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.

Through him we received the gift of the Apostolic office, to win submission to the Faith among all nations for the glory of his Name.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ about you all, because the report of your faith is spreading throughout the world.

While the men, disregarding that for which women were intended by nature, were consumed with passion for one another. Men indulged in vile practices with men, and incurred in their own persons the inevitable penalty for their perverseness.

Then, as they would not keep God before their minds, God abandoned them to depraved thoughts, so that they did all kinds of shameful things.

Well aware of God's decree, that those who do such things deserve to die, not only are they guilty of them themselves, but they even applaud those who do them.

You who judge those that do such things and yet are yourself guilty of them-do you suppose that you of all men will escape God's judgment?

Hard-hearted and impenitent as you are, you are storing up for yourself Wrath on the 'Day of Wrath,' when God's justice as a judge will be revealed;

For 'he will give to every man what his actions deserve.'

To those who, by perseverance in doing good, aim at glory, honor, and all that is imperishable, he will give Immortal Life;

While as to those who are factious, and disobedient to Truth but obedient to Evil, wrath and anger, distress and despair,

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

But there will be glory, honor, and peace for every one who does right-for the Jew first, but also for the Greek,

All who, when they sin, are without Law will also perish without Law; while all who, when they sin, are under Law, will be judged as being under Law.

It is not those who hear the words of a Law that are righteous before God, but it is those who obey it that will be pronounced righteous.

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--

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.

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

And a teacher of the childish, because in the Law you possess the outline of all Knowledge and Truth.

If, then, an uncircumcised man pays regard to the requirements of the Law, will not he, although not circumcised, be regarded by God as if he were?

Indeed, the man who, owing to his birth, remains uncircumcised, and yet scrupulously obeys the Law, will condemn you, who, for all your written Law and your circumcision, are yet a breaker of the Law.

Great in every way. First of all, because the Jews were entrusted with God's utterances.

What follows then? Some, no doubt, showed a want of faith; but will their want of faith make God break faith? Heaven forbid!

But what if our wrong-doing makes God's righteousness all the clearer? Will God be wrong in inflicting punishment? (I can but speak as a man.) Heaven forbid!

What follows, then? Are we Jews in any way superior to others? Not at all. Our indictment against both Jews and Greeks was that all alike were in subjection to sin.

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

Now we know that everything said in the Law is addressed to those who are under its authority, in order that every mouth may be closed, and the whole world become liable to the judgment of God.

For 'no human being will be pronounced righteous before God' as the result of obedience to Law; for it is Law that shows what sin is.

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

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

Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is only one God, and he will pronounce those who are circumcised righteous as the result of faith, and also those who are uncircumcised on their showing the same faith.

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.

Blessed the man whom the Lord will never regard as sinful!'

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.'

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 well as father of the circumcised-to those who are not only circumcised, but who also follow our father Abraham in that faith which he had while still uncircumcised.

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 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;

Seeing that, while we were still powerless, Christ, in God's good time, died on behalf of the godless.

Even for an upright man scarcely any one will die. For a really good man perhaps some one might even dare to die.

But God puts his love for us beyond all doubt by the fact that Christ died on our behalf while we were still sinners.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and through sin came death; so, also, death spread to all mankind, because all men had sinned.

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.

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.

Briefly then, just as a single offence resulted for all mankind in condemnation, so, too, a single decree of righteousness resulted for all mankind in that declaration of righteousness which brings Life.

For, as through the disobedience of the one man the whole race was rendered sinful, so, too, through the obedience of the one, the whole race will be rendered righteous.

Or can it be that you do not know that all of us, who were baptized into union with Christ Jesus, in our baptism shared his death?

We know, indeed, that Christ, having once risen from the dead, will not die again. Death has power over him no longer.

For the death that he died was a death to sin, once and for all. But the Life that he now lives, he lives for God.

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.

While you were still servants of Sin, you were free as regards Righteousness.

For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband while he is living; but, if her husband dies, she is set free from the law that bound her to him.

