For although they knew God, yet they did not glorify him as God, nor give him thanks; but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened.

Though they knew well the ordinance of God, that those who practise such vices are worthy of death, they not only continue to do the same, but were even applauding those who practise vice.

Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and long patience? Do you not know that the kindness of God is leading you to repentance?

For it is not the hearers of law who are righteous in the eyes of God; nay, it is the doers of law who will be accounted righteous.

You who are preaching that a man should not steal, do you practise theft?

You who keep saying that a man should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who hold idols in abhorrence, are you plundering their temples?

So if the uncircumcised keeps the ordinance of the Law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned equivalent to circumcision.

And shall not those who are physically uncircumcised, but who keep the Law, condemn you who are a breaker of the Law, although you have a written law and circumcision?

For the real Jew is not the man who is one outwardly, and the real circumcision is not outward in the flesh;

but the real Jew is one inwardly, and real circumcision is heart??ircumcision, spiritual, not literal, praised not by men, but by God.

And why not say (as I myself am slanderously reported to say), "Let us do evil that good may come out of it"? Such arguments are rightly condemned.

What then? Are we Jews in a better position? Not at all, for I have already charged all, both Jews and Gentiles, with being under sin.

As it is written. There is none righteous, no, not one;

All have swerved from the right path; Every one of them has become corrupt. There is none that practices good, no, not one.

And the path of peace they have not known.

Reverence for God is not before their eyes.

Is God then the God of the Jews alone, and not of the Gentiles also? He is God of the Gentiles also,

Do we then render law invalid through faith? Certainly not; on the contrary we make it stand.

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to be proud of, but not before God.

Now if a man earn his pay by his work, it is not counted to him as a favor, but it is paid him as a debt;

but a man who does not "work," but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, has his faith imputed to him for righteousness.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

How then was it imputed to him? When he was circumcised? or uncircumcised? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision;

He is the father of circumcision to those who are not merely circumcised, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he held while he was as yet uncircumcised.

For the promise that he should be heir of the world did not come to Abraham or to his posterity through law, but through faith-righteousness.

This is why righteousness is of faith, that it may be a free gift; so that the promise stands firm to all Abraham's posterity; not to his children of his faith. For in the sight of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead, and calls into being that which is not, Abraham is the father of us all both Jews and Gentiles,

Though he was about a hundred years old, his faith did not fail him when he regarded his own body, now as good as dead. and remembered Sarah's barrenness.

Now these words were not written simply for his sake, but for us as well.

And not only so, but we are actually exulting also even in our troubles; for we know that trouble works fortitude,

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

For prior to the Law, sin actually existed in the world, but sin was not set down to man's account when there was no law.

Nevertheless, from Adam to Moses death reigned as king, even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression. Now Adam is a type of Him who was to come.

But the free gift is not like the transgression; for if through the transgression of that one man the rest on men died, much more did the grace of God and the gift given in his grace in the one Man, Jesus Christ, overflow unto the rest of men.

And it is not with the free gift as it was through the one that sinned; for the judgment came from one transgression unto condemnation; but the free gift came from many transgressions unto acquittal.

For do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Jesus Christ, have been baptized into his death?

Therefore let not sin rule as king in your mortal body, compelling you to obey its lusts.

Do not continue to present any part of your body to sin to be used as a weapon of unrighteousness. On the contrary, be presenting yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and the various parts of your bodies to be used as weapons of righteousness.

For sin shall not lord it over you; for you are not under the rule of law, but under the rule of grace.

What then? Shall we commit an act of sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Certainly not.

Do you not know that when you surrender yourselves as slaves to any one to obey him, you are his slaves whom you obey; whether it be sin, whose end is death, or obedience, whose end is righteousness?

But now we have been released from the Law, because we are dead to that in which we were held; so that we are now in thralldom in new and spiritual conditions, and not under the old written code.

What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Certainly not. On the contrary I should not have become acquainted with sin had it not been for the Law; for except the Law had repeatedly said, "Thou shalt not lust," I should never have known the sin of lust.

For what I perform I know not; what I practise is not what I intend to do, but what I detest, that I habitually do.

If then I habitually do what I do not intend to do, I am consenting to the Law, that it is right.

For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, no good thing has its home; for while to will is present with me, to carry out that which is right is not.

For the good that I intend to do, I do not; but the evil which I do not; but the evil which I do not intend to do, that I am ever practising.

But if I do the very thing I do not intend to do, it is no more I who practise it, but sin which has its home in me.

For God has done what the Law could not do, weakened as it was by flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and on account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;

in order that the Law might be fulfilled in us who order our lives not after the flesh, but after the spirit.

For to be earthly minded is enmity against God; For such a mind is not subject to the Law of God, Nor can it be;

But you are not earthly, but spiritual, if indeed the Spirit of God is really dwelling in you. If any one does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Therefore, brothers, we are debtors??ut not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh;

For you have not received a spirit of slavery in order that you should once more be afraid; but you have received a spirit of adoption, in which we cry out, "My Father, my dear Father!"

For nature was subjected to imperfection, not by its own will, but by the will of Him who thus made it subject??21 yet not without the hope that some day nature itself also will be freed from the thralldom of decay, into the freedom which belongs to the glory of the children of God.

And not only that, we ourselves, although we are grasping the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves are inwardly groaning, while we are waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.

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

In the same way the Spirit also takes hold with us in our weakness; for we know knot how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

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

It is not, however, as though God's word had failed! For they are not all Israel who have sprung from Israel;

they are not all children of Abraham because they are Abraham's descendants. The promise was, In Isaac shall thy posterity be called.

That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as his posterity.

And not only so, but when Rebecca was pregnant by our forefather Isaac, though one man was the father of both children,

and even though they were still unborn, and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that the purpose of God might stand according to election, not of works, but of Him who called,

So then it is not a question of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy.

Or has not the potter power over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for noble, and another for ignoble uses?

Now such are we whom he has called, not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles.

As he also said in Hosea. Those who were not my people I will call "my people," And her "beloved" who was not beloved;

And in that very spot where it was told them, "You are not my people," There they shall be called "Sons of the living God."

But that the descendants of Israel, who were in pursuit of a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law?

And why? Because they sought it not by faith, but thought to gain it by works. They stumbled at the stone of stumbling;

even as it is written. Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; but he that believes on Him shall not be put to shame.

For because they were ignorant of God's righteousness, and sought to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God.

But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way. Say not in thine heart, "Who shall ascend to heaven?"??hat is, to bring Christ down;

The Scriptures say, Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.

How then shall thy call upon Him in whom they do not believe? And how are they to believe in One of whom they have never heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

And yet they did not all hearken to the good news; for Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed our message?

But I say, Did Israel not know? First Moses says. I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation; Against a Gentile nation, void of understanding, will I anger you.

But Isaiah speaks very boldly, I was found of those who were not seeking me, I was made manifest to those who were not asking for me.

God did not cast off his people whom he foreknew. For do you not know what is said in the Scripture about Elijah? how he pleaded with God against Israel, saying,

But what was the answer of God to him? I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

What then? that which Israel has been seeking for, that he has not obtained; but the chosen have obtained it, and the rest have been hardened.

According as it is written, God has given them a spirit of slumber, Eyes that they should not see, Ears that they should not hear, unto this day.

Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, And bow thou down their backs forever.

Supposing that some of the branches have been broken off, and you, although you were but a wild olive, have been grafted in among the branches and have become a partaker with them of the fatness of the olive tree, do not glory over the branches;

or if you are glorying, remember that it is not you who uphold the root, but the root which upholds you.

True, through their unbelief they were broken off, and by your faith you stand. Do not be puffed up, but fear;

for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

And they also those Jews, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in again; for God is able to graft them in again.

For I would not, my brothers, have you ignorant of this hidden truth, for fear that you become wise in your own conceits. that a hardening in part has befallen Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles is come in.

And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

For, through the grace that was given to me, I tell every man among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but so to think, as to think soberly, according to the measure of faith which God has given him.

For even as we have many members in one body, and not all members have the same function;

Bless your persecutors, bless, and curse not.

Have full sympathy with one another. Set not your minds on high affairs, but associate with lowly folk. Do not be wise in your own conceits.

Do not pay back evil for evil. Aim to do what is honorable in the eyes of all.

Do not be overcome by evil, but be overcoming evil with good.

For the ruler is God's minister appointed for your good. But if you are a wrong-doer, be afraid; he does not carry the sword to no purpose; he is God's servant, appointed to vengeance upon the guilty.

Wherefore you must needs be in subjection, not only because of fear, but also for conscience sake.

For the Law which says, Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and whatever other commandment there be??s all summed up in this one saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

The night is far spent; The day is at hand. Let is therefore take off the deeds of darkness, Let us put on the armor of light.