This is so, because what can be known about God is plain to them; for God himself has made it plain.

For 'he will give to every man what his actions deserve.'

When Gentiles, who have no Law, do instinctively what the Law requires, they, though they have no Law, are a Law to themselves;

What is the advantage, then, of being a Jew? or what is the good of circumcision?

What follows then? Some, no doubt, showed a want of faith; but will their want of faith make God break faith? Heaven forbid!

God must prove true, though every man prove a liar! As Scripture says of God-'That thou mayest be pronounced righteous in what thou sayest, and gain thy cause when men would judge thee.'

But what if our wrong-doing makes God's righteousness all the clearer? Will God be wrong in inflicting punishment? (I can but speak as a man.) Heaven forbid!

What follows, then? Are we Jews in any way superior to others? Not at all. Our indictment against both Jews and Greeks was that all alike were in subjection to sin.

For 'no human being will be pronounced righteous before God' as the result of obedience to Law; for it is Law that shows what sin is.

What, then, becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what sort of Law? A Law requiring obedience? No, a Law requiring faith.

What then, it may be asked, are we to say about Abraham, the ancestor of our nation?

For what are the words of Scripture? 'Abraham had faith in God, and his faith was regarded by God as righteousness.'

Under what circumstances, then, did this take place? After his circumcision or before it?

As Scripture says-'I have made thee the Father of many nations.') And this they do in the sight of that God in whom Abraham had faith, and who gives life to the dead, and speaks of what does not yet exist as if it did.

On the contrary, his faith gave him strength; and he praised God, in the firm conviction that what God has promised he is also able to carry out.

What are we to say, then? Are we to continue to sin, in order that God's loving-kindness may be multiplied?

What follows, then? Are we to sin because we are living under the reign of Love and not of Law? Heaven forbid!

But what were the fruits that you reaped from those things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of such things is Death.

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.

What are we to say, then? That Law and sin are the same thing? Heaven forbid! On the contrary, I should not have learned what sin is, had not it been for Law. If the Law did not say 'Thou shalt not covet,' I should not know what it is to covet.

Did, then, a thing, which in itself was good, involve Death in my case? Heaven forbid! It was sin that involved Death; so that, by its use of what I regarded as good to bring about my Death, its true nature might appear; and in this way the Commandment showed how intensely sinful sin is.

I do not understand my own actions. For I am so far from habitually doing what I want to do, that I find myself doing the very thing that I hate.

But when I do what I want not to do, I am admitting that the Law is right.

What Law could not do, in so far as our earthly nature weakened its action, God did, by sending his own Son, with a nature resembling our sinful nature, to atone for sin. He condemned sin in that earthly nature,

By our hope we were saved. But the thing hoped for is no longer an object of hope when it is before our eyes; for who hopes for what is before his eyes?

But when we hope for what is not before our eyes, then we wait for it with patience.

Yet he who searches all our hearts knows what the Spirit's meaning is, because the pleadings of the Spirit for Christ's People are in accordance with his will.

What are we to say, then, in the light of all this? If God is on our side, who can there be against us?

What are we to say, then? Is God guilty of injustice? Heaven forbid!

And what if God, intending to reveal his displeasure and make his power known, bore most patiently with the objects of his displeasure, though they were fit only to be destroyed,

This, indeed, is what he says in the Book of Hosea-'I will call those my People who were not my People, and her my beloved who was not beloved.

What are we to say, then? Why, that Gentiles, who were not in search of righteousness, secured it-a righteousness which was the result of faith;

No, but what does it say? 'The Message of Faith' which we proclaim.

But what was the divine response? 'I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have never bowed the knee to Baal.'

What follows from this? Why, that Israel as a nation failed to secure what it was seeking, while those whom God selected did secure it.

For, if their being cast aside has meant the reconciliation of the world, what will their reception mean, but Life from the dead?

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.

Never return injury for injury. Aim at doing what all men will recognize as honorable.

A good action has nothing to fear from Rulers; a bad action has. Do you want to have no reason to fear the Authorities? Then do what is good, and you will win their praise.

For they are God's servants appointed for your good. But, if you do what is wrong, you may well be afraid; for the sword they carry is not without meaning! They are God's servants to inflict his punishments on those who do wrong.

In all cases pay what is due from you--tribute where tribute is due, taxes where taxes are due, respect where respect is due, and honor where honor is due.

If, for the sake of what you eat, you wound your Brother's feelings, your life has ceased to be ruled by love. Do not, by what you eat, ruin a man for whom Christ died!

Do not let what is right for you become a matter of reproach.

Do not undo God's work for the sake of what you eat. Though everything is 'clean,' yet, if a man eats so as to put a stumbling- block in the way of others, he does wrong.

For I will not dare to speak of anything but what Christ has done through me to win the obedience of the Gentiles--