For God, whom I serve in my spirit by preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness that I continually remember you

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

that is, that we may be mutually comforted by one another's faith, both yours and mine.

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles.

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Although they fully know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.

Now we know that God's judgment is in accordance with truth against those who practice such things.

And do you think, whoever you are, when you judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God's judgment?

Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God's kindness leads you to repentance?

They show that the work of the law is written in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend them,

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

For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh,

Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being shown up as a liar, just as it is written: "so that you will be justified in your words and will prevail when you are judged."

And why not say, "Let us do evil so that good may come of it"? -- as some who slander us allege that we say. (Their condemnation is deserved!)

What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin,

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

But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus' faithfulness.

For we consider that a person is declared righteous by faith apart from the works of the law.

What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, has discovered regarding this matter?

And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, so that he would become the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, that they too could have righteousness credited to them.

And he is also the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised.

For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants -- not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all

(as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"). He is our father in the presence of God whom he believed -- the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do.

Against hope Abraham believed in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations according to the pronouncement, "so will your descendants be."

He was fully convinced that what God promised he was also able to do.

Not only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

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

Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type of the coming one) transgressed.

Now the law came in so that the transgression may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more,

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

What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase?

Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life.

We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

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

We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires,

Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness?

But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to,

So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death.

Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person as long as he lives?

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

So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God.

But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.

and I died. So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death!

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

For we know that the law is spiritual -- but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin.

But if I do what I don't want, I agree that the law is good.

But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me.

For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.

Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.

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

But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.

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

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

The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God's children.

For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us.

that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God's children.

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now.

For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees?

And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose,

because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Who is the one who will condemn? Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers,

For I could wish that I myself were accursed -- cut off from Christ -- for the sake of my people, my fellow countrymen,

Not only that, but when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our ancestor Isaac --

even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God's purpose in election would stand, not by works but by his calling) --

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

And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory --

What shall we say then? -- that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith,

just as it is written, "Look, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble and a rock that will make them fall, yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame."

For I can testify that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not in line with the truth.

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

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

For Moses writes about the righteousness that is by the law: "The one who does these things will live by them."

But the righteousness that is by 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 that 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 would not see and ears that would not hear, to this very day."

let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see, and make their backs bend continually."

Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,

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

Then you will say, "The branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in."

For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

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

For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.

Or who has first given to God, that God needs to repay him?

Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God -- what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you a measure of faith.

And we have different gifts according to the grace given to us. If the gift is prophecy, that individual must use it in proportion to his faith.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God's appointment, and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God.

And do this because we know the time, that it is already the hour for us to awake from sleep, for our salvation is now nearer than when we became believers.

One person regards one day holier than other days, and another regards them all alike. Each must be fully convinced in his own mind.

For this reason Christ died and returned to life, so that he may be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean in itself; still, it is unclean to the one who considers it unclean.

It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything that causes your brother to stumble.

For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope.