For I do yearn to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift for your strengthening ??12 or, in other words, that I may be encouraged by meeting you, I by your faith and you by mine.

Brothers, I would like you to understand that I have often purposed to come to you (though up till now I have been prevented) so as to have some results among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.

That is why God has given them up to vile passions; their women have exchanged the natural function of sex for what is unnatural,

though they know God's decree that people who practise such vice deserve death, they not only do it themselves but applaud those who practise it.

but anger and wrath to those who are wilful, who disobey the Truth and obey wickedness ??9 anguish and calamity for every human soul that perpetrates evil, for the Jew first and for the Greek as well,

and are persuaded that you are a guide to the blind, a light to darkened souls,

Why, it is owing to you that the name of God is maligned among the Gentiles, as scripture says!

Never! Let God be true to his word, though every man be perfidious ??as it is written, That thou mayest be vindicated in thy pleadings, and triumph in thy trial.

But if our iniquity thus serves to bring out the justice of God, what are we to infer? That it is unfair of God to inflict his anger on us? (I speak in a merely human way.)

Never! In that case, how could he judge the world?

Why should we not do evil that good may come out of it?" (which is the calumny attributed to me ??the very thing some people declare I say). Such arguments are rightly condemned.

Whatever the Law says, we know, it says to those who are inside the Law, that every mouth may be shut and all the world made answerable to God;

whom God put forward as the means of propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to demonstrate the justice of God in view of the fact that sins previously committed during the time of God's forbearance had been passed over;

it was to demonstrate his justice at the present epoch, showing that God is just himself and that he justifies man on the score of faith in Jesus.

This, that if 'Abraham was justified on the score of what he did,' he has something to be proud of. But not to be proud of before God.

Now is that description of bliss meant for the circumcised, or for the uncircumcised as well? Abraham's faith, I repeat, was counted to him as righteousness.

The promise made to Abraham and his offspring that he should inherit the world, did not reach him through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.

That is why all turns upon faith; it is to make the promise a matter of favour, to make it secure for all the offspring, not simply for those who are adherents of the Law but also for those who share the faith of Abraham ??of Abraham who is the father of us all

and felt convinced that He was able to do what He had promised.

Jesus who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised that we might be justified.

Not only so, but we triumph even in our troubles, knowing that trouble produces endurance,

But God proves his love for us by this, that Christ died for us when we were still sinners.

Much more then, now that we are justified by his blood, shall we be saved by him from Wrath.

If we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son when we were enemies, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

For if the trespass of one man allowed death to reign through that one man, much more shall those who receive the overflowing grace and free gift of righteousness reign in life through One, through Jesus Christ.

so that, while sin had reigned the reign of death, grace might also reign with a righteousness that ends in life eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now what are we to infer from this? That we are to 'remain on in sin, so that there may be all the more grace'?

Surely you know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death!

Our baptism in his death made us share his burial, so that, as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live and move in the new sphere of Life.

knowing as we do that our old self has been crucified with him in order to crush the sinful body and free us from any further slavery to sin

We believe that as we have died with Christ we shall also live with him;

for we know that Christ never dies after his resurrection from the dead ??death has no more hold over him;

(I use this human analogy to bring the truth home to your weak nature.) As you once dedicated your members to the service of vice and lawlessness, so now dedicate them to the service of righteousness that means consecration.

Well, what did you gain then by it all? Nothing but what you are now ashamed of! The end of all that is death;

but now that you are set free from sin, now that you have passed into the service of God, your gain is consecration, and the end of that is life eternal.

Surely you know, my brothers ??for I am speaking to men who know what law means ??that the law has hold over a person only during his lifetime!

Accordingly, she will be termed an adulteress if she becomes another man's while her husband is alive; but if her husband dies, she is freed from the law of 'the husband,' so that she is no adulteress if she becomes another man's.

It is the same in your case, my brothers. The crucified body of Christ made you dead to the Law, so that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead that we might be fruitful to God.

but now we are done with the Law, we have died to what once held us, so that we can serve in a new way, not under the written code as of old but in the Spirit.

What follows, then? That 'the Law is equivalent to sin'? Never! Why, had it not been for the Law, I would never have known what sin meant! Thus I would never have known what it is to covet, unless the Law had said, You must not covet.

the command that meant life proved death for me.

The Law is spiritual; we know that. But then I am a creature of the flesh, in the thraldom of sin.

Now, when I act against my wishes, that means I agree that the Law is right.

That being so, it is not I who do the deed but sin that dwells within me.

For in me (that is, in my flesh) no good dwells, I know; the wish is there, but not the power of doing what is right.

Well, if I act against my wishes, it is not I who do the deed but sin that dwells within me.

but then I find quite another law in my members which conflicts with the law of my mind and makes me a prisoner to sin's law that resides in my members.

Miserable wretch that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

the law of the Spirit brings the life which is in Christ Jesus, and that law has set me free from the law of sin and death.

You have received no slavish spirit that would make you relapse into fear; you have received the Spirit of sonship. And when we cry, "Abba! Father!",

it is this Spirit testifying along with our own spirit that we are children of God;

Present suffering, I hold, is a mere nothing compared to the glory that we are to have revealed.

the hope being that creation as well as man would one day be freed from its thraldom to decay and gain the glorious freedom of the children of God.

and not only so, but even we ourselves, who have the Spirit as a foretaste of the future, even we sigh to ourselves as we wait for the redemption of the body that means our full sonship.

But if we hope for something that we do not see, we wait for it patiently.

So too the Spirit assists us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray aright, but the Spirit pleads for us with sighs that are beyond words,

We know also that those who love God, those who have been called in terms of his purpose, have his aid and interest in everything.

For he decreed of old that those whom he predestined should share the likeness of his Son ??that he might be the firstborn of a great brotherhood.

when I say that I am in sore pain. I suffer endless anguish of heart.

they are not all children of Abraham because they are descended from Abraham. No, it is through Isaac that your offspring shall be reckoned ??8 meaning that instead of God's children being the children born to him by natural descent, it is the children of the Promise who are reckoned as his true offspring.

For when God said, I will come about this time and Sara shall have a son, that was a word of promise.

she was told that the elder will serve the younger.

Then are we to infer that there is injustice in God? Never!

Why, scripture says to Pharaoh, It was for this that I raised you up, to display my power in you, and to spread news of my name over all the earth.

What if he means to show the wealth that lies in his glory for the objects of his mercy, whom he has made ready beforehand to receive glory ??24 that is, for us whom he has called from among the Gentiles as well as the Jews?

What are we to conclude, then? That Gentiles who never aimed at righteousness have attained righteousness, that is, righteousness by faith;

whereas Israel who did aim at the law of righteousness have failed to reach that law.

And why? Simply because Israel has relied not on faith but on what they could do. They have stumbled over the stone that makes men stumble ??33 as it is written, Here I lay a stone in Sion that will make men stumble, even a rock to trip them up; but he who believes in Him will never be disappointed.

Oh for their salvation, brothers! That is my heart's desire and prayer to God!

But here is what faith-righteousness says: ??Say not in your heart, 'Who will go up to heaven?' (that is, to bring Christ down).

Or, 'who will go down to the abyss?' (that is, to bring Christ from the dead).

No, what it does say is this: ??The word is close to you, in your very mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach).

Confess with your mouth that 'Jesus is Lord,' believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, and you will be saved;

Then, I ask, "Did Israel not understand?" Why, first of all Moses declares, I will make you jealous of a nation that is no nation, I will provoke you to anger over a nation devoid of understanding.

Now what are we to infer from this? That Israel has failed to secure the object of its quest; the elect have secured it, and the rest have been rendered insensible to it ??8 as it is written, God has given them a spirit of torpor, eyes that see not, ears that hear not ??down to this very day.

let their eyes be darkened, that they cannot see, bow down their backs for ever.

Now I ask, have they stumbled to their ruin? Never! The truth is, that by their lapse salvation has passed to the Gentiles, so as to make them jealous.

I tell you this, you Gentiles, that as an apostle to the Gentiles I lay great stress on my office,

For if their exclusion means that the world is reconciled to God, what will their admission mean? Why, it will be life from the dead!

Consider both the kindness and the severity of God; those who fall come under his severity, but you come under the divine kindness, provided you adhere to that kindness. Otherwise, you will be cut away too.

To prevent you from being self-conceited, brothers, I would like you to understand this secret: it is only a partial insensibility that has come over Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in.

so that they in turn may enjoy the same mercy as yourselves.

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

Well then, my brothers, I appeal to you by all the mercy of God to dedicate your bodies as a living sacrifice, consecrated and acceptable to God; that is your cult, a spiritual rite.

In virtue of my office, I tell everyone of your number who is self-important, that he is not to think more of himself than he ought to think; he must take a sane view of himself, corresponding to the degree of faith which God has assigned to each.

Our talents differ with the grace that is given us; if the talent is that of prophecy, let us employ it in proportion to our faith;

be at peace with all men, if possible, so far as that depends on you.

Pay them all their respective dues, tribute to one, taxes to another, respect to this man, honour to that.

Love never wrongs a neighbour; that is why love is the fulfilment of the law.

Then again, this man rates one day above another, while that man rates all days alike. Well, everyone must be convinced in his own mind;

it was for this that Christ died and rose and came to life, to be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

I know, I am certain in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is in itself unclean; only, anything is unclean for a man who considers it unclean.

If your brother is being injured because you eat a certain food, then you are no longer living by the rule of love. Do not let that food of yours ruin the man for whom Christ died.

the right course is to abstain from flesh or wine or indeed anything that your brother feels to be a stumbling-block.

But if anyone has doubts about eating and then eats, that condemns him at once; it was not faith that induced him to eat, and any action that is not based on faith is a sin.

We who are strong ought to bear the burdens that the weak make for themselves and us. We are not to please ourselves.

Christ certainly did not please himself, but, as it is written, The reproaches of those who denounced Thee have fallen upon me. ??4 All such words were written of old for our instruction, that by remaining stedfast and drawing encouragement from the scriptures we may cherish hope.

that you may unite in a chorus of praise and glory to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

and also in order that the Gentiles should glorify God for His mercy ??as it is written, Therefore will I offer praise to Thee among the Gentiles, and sing to thy name;

May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in your faith, that you may be overflowing with hope by the power of the holy Spirit!