He also ordered us to proclaim to the people and solemnly to testify that this is the One whom God has appointed to be the Judge of the living and the dead.

But I answered, 'Never by any means, sir, for nothing common or not ceremonially cleansed has ever passed my lips.'

Then the voice from heaven answered again, 'The things that God has cleansed you must not call unclean.'

When they heard this, they had no answer to make, but gave God the glory, saying, "So God has given even the heathen the repentance that leads to life."

Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I really know that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from the power of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting to do to me."

It is from this man's descendants that God, as He promised, has brought to Israel a Saviour in the person of Jesus,

Brothers, descendants of the race of Abraham, and all among you who reverence God, it is to us that the message of this salvation has been sent.

that God has fulfilled it to us their children, by raising Jesus to life, just as the Scripture says in the Second Psalm, 'You are my Son, today I have become your Father.'

Now as a proof that He has raised Him from the dead, no more to return to decay, He has spoken this, 'I will fulfill to you the holy promises made to David.'

For here are the orders that the Lord has given us: 'I have made you a light to the heathen, To be the means of salvation to the very ends of the earth.'"

Symeon has told how God at first graciously visited the heathen to take from among them a people to bear His name.

who has been making this known from ages past.'

For Moses from the ancient generations has had his preachers in every town, and on every sabbath has been read aloud in the synagogues."

and Jason has welcomed them. They are all acting contrary to the Emperor's decrees, because they claim there is another king, Jesus."

since He has set a day on which He will justly judge the world through a man whom He has appointed. He has made this credible to all by raising Him from the dead."

and you see and hear that, not only in Ephesus but all over the province of Asia, this man Paul has led away a vast number of people by persuading them, telling them that gods made by human hands are not gods at all.

Take care of yourselves and of the whole flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, so as to continue to be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood.

as they kept shouting, "Men of Israel, help! help! This is the man who teaches everybody everywhere against our people and the law and this place; yea, more than that, he has actually brought Greeks into the temple and desecrated this sacred place."

and he said, 'The God of our forefathers has appointed you to learn His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear Him speak,

So there was a vociferous yelling until some of the scribes, belonging to the party of the Pharisees, got up and fiercely contended, "We find nothing wrong with this man. Suppose a spirit or angel has really spoken to him!"

So Paul called one of the captains and said, "Take this young man to the colonel, for he has something to tell him."

So he took him and brought him to the colonel and said, "The prisoner Paul called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you."

Because a plot against the man has been reported to me as brewing, I at once am sending him on to you and have directed his accusers to present their charge against him before you."

But I found that he had not done anything for which he deserved to die; however, as he has himself appealed to his Majesty, I have decided to send him up.

and after leaving the room, as they continued to talk the matter over together, they said, "This man has done nothing to deserve death or imprisonment."

and said, "Stop being afraid, Paul. You must stand before the Emperor; and listen! God has graciously given to you the lives of all who are sailing with you.'

When the natives saw the reptile hanging from his hand, they said to one another, "Beyond a doubt this man is a murderer, for though he has been rescued from the sea, justice will not let him live."

They answered him, "We have not received any letters from Judea about you, and not one of our Jewish brothers has come and reported or stated anything wicked about you.

For this people's soul has grown dull, and they scarcely hear with their ears, and they have shut tight their eyes, so that they may never see with their eyes, and understand with their souls, and turn to me, that I may cure them."'

"So you must understand that this message of God's salvation has been sent to the heathen; and they will listen to it!"

because what can be known of God is clear to their inner moral sense; for in this way God Himself has shown it to them.

So God has given them up to sexual impurity, in the evil trend of their heart's desires, so that they degrade their own bodies with one another,

This is why God has given them up to degrading passions. For their females have exchanged their natural function for one that is unnatural,

For when He finally judges, He will pay everyone with exactness for what he has done,

What special privilege, then, has a Jew? Or, what benefit does circumcision confer?

But, as you say, if the truthfulness of God has redounded to His glory because of my falsehood, why am I still condemned as a sinner?

But now God's way of giving men right standing with Himself has come to light; a way without connection with the law, and yet a way to which the law and the prophets testify.

God's own way of giving men right standing with Himself is through faith in Jesus Christ. It is for everybody who has faith, for no distinction at all is made.

For everybody has sinned and everybody continues to come short of God's glory,

yes, to demonstrate His justice at the present time, to prove that He is right Himself, and that He considers right with Himself the man who has faith in Jesus.

So where has human boasting gone? It was completely shut out. On what principle? On that of doing something? No, but on the principle of faith.

For we hold that a man is brought into right standing with God by faith, that observance of the law has no connection with it.

For if he was considered in right standing with God on the condition of what he did, he has something to boast of, but not before God.

but the man who does no work, but simply puts his faith in Him who brings the ungodly into right standing with Himself, has his faith credited to him as right standing.

For if the law party is to possess the world, then faith has been nullified and the promise has been made null and void.

and hope never disappoints us; for through the Holy Spirit that has been given us, God's love has flooded our hearts.

But God's free gift is not at all to be compared with the offense. For if by one man's offense the whole race of men have died, to a much greater degree God's favor and His gift imparted by His favor through the one man Jesus Christ, has overflowed for the whole race of men.

Then law crept in to multiply the offense. Though sin has multiplied, yet God's favor has surpassed it and overflowed,

for we know that Christ, who once was raised from the dead, will never die again; death has no more power over Him.

Now really it is not I that am doing these things, but it is sin which has its home within me.

For I know that nothing good has its home in me; that is, in my lower self; I have the will but not the power to do what is right.

But if I do the things that I do not want to do, it is really not I that am doing these things, but it is sin which has its home within me.

Thank God! It has been done through Jesus Christ our Lord! So in my higher nature I am a slave to the law of God, but in my lower nature, to the law of sin.

For the life-giving power of the Spirit through union with Christ Jesus has set us free from the power of sin and death.

But you are not living on the plane of the lower nature, but on the spiritual plane, if the Spirit of God has His home within you. Unless a man has the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead has His home within you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give your mortal bodies life through His Spirit that has His home within you.

Yes, we know that all nature has gone on groaning in agony together till the present moment.

Who can bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who declared them in right standing;

the patriarchs, and from them by natural descent the Christ has come, who is exalted over all, God blessed forever. Amen!

But it is not that God's word has failed. For not everybody that is descended from Israel really belongs to Israel,

So He has mercy on any man that He chooses to, and He hardens any man that He chooses to harden.

Has not the potter the right with his clay to make of the same lump one vessel for ornamental purposes, another for degrading service?

And what if God, though wishing to display His anger and make known His power, yet, has most patiently borne with the objects of His anger, already ripe for destruction,

even us whom He has called, not only from among the Jews but from among the heathen too?

As Isaiah again has foretold, "Unless the Lord of hosts had left us some descendants, we would have fared as Sodom did and would have been like Gomorrah."

For Christ has put an end to law as a way to right standing for everyone who puts his trust in Him.

However, they have not all given heed to the good news, for Isaiah says, "Lord, who has put faith in what we told?"

I say then, God has not disowned His people, has He? Of course not! Why, I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

No, God has not disowned His people, on whom He set His heart beforehand. Do you know what the Scripture says in Elijah's case, how he pleaded with God against Israel?

What are we then to conclude? Israel has failed to obtain what it is still in search for, but His chosen ones have obtained it. The rest have become insensible to it,

as the Scripture Says, "God has given them over to an attitude of insensibility, so that their eyes cannot see and their ears cannot hear, down to this very day."

I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall in utter ruin, did they? Of course not! On the contrary, because of their stumbling, salvation has come to heathen peoples, to make the Israelites jealous.

But if their stumbling has resulted in the enrichment of the world, and their overthrow becomes the enrichment of heathen peoples, how much richer the result will be when the full quota of Jews comes in!

For if the rejection of them has resulted in the reconciling of the world, what will the result be of the final reception of them but life from the dead?

For to keep you from being self-conceited, brothers, I do not want to have a misunderstanding of this uncovered secret, that only temporary insensibility has come upon Israel until the full quota of the heathen peoples comes in,

For God has locked up all mankind in the prison of disobedience so as to have mercy on them all.

For who has ever understood the thoughts of the Lord, or has ever been His adviser?

Or who has ever advanced God anything to have Him pay him back?

I beg you, therefore, brothers, through these mercies God has shown you, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies as a living sacrifice, devoted and well-pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

Now through the unmerited favor God has shown me I would say to every one of you not to estimate himself above his real value, but to make a sober rating of himself, in accordance with the degree of faith which God has apportioned to him.

As we have gifts that differ in accordance with the favor God has shown us, if it is that of preaching, let it be done in proportion to our faith;

so that anyone who resists the authorities sets himself against what God has established, and those who set themselves against Him will get the penalty due them.

Stop owing anybody anything, except the obligation to love one another, for whoever practices loving others has perfectly satisfied the law.

The night has almost passed; the day is at hand. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness, and put on the weapons of light.

The man who eats anything must not look down on the man who does not do so, nor must the man who does not do so condemn the man who does, for God has fully accepted him.

Who are you to criticize another man's servant? It is his own master's business whether he stands or falls, and he will stand, for the Lord has power to make him stand.

But the man who has misgivings about eating, if he then eats, has already condemned himself by so doing, because he did not follow his faith, and any action that does not follow one's faith is a sin.

Therefore, practice receiving one another into full Christian fellowship, just as Christ has so received you to Himself.

Yes, I mean that Christ has become a servant to Israel to prove God's truthfulness, to make valid His promises to our forefathers,

For I would venture to mention only what Christ has accomplished through me in bringing the heathen peoples to obedience, by word and by work,

In this matter it has ever been my ambition to tell the good news where Christ's name had never been mentioned, so as not to build upon foundations laid by other men,

that you may give her a Christian welcome in a manner becoming God's people, and give her whatever help she needs from you, for she herself has given protection to many, including myself.

Remember me to Mary, who has toiled so hard for you.

Remember me to Rufus, that choicest Christian, and to his mother, who has been a mother to me too.

Yes, your obedience has been told to everybody; so I am delighted about you, but I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is bad.

but now has been fully brought to light by means of the prophetic Scriptures, and in accordance with the command of the eternal God has been made known to all the heathen, to win them to obedience inspired by faith --

In this way my testimony to Christ has been confirmed in your experience,

Christ has been parceled out by you! It was not Paul who was crucified for you, was it? You were not baptized in Paul's name, were you?

So where is your philosopher? Where is your man of letters? Where is your logician of this age? Has not God shown up the nonsense of the world's wisdom?

but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks alike, the Christ who is God's power and God's wisdom.