdued to God,

whom God displayed publicly [before the eyes of the world] as a [life-giving] sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation (propitiation) by His blood [to be received] through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness [which demands punishment for sin], because in His forbearance [His deliberate restraint] He passed over the sins previously committed [before Jesus’ crucifixion].

To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:

if so be that God is one, and he shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather humanly speaking, has found? [Has he obtained a favored standing?]

For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

whereas he that trusts in God to be made righteous, tho' he has not done such actions, shall find his faith accounted as righteousness.

And in this same way David speaks of the blessing on the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

How joyful are those whose lawless acts are forgiven
and whose sins are covered!

How joyful is the man
the Lord will never charge with sin!

Came this blessedness then upon the circumcised or upon the uncircumcised? We say verily how that faith was reckoned to Abraham, for righteousness.

How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all

(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

But God setteth out his love that he hath to us; Seeing that while we were yet sinners; Christ died for us.

Therefore, since we have now been justified [declared free of the guilt of sin] by His blood, [how much more certain is it that] we will be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life!

Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a prototype of the Coming One.

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift overflowed to the many by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ.

Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Through baptism we have been buried with him in death, so that just as he was raised from the dead through the Father's glory, we too may live a new life.

For this we know, that our old self was crucified with Christ, in order that the slave of sin might be destroyed; so that we should no longer be in slavery to sin??7 for he who is dead is set free from sin.

For he that is dead is freed from sin.

knowing that Christ, [because he] has been raised from the dead, is going to die no more, death no longer being master over him.

For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Remember ye not how that to whomsoever ye commit yourselves as servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey: whether it be of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

So if she marries another man while her husband is living, she is called an adulteress, but if he dies, she is free from that marriage bond, so that she will not be an adulteress though later married to another man.

Was that, then, which is good made death unto me? God forbid. Nay, sin was death unto me, that it might appear: how that sin by the means of that which is good, had wrought death in me: that sin which is under the commandment, might be out of measure sinful.

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

How unhappy am I! who will make me free from the body of this death?

Thanks be to God [for my deliverance] through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind serve the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh [my human nature, my worldliness, my sinful capacity—I serve] the law of sin.

For what [was] impossible for the law, in that it was weak through the flesh, God [did]. [By] sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

This is because the one whose mind is [controlled] by the flesh is an enemy of God; for he is not obedient to God's law, and in fact, cannot obey it.

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

If Christ lives in you, though your [natural] body is dead because of sin, your spirit is alive because of righteousness [which He provides].

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

Who hopes for what he clearly sees? But if we hope for something that we do not see, we then patiently wait for it.

And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered;

And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Now we know that for those who love God all things are working together for good--for those, I mean, whom with deliberate purpose He has called.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Who shall lay a charge against the choice ones of God? God is He that is declaring righteous,

Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Or things on high, or things under the earth, or anything which is made, will be able to come between us and the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Whose are the fathers, and of whom is the Christ - according to the flesh - he who is over all, God, blessed unto the ages. Amen.

nor are they all children of Abraham because they are descended from him, but he was told, "The line of Isaac will be called your descendants."

For even before the twins were born, and therefore had not done anything good or bad, Rebecca was told [Gen. 25:23], "The older one [i.e., Esau] will serve the younger one [i.e., Jacob]." This was so that God's purpose of choosing and calling [whomever He wanted to] might prevail, instead of [it depending on] what a person did.

As it is written, "Jacob he loved, but Esau he hated."

What can we say, then? God is not unrighteous, is he? Of course not!

For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

So then, it does not depend on what a person wants or does, but on God, who shows pity [i.e., to whomever He wants].

"It is for this very purpose that I have lifted you so high--that I may make manifest in you My power, and that My name may be proclaimed far and wide in all the earth."

Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?