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.

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles.

God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed.

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.

For if Abraham was declared righteous by the works of the law, he has something to boast about -- but not before God.

For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

Is this blessedness then for the circumcision or also for the uncircumcision? For we say, "faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness."

How then was it credited to him? Was he circumcised at the time, or not? No, he was not circumcised but uncircumcised!

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 the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

Without being weak in faith, he considered his own body as dead (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah's womb.

He did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.

He was fully convinced that what God promised he was also able to do.

So indeed it was credited to Abraham as righteousness.

But the statement it was credited to him was not written only for Abraham's sake,

He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.

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.

for before the law was given, sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin when there is no law.

Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life.

We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

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.

And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive

and I died. So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death!

For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

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

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.

it was said to her, "The older will serve the younger,"

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.'"

"And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"

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."

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

What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect obtained it. The rest were hardened,

For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope.

This is the reason I was often hindered from coming to you.

Also greet the church in their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.

Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother who was also a mother to me.