But if the Spirit of God, who raised up Jesus from the dead, lives in your hearts, [then] that One [i.e., God] who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead, will restore life to your mortal bodies also, through [the power of] God's Spirit who lives in your hearts.

So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh:

For if you so live, death is near; but if, through being under the sway of the spirit, you are putting your old bodily habits to death, you will live.

All those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons.

For you did not get the spirit of servants again to put you in fear, but the spirit of sons was given to you, by which we say, Abba, Father.

The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children,

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

I am of the opinion that there is no comparison between the pain of this present time and the glory which we will see in the future.

For [even the whole] creation [all nature] waits eagerly for the children of God to be revealed.

For the creation was subjected to frustration and futility, not willingly [because of some intentional fault on its part], but by the will of Him who subjected it, in hope

that the creation itself will also be freed from its bondage to decay [and gain entrance] into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit , the redemption of our body.

For in [this] hope we were saved [i.e., we received the hope of future blessings]; but if we [already] see what we hope for, it is not [really] hope. For who hopes for what he [already] sees?

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

In the same way the Spirit [comes to us and] helps us in our weakness. We do not know what prayer to offer or how to offer it as we should, but the Spirit Himself [knows our need and at the right time] intercedes on our behalf with sighs and groanings too deep for words.

And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit intercedes [before God] on behalf of God’s people in accordance with God’s will.

Yes, we know that all things go on working together for the good of those who keep on loving God, who are called in accordance with God's purpose.

Because whom he has foreknown, he has also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brethren.

And [that class of] persons whom God [so] predetermined, He also called [through the Gospel. See II Thess. 2:14]. And those He called, He also made right with Himself. And those He made right with Himself, He also [determined to be] honored [i.e., in the future life].

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

Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.

Who is there to condemn them? He who died for us is Christ Jesus!-or, rather, it was he who was raised from the dead, and who is now at God's right hand and is even pleading on our behalf!

Who shall ever separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

Just as it is written [Psa. 44:22], "We are [in danger of being] killed all the time. We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

No, [suffering any one of these things is not proof that Christ does not love us], for in spite of all these things we have a decisive victory [over life's difficulties] through [the care shown us by] Christ who loved us.

nor [things] above, nor [things] below, nor any [other] created thing will be able to separate us from God's love [for us], revealed through Christ Jesus our Lord [Note: The idea of this passage is "Regardless of what happens to us, God still loves us"].

I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,

Bears me out when I say that there is a great weight of sorrow upon me and that my heart is never free from pain.

For I could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, the glory (Shekinah), the [special] covenants [with Abraham, Moses, and David], the giving of the Law, the [system of temple] worship, and the [original] promises.

To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to His natural descent, came the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), He who is exalted and supreme over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

However, it is not as though God’s word has failed [coming to nothing]. For not all who are descended from Israel (Jacob) are [the true] Israel;

neither, because they are Abraham's seed, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.

That is, it is not the children of the body [Abraham’s natural descendants] who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are counted as [Abraham’s true] descendants.

For this is the word of God's undertaking, At this time will I come, and Sarah will have a son.

And not only so; but Rebecca also having conceived by one, even by our father Isaac--

and though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything either good or bad, so that God’s purpose [His choice, His election] would stand, not because of works [done by either child], but because of [the plan of] Him who calls them,

For even before the twins were born, and therefore had not done anything good or bad, Rebecca was told [Gen. 25:23], "The older one [i.e., Esau] will serve the younger one [i.e., Jacob]." This was so that God's purpose of choosing and calling [whomever He wanted to] might prevail, instead of [it depending on] what a person did.

So it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

For the scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very thing I have raised thee up from amongst men, that I might thus shew in thee my power, and so that my name should be declared in all the earth.

So then he hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will be hardeneth.

Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

Has not the potter absolute power over his clay, so that out of the same lump he makes one thing for better, and another for common, use?

Even so, God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, suffered with long patience the vessels of wrath, ordained to damnation,

And [he did so] in order that he could make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory,

that is to say, us which he called, not of the Jews only, but also of 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.

Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.

Why? Because they did not [attempt to do it] by faith [in Him], but by trying to fulfill all the requirements [of the law]. So, they stumbled over "the stumbling stone," [i.e., the Jews refused to become obedient to Christ. See I Pet. 2:6-8].

in agreement with the statement of Scripture, "See, I am placing on Mount Zion a stone for people to stumble at, and a rock for them to trip over, and yet he whose faith rests upon it shall never have reason to feel ashamed."

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

For I can testify that they are zealous for God, but they are not intelligently so.

For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

So, Christ has brought an end to the law [as a means] of being made right with God for every person who believes [in Him].

For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law [with all its intricate demands] shall live by it.

But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)

But what doth it say? 'Nigh thee is the saying -- in thy mouth, and in thy heart:' that is, the saying of the faith, that we preach;

Because, if you say with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and have faith in your heart that God has made him come back from the dead, you will have salvation:

For with the heart a person believes [in Christ as Savior] resulting in his justification [that is, being made righteous—being freed of the guilt of sin and made acceptable to God]; and with the mouth he acknowledges and confesses [his faith openly], resulting in and confirming [his] salvation.

The Scriptures say, Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.

But how, say you, shall they call on him on whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

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?"

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.

Then Isaiah is very bold and says,

“I have been found by those who did not seek Me;
I have shown Myself to those who did not [consciously] ask for Me.”

I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

God did not reject His people whom He knew previously. Or, do you not know what the Scriptures say in the passage where Elijah pleads with God against Israel?

But what is God’s response to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

And if [they were selected] by God's unearned favor, [then] the choice is not based on the good that people may do. Otherwise, God's favor would not be [really] unearned.

What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking [that is, God’s favor by obedience to the Law], but the elect [those chosen few] obtained it, while the rest of them became hardened and callously indifferent;

(According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

And King David said [Psa. 69:22-23], "Let their table ensnare and trap them [i.e., let the Jews' devotion to such things as lavish feasts become the occasion for leading them astray], and become an occasion for their falling [away from God]. And let them be repaid [for such conduct with punishment].

Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.

I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

But if their fall be the world's wealth, and their loss the wealth of the nations, how much rather their fulness?

But to you Gentiles I say that, since I am an Apostle specially sent to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry,

If in any way those who are of my flesh may be moved to envy, so that some of them may get salvation by me.

For if their casting away be the world's reconciliation, what their reception but life from among the dead?

For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, [although you] were a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them and became a sharer of the root of the olive tree's richness,

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.

Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.

That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by your faith [as believers understanding the truth of Christ’s deity]. Do not be conceited, but [rather stand in great awe of God and] fear [Him];

Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell, severity; but toward thee, God's goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you will not be wise {in your own sight}, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in,

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

And they shall see the fulfillment of my Covenant, when I have taken away their sins.'

From the standpoint of the gospel, the Jews [at present] are enemies [of God] for your sake [which is for your benefit], but from the standpoint of God’s choice [of the Jews as His people], they are still loved by Him for the sake of the fathers.

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable [for He does not withdraw what He has given, nor does He change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call].

For you Gentiles were disobedient to God in the past, but now you have obtained [God's] mercy by means of the disobedience of the Jews.

Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

For God has imprisoned all in disobedience, so that He may have mercy on all.

Oh, how inexhaustible are God's resources and God's wisdom and God's knowledge! How impossible it is to search into His decrees or trace His footsteps!