They know, because they have known me from time past, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.

a promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God night and day. Concerning this hope the Jews are accusing me, Your Majesty!

When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself by kicking against the goads.'

So I said, 'Who are you, Lord?' And the Lord replied, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

to open their eyes so that they turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

Agrippa said to Paul, "In such a short time are you persuading me to become a Christian?"

Paul replied, "I pray to God that whether in a short or a long time not only you but also all those who are listening to me today could become such as I am, except for these chains."

and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul! You must stand before Caesar, and God has graciously granted you the safety of all who are sailing with you.'

For the heart of this people has become dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have closed their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them."'

You also are among them, called to belong to Jesus Christ.

Thus I am eager also to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.

For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes -- his eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse.

They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips,

Therefore you are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

And do you think, whoever you are, when you judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God's judgment?

But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment is revealed!

For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous.

For whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things required by the law, these who do not have the law are a law to themselves.

and if you are convinced that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

Actually, there are many advantages. First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

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."

What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin,

"Their throats are open graves, they deceive with their tongues, the poison of asps is under their lips."

"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."

"Their feet are swift to shed blood,

ruin and misery are in their paths,

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;

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 this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants -- not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all

What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase?

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.

For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not!

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?

So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him.

So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.

The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God's children.

And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose,

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers,

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,

nor are all the children Abraham's true descendants; rather "through Isaac will your descendants be counted."

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.

But who indeed are you -- a mere human being -- to talk back to God? Does what is molded say to the molder, "Why have you made me like this?"

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

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,

For I can testify that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not in line with the truth.

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 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."

"Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!"

If the first portion of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches.

In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers.

For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

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

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.

so we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually we are members who belong to one another.

For this reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants devoted to governing.

Pay everyone what is owed: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

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."

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.

If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.

For if your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy by your food someone for whom Christ died.

Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. For although all things are clean, it is wrong to cause anyone to stumble by what you eat.

But we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not just please ourselves.

But I myself am fully convinced about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

For Macedonia and Achaia are pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.

For they were pleased to do this, and indeed they are indebted to the Jerusalem saints. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are obligated also to minister to them in material things.

Pray that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea and that my ministry in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,

who risked their own necks for my life. Not only I, but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

Greet Andronicus and Junia, my compatriots and my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles, and they were in Christ before me.

Greet Herodion, my compatriot. Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.

Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the believers who are with them.

For these are the kind who do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By their smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of the naive.

to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

For members of Chloe's household have made it clear to me, my brothers and sisters, that there are quarrels among you.

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

But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing.

But just as it is written, "Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him."

Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God.

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.

I fed you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready. In fact, you are still not ready,

for you are still influenced by the flesh. For since there is still jealousy and dissension among you, are you not influenced by the flesh and behaving like unregenerate people?

For whenever someone says, "I am with Paul," or "I am with Apollos," are you not merely human?

We are coworkers belonging to God. You are God's field, God's building.

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

If someone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, which is what you are.

And again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."

Already you are satisfied! Already you are rich! You have become kings without us! I wish you had become kings so that we could reign with you!

We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, we are dishonored!

To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, poorly clothed, brutally treated, and without a roof over our heads.

We do hard work, toiling with our own hands. When we are verbally abused, we respond with a blessing, when persecuted, we endure,

when people lie about us, we answer in a friendly manner. We are the world's dirt and scum, even now.