concerning his Son who was a descendant of David with reference to the flesh,

who was appointed the Son-of-God-in-power according to the Holy Spirit by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.

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

Thus I am eager also to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness,

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.

Therefore you are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

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?

eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality,

but wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition and do not obey the truth but follow unrighteousness.

There will be affliction and distress on everyone who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek,

but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek.

For all who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous.

For whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things required by the law, these who do not have the law are a law to themselves.

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

therefore you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?

You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law!

And will not the physically uncircumcised man who keeps the law judge you who, despite the written code and circumcision, transgress the law?

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

but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit and not by the written code. This person's praise is not from people but from God.

But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he? (I am speaking in human terms.)

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!)

there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, not even one."

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.

namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction,

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.

Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation.

But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, his faith is credited as righteousness.

So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

blessed is the one against whom the Lord will never count sin."

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 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.

but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God's glory.

And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

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.

And the gift is not like the one who sinned. For judgment, resulting from the one transgression, led to condemnation, but the gracious gift from the many failures led to justification.

For if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!

Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

(For someone who has died has been freed from sin.)

and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness.

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, 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.

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

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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.

For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, "Abba, Father."

For the creation was subjected to futility -- not willingly but because of God who subjected it -- in hope

Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

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

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God's will.

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.

What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all -- how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things?

Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

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.

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us!

who are Israelites. To them belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.

To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, by human descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever! Amen.

It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel,

This means it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants.

For he says to Moses: "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."

So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy.

So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.

You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?"

But who indeed are you -- a mere human being -- to talk back to God? Does what is molded say to the molder, "Why have you made me like this?"

even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

As he also says in Hosea: "I will call those who were not my people, 'My people,' and I will call her who was unloved, 'My beloved.'"

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 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).

For the scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."

For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him.

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news."

But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?"

But again I ask, didn't Israel understand? First Moses says, "I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; with a senseless nation I will provoke you to anger."

And Isaiah is even bold enough to say, "I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me."

God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

But what was the divine response to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand people who have not bent the knee to Baal."

Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God -- harshness toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.

For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?