If, then, during her husband's lifetime, she unites herself to another man, she will be called an adulteress; but, if her husband dies, the law has no further hold on her, nor, if she unites herself to another man, is she an adulteress.

There was a time when I myself, unconscious of Law, was alive; but when the Commandment was brought home to me, sin sprang into life, while I died!

Miserable man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body that is bringing me to this Death?

Thank God, there is deliverance through Jesus Christ, our Lord! Well then, for myself, with my reason I serve the Law of God, but with my earthly nature the Law of Sin.

They who follow their earthly nature are earthly-minded, while they who follow the Spirit are spiritually minded.

And, if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives within you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give Life even to your mortal bodies, through his Spirit living within you.

If you live in obedience to your earthly nature, you will inevitably die; but if, by the power of the Spirit, you put an end to the evil habits of the body, you will live.

All who are guided by the Spirit of God are Sons of God.

All Nature awaits with eager expectation the appearing of the Sons of God.

Yet not without the hope that some day Nature, also, will be set free from enslavement to decay, and will attain to the freedom which will mark the Glory of the Children of God.

We know, indeed, that all Nature alike has been groaning in the pains of labor to this very hour.

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.

Yet he who searches all our hearts knows what the Spirit's meaning is, because the pleadings of the Spirit for Christ's People are in accordance with his will.

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.

What are we to say, then, in the light of all this? If God is on our side, who can there be against us?

God did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up on behalf of us all; will he not, then, with him, freely give us all things?

Who will bring a charge against any of God's People? He who pronounces them righteous is God!

Who is there to separate us from the love of the Christ? Will trouble, or difficulty, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword?

Scripture says-'For thy sake we are being killed all the day long, We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.'

Yet amidst all these things we more than conquer through him who loved us!

Nor Height, nor Depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God revealed in Christ Jesus, our Lord!

They are descended from the Patriarchs; and, as far as his human nature was concerned, from them came the Christ-he who is supreme over all things, God for ever blessed. Amen.

Not that God's Word has failed. For it is not all who are descended from Israel who are true Israelites;

Nor, because they are Abraham's descendants, are they all his Children; but-'It is Isaac's children who will be called thy descendants.'

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

Nor is that all. There is also the case of Rebecca, when she was about to bear children to our ancestor Isaac.

For his words to Moses are-'I will take pity on whom I take pity, and be merciful to whom I am merciful.'

So, then, all depends, not on human wishes or human efforts, but on God's mercy.

Perhaps you will say to me-'How can any one still be blamed? For who withstands his purpose?'

This, indeed, is what he says in the Book of Hosea-'I will call those my People who were not my People, and her my beloved who was not beloved.

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

While Israel, which was in search of a Law which would ensure righteousness, failed to discover one.

For Moses writes that, as for the righteousness which results from Law, 'those who practice it will find Life through it.'

But the righteousness which results from faith finds expression in these words--'Do not say to yourself "Who will go up into heaven?"'--which means to bring Christ down--'

Or "Who will go down into the depths below?"'--which means to bring Christ up from the dead.

For with their hearts men believe and so attain to righteousness, while with their lips they make their Profession of Faith and so find Salvation.

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 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 again I ask 'Did not the people of Israel understand? First there is Moses, who says--'I, the Lord, will stir you to rivalry with a nation which is no nation; Against an undiscerning nation I will arouse your anger.'

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

What follows from this? Why, that Israel as a nation failed to secure what it was seeking, while those whom God selected did secure it.

And, if their falling away has enriched the world, and their failure has enriched the Gentiles, how much more will result from their full restoration!

For, if their being cast aside has meant the reconciliation of the world, what will their reception mean, but Life from the dead?

If the first handful of dough in holy, so is the whole mass; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

But branches, you will say, were broken off, so that I might be grafted in.

For, if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

See, then, both the goodness and the severity of God--his severity towards those who fell, and his goodness towards you, provided that you continue to confide in that goodness; otherwise you, also, will be cut off.

And they, too, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God has it in his power to graft them in again.