who, as regards His human descent, belonged to the posterity of David,

through whom we have received grace and Apostleship in His service in order to win men to obedience to the faith, among all Gentile peoples,

among whom you also, called, as you have been, to belong to Jesus Christ, are numbered:

To all God's loved ones who are in Rome, called to be saints. May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I call God to witness--to whom I render priestly and spiritual service by telling the Good News about His Son-- how unceasingly I make mention of you in His presence,

so that for my part I am willing and eager to proclaim the Good News to you also who are in Rome.

For I am not ashamed of the Good News. It is God's power which is at work for the salvation of every one who believes--the Jew first, and then the Gentile.

For God's anger is being revealed from Heaven against all impiety and against the iniquity of men who through iniquity suppress the truth. God is angry:

For they had bartered the reality of God for what is unreal, and had offered divine honours and religious service to created things, rather than to the Creator--He who is for ever blessed. Amen.

In short, though knowing full well the sentence which God pronounces against actions such as theirs, as things which deserve death, they not only practise them, but even encourage and applaud others who do them.

You are therefore without excuse, O man, whoever you are who sit in judgement upon others. For when you pass judgement on your fellow man, you condemn yourself; for you who sit in judgement upon others are guilty of the same misdeeds;

and we know that God's judgement against those who commit such sins is in accordance with the truth.

And you who pronounce judgement upon those who do such things although your own conduct is the same as theirs--do you imagine that you yourself will escape unpunished when God judges?

to those on the one hand who, by lives of persistent right-doing, are striving for glory, honour and immortality, the Life of the Ages;

while on the other hand upon the self-willed who disobey the truth and obey unrighteousness will fall anger and fury, affliction and awful distress,

coming upon the soul of every man and woman who deliberately does wrong--upon the Jew first, and then upon the Gentile;

whereas glory, honour and peace will be given to every one who does what is good and right--to the Jew first and then to the Gentile.

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

It is not those that merely hear the Law read who are righteous in the sight of God, but it is those that obey the Law who will be pronounced righteous.

For when Gentiles who have no Law obey by natural instinct the commands of the Law, they, without having a Law, are a Law to themselves;

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

and have persuaded yourself that, as for you, you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

you then who teach your fellow man, do you refuse to teach yourself? You who cry out against stealing, are you yourself a thief?

You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who loathe idols, do you plunder their temples?

You who make your boast in the Law, do you offend against its commands and so dishonour God?

although he is a Gentile by birth, if he scrupulously obeys the Law, shall he not sit in judgement upon you who, possessing, as you do, a written Law and circumcision, are yet a Law-breaker?

For the true Jew is not the man who is simply a Jew outwardly, and true circumcision is not that which is outward and bodily.

And why should we not say--for so they wickedly misrepresent us, and so some charge us with arguing--"Let us do evil that good may come"? The condemnation of those who would so argue is just.

There is not one who is really wise, nor one who is a diligent seeker after God.

All have turned aside from the right path; they have every one of them become corrupt. There is no one who does what is right--no, not so much as one."

But it cannot be denied that all that the Law says is addressed to those who are living under the Law, in order that every mouth may be stopped, and that the whole world may await sentence from God.

a righteousness coming from God, which depends on faith in Jesus Christ and extends to all who believe. No distinction is made;

He it is whom God put forward as a Mercy-seat, rendered efficacious through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness-- because of the passing over, in God's forbearance, of the sins previously committed--

with a view to demonstrating, at the present time, His righteousness, that He may be shown to be righteous Himself, and the giver of righteousness to those who believe in Jesus.

unless you can deny that it is one and the same God who will pronounce the circumcised to be acquitted on the ground of faith, and the uncircumcised to be acquitted through the same faith.

But in the case of a man who works, pay is not reckoned a favour but a debt;

whereas in the case of a man who pleads no actions of his own, but simply believes in Him who declares the ungodly free from guilt, his faith is placed to his credit as righteousness.

Before, not after. And he received circumcision as a sign, a mark attesting the reality of the faith-righteousness which was his while still uncircumcised, that he might be the forefather of all those who believe even though they are uncircumcised--in order that this righteousness might be placed to their credit;

and the forefather of the circumcised, namely of those who not merely are circumcised, but also walk in the steps of the faith which our forefather Abraham had while he was as yet uncircumcised.

For if it is the righteous through Law who are heirs, then faith is useless and the promise counts for nothing.

so that the promise should be made sure to all Abraham's true descendants; not merely to those who are righteous through the Law, but to those who are righteous through a faith like that of Abraham. Thus in the sight of God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and makes reference to things that do not exist, as though they did, Abraham is the forefather of all of us. As it is written, "I have appointed you to be the forefather of many nations."

it was for our sakes too. Faith, before long, will be placed to the credit of us also who are believers in Him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead,

who was surrendered to death because of the offences we had committed, and was raised to life because of the acquittal secured for us.

through whom also, as the result of faith, we have obtained an introduction into that state of favour with God in which we stand, and we exult in hope of some day sharing in God's glory.

and that this hope never disappoints, because God's love for us floods our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

And not only so, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now obtained that reconciliation.

Yet Death reigned as king from Adam to Moses even over those who had not sinned, as Adam did, against Law. And in Adam we have a type of Him whose coming was still future.

For if, through the transgression of the one individual, Death made use of the one individual to seize the sovereignty, all the more shall those who receive God's overflowing grace and gift of righteousness reign as kings in Life through the one individual, Jesus Christ.

No, indeed; how shall we who have died to sin, live in it any longer?

And do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

for he who has paid the penalty of death stands absolved from his sin.

and no longer lend your faculties as unrighteous weapons for Sin to use. On the contrary surrender your very selves to God as living men who have risen from the dead, and surrender your several faculties to God, to be used as weapons to maintain the right.

Do you not know that if you surrender yourselves as bondservants to obey any one, you become the bondservants of him whom you obey, whether the bondservants of Sin (with death as the result)

So, my brethren, to you also the Law died through the incarnation of Christ, that you might be wedded to Another, namely to Him who rose from the dead in order that we might yield fruit to God.

But if I do that which I desire not to do, it can no longer be said that it is I who do it, but the sin which has its home within me does it.

(Unhappy man that I am! who will rescue me from this death-burdened body?

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus;

And if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead is dwelling in you, He who raised up Christ from the dead will give Life also to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who dwells in you.

For those who are led by God's Spirit are, all of them, God's sons.

For the Creation fell into subjection to failure and unreality (not of its own choice, but by the will of Him who so subjected it)

Now we know that for those who love God all things are working together for good--for those, I mean, whom with deliberate purpose He has called.

For those whom He has known beforehand He has also pre-destined to bear the likeness of His Son, that He might be the Eldest in a vast family of brothers;

and those whom He has pre-destined He also has called; and those whom He has called He has also declared free from guilt; and those whom He has declared free from guilt He has also crowned with glory.

What then shall we say to this? If God is on our side, who is there to appear against us?

He who did not withhold even His own Son, but gave Him up for all of us, will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

Who shall impeach those whom God has chosen? God declares them free from guilt.

Who is there to condemn them? Christ Jesus died, or rather has risen to life again. He is also at the right hand of God, and is interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from Christ's love? Shall affliction or distress, persecution or hunger, nakedness or danger or the sword?

Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who has loved us.

To them the Patriarchs belong, and from them in respect of His human lineage came the Christ, who is exalted above all, God blessed throughout the Ages. Amen.

Not however that God's word has failed; for all who have sprung from Israel do not count as Israel,

In other words, it is not the children by natural descent who count as God's children, but the children made such by the promise are regarded as Abraham's posterity.

and even then, though they were not then born and had not done anything either good or evil, yet in order that God's electing purpose might not be frustrated, based, as it was, not on their actions but on the will of Him who called them, she was told,

And from this we learn that everything is dependent not on man's will or endeavour, but upon God who has mercy. For the Scripture said to Pharaoh,

"Why then does God still find fault?" you will ask; "for who is resisting His will?"

Nay, but who are you, a mere man, that you should cavil against GOD? Shall the thing moulded say to him who moulded it, "Why have you made me thus?"

And what if God, while choosing to make manifest the terrors of His anger and to show what is possible with Him, has yet borne with long-forbearing patience with the subjects of His anger who stand ready for destruction,

in order to make known His infinite goodness towards the subjects of His mercy whom He has prepared beforehand for glory,

even towards us whom He has called not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles?

So also in Hosea He says, "I will call that nation My People which was not My People, and I will call her beloved who was not beloved.

To what conclusion does this bring us? Why, that the Gentiles, who were not in pursuit of righteousness, have overtaken it--a righteousness, however, which arises from faith;

while the descendants of Israel, who were in pursuit of a Law that could give righteousness, have not arrived at one.

But the righteousness which is based on faith speaks in a different tone. "Say not in your heart," it declares, "'Who shall ascend to Heaven?'" --that is, to bring Christ down;

"nor 'Who shall go down into the abyss?'" --that is, to bring Christ up again from the grave.

The Scripture says, "No one who believes in Him shall have reason to feel ashamed."

Jew and Gentile are on precisely the same footing; for the same Lord is Lord over all, and is infinitely kind to all who call upon Him for deliverance.

For "every one, without exception, who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

But how are they to call on One in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in One whose voice they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?

And how are men to preach unless they have been sent to do so? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good!"

But, some will say, they have not all hearkened to the Good News. No, for Isaiah asks, "Lord, who has believed the Message they have heard from us?"

And Isaiah, with strange boldness, exclaims, "I have been found by those who were not looking for Me, I have revealed Myself to those who were not inquiring of Me."

God has not cast off His People whom He knew beforehand. Or are you ignorant of what Scripture says in speaking of Elijah--how he pleaded with God against Israel, saying,

But what did God say to him in reply? "I have reserved for Myself 7,000 men who have never bent the knee to Baal."

In the same way also at the present time there has come to be a remnant whom God in His grace has selected.

beware of glorying over the natural branches. Or if you are so glorying, do not forget that it is not you who uphold the root: the root upholds you.

Notice therefore God's kindness and God's severity. On those who have fallen His severity has descended, but upon you His kindness has come, provided that you do not cease to respond to that kindness. Otherwise you will be cut off also.

"Who has ever known the mind of the Lord, or shared His counsels?"

"Who has first given God anything, so as to receive payment in return?"

The teacher must do the same in his teaching; and he who exhorts others, in his exhortation. He who gives should be liberal; he who is in authority should be energetic and alert; and he who succours the afflicted should do it cheerfully.

Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.