For God set him before the world, to be, by the shedding of his blood, a means of reconciliation through faith. And this God did to prove his righteousness, and because, in his forbearance, he had passed over the sins that men had previously committed;

'Blessed are those whose wrong-doings have been forgiven and over whose sins a veil has been drawn!

Yet, from Adam to Moses, Death reigned even over those whose sin was not a breach of a law, as Adam's was. And Adam foreshadows the One to come.

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

For Sin shall not lord it over you. You are living under the reign, not of Law, but of Love.

Surely, Brothers, you know (for I am speaking to men who know what Law means) that Law has power over a man only as long as he lives.

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.

Has not the potter absolute power over his clay, so that out of the same lump he makes one thing for better, and another for common, use?

And Isaiah cries aloud over Israel-'Though the Sons of Israel are like the sand of the sea in number, only a remnant of them shall escape!

And why? Because they looked to obedience, and not to faith, to secure it. They stumbled over 'the Stumbling-block.'

Yet do not exult over the other branches. But, if you do exult over them, remember that you do not support the root, but that the root supports you.

Brothers, for fear that you should think too highly of yourselves, I want you to recognize the truth, hitherto hidden, that the callousness which has come over Israel is only partial, and will continue only till the whole Gentile world has been gathered in.

For God has given all alike over to disobedience, that to all alike he may show mercy.

Do not conform to the fashion of this world; but be transformed by the complete change that has come over your minds, so that you may discern what God's will is--all that is good, acceptable, and perfect.

The very purpose for which Christ died and came back to life was this--that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living.