For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers,

asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last find the way to come to you.

For I long to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you

that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith.

I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have some harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

For since the creation of the world his invisible nature, even his eternal power and deity, has been clearly seen, being understood by the things that have been made. So they are without excuse;

because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Though they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who do such things.

Do you think, O man, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do the same yourself, you will escape the judgment of God?

Or do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not know that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts accusing or else excusing them

on that day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

Certainly not! Let God be true, though every man a liar. As it is written: "That you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged."

But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)

Why not say as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say "Let us do evil that good may come"? Their condemnation is just.

What then? Are we Jews any better off? Certainly not; for we have already charged that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin.

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

and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

and it was to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?

Is this blessedness only upon the circumcised, or also upon the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be reckoned to them.

The promise to Abraham and his descendants, that he would be heir of the world, was not through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all his descendantsnot only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, for he is the father of us all

(as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations") in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls things that do not exist as though they did.

In hope, he believed against hope, so that he became the father of many nations; as he had been told, "So shall your descendants be."

being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

That is why it was "reckoned to him as righteousness."

And not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance;

But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

And the free gift is not like the effect of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the gift following many trespasses brings justification.

For if, by the one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.)

Law came in, that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.

For we know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you obey its passions.

Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to any one to obey as slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, whether of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is holiness and its end, eternal life.

So then, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and though she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.

Likewise, my brethren, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit to God.

But now, by dying to what once held us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But it was sin, working death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, so that through the commandment sin might become sinful beyond measure.

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin.

Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

So then, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will to do what is good, but I cannot do it.

Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me.

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

For what the law could not do, in that it was weakened through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin: he condemned sin in the flesh,

in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so;

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

and if children, then heirsheirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, in order that we may also be glorified with him.

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in birth pangs together until now.

For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

though the twins were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might stand, not because of works but because of his call,

For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I may show my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth."

"And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith;

but Israel, who pursued the law of righteousness, has not attained that law.

as it is written: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone that will make men stumble, and a rock that will make them fall; and he who believes in him will not be put to shame."

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.

For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but it is not according to knowledge.

For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.

For Christ is the end of the law, that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

But the righteousness based on faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down)

or "Who will descend into the abyss?" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach);

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

as it is written: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, down to this very day."

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

in the hope that I may somehow arouse to jealousy the kinsmen of my flesh and save some of them.

do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in."

That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast only by faith. So do not be proud, but stand in awe.

For if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and were grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree!

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

so they have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may receive mercy.

For God has bound all men over to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all.

"Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?"

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