Some were convinced by what he said, but others refused to believe.

when he said, 'Go to this people and say, "You will keep on hearing, but will never understand, and you will keep on looking, but will never perceive.

This gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,

He will reward each one according to his works:

But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he? (I am speaking in human terms.)

Absolutely not! For otherwise how could God judge the world?

This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus' faithfulness.

Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles too? Yes, of the Gentiles too!

Since God is one, he will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

For if Abraham was declared righteous by the works of the law, he has something to boast about -- but not before God.

How then was it credited to him? Was he circumcised at the time, or not? No, he was not circumcised but uncircumcised!

And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, so that he would become the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, that they too could have righteousness credited to them.

And he is also the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised.

For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

(as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"). He is our father in the presence of God whom he believed -- the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do.

Against hope Abraham believed in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations according to the pronouncement, "so will your descendants be."

Without being weak in faith, he considered his own body as dead (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah's womb.

He did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.

He was fully convinced that what God promised he was also able to do.

He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?

But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many!

For if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!

Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him.

For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God.

Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person as long as he lives?

For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage.

For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees?

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God's will.

because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all -- how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things?

Who is the one who will condemn? Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us.

For he says to Moses: "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."

So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.

You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?"

And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory --

even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

As he also says in Hosea: "I will call those who were not my people, 'My people,' and I will call her who was unloved, 'My beloved.'"

How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them?

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news."

But about Israel he says, "All day long I held out my hands to this disobedient and stubborn people!"

So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? 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! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

Now if their transgression means riches for the world and their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration bring?

For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you.

For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.

For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways!

If it is service, he must serve; if it is teaching, he must teach;

if it is exhortation, he must exhort; if it is contributing, he must do so with sincerity; if it is leadership, he must do so with diligence; if it is showing mercy, he must do so with cheerfulness.

Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head.

Who are you to pass judgment on another's servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

The one who observes the day does it for the Lord. The one who eats, eats for the Lord because he gives thanks to God, and the one who abstains from eating abstains for the Lord, and he gives thanks to God.

For this reason Christ died and returned to life, so that he may be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

The faith you have, keep to yourself before God. Blessed is the one who does not judge himself by what he approves.

But the man who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not do so from faith, and whatever is not from faith is sin.

He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Is Christ divided? Paul wasn't crucified for you, was he? Or were you in fact baptized in the name of Paul?

He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is understood by no one.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master-builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it. And each one must be careful how he builds.

If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,

If what someone has built survives, he will receive a reward.

If someone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Guard against self-deception, each of you. If someone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become foolish so that he can become wise.

For the wisdom of this age is foolishness with God. As it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness."

So then, do not judge anything before the time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the motives of hearts. Then each will receive recognition from God.

For this reason, I have sent Timothy to you, who is my dear and faithful son in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

When any of you has a legal dispute with another, does he dare go to court before the unrighteous rather than before the saints?

Now God indeed raised the Lord and he will raise us by his power.

To the rest I say -- I, not the Lord -- if a brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is happy to live with him, he should not divorce her.

And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is happy to live with her, she should not divorce him.

For how do you know, wife, whether you will bring your husband to salvation? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will bring your wife to salvation?

Nevertheless, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each person, so must he live. I give this sort of direction in all the churches.

Was anyone called after he had been circumcised? He should not try to undo his circumcision. Was anyone called who is uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised.

Let each one remain in that situation in life in which he was called.

And I want you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.

But a married man is concerned about the things of the world, how to please his wife,

and he is divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, to be holy both in body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the things of the world, how to please her husband.

If anyone thinks he is acting inappropriately toward his virgin, if she is past the bloom of youth and it seems necessary, he should do what he wishes; he does not sin. Let them marry.

If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know.

But if someone loves God, he is known by God.

For it is written in the law of Moses, "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." God is not concerned here about oxen, is he?

Or is he not surely speaking for our benefit? It was written for us, because the one plowing and threshing ought to work in hope of enjoying the harvest.

So let the one who thinks he is standing be careful that he does not fall.

No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. And God is faithful: He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it.

Or are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we really stronger than he is?

For a man should not have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of the man.

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread,

and after he had given thanks he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, every time you drink it, in remembrance of me."

For every time you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

It is one and the same Spirit, distributing as he decides to each person, who produces all these things.

But as a matter of fact, God has placed each of the members in the body just as he decided.