But if I do what I do not want to do, I acknowledge that the Law is right.

In reality, it is not I that do these things; it is sin, which has possession of me.

For I know that nothing good resides in me, that is, in my physical self; I can will, but I cannot do what is right.

But if I do the things that I do not want to do, it is not I that am acting, it is sin, which has possession of me.

I find the law to be that I who want to do right am dogged by what is wrong.

Thank God! it is done through Jesus Christ our Lord! So mentally I am a slave to God's law, but physically to the law of sin.

So there is no condemnation any more for those who are in union with Christ Jesus.

For though it was impossible for the Law to do it, hampered as it was by our physical limitations, God, by sending his own Son in our sinful physical form, as a sin-offering, put his condemnation upon sin through his physical nature,

People who are controlled by the physical think of what is physical, and people who are controlled by the spiritual think of what is spiritual.

But if Christ is in your hearts, though your bodies are dead in consequence of sin, your spirits have life in consequence of uprightness.

It is not a consciousness of servitude that has been imparted to you, to fill you with fear again, but the consciousness of adoption as sons, which makes us cry, "Abba!" that is, Father.

For I consider what we suffer now not to be compared with the glory that is to burst upon us.

For creation is waiting with eager longing for the sons of God to be disclosed.

More than that, we ourselves, though we have in the Spirit a foretaste of the future, groan to ourselves as we wait to be declared God's sons, through the redemption of our bodies.

It was in this hope that we were saved. But a hope that can be seen is not a hope, for who hopes for what he sees?

In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit itself pleads for us with inexpressible yearnings,

We know that in everything God works with those who love him, whom he has called in accordance with his purpose, to bring about what is good.

Then what shall we conclude from this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Will not he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, with that gift give us everything?

who can condemn them? Christ Jesus who died, or rather who was raised from the dead, is at God's right hand, and actually pleads for us.

Who can separate us from Christ's love? Can trouble or misfortune or persecution or hunger or destitution or danger or the sword?

As the Scripture says, "For your sake we are being put to death all day long, We are treated like sheep to be slaughtered."

But in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us.

nor any supernatural forces either of height or depth will be able to separate us from the love God has shown in Christ Jesus our Lord!

I am telling the truth as a Christian, it is no falsehood, for my conscience under the holy Spirit's influence bears me witness in it,

when I say that I am greatly pained and my heart is constantly distressed,

and the patriarchs, and from them physically Christ came??od who is over all be blessed forever! Amen.

Not that God's message has failed. For not everybody who is descended from Israel really belongs to Israel,

That is to say, it is not his physical descendants who are children of God, but his descendants born in fulfilment of the promise who are considered his true posterity.

For this is what the promise said: "When I come back at this time next year, Sarah will have a son."

And that is not all, for there was Rebecca too, when she was about to bear twin sons to our forefather Isaac.

As the Scripture says, "I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau."

What do we conclude? That God is guilty of injustice? By no means.

so as to show all the wealth of his glory in dealing with the objects of his mercy, whom he has prepared from the beginning to share his glory,

including us whom he has called not only from among the Jews but from among the heathen?

Just as he says in Hosea, "I will call a people that was not mine, my people, And her who was not beloved, my beloved,

And Isaiah cries out about Israel, "Although the sons of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,

As Isaiah foretold, "If the Lord of Hosts had not left us children, We would have been like Sodom, and have resembled Gomorrah!"

Then what do we conclude? That heathen who were not striving for uprightness attained it, that is, an uprightness which was produced by faith;

as the Scripture says, "See, I will put a stone on Zion to make people stumble, and a rock to trip over, But no one who has faith in it will be disappointed."

Brothers, my heart is full of good will toward them; my prayer to God is that they may be saved.

I can testify to their sincere devotion to God, but it is not an intelligent devotion.

But this is what the uprightness that springs from faith says: "Do not say to yourself, 'Who will go up to heaven?' " that is, to bring Christ down;

or " 'Who will go down into the depths?' " that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.

No! This is what it says: "God's message is close to you, on your lips and in your mind"??hat is, the message about faith that we preach.

For if with your lips you acknowledge the message that Jesus is Lord, and with your mind you believe that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

There is no distinction between Jew and Greek for they all have the same Lord, and he is generous to all who call upon him.

And how are men to preach unless they are sent to do it? As the Scripture says, "How welcome is the coming of those who bring good news!"

It is true, they have not all accepted the good news, for Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what we have told?"

So faith comes from hearing what is told, and that hearing comes through the message about Christ.

But I ask again, did Israel fail to understand? Why, to begin with, Moses said, "I will make you jealous of what is no nation at all, I will exasperate you at a senseless nation."

Then Isaiah broke out boldly and said, "I have been found by men who were not looking for me, I have shown myself to men who were not asking what my will was."

But what is God's reply? "I have left myself seven thousand men who have never knelt to Baal!"

So too at the present time there is a remnant selected by God's mercy.

But if it is by his mercy, it is not for anything they have done. Otherwise, his mercy would not be mercy at all.

The rest became callous; as the Scripture says, "God has thrown them into a state of spiritual insensibility, with eyes that cannot see and cars that cannot hear, that has lasted down to this day."

I ask then, has their stumbling led to their absolute ruin? By no means. Through their false step salvation has gone to the heathen, so as to make the Israelites jealous.

But it is to you who are of the heathen that I am speaking. So far then as I am an apostle to the heathen, I make the most of my ministry,

If the first handful of dough is consecrated, the whole mass is, and if the root of a tree is consecrated, so are its branches.

That is true; but it was for their want of faith that they were broken off, and it is through your faith that you stand where you do. You ought not to feel proud; you ought to be afraid,

For if you were cut from a wild olive and unnaturally grafted upon a cultivated one, how much easier it will be to graft them upon the olive to which they properly belong!

and then all Israel will be saved, just as the Scripture says, "The deliverer will come from Zion, He will drive all ungodliness away from Jacob,

From the point of view of the good news they are treated as enemies of God on your account; but from the point of view of God's choice, they are dear to him because of their forefathers,

For just as you once disobeyed God, but now have had mercy shown you because they disobeyed,

so they are now disobedient in order that they in turn may experience the same mercy as you.

For God has made all men prisoners of disobedience so as to have mercy upon them all.

I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by this mercy of God, to offer your bodies in a living sacrifice that will be holy and acceptable to God; that is your rational worship.

You must not adopt the customs of this world but by your new attitude of mind be transformed so that you can find out what God's will is??hat is good, pleasing, and perfect.

For just as there are many parts united in our human bodies, and the parts do not all have the same function,

so, many as we are, we form one body through union with Christ, and we are individually parts of one another.

We have gifts that differ with the favor that God has shown us, whether it is that of preaching, differing with the measure of our faith,

Your love must be genuine. You must hate what is wrong, and hold to what is right.

No! If your enemy is hungry, feed him! If he is thirsty, give him something to drink! For if you do, you will heap burning coals upon his head!

The man who does right has nothing to fear from the magistrates, as the wrongdoer has. If you want to have no fear of the authorities, do right, and they will commend you for it,

You must obey them, therefore, not only to escape God's wrath, but as a matter of principle,

just as you pay your taxes; they are God's ministers, devoting themselves to this service.

Pay them all what is due them??ribute to the man entitled to receive it, taxes to the man entitled to receive them, respect to the man entitled to it, and honor to the man entitled to it.

For the commandments, "You must not commit adultery, You must not murder, You must not steal, You must not covet," and any other commandments there are, are all summed up in one saying, "You must love your neighbor as you do yourself."

All this especially, because you know this critical time and that it is time for you to wake from your sleep, for our salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

The night is nearly over; the day is at hand. So let us throw aside the deeds of darkness, and put on the armor of light.

Let us live honorably, as in the light of day, not in carousing and drunkenness, or in immorality and indecency, or in quarreling and jealousy.

Who are you to criticize someone else's servant? It is for his own master to say whether he succeeds or fails; and he will succeed, for the Master can make him do so.

None of us lives only to himself, and none of us dies only to himself;

For the Scripture says, "As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bend before me, And every tongue will make its confession to God."

So each one of us must give an account of himself to God.

Therefore let us not criticize one another any more. You must resolve instead never to put any hindrance or obstacle in your brother's way.

I know and as a follower of the Lord Jesus I am convinced that nothing is unclean in itself; a thing is unclean only to the man who regards it as unclean.

For if your brother's feelings are hurt by what you eat, your life is not governed by love. You must not, by what you eat, ruin a man for whom Christ died.

The Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of uprightness, peace, and happiness through the possession of the holy Spirit.

Let us, therefore, keep before us whatever will contribute to peace and the development of one another.

You must not, just for the sake of food, undo the work of God. It is true, everything is clean, but it is wrong for a man to hurt the consciences of others by what he eats.

The right thing to do is to eat no meat at all and to drink no wine or do anything else if it hurts your brother's conscience.

For your part, you must keep the faith you have to yourself, as between God and you. He is a happy man who has no fault to find with himself in following the course that he approves,

but the man who has misgivings about eating, and then eats, is thereby condemned, for he is not following his convictions, and anything that does not rest on conviction is wrong.

It is the duty of us who are strong to put up with the weaknesses of those who are immature, and not just suit ourselves.

Everyone of us must try to please his neighbor, to do him good, and help in his development.

Christ did not please himself, but as the Scripture says, "The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me."

Therefore, treat one another like brothers, in God's honor, just as Christ has treated you.

and causing the heathen to praise God for his mercy; as the Scripture says, "I will give thanks to you for this among the heathen, And sing in honor of your name."

Again Isaiah says, "The descendant of Jesse will come, The one who is to rise to rule the heathen; The heathen will set their hopes on him."