and I always ask in my prayers, if perhaps now at last I may succeed in visiting you according to the will of God.

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles.

For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, "The righteous by faith will live."

For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened.

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done.

They show that the work of the law is written in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend them,

For just as it is written, "the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being shown up as a liar, just as it is written: "so that you will be justified in your words and will prevail when you are judged."

For if by my lie the truth of God enhances his glory, why am I still actually being judged as a sinner?

And why not say, "Let us do evil so that good may come of it"? -- as some who slander us allege that we say. (Their condemnation is deserved!)

just as it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one,

God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed.

For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Is this blessedness then for the circumcision or also for the uncircumcision? For we say, "faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness."

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.

(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.

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.

So indeed it was credited to Abraham as righteousness.

So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned --

Consequently, just as condemnation for all people came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people.

For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man many will be made righteous.

so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life.

and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness.

Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness?

(I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.) For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

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.

Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

As it is written, "For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

who are Israelites. To them belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.

It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel,

This means it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants.

just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

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.'"

And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, "Though the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved,

Just as Isaiah predicted, "If the Lord of armies had not left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have resembled Gomorrah."

Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,

just as it is written, "Look, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble and a rock that will make them fall, yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame."

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 I ask, have they not heard? Yes, they have: Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

But again I ask, didn't Israel understand? First Moses says, "I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; with a senseless nation I will provoke you to anger."

And Isaiah is even bold enough to say, "I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me."

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.

as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, to this very day."

I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous.

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

Just as you were formerly disobedient to God, but have now received mercy due to their disobedience,

Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice -- alive, holy, and pleasing to God -- which is your reasonable service.

For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you a measure of faith.

For just as in one body we have many members, and not all the members serve the same function,

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people.

For the commandments, "Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet," (and if there is any other commandment) are summed up in this, "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Let us live decently as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in discord and jealousy.

For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God."

Therefore do not let what you consider good be spoken of as evil.

For even Christ did not please himself, but just as it is written, "The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me."

Receive one another, then, just as Christ also received you, to God's glory.

and thus the Gentiles glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Because of this I will confess you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praises 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 abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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

in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem even as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

And in this way I desire to preach where Christ has not been named, so as not to build on another person's foundation,

but as it is written: "Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand."