Bringing them before the praetors they declared, "These fellows are Jews who are making an agitation in our town;

they are proclaiming customs which as Romans we are not allowed to accept or observe!"

but Paul shouted aloud, "Do not harm yourself, we are all here!"

But Paul replied, "They flogged us in public and without a trial, flogged Roman citizens! They put us in prison, and now they are going to get rid of us secretly! No indeed! Let them come here themselves and take us out!"

So Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I observe at every turn that you are a most religious people.

The God who made the world and all things in it, he, as Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in shrines that are made by human hands;

Such ages of ignorance God overlooked, but he now charges men that they are all everywhere to repent,

But as these are merely questions of words and persons and your own Law, you can attend to them for yourselves. I decline to adjudicate upon matters like that."

But the evil spirit retorted, "Jesus I know and Paul I know, but you ??who are you?"

You also see and hear that not only at Ephesus but almost all over Asia this fellow Paul has drawn off a considerable number of people by his persuasions. He declares that hand-made gods are not gods at all.

Instead of that, you have brought these men here who are guilty neither of sacrilege nor of blasphemy against our goddess.

If Demetrius and his fellow tradesmen have a grievance against anybody, let both parties state their charges; assizes are held and there are always the proconsuls.

Only, I know this, that in town after town the holy Spirit testifies to me that bonds and troubles are awaiting me.

They glorified God when they heard it. Then they said to him, "Brother, you see how many thousands of believers there are among the Jews, all of them ardent upholders of the Law.

associate yourself with them, purify yourself with them, pay their expenses so that they may be free to have their heads shaved, and then everybody will understand there is nothing in these stories about you, but that, on the contrary, you are guided by obedience to the Law.

"Then you are not the Egyptian who in days gone by raised the four thousand assassins and led them out into the desert?"

"I am a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel in all the strictness of our ancestral Law, ardent for God as you all are to-day.

'Who are you?' I asked. He said to me, 'I am Jesus the Nazarene, and you are persecuting me.'

I said, 'What am I to do?' And the Lord said to me, 'Get up and make your way into Damascus; there?you shall be told about all you are destined to do.'

For you are to be a witness for him before all men, a witness of what you have seen and heard.

They had strapped him up, when Paul said to the officer who was standing by, "Are you allowed to scourge a Roman citizen ??and to scourge him without a trial?"

When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and said to him, "What are you going to do? This man is a Roman citizen."

So the commander went to him and said, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes," he said.

Now do not let them persuade you. More than forty of them are lying in ambush for him, and they have taken a solemn oath neither to eat nor to drink till they have murdered him. They are all ready at this moment, awaiting your consent."

for you are well acquainted with all Jewish customs and questions. Pray listen to me then with patience.

'Who are you?' I asked. And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me.

that their eyes may be opened and that they may turn from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, to get remission of their sins and an inheritance among those who are consecrated by faith in me.'

When he brought this forward in his defence, Festus called out, "Paul, you are quite mad! Your great learning is driving you insane."

However, we are to be stranded on an island."

Take some food then, I beg of you; it will keep you alive. You are going to be saved! Not a hair of your heads will perish."

We think it only right to let you tell your own story; but as regards this sect, we are well aware that there are objections to it on all hands."

For the heart at this people is obtuse, their ears are heavy at hearing, their eyes they have closed, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they understand with their heart and turn again, and I cure them.

including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ:

to all in Rome who are beloved by God, called to be saints, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

till they are filled with all manner of wickedness, depravity, lust, and viciousness, filled to the brim with envy, murder, quarrels, intrigues, and malignity ??slanderers,

Therefore you are inexcusable, whoever you are, if you pose as a judge, for in judging another you condemn yourself; you, the judge, do the very same things yourself.

Or are you slighting all his wealth of kindness, forbearance, and patience? Do you not know his kindness is meant to make you repent?

In your stubbornness and impenitence of heart you are simply storing up anger for yourself on the Day of anger, when the just doom of God is revealed.

but anger and wrath to those who are wilful, who disobey the Truth and obey wickedness ??9 anguish and calamity for every human soul that perpetrates evil, for the Jew first and for the Greek as well,

For it is not the hearers of the Law who are just in the eyes of God, it is those who obey the Law who will be acquitted,

[Move vss 14,15 to follow vs 16] (When Gentiles who have no law obey instinctively the Law's requirements, they are a law to themselves, even though they have no law;

understanding his will, and with a sense of what is vital in religion; if you are instructed by the Law

and are persuaded that you are a guide to the blind, a light to darkened souls,

Circumcision is certainly of use, provided you keep the Law; but if you are a breaker of the Law, then your circumcision is turned into uncircumcision.

And shall not those who are physically uncircumcised and who fulfil the Law, judge you who are a breaker of the Law for all your written code and circumcision?)

But if our iniquity thus serves to bring out the justice of God, what are we to infer? That it is unfair of God to inflict his anger on us? (I speak in a merely human way.)

Why should we not do evil that good may come out of it?" (which is the calumny attributed to me ??the very thing some people declare I say). Such arguments are rightly condemned.

Well now, are we Jews in a better position? Not at all. I have already charged all, Jews as well as Greeks, with being under sin ??10 as it is written, None is righteous, no, not one;

Their throat is an open grave, they are treacherous with their tongues, the venom of an asp lies under their lips.

their feet are swift for bloodshed,

Whatever the Law says, we know, it says to those who are inside the Law, that every mouth may be shut and all the world made answerable to God;

but it is a righteousness of God which comes by believing in Jesus Christ. And it is meant for all who have faith. No distinctions are drawn.

but they are justified for nothing by his grace through the ransom provided in Christ Jesus,

Just as David himself describes the bliss of the man who has righteousness counted to him by God apart from what he does ??7 Blessed are they whose breaches of the Law are forgiven, whose sins are covered!

For if it is adherents of the Law who are heirs, then faith is empty of all meaning and the promise is void.

That is why all turns upon faith; it is to make the promise a matter of favour, to make it secure for all the offspring, not simply for those who are adherents of the Law but also for those who share the faith of Abraham ??of Abraham who is the father of us all

As we are justified by faith, then, let us enjoy the peace we have with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Much more then, now that we are justified by his blood, shall we be saved by him from Wrath.

If we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son when we were enemies, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Now what are we to infer from this? That we are to 'remain on in sin, so that there may be all the more grace'?

What follows, then? Are we 'to sin, because we live under grace, not under law'? Never!

Do you not know you are the servants of the master you obey, of the master to whom you yield yourselves obedient, whether it is Sin, whose service ends in death, or Obedience, whose service ends in righteousness?

Well, what did you gain then by it all? Nothing but what you are now ashamed of! The end of all that is death;

but now that you are set free from sin, now that you have passed into the service of God, your gain is consecration, and the end of that is life eternal.

but now we are done with the Law, we have died to what once held us, so that we can serve in a new way, not under the written code as of old but in the Spirit.

Thus there is no doom now for those who are in Christ Jesus;

For the interests of the flesh are hostile to God; they do not yield to the law of God (indeed they cannot).

Those who are in the flesh cannot satisfy God.

But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells within you. Anyone who does not possess the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.

If you live by the flesh, you are on the road to death; but if by the Spirit you put the actions of the body to death, you will live.

For the sons of God are those who are guided by the Spirit of God.

it is this Spirit testifying along with our own spirit that we are children of God;

Present suffering, I hold, is a mere nothing compared to the glory that we are to have revealed.

So too the Spirit assists us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray aright, but the Spirit pleads for us with sighs that are beyond words,

(Because, as it is written, For thy sake we are being killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.)

No, in all this we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

for they are Israelites, theirs is the Sonship, the Glory, the covenants, the divine legislation, the Worship, and the promises;

the patriarchs are theirs, and theirs too (so far as natural descent goes) is the Christ. (Blessed for evermore be the God who is over all! Amen.)

they are not all children of Abraham because they are descended from Abraham. No, it is through Isaac that your offspring shall be reckoned ??8 meaning that instead of God's children being the children born to him by natural descent, it is the children of the Promise who are reckoned as his true offspring.

Then are we to infer that there is injustice in God? Never!

But who are you, my man, to speak back to God? Is something a man has moulded to ask him who has moulded it, "Why did you make me like this?"

on the very spot where they were told, 'You are no people of mine,' there shall they be called 'sons of the living God.'

What are we to conclude, then? That Gentiles who never aimed at righteousness have attained righteousness, that is, righteousness by faith;

But how are they to invoke One in whom they do not believe? And how are they to believe in One of whom they have never heard? And how are they ever to hear, without a preacher?

And how can men preach unless they are sent? ??as it is written, How pleasant is the coming of men with glad, good news!

Now what are we to infer from this? That Israel has failed to secure the object of its quest; the elect have secured it, and the rest have been rendered insensible to it ??8 as it is written, God has given them a spirit of torpor, eyes that see not, ears that hear not ??down to this very day.

If the first handful of dough is consecrated, so is the rest of the lump; if the root is consecrated, so are the branches.

So far as the gospel goes, they are enemies of God ??which is to your advantage; but so far as election goes, they are beloved for their father's sake.

Once you disobeyed God, and now you enjoy his mercy thanks to their disobedience; in the same way they at present are disobedient,

so too, for all our numbers, we form one Body in Christ and we are severally members one of another.

Magistrates are no terror to an honest man, though they are to a bad man. If you want to avoid being alarmed at the government-authorities, lead an honest life and you will be commended for it;

for the same reason as you pay taxes ??since magistrates are God's officers, bent upon the maintenance of order and authority.

You must not commit adultery, you must not kill, you must not steal, you must not covet ??these and any other command are summed up in a single word, You must love your neighbour as yourself.

Who are you to criticize the servant of Another? It is for his Master to say whether he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Master has power to make him stand.

if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. Thus we are the Lord's whether we live or die;

If your brother is being injured because you eat a certain food, then you are no longer living by the rule of love. Do not let that food of yours ruin the man for whom Christ died.

Peace, then, and the building up of each other, these are what we must aim at.

We who are strong ought to bear the burdens that the weak make for themselves and us. We are not to please ourselves.

Personally I am quite certain, my brothers, that even as it is you have ample goodness of heart, you are filled with knowledge of every kind, and you are well able to give advice to one another.

Salute Andronicus and Junias, fellow-countrymen and fellow-prisoners of mine; they are men of note among the apostles, and they have been in Christ longer than I have.