And by them the glory of the eternal God was changed and made into the image of man who is not eternal, and of birds and beasts and things which go on the earth.

Because by them the true word of God was changed into that which is false, and they gave worship and honour to the thing which is made, and not to him who made it, to whom be blessing for ever. So be it.

But what does it say in the holy Writings? And Abraham had faith in God, and it was put to his account as righteousness.

Is this blessing, then, for the circumcision only, or in the same way for those who have not circumcision? for we say that the faith of Abraham was put to his account as righteousness.

How, then, was it judged? when he had circumcision, or when he had it not? Not when he had it, but when he did not have it:

And he was given the sign of circumcision as a witness of the faith which he had before he underwent circumcision: so that he might be the father of all those who have faith, though they have not circumcision, and so that righteousness might be put to their account;

For God's word, that the earth would be his heritage, was given to Abraham, not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

And not being feeble in faith though his body seemed to him little better than dead (he being about a hundred years old) and Sarah was no longer able to have children:

Still, he did not give up faith in the undertaking of God, but was made strong by faith, giving glory to God,

And being certain that God was able to keep his word.

For which reason it was put to his account as righteousness.

Now, it was not because of him only that this was said,

Who was put to death for our evil-doing, and came to life again so that we might have righteousness.

Because, till the law came, sin was in existence, but sin is not put to the account of anyone when there is no law to be broken.

But still death had power from Adam till Moses, even over those who had not done wrong like Adam, who is a picture of him who was to come.

And the free giving has not the same effect as the sin of one: for the effect of one man's sin was punishment by the decision of God, but the free giving had power to give righteousness to wrongdoers in great number.

For, if by the wrongdoing of one, death was ruling through the one, much more will those to whom has come the wealth of grace and the giving of righteousness, be ruling in life through the one, even Jesus Christ.

So then, as the effect of one act of wrongdoing was that punishment came on all men, even so the effect of one act of righteousness was righteousness of life for all men.

And the law came in addition, to make wrongdoing worse; but where there was much sin, there was much more grace:

Being conscious that our old man was put to death on the cross with him, so that the body of sin might be put away, and we might no longer be servants to sin.

For his death was a death to sin, but his life now is a life which he is living to God.

But sin, taking its chance through that which was ordered by the law, was working in me every form of desire: because without the law sin is dead.

And there was a time when I was living without the law: but when the law gave its orders, sin came to life and put me to death;

And I made the discovery that the law whose purpose was to give life had become a cause of death:

For I was tricked and put to death by sin, which took its chance through the law.

Was then that which is good, death to me? In no way. But the purpose was that sin might be seen to be sin by working death to me through that which is good; so that through the orders of the law sin might seem much more evil.

For what the law was not able to do because it was feeble through the flesh, God, sending his Son in the image of the evil flesh, and as an offering for sin, gave his decision against sin in the flesh:

So that what was ordered by the law might be done in us, who are living, not in the way of the flesh, but in the way of the Spirit.

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.

For every living thing was put under the power of change, not by its desire, but by him who made it so, in hope

Who will give a decision against us? It is Christ Jesus who not only was put to death, but came again from the dead, who is now at the right hand of God, taking our part.

But it is not as if the word of God was without effect. For they are not all Israel, who are of Israel:

It was said to her, The older will be the servant of the younger.

As he says in Hosea, They will be named my people who were not my people, and she will be loved who was not loved.

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

Why? Because they were not searching for it by faith, but by works. They came up against the stone which was in the way;

And Isaiah says without fear, Those who were not searching for me made discovery of me; and I was seen by those whose hearts were turned away from me.

What then? That which Israel was searching for he did not get, but those of the selection got it and the rest were made hard.

As it was said in the holy Writings, God gave them a spirit of sleep, eyes which might not see, and ears which have no hearing, to this day.

See then that God is good but his rules are fixed: to those who were put away he was hard, but to you he has been good, on the condition that you keep in his mercy; if not, you will be cut off as they were.

For if you were cut out of a field olive-tree, and against the natural use were united to a good olive-tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be united again with the olive-tree which was theirs?

But I have, in some measure, less fear in writing to you to put these things before you again, because of the grace which was given to me by God,

Making it my purpose not to take the good news where Christ was named, so that my work might not be resting on that of others;

For which reason I was frequently kept from coming to you:

Now, it is my desire, brothers, that you will take note of those who are causing division and trouble among you, quite against the teaching which was given to you: and keep away from them.

Is there a division in Christ? was Paul nailed to the cross for you? or were you given baptism in the name of Paul?

For because, by the purpose of God, the world, with all its wisdom, had not the knowledge of God, it was God's pleasure, by so foolish a thing as preaching, to give salvation to those who had faith in him.

And I was with you without strength, in fear and in doubt.

And in my preaching there were no honeyed words of wisdom, but I was dependent on the power of the Spirit to make it clear to you:

And the teaching I gave you, my brothers, was such as I was able to give, not to those who have the Spirit, but to those who are still in the flesh, even to children in Christ.

Now some are full of pride, as if I was not coming to you.

But the sense of my letter was that if a brother had the name of being one who went after the desires of the flesh, or had the desire for other people's property, or was in the way of using violent language, or being the worse for drink, or took by force what was not his, you might not keep company with such a one, or take food with him.

For he who was a servant when he became a Christian is the Lord's free man; and he who was free when he became a Christian is the Lord's servant.

Or has he us in mind? Yes, it was said for us; because it is right for the ploughman to do his ploughing in hope, and for him who is crushing the grain to do his work hoping for a part in the fruits of it.

For though I was free from all men, I made myself a servant to all, so that more might have salvation.

And to the Jews I was as a Jew, so that I might give the good news to them; to those under the law I was the same, not as being myself under the law, but so that I might give the good news to those under the law.

To those without the law I was as one without the law, not as being without law to God, but as under law to Christ, so that I might give the good news to those without the law.

To the feeble, I was as one who is feeble, so that they might have salvation: I have been all things to all men, so that some at least might have salvation.

And the same holy drink: for they all took of the water from the holy rock which came after them: and the rock was Christ.

But with most of them God was not pleased: for they came to their end in the waste land.

Now I am pleased to see that you keep me in memory in all things, and that you give attention to the teaching which was handed down from me to you.

But every woman who does so with her head unveiled, puts shame on her head: for it is the same as if her hair was cut off.

And the man was not made for the woman, but the woman for the man.

For it was handed down to me from the Lord, as I gave it to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when Judas was false to him, took bread,

If all the body was an eye, where would be the hearing? if all was hearing, where would be the smelling?

But now God has put every one of the parts in the body as it was pleasing to him.

When I was a child, I made use of a child's language, I had a child's feelings and a child's thoughts: now that I am a man, I have put away the things of a child.

But in the church it would be better for me to make use of five words of which the sense was clear, so that others might have profit, than ten thousand words in a strange tongue.

What? was it from you that the word of God went out? or did it only come in to you?

Now I am going to make clear to you, my brothers, what the good news was which I gave to you, and which you took, and on which your faith is based,

By which you have salvation; that is to say, the form in which it was given to you, if it is fixed in your minds, and if your faith in it is not without effect.

For I gave to you first of all what was handed down to me, how Christ underwent death for our sins, as it says in the Writings;

And he was put in the place of the dead; and on the third day he came back from the dead, as it says in the Writings;

And he was seen by Cephas; then by the twelve;

Then he was seen by James; then by all the Apostles.

And last of all, as by one whose birth was out of the right time, he was seen by me.

But by the grace of God, I am what I am: and his grace which was given to me has not been for nothing; for I did more work than all of them; though not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

If, after the way of men, I was fighting with beasts at Ephesus, what profit is it to me? If the dead do not come to life again, let us take our pleasure in feasting, for tomorrow we come to an end.

And so it is said, The first man Adam was a living soul. The last Adam is a life-giving spirit.

Those who are of the earth are like the man who was from the earth: and those who are of heaven are like the one from heaven.

But when this has taken place, then that which was said in the Writings will come true, Death is overcome by life.

But as for Apollos, the brother, I had a great desire for him to come to you with the brothers, but it was not his pleasure to come now; but he will come when he has a chance.

And I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus: for they have done what was needed to make your work complete.

For it is our desire that you may not be without knowledge of our trouble which came on us in Asia, that the weight of it was very great, more than our power, so that it seemed that we had no hope even of life:

And being certain of this, it was my purpose to come to you before, so that you might have a second grace;

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we were preaching among you, even I and Silvanus and Timothy, was not Yes and No, but in him is Yes.

But God is my witness that it was in pity for you that I did not come to Corinth at that time.

But it was my decision for myself, not to come again to you with sorrow.

And I said this very thing in my letter, for fear that when I came I might have sorrow from those from whom it was right for me to have joy; being certain of this, that my joy is the joy of you all.

Now when I came to Troas for the good news of Christ, and there was an open door for me in the Lord,

I had no rest in my spirit because Titus my brother was not there: so I went away from them, and came into Macedonia.

For if the operation of the law, giving death, recorded in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the eyes of the children of Israel had to be turned away from the face of Moses because of its glory, a glory which was only for a time:

For if the order which was for a time had its glory, much more will the eternal order have its glory.

For it is the love of Christ which is moving us; because we are of the opinion that if one was put to death for all, then all have undergone death;

That is, that God was in Christ making peace between the world and himself, not putting their sins to their account, and having given to us the preaching of this news of peace.

So we are the representatives of Christ, as if God was making a request to you through us: we make our request to you, in the name of Christ, be at peace with God.

And not by his coming only, but by the comfort which he had in you, while he gave us word of your desire, your sorrow, your care for me; so that I was still more glad.

Now I am glad, not that you had sorrow, but that your sorrow was the cause of a change of heart; for yours was a holy sorrow so that you might undergo no loss by us in anything.

For you see what care was produced in you by this very sorrow of yours before God, what clearing of yourselves, what wrath against sin, what fear, what desire, what serious purpose, what punishment. In everything you have made it clear that you are free from sin in this business.

So though I sent you a letter, it was not only because of the man who did the wrong, or because of him to whom the wrong was done, but so that your true care for us might be made clear in the eyes of God.