There was at Caesarea a man named Cornelius, a captain in what was known as the Italian regiment.

He stared at him in terror, and said, "What is it, sir?" "Your prayers and charities," the angel answered, "have gone up and been remembered before God.

The voice came to him again a second time, "Do not call what God has cleansed unclean."

While Peter was still wondering what the vision he had had could mean, the men whom Cornelius had sent had asked the way to Simon's house and reached the door,

Then Peter went down to see the men, and said to them, "I am the man you are asking for. What is the reason for your coming?"

They answered, "Cornelius, who is a captain, and an upright and God-fearing man, and who has a good reputation with the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house, and to listen to what you have to say."

but welcomes the man of any nation who reveres him and does what is right.

Then the voice from heaven answered again, 'Do not call what God has cleansed unclean!'

So he followed him out without knowing that what the angel was doing was real, for he thought he was having a vision.

But when morning came, there was no little commotion among the soldiers as to what could have become of Peter.

Then the governor, seeing what had happened, believed, and was thunderstruck at the Lord's teaching.

Toward the end of his career, John said, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he! No! Someone is coming after me, the shoes on whose feet I am not fit to untie!'

Take care, therefore, that what is said in the prophets does not prove true of you:

But when the Jews saw the crowd, they were very jealous, and they contradicted what Paul said and abused him.

The crowds, seeing what Paul had done, shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!"

He led them out of the jail and said to them, "Gentlemen, what must I do to be saved?"

Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some of them said, "What is this rag-picker trying to make out?" Others said, "He seems to be preaching some foreign deities." This was because he was telling the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

So they took him and brought him to the council of the Areopagus and said, "May we know just what this new teaching of yours is?

Some of the things you tell us sound strange to us, and we want to know just what they mean."

For as I was going about and looking at the things you worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: 'To an Unknown God.' So it is what you already worship in ignorance that I am now telling you of.

I am here now on my way to Jerusalem, for the Spirit compels me to go there, though I do not know what will happen to me there,

He came to see us and took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands with it, and said, "This is what the holy Spirit says: 'The Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt like this, and will hand him over to the heathen!' "

Then Paul answered, "What do you mean by crying and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound at Jerusalem but to die there for the sake of the Lord Jesus."

Paul greeted them warmly and gave a detailed account of what God had done among the heathen through his efforts.

What then? They will be sure to hear that you have come.

So do what we tell you. We have four men here who are under a vow.

Then the colonel came up and seized him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains, and then inquired who he was and what he had been doing.

"Brothers and fathers," he said, "listen to what I have to say in my defense."

Then I said, 'What am I to do, sir?' The Lord said to me, 'Get up and go into Damascus. There you will be told of all you are destined to do.'

for you shall be his witness before all men of what you have seen and heard.

Upon hearing this, the officer went to the colonel and reported it. "What do you propose to do?" he said. "This man is a Roman citizen."

So the colonel took him by the arm and stepping aside where they could be alone, asked, "What is it that you have to tell me?"

As I wanted to learn what charge they made against him, I had him brought before their council,

After reading the letter, he asked Paul what province he belonged to, and when he learned that he was from Cilicia,

Or let these men themselves tell what they found wrong in me when I appeared before the council??21 unless it was the one thing I shouted out as I stood among them??It is on the question of the resurrection of the dead that I am here on trial before you today!' "

Some days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, and sent for Paul and heard what he had to say about faith in Christ Jesus.

That was what I did at Jerusalem when on the authority of the high priests I put many of God's people in prison. When they were put to death, I cast my vote against them,

But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for the express purpose of appointing you to serve me and to testify to what you have seen and to the visions you will have of me.

To this day I have had God's help and I stand here to testify to high and low alike, without adding a thing to what Moses and the prophets declared would happen,

"In a hurry or not," said Paul, "I would to God that not only you, but all who hear me today, might be what I am??xcept for these chains!"

But the officer was more influenced by the pilot and the captain than by what Paul had to say,

Some of them were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe.

Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible nature??is eternal power and divine character??ave been clearly perceptible through what he has made. So they have no excuse,

For they had exchanged the truth of God for what was false, and worshiped and served what he had created, instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen!

and men too in the same way have disregarded the natural function of women and been consumed with passion for one another, men for men, acting indecently, and experiencing in their own persons the inevitable penalty of what they have done.

For he will pay every man for what he has done.

but self-seeking people who are disloyal to the truth and responsive only to what is wrong will experience anger and fury,

crushing distress and anguish, every human soul of them that actually does what is wrong??he Jew first, and the Greek also;

When heathen who have no Law instinctively obey what the Law demands, even though they have no law they are a law to themselves,

for they show that what the Law demands is written on their hearts, and their consciences will testify for them, and with their thoughts they will either accuse or perhaps defend themselves,

on that Day when, as the good news I preach teaches, God through Christ Jesus judges what men have kept secret,

and can understand his will, and from hearing the Law read can tell what is right,

What advantage is there then in being a Jew, and what is the use of circumcision?

What if some of them have shown a lack of faith? Can their lack of it nullify the faithfulness of God?

By no means! God must prove true, though every man be false; as the Scripture says, "That you may be shown to be upright in what you say, And win your case when you go into court."

But if our wrongdoing brings out the uprightness of God, what are we to say? Is it wrong in God (I am putting it in ordinary human terms) to inflict punishment?

What does this mean? Are we Jews at a disadvantage? Not at all. We have already charged Jews and Greeks all alike with being under the control of sin.

Then what becomes of our boasting? It is shut out. On what principle? What a man does? No, but whether a man has faith.

Then what are we to say about our ancestor Abraham?

For if he was made upright by what he did, it is something to be proud of. But not to be proud of before God,

for what does the Scripture say? "Abraham had faith in God, and it was credited to him as uprightness."

Does this happiness apply to those who are circumcised, or to those who are uncircumcised as well? What we say is, Abraham's faith was credited to him as uprightness.

In what circumstances? Was it after he was circumcised or before? Not after he was circumcised, but before;

as the Scripture says, "I have made you the father of many nations." The promise is guaranteed in the very sight of God in whom he had faith, who can bring the dead to life and call into being what does not exist.

in the full assurance that God was able to do what he had promised.

Then what shall we conclude? Are we to continue to sin to increase the spread of mercy?

What follows, then? Are we to sin, because we live not under law but under mercy? Certainly not!

What good did you get from doing the things you are now ashamed of? Why, they result in death!

Do you not know, brothers??or I am speaking to men who know what law is??hat law governs a man only as long as he lives?

But now the Law no longer applies to us; we have died to what once controlled us, so that we can now serve in the new Spirit, not under the old letter.

Then what shall we conclude? That the Law is sin? Certainly not! Yet, if it had not been for the Law, I should never have learned what sin was; I should not have known what it was to covet if the Law had not said, "You must not covet."

Did what was good, then, prove the death of me? Certainly not! It was sin that did so, so that it might be recognized as sin, because even through something that was good it effected my death, so that through the command it might appear how immeasurably sinful sin was.

I do not understand what I am doing, for I do not do what I want to do; I do things that I hate.

But if I do what I do not want to do, I acknowledge that the Law is right.

For I know that nothing good resides in me, that is, in my physical self; I can will, but I cannot do what is right.

I find the law to be that I who want to do right am dogged by what is wrong.

What a wretched man I am! Who can save me from this doomed body?

People who are controlled by the physical think of what is physical, and people who are controlled by the spiritual think of what is spiritual.

For I consider what we suffer now not to be compared with the glory that is to burst upon us.

It was in this hope that we were saved. But a hope that can be seen is not a hope, for who hopes for what he sees?

and he who searches our hearts knows what the Spirit means, for it pleads for God's people in accordance with his will.

We know that in everything God works with those who love him, whom he has called in accordance with his purpose, to bring about what is good.

Then what shall we conclude from this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

For this is what the promise said: "When I come back at this time next year, Sarah will have a son."

For before the children were born or had done anything either good or bad, in order to carry out God's purpose of selection, which depends not on what men do but on his calling them,

What do we conclude? That God is guilty of injustice? By no means.

Then what if God, though he wanted to display his anger and show his power, has shown great patience toward the objects of his anger, already ripe for destruction,

Then what do we conclude? That heathen who were not striving for uprightness attained it, that is, an uprightness which was produced by faith;

But this is what the uprightness that springs from faith says: "Do not say to yourself, 'Who will go up to heaven?' " that is, to bring Christ down;

No! This is what it says: "God's message is close to you, on your lips and in your mind"??hat is, the message about faith that we preach.

It is true, they have not all accepted the good news, for Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what we have told?"

So faith comes from hearing what is told, and that hearing comes through the message about Christ.

But I ask again, did Israel fail to understand? Why, to begin with, Moses said, "I will make you jealous of what is no nation at all, I will exasperate you at a senseless nation."

Then Isaiah broke out boldly and said, "I have been found by men who were not looking for me, I have shown myself to men who were not asking what my will was."

God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel?

But what is God's reply? "I have left myself seven thousand men who have never knelt to Baal!"

What follows? Israel failed to get what it sought, but those whom God selected got it.

For if their rejection has meant the reconciling of the world, what can the acceptance of them mean but life from the dead?

You must not adopt the customs of this world but by your new attitude of mind be transformed so that you can find out what God's will is??hat is good, pleasing, and perfect.

Your love must be genuine. You must hate what is wrong, and hold to what is right.