BibleWare/BibWare.bin/bibtrans/weymouth.exe/RO.WNT

Text File | 1993-06-07 | 66KB | 1,277 lines

1:1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, /1 called to be an
 Apostle, set apart to proclaim God's Good News,
1:2 which God had already promised through His Prophets in Holy
 Writ, concerning His Son,
1:3 who, as regards His human descent, belonged to the posterity
 of David,
1:4 but as regards the holiness of His Spirit was decisively
 proved by His Resurrection to be the Son of God--I mean
 concerning Jesus Christ our Lord,
1:5 through whom we have received /2 grace and Apostleship in
 His service in order /3 to win men to obedience to the faith,
 among all Gentile peoples,
1:6 among whom you also, /1 called, as you have been, to belong
 to Jesus Christ, are numbered:
1:7 To all /4 God's loved ones who are in Rome, called /5 to be
 saints. May grace and peace be granted to you from God our
 Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:8 First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for what
 He has done for all of you; for the report of your faith is
 spreading through the whole world.
1:9 I call God to witness--to whom I render priestly and
 spiritual service by telling the Good News about His Son-- /6
 how unceasingly I make mention of you

/1 in His presence,
1:10 always in my prayers entreating that now, at length, if
 such be His will, the way may by some means be made clear for
 me to come to you.
1:11 For I am longing to see you, in order to convey to you some
 spiritual help, so that you may be strengthened;
1:12 in other words that while I am among you we may be mutually
 encouraged by one another's faith, yours and mine.
1:13 And I desire you to know, brethren, that I have many a time
 intended to come to you--though until now I have been
 disappointed--in order that among you also I might gather some
 fruit from my labours, as I have already done among the rest of
 the Gentile nations.
1:14 I /2 am already under obligations alike to Greek-speaking
 races and to others, to cultured and to uncultured people:
1:15 so that for my part I am willing and eager to proclaim the
 Good News to you also who are in Rome.
1:16 For I am not ashamed of the Good News. It is God's power
 which is at work for the salvation of every one who
 believes--the Jew first, and then the /3 Gentile.
1:17 For in the Good News /4 a righteousness which comes from
 God is being revealed, depending on faith and tending to
 produce faith; as the Scripture has it, /5 <"The righteous man
 shall live by faith.">
1:18 For God's anger is being revealed from Heaven against all
 impiety and against the iniquity of men who through iniquity
 suppress the truth. God is angry:
1:19 because what may be known about Him is plain /6 to their
 inmost consciousness; for He Himself has made it plain to them.
1:20 For, from the very creation of the world, His invisible
 perfections--namely His eternal power and divine nature--have
 been rendered intelligible and clearly visible by His works, /7
 so that these men are without excuse.

1:21 For when they had come to know God, they did not give Him
 glory as God nor render Him thanks, but they became absorbed in
 useless discussions, and their senseless minds were darkened.
1:22 While boasting of their wisdom they became /1 utter fools,
1:23 and, /2 instead of worshipping the imperishable God, they
 worshipped images resembling perishable man or resembling birds
 or beasts or reptiles.
1:24 For this reason, in accordance with /3 their own depraved
 cravings, God gave them up to uncleanness, allowing them to
 dishonour their bodies among themselves with impurity.
1:25 For they had bartered the reality of God for /4 what is
 unreal, and had offered divine honours and religious service to
 created things, rather than to the Creator--He who is for ever
 blessed. Amen.
1:26 This then is the reason why God gave them up to vile
 passions. For not only did the women among them exchange the
 natural use of their bodies for one which is contrary to
 nature, but the men also,
1:27 in just the same way--neglecting that for which nature
 intends women--burned with passion towards one another, men
 practising shameful vice with men, and receiving in their own
 selves the reward which necessarily followed their misconduct.
1:28 And just as they had refused to continue to have a full
 knowledge of God, so it was to utterly worthless minds that God
 gave them up, for them to do things which should not be done.
1:29 Their hearts overflowed with all sorts of dishonesty,
 mischief, greed, /5 malice. They were full of envy and murder,
 and were quarrelsome, crafty, and spiteful.
1:30 They were secret backbiters, open slanderers; /6 hateful to
 God, insolent, haughty, boastful; inventors of new forms of
 sin, disobedient to parents, destitute of common sense,
1:31 faithless to their promises, without natural affection,
 without human pity.

1:32 In short, though knowing full well the sentence which God
 pronounces against /1 actions such as theirs, as things which
 deserve death, they not only /1 practise them, but even /2
 encourage and applaud others who do them.
2:1 You are therefore without excuse, O man, /3 whoever you are
 who /4 sit in judgement upon others. For when you /4 pass
 judgement on your fellow man, you condemn yourself; for you who
 sit in judgement upon others are guilty of the same misdeeds;
2:2 and we know that God's judgement /5 against those who commit
 such sins is in accordance with the truth.
2:3 And you who pronounce judgement upon those who do such
 things although your own conduct is the same as theirs--do you
 imagine that you yourself will escape unpunished when God
 judges?
2:4 Or is it that you think slightingly of /6 His infinite
 goodness, forbearance and patience, unaware that the goodness
 of God is gently drawing you to repentance?
2:5 The fact is that in the stubbornness of your impenitent
 heart you are treasuring up against yourself anger on the day
 of Anger--the day when the righteousness of God's judgements
 will stand revealed.
2:6 <To each man He will make an award corresponding to his
 actions;>
2:7 to those on the one hand who, by lives of persistent
 right-doing, are striving for glory, honour and immortality,
 the Life of the Ages;
2:8 while on the other hand upon the self-willed who disobey the
 truth and obey unrighteousness will fall anger and fury, /7
 affliction and awful distress,
2:9 coming upon the soul of every /8 man and woman who
 deliberately does wrong--upon the Jew first, and then upon the
 /9 Gentile;

2:10 whereas glory, honour and peace will be given to every one
 who does what is good and right--to the Jew first and then to
 the Gentile.
2:11 /1 For God pays no attention to this world's distinctions.
2:12 For all who /2 have sinned /3 apart from the Law will also
 perish apart from the Law, and all who have sinned whilst
 living /4 under the Law, will be judged by the Law.
2:13 It is not those that merely /5 hear the Law /6 read who are
 righteous in the sight of God, but it is those that obey the
 Law who will be pronounced righteous.
2:14 For when Gentiles who have no Law obey by natural instinct
 the commands of the Law, they, without having a Law, are a Law
 to themselves;
2:15 since they exhibit proof that /7 a knowledge of the conduct
 which the Law requires is engraven on their hearts, while their
 consciences also bear witness to the Law, and their thoughts,
 as if in mutual discussion, accuse them or perhaps maintain
 their innocence--
2:16 on the day when God will judge the secrets of men's lives
 /8 by Jesus Christ, as declared in the Good News as I have
 taught it.
2:17 And since you claim the name of Jew, and find /9 rest and
 satisfaction in the Law, and make your boast in God,
2:18 and know the supreme will, and /10 can test things that
 differ--being a man who receives instruction from the Law--
2:19 and have persuaded yourself that, as for you, you are a
 guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,
2:20 a schoolmaster for the dull and ignorant, a teacher of the
 young, because in the Law you possess /11 an outline of /12
 real knowledge and an outline of the truth:
2:21 you then who teach your fellow man, do you refuse to teach
 yourself? You who cry out against stealing, are you yourself a
 thief?
2:22 You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who
 loathe idols, do you plunder their temples?

2:23 You who make your boast in the Law, do you offend against
 its commands and so dishonour God?
2:24 <For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentile
 nations because of you,> as Holy Writ declares.
2:25 Circumcision does indeed profit, if you obey the Law; but
 if you are a Law-breaker, the fact that you have been
 circumcised counts for nothing.
2:26 In the same way if an uncircumcised man pays attention to
 the just requirements of the Law, shall not his lack of
 circumcision /1 be overlooked, and,
2:27 /2 although he is a Gentile by birth, if he scrupulously
 obeys the Law, shall he not sit in judgement upon you who,
 possessing, as you do, a written Law and circumcision, are yet
 a Law-breaker?
2:28 For the true Jew is not the man who is simply a Jew
 outwardly, and true circumcision is not that which is outward
 and bodily.
2:29 But the true Jew is one inwardly, and true circumcision is
 heart-circumcision--not literal, but spiritual; and such people
 receive praise not from men, but from God.
3:1 What special privilege, then, has a Jew? Or what benefit is
 to be derived from circumcision?
3:2 The privilege is great from every point of view. First of
 all, because the Jews were entrusted with /3 God's truth.
3:3 For what if some Jews have proved /4 unfaithful? Shall their
 faithlessness render God's faithfulness worthless?
3:4 /5 No, indeed; let us hold God to be true, though every man
 should prove to be false. As it stands written, <"That Thou
 mayest be shown to be just in /6 the sentence Thou pronouncest,
 and gain Thy cause /7 when Thou contendest.">
3:5 But if our unrighteousness /8 sets God's righteousness in a
 clearer light, what shall we say? (Is God unrighteous--I speak
 in our everyday language--

/1 when He inflicts punishment?
3:6 No indeed; for in that case how shall He judge all mankind?)
3:7 If, /2 for instance, a falsehood of mine has made God's
 truthfulness more conspicuous, redounding to His glory, why am
 I judged all the same as a sinner?
3:8 And why should we not say--for so they wickedly misrepresent
 us, and so some charge us with arguing--"Let us do evil that
 good may come"? The condemnation /3 of those who would so argue
 is just.
3:9 What then? Are we Jews more highly /4 estimated than they?
 Not in the least; for we have already charged all Jews and
 Gentiles alike with being in thraldom to sin.
3:10 Thus it stands written, <"There is not one righteous man.
3:11 There is not one who is really wise, nor one who is a
 diligent seeker after God.
3:12 All have turned aside from the right path; they have every
 one of them become corrupt. There is no one who does what is
 right--no, not so much as one."
3:13 "Their throats resemble an opened grave; with their tongues
 they have been talking deceitfully." "The venom of vipers lies
 hidden /5 behind their lips."
3:14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."
3:15 "Their feet move swiftly to shed blood.
3:16 /6 Ruin and misery mark their path;
3:17 and the way to peace they have not known."
3:18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes.">
3:19 But it cannot be denied that all that the Law says is
 addressed to those who are living under the Law, in order that
 /7 every mouth may be stopped, and that the whole world may
 await sentence from God.

3:20 For on the ground of obedience to Law no man living will be
 declared righteous before Him. Law simply brings a sure
 knowledge of sin.
3:21 But now a righteousness coming from God has been brought to
 light apart from any Law, both Law and Prophets bearing witness
 to it--
3:22 a righteousness coming from God, /1 which depends on faith
 in Jesus Christ and extends /2 to all who believe. No
 distinction is made;
3:23 for all alike have sinned, and all /3 consciously come
 short of the glory of God,
3:24 gaining acquittal from guilt by His free unpurchased grace
 through the /4 deliverance which is found in Christ Jesus.
3:25 He it is whom God put forward as /5 a Mercy-seat, rendered
 efficacious through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate
 His righteousness-- /6 because of the passing over, in God's
 forbearance, of the sins previously committed--
3:26 with a view to demonstrating, at the present time, His
 righteousness, that He may /7 be shown to be righteous Himself,
 and the giver of righteousness to those who believe in Jesus.
3:27 Where then is there room for your boasting? It is /8 for
 ever shut out. /9 On what principle? On the ground of merit?
 No, but on the ground of faith.
3:28 /10 For we maintain that it is as the result of faith that
 a man is held to be righteous, apart from actions done in
 obedience to Law.
3:29 Is God simply the God of the Jews, and not of the Gentiles
 also? He is certainly the God of the Gentiles also,
3:30 unless you can deny that it is one and the same God who
 will pronounce the circumcised to be acquitted on the ground of
 faith, and the uncircumcised to be acquitted through the same
 faith.

3:31 Do we then by means of this faith abolish /1 the Law? No,
 indeed; we give /1 the Law a firmer footing.
4:1 What then shall we say /2 that Abraham, our earthly
 forefather, has gained?
4:2 For if he was held to be righteous on the ground of his
 actions, he has something to boast of; but not /3 in the
 presence of God.
4:3 For what says the Scripture? <"And Abraham believed God, and
 /4 this was placed to his credit as righteousness.">
4:4 But in the case of a man who works, pay is not reckoned a
 favour but a debt;
4:5 whereas in the case of a man who pleads no actions of his
 own, but simply /5 believes in Him who declares the ungodly
 free from guilt, his faith is placed to his credit as
 righteousness.
4:6 In this way David also /6 tells of the blessedness of the
 man to whose credit God places righteousness, apart from his
 actions.
4:7 <"Blessed,"> he says, <"are those whose iniquities have been
 forgiven, and whose sins have been covered over.
4:8 Blessed is the man of whose sin the Lord will not take
 account.">
4:9 This declaration of blessedness, then, does it come simply
 to the circumcised, or to the uncircumcised as well? For
 <Abraham's faith>--so we affirm--<was placed to his credit as
 righteousness.>
4:10 What then were the circumstances under which this took
 place? Was it after he had been circumcised, or before?
4:11 Before, not after. And he received /7 circumcision as a
 sign, a mark attesting the reality of the faith-righteousness
 which was his while still uncircumcised, that he might be the
 forefather of all those who believe even though they are
 uncircumcised--in order that this righteousness might be placed
 to their credit;
4:12 and the forefather of the circumcised, namely of those who
 not merely are circumcised, but also walk in the steps of the
 faith which our forefather Abraham had while he was as yet
 uncircumcised.

4:13 /1 Again, the promise that he should inherit the world did
 not come to Abraham or his posterity conditioned by Law, but by
 faith-righteousness.
4:14 For if it is the righteous through Law who are heirs, then
 faith is useless and the promise counts for nothing.
4:15 For the Law inflicts /2 punishment; but where no Law
 exists, there can be no violation of Law.
4:16 All depends on faith, and for this reason--that /3
 acceptance with God might be an act of pure grace,
4:17 so that the promise should be made sure to all Abraham's
 true descendants; not merely to those who are righteous through
 the Law, but to those who are righteous through a faith like
 that of Abraham. Thus in the sight of God in whom he believed,
 who gives life to /4 the dead and makes reference to things
 that do not exist, as though they did, Abraham is the
 forefather of /5 all of us. As it is written, <"I have
 appointed you to be the forefather of many nations.">
4:18 Under utterly hopeless circumstances he hopefully believed,
 so that he might become the forefather of many nations, in
 agreement with the words <"Equally numerous shall your
 posterity be.">
4:19 And, without growing weak in faith, he could contemplate
 his own vital powers which had now decayed--for he was nearly
 100 years old--and Sarah's barrenness.
4:20 Nor did he in unbelief stagger at God's promise, but became
 mighty in faith, giving glory to God,
4:21 and being absolutely certain that whatever promise He is
 bound by He is able also to make good.
4:22 For this reason also his faith <was placed to his credit as
 righteousness.>
4:23 Nor was the fact of its being placed to his credit put on
 record for his sake only;
4:24 it was for our sakes too. Faith, before long, will be
 placed to the credit of us also who are believers in Him who
 raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead,

4:25 who was surrendered to death /1 because of the offences we
 had committed, and was raised to life /1 because of the /2
 acquittal secured for us.
5:1 Standing then acquitted as the result of faith, /3 let us
 enjoy peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
5:2 through whom also, /4 as the result of faith, we have
 obtained /5 an introduction into that state of favour with God
 in which we stand, and we exult in hope of /6 some day sharing
 in God's glory.
5:3 And not only so: /7 we also exult in our sufferings, knowing
 as we do, that /8 suffering produces fortitude;
5:4 fortitude, ripeness of character; and ripeness of character,
 hope;
5:5 and that /9 this hope never disappoints, because God's love
 for us /10 floods our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has
 been given /11 to us.
5:6 For already, while we were still helpless, Christ at the
 right moment died for the ungodly.
5:7 Why, it is scarcely conