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

And we know that God's judgment falls unerringly upon those who do them.

Will fall upon every human being who persists in wrong-doing- -upon the Jew first, but also upon the Greek.

For they show the demands of the Law written upon their hearts; their consciences corroborating it, while in their thoughts they argue either in self-accusation or, it may be, in self- defense--

But, perhaps, you bear the name of 'Jew,' and are relying upon Law, and boast of belonging to God, and understand his will,

The Divine Righteousness which is bestowed, through faith in Jesus Christ, upon all, without distinction, who believe in him.

While, as for the man who does not rely upon his obedience, but has faith in him who can pronounce the godless righteous, his faith is regarded by God as righteousness.

In precisely the same way David speaks of the blessing pronounced upon the man who is regarded by God as righteous apart from actions--

Is this blessing, then, pronounced upon the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised as well? We say that-'Abraham's faith was regarded by God as righteousness.'

That is why all is made to depend upon faith, that all may be God's gift, and in order that the fulfillment of the promise may be made certain for all Abraham's descendants-not only for those who take their stand on the Law, but also for those who take their stand on the faith of Abraham. (He is the Father of us all;

But there is a contrast between Adam's Offence and God's gracious Gift. For, if by reason of the offence of the one man the whole race died, far more were the loving-kindness of God, and the gift given in the loving-kindness of the one man, Jesus Christ, lavished upon the whole race.

There is a contrast, too, between the gift and the results of the one man's sin. The judgment, which followed upon the one man's sin, resulted in condemnation, but God's gracious Gift, which followed upon many offences, resulted in a decree of righteousness.

For if, by reason of the offence of the one man, Death reigned through that one man, far more will those, upon whom God's loving- kindness and his gift of righteousness are lavished, find Life, and reign through the one man, Jesus Christ.

I do not count the sufferings of our present life worthy of mention when compared with the Glory that is to be revealed and bestowed upon us.

Bears me out when I say that there is a great weight of sorrow upon me and that my heart is never free from pain.

For the Lord will execute his sentence upon the world, fully and without delay.'

If you were cut off from your natural stock--a wild olive-- and were grafted, contrary to the course of nature, upon a good olive, much more will they--the natural branches--be grafted back into their parent tree.

Rather--'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him to drink. By doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head.'

Therefore he who sets himself against the authorities is resisting God's appointment, and those who resist will bring a judgment upon themselves.

Even the Christ did not please himself! On the contrary, as Scripture says of him--'The reproaches of those who were reproaching thee fell upon me.'

Yet always with the ambition to tell the Good News where Christ's name had not previously been heard, so as to avoid building upon another man's foundations.