From: Paul, a servant of Jesus the Messiah, called to be an apostle and set apart for God's gospel,

in my prayers at all times, asking that somehow by God's will I may at last succeed in coming to you.

For I am longing to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong,

that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now), so that I might reap a harvest among you, just as I have among the rest of the gentiles.

That is why I am so eager to proclaim the gospel to you who live in Rome, too.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power for the salvation of everyone who believes, of the Jew first and of the Greek as well.

For in the gospel God's righteousness is being revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, "The righteous will live by faith."

For God's wrath is being revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and wickedness of those who in their wickedness suppress the truth.

For since the creation of the world God's invisible attributes his eternal power and divine nature have been understood and observed by what he made, so that people are without excuse.

They exchanged God's truth for a lie and worshipped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Although they know God's just requirement that those who practice such things deserve to die they not only do these things but even applaud others who practice them.

Now we know that God's judgment against those who act like this is based on truth.

So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on those who practice these things and then do them yourself, do you think you will escape God's judgment?

Or are you unaware of his rich kindness, forbearance, and patience, that it is God's kindness that is leading you to repent?

But because of your stubborn and unrepentant heart you are reserving wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

For it is not merely those who hear the Law who are righteous in God's sight. No, it is those who follow the Law, who will be justified.

on that day when God, through Jesus the Messiah, will judge people's secrets according to my gospel.

As it is written, "God's name is being blasphemed among the gentiles because of you."

So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the requirements of the Law, his uncircumcision will be regarded as circumcision, won't it?

No, a person is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, brought about by the Spirit, not by a written law. That person's praise will come from God, not from people.

What if some of the Jews were unfaithful? Their unfaithfulness cannot cancel God's faithfulness, can it?

But if our unrighteousness serves to confirm God's righteousness, what can we say? God is not unrighteous when he vents his wrath on us, is he? (I am talking in human terms.)

For if through my falsehood God's truthfulness glorifies him even more, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?

Or can we say as some people slander us by claiming that we say "Let's do evil that good may result"? They deserve to be condemned!

Now we know that whatever the Law says applies to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

But now, apart from the Law, God's righteousness is revealed and is attested by the Law and the Prophets

God's righteousness through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah for all who believe. For there is no distinction among people,

since all have sinned and continue to fall short of God's glory.

whom God offered as a place where atonement by the Messiah's blood would occur through faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because he had waited patiently to deal with sins committed in the past.

What, then, are we to say about Abraham, our human ancestor?

For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

Now does this blessedness come to the circumcised alone, or also to the uncircumcised? For we say, "Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness."

Therefore, the promise is based on faith, so that it may be a matter of grace and may be guaranteed for all of Abraham's descendants not only for those who were given the Law, but also for those who share the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

His faith did not weaken when he thought about his own body (which was already as good as dead now that he was about a hundred years old) or about Sarah's inability to have children,

nor did he doubt God's promise out of a lack of faith. Instead, his faith became stronger and he gave glory to God,

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace by which we have been established, and we boast because of our hope in God's glory.

Now this hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

But God's free gift is not like Adam's offense. For if many people died as the result of one man's offense, how much more have God's grace and the free gift given through the kindness of one man, Jesus the Messiah, been showered on many people!

Nor can the free gift be compared to what came through the man who sinned. For the sentence that followed one man's offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift brought justification, even after many offenses.

For if, through one man, death ruled because of that man's offense, how much more will those who receive such overflowing grace and the gift of righteousness rule in life because of one man, Jesus the Messiah!

Consequently, just as one offense resulted in condemnation for everyone, so one act of righteousness results in justification and life for everyone.

For just as through one man's disobedience many people were made sinners, so also through one man's obedience many people will be made righteous.

Now the Law crept in so that the offense would increase. But where sin increased, grace increased even more,

so that, just as sin ruled by bringing death, so also grace might rule by bringing justification that results in eternal life through Jesus the Messiah, our Lord.

What should we say, then? Should we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

Therefore, through baptism we were buried with him into his death so that, just as the Messiah was raised from the dead by the Father's glory, we too may live an entirely new life.

We know that our old natures were crucified with him so that our sin-laden bodies might be rendered powerless and we might no longer be slaves to sin.

Therefore, do not let sin rule your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires.

I am speaking in simple terms because of the frailty of your human nature. Just as you once offered the parts of your body as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater disobedience, so now, in the same way, you must offer the parts of your body as slaves to righteousness that leads to sanctification.

But now that you have been freed from sin and have become God's slaves, the benefit you reap is sanctification, and the result is eternal life.

So while her husband is living, she will be called an adulterer if she lives with another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from this Law, so that she is not an adulterer if she marries another man.

In the same way, my brothers, through the Messiah's body you also died as far as the Law is concerned, so that you may belong to another person, the one who was raised from the dead, and may bear fruit for God.

But now we have been released from the Law by dying to what enslaved us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit, not under the old writings.

What should we say, then? Is the Law sinful? Of course not! In fact, I wouldn't have become aware of sin if it had not been for the Law. I wouldn't have known what it means to covet if the Law had not said, "You must not covet."

So then, the Law itself is holy, and the rule is holy, just, and good.

Now, did something good bring me death? Of course not! But in order that sin might be recognized as being sin, it used something good to cause my death, so that through the rule, sin might become more exposed as being sinful than ever before.

So I find this to be a principle: when I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me.

but I see in my body a different principle waging war with the Law in my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin that exists in my body.

For the Spirit's law of life in the Messiah Jesus has set me free from the Law of sin and death.

so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not live according to human nature but according to the Spirit.

That is why the mind that focuses on human nature is hostile toward God. It refuses to submit to the authority of God's Law because it is powerless to do so.

You, however, are not under the control of the human nature but under the control of the Spirit, since God's Spirit lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of the Messiah, he does not belong to him.

For all who are led by God's Spirit are God's children.

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

For the creation is eagerly awaiting the revelation of God's children,

because the creation has become subject to futility, though not by anything it did. The one who subjected it did so in the certainty

that the creation itself would also be set free from corrupting bondage in order to share the glorious freedom of God's children.

and the one who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, for the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to God's will.

What, then, can we say about all of this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Who will accuse God's elect? It is God who justifies!

Who will separate us from the Messiah's love? Can trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, or a violent death do this?

and not all of Abraham's descendants are his true descendants. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that descendants will be named for you."

That is, it is not merely the children born through natural descent who were regarded as God's children, but it is the children born through the promise who were regarded as descendants.

Yet before their children had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God's plan of election might continue to operate

So it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

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

Therefore, God's choice does not depend on a person's will or effort, but on God himself, who shows mercy.

On the contrary, who are you mere man that you are to talk back to God? Can an object that was molded say to the one who molded it, "Why did you make me like this?"

What can we say, then? Gentiles, who were not pursuing righteousness, have attained righteousness, a righteousness that comes through faith.

Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God about the Jews is that they would be saved.

For they are ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God while they try to establish their own, and they have not submitted to God's means to attain righteousness.

But the righteousness that comes from faith says, "Do not say in your heart, "Who will go up to heaven?' (that is, to bring the Messiah down),

But what does it say? "The message is near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart." This is the message about faith that we are proclaiming:

Again I ask, "Did Israel not understand?" Moses was the first to say, "I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that doesn't understand."

So I ask, "God has not rejected his people, has he?" Of course not! I am an Israeli myself, a descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin.

So it is at the present time: there is a remnant, chosen by grace.

As it is written, "To this day God has put them into deep sleep. Their eyes do not see, and their ears do not hear."

Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and keep their backs forever bent."

And so I ask, "They have not stumbled so as to fall, have they?" Of course not! On the contrary, because of their stumbling, salvation has come to the gentiles to make the Jews jealous.

If the first part of the dough is holy, so is the whole batch. If the root is holy, so are the branches.

Then you will say, "Branches were cut off so that I could be grafted in."

That's right! They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you remain only because of faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid!

Consider, then, the kindness and severity of God: his severity toward those who fell, but God's kindness toward you if you continue receiving his kindness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off.

For I want to let you know about this secret, brothers, so that you will not claim to be wiser than you are: Stubbornness has come to part of Israel until the full number of the gentiles comes to faith.

For God's gifts and calling never change.

so they, too, have now disobeyed. As a result, they may receive mercy because of the mercy shown to you.

For God has locked all people in the prison of their own disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

O how deep are God's riches, and wisdom, and knowledge! How unfathomable are his decisions and unexplainable are his ways!

I therefore urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercies, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices that are holy and pleasing to God, for this is the reasonable way for you to worship.