But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but the children of the promise are considered to be the offspring.

For though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to election might stand—

What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!

So then it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy.

But who are you, a mere man, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”

And what if God, desiring to display His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath ready for destruction?

And it will be in the place where they were told,
you are not My people,
there they will be called sons of the living God.

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God concerning them is for their salvation!

I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

Because they disregarded the righteousness from God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to God’s righteousness.

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things!

I ask, then, has God rejected His people? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he pleads with God against Israel?

But what was God’s reply to him? I have left 7,000 men for Myself who have not bowed down to Baal.

as it is written:

God gave them a spirit of insensitivity,
eyes that cannot see
and ears that cannot hear,
to this day.

For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either.

Therefore, consider God’s kindness and severity: severity toward those who have fallen but God’s kindness toward you—if you remain in His kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

And even they, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, because God has the power to graft them in again.

For if you were cut off from your native wild olive and against nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these—the natural branches—be grafted into their own olive tree?

since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable.

As you once disobeyed God, but now have received mercy through their disobedience,

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

Oh, the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable His judgments
and untraceable His ways!

Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.

Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.

Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good.

Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.

Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God.

So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves.

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have its approval.

For government is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For government is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong.

And for this reason you pay taxes, since the authorities are God’s public servants, continually attending to these tasks.

One who eats must not look down on one who does not eat, and one who does not eat must not criticize one who does, because God has accepted him.

Whoever observes the day, observes it for the honor of the Lord. Whoever eats, eats for the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; and whoever does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat it, yet he thanks God.

But you, why do you criticize your brother? Or you, why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before the tribunal of God.

For it is written:

As I live, says the Lord,
every knee will bow to Me,
and every tongue will give praise to God.

So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Therefore, do not let your good be slandered,

for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Whoever serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and approved by men.

Do not tear down God’s work because of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong for a man to cause stumbling by what he eats.

Do you have a conviction? Keep it to yourself before God. The man who does not condemn himself by what he approves is blessed.

Each one of us must please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement allow you to live in harmony with one another, according to the command of Christ Jesus,

so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with a united mind and voice.

Therefore accept one another, just as the Messiah also accepted you, to the glory of God.

For I say that the Messiah became a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises to the fathers,

and so that Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written:

Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles,
and I will sing psalms to Your name.

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some points because of the grace given me by God

to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of God’s good news. My purpose is that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Therefore I have reason to boast in Christ Jesus regarding what pertains to God.

by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the good news about the Messiah from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum.

Now I appeal to you, brothers, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to join with me in fervent prayers to God on my behalf.

and that, by God’s will, I may come to you with joy and be refreshed together with you.

The God of peace be with all of you. Amen.

The report of your obedience has reached everyone. Therefore I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise about what is good, yet innocent about what is evil.

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God to advance the obedience of faith among all nations—

to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ—to Him be the glory forever! Amen.

Paul, called as an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Sosthenes our brother:

To God’s church at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus and called as saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord—both their Lord and ours.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I always thank my God for you because of God’s grace given to you in Christ Jesus,

God is faithful; you were called by Him into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved.

Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish?

For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached.

Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom,

because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something,

But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became God-given wisdom for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,

When I came to you, brothers, announcing the testimony of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom.

so that your faith might not be based on men’s wisdom but on God’s power.

On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory.

But as it is written:

What eye did not see and ear did not hear,
and what never entered the human mind—
God prepared this for those who love Him.

Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.

But the unbeliever does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one must be careful how he builds on it.

Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you?

If anyone destroys God’s sanctuary, God will destroy him; for God’s sanctuary is holy, and that is what you are.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, since it is written: He catches the wise in their craftiness;

and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

A person should consider us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers of God’s mysteries.

Therefore don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.

For I think God has displayed us, the apostles, in last place, like men condemned to die: We have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast permeates the whole batch of dough?

But God judges outsiders. Put away the evil person from among yourselves.

Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or anyone practicing homosexuality,