To all in Rome who are dear to God and have been called to become Christ's People, From Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, who has been called to become an Apostle, and has been set apart to tell God's Good News.

about His Son, who on the physical side became a descendant of David, and on the holy, spiritual side

who is marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of sanctification, by the rising again from the dead,) Jesus Christ our Lord;

through whom we have received God's favor and a commission as an apostle in His name to urge upon all the heathen obedience inspired by faith,

among whom you too as called ones belong to Jesus Christ --

to all those in Rome who are God's loved ones, called to be His people: spiritual blessing and peace be yours from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Indeed, my witness is God, whom I serve in my spirit by telling the good news about His Son, that I never fail to mention you every time I pray,

I have a debt to Greeks and to the nations outside; to the wise and to those who have no learning.

so, as much as in me is, I am ready also to you who are in Rome to proclaim good news,

For I am not ashamed of the good news, for it is God's power for the salvation of everyone who trusts, of the Jew first and then of the Greek.

For the righteousness of God is revealed in it from faith to faith, just as it is written, "But the one who is righteous by faith will live."

For God's anger from heaven is being uncovered against all the impiety and wickedness of the men who in their wickedness are suppressing the truth;

Now they knew who God was, but they did not honor Him as God or thank Him [for their blessings]. Instead they engaged in their useless speculations and their foolish minds were filled with [spiritual] darkness.

And by them the glory of the eternal God was changed and made into the image of man who is not eternal, and of birds and beasts and things which go on the earth.

So God has given them up, in their heart's lust, to sexual vice, to the dishonouring of their own bodies, ??25 since they have exchanged the truth of God for an untruth, worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed for ever: Amen.

for they had utterly transformed the reality of God into what was unreal, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Although they know full well God's sentence that those who practice such things deserve to die, yet they not only practice them but even applaud others who do them.

Therefore, you have no excuse, whoever you are, who pose as a judge of others, for when you pass judgment on another, you condemn yourself, for you who pose as a judge are practicing the very same sins yourself.

Now we know that God's judgment justly falls on those who practice such sins as these.

And you, who pose as a judge of those who practice such sins and yet continue doing the same yourself, do you for once suppose that you are going to escape the judgment of God?

Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

eternal life to those who patiently continue doing good and striving for glory, honor, and immortality,

but wrath and fury, crushing suffering and awful anguish, to the self-willed who are always resisting the right and yielding to the wrong,

to every human soul who practices doing evil, the Jew first and then the Greek.

But glory, honor, and peace will come to everyone who practices doing good, the Jew first and then the Greek;

All who sin without having the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

For merely hearing the law read does not make men upright with God, but men who practice the law will be recognized as upright.

Indeed, when heathen people who have no law instinctively do what the law demands, although they have no law, they are a law to themselves,

who do shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also witnessing with them, and between one another the thoughts accusing or else defending,

who show that the work which the law requires, is written in their hearts, their conscience bearing testimony, and their reasonings with each other accusing, or making excuse.

But as for you who have the name of Jew, and are resting on the law, and take pride in God,

and know the supreme will, and can test things that differ--being a man who receives instruction from the Law--

and hast confidence that thou thyself art a leader of the blind, a light of those who are in darkness,

an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of the young, because you have in the Law the form of knowledge and of the truth??ell then, you who are teaching others, do you ever teach yourself?

you who teach others, do you not teach yourself too? You who preach that men should not steal, do you steal yourself?

You who warn men to stop committing adultery, do you practice it yourself? You who shrink in horror from idols, do you rob their temples?

You who boast about the law, do you by breaking it dishonor God?

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

And shall not the heathen man who is physically uncircumcised, and yet observes the law, condemn you who have the letter of the law and are physically circumcised, and yet break the law?

For the real Jew is not the man who is a Jew on the outside, and real circumcision is not outward physical circumcision.

The real Jew is the man who is a Jew on the inside, and real circumcision is heart-circumcision, a spiritual, not a literal, affair. This man's praise originates, not with men, but with God.

But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)

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!)

As it is said in the holy Writings, There is not one who does righteousness;

There is none who is understanding, there is none who is seeking after God.

All have turned aside together; they have become worthless; [There] is no one who practices kindness; [there] is not even one.

Now we know that everything the law says is spoken to those who are under its authority, that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world be held responsible to God.

God's own way of giving men right standing with Himself is through faith in Jesus Christ. It is for everybody who has faith, for no distinction at all is made.

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

yes, to demonstrate His justice at the present time, to prove that He is right Himself, and that He considers right with Himself the man who has faith in Jesus.

Is God the God of the Jews only, and not also of the Gentiles? Surely of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God who will justify the circumcision by faith,

since there is but one God, who will consider the Jews in right standing with Himself, only on condition of their faith, and the heathen peoples on the same condition.

and to him who is working, the reward is not reckoned of grace, but of debt;

but the man who does no work, but simply puts his faith in Him who brings the ungodly into right standing with Himself, has his faith credited to him as right standing.

So David, too, describes the happiness of the man to whom God credits right standing with Himself, without the things he does having anything to do with it:

Happy are those who have forgiveness for their wrongdoing, and whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

Therefore, [is] this blessing for {those who are circumcised}, or also for {those who are uncircumcised}? For we say, "Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness."

Afterward he received the mark of circumcision as God's seal of his right standing with Him on condition of faith which he had before he was circumcised, that he might be the forefather of all who have faith while still uncircumcised, that they might have their faith credited to them as right standing with God;

and the forefather of those Jews who not only belong to the circumcision but also follow in the footsteps of our forefather Abraham in the faith he had before he was circumcised.

for if they who are of law are heirs, the faith hath been made void, and the promise hath been made useless;

So it is conditioned on faith, that it might be in accordance with God's unmerited favor, so that the promise might be in force for all the descendants of Abraham, not only for those who belong to the law party but also for those who belong to the faith group of Abraham. He is the father of us all,

as the Scripture says, "I have made you the father of many nations." That is, the promise is in force in the sight of God in whom he put his faith, the God who can bring the dead to life and can call to Himself the things that do not exist as though they did.

Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

it was for our sakes too, for it is going to be credited to us who put our faith in God who raised from the dead our Lord Jesus,

who was given up to death because of our shortcomings and was raised again to give us right standing with God.

by whom we have an introduction through faith into this state of God's favor, in which we safely stand; and let us continue exulting in the hope of enjoying the glorious presence of God.

and fortitude character, and character, hope??5 a hope which never disappoints us. For through the Holy Spirit who has given to us, the "brimming river of the love of God" has overflowed in our hearts.

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.

And not only that, but this too: we shall continue exulting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained our reconciliation.

Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death; even so death passed into all men through him, in whom all have sinned.

And yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the way Adam had, against a positive command. For Adam was a figure of Him who was to come.

and not as through one who did sin is the free gift, for the judgment indeed is of one to condemnation, but the gift is of many offences to a declaration of 'Righteous,'

For if by one man's offense death reigned through that one, to a much greater degree will those who continue to receive the overflow of His unmerited favor and His gift of right standing with Himself, reign in real life through One, Jesus Christ.

let it not be! we who died to the sin -- how shall we still live in it?

Or, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into union with Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

For this we know, that our old self was crucified with Christ, in order that the slave of sin might be destroyed; so that we should no longer be in slavery to sin??7 for he who is dead is set free from sin.

for he who hath died hath been set free from the sin.

for we know that Christ, who once was raised from the dead, will never die again; death has no more power over Him.

For he who died, died to sin once: but he who lives, lives to God.

Stop offering the parts of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness. Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have been brought from death to life and the parts of your body as instruments of righteousness to God.

Do you not know that when you habitually offer yourselves to anyone for obedience to him, you are slaves to that one whom you are in the habit of obeying, whether it is the slavery to sin whose end is death or to obedience whose end is right-doing?

But thanks be to God, that ye who were servants of sin, have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you:

Do you not know, brothers -- for I speak to those who are acquainted with the law -- that the law can press its claim over a man only so long as he lives?

For the woman who is subject to a husband, is bound by the law to that husband during his life; but if the husband be dead, she is discharged from that husband.

So if, while the husband is living, she is joined to another man, she will get the name of one who is untrue to her husband: but if the husband is dead, she is free from the law, so that she is not untrue, even if she takes another man.

So, my brothers, you too in the body of Christ have ended your relation to the law, so that you may be married to another husband, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

As it is, I am no longer the one who is doing it, but it is the sin that is living in me.

But if I do what I don't want to do, I am no longer the one who is doing it, but it is the sin that is living in me.

I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present.

Wretched man that I am! Who can save me from this deadly lower nature?

Thanks be to God, [who hath delivered me] through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, I, the same person, with the mind serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

So then there is no condemnation at all for those who are in union with Christ Jesus.

For what the Law could not do [that is, overcome sin and remove its penalty, its power] being weakened by the flesh [man’s nature without the Holy Spirit], God did: He sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful man as an offering for sin. And He condemned sin in the flesh [subdued it and overcame it in the person of His own Son],

so that the requirement of the law might be fully met in us who do not live by the standard set by our lower nature, but by the standard set by the Spirit.

For people who live by the standard set by their lower nature are usually thinking the things suggested by that nature, and people who live by the standard set by the Spirit are usually thinking the things suggested by the Spirit.

The people who live on the plane of the lower nature cannot please God.

But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells within you. Anyone who does not possess the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.

If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead has His home within you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give your mortal bodies life through His Spirit that has His home within you.

For all who are guided by God's Spirit are God's sons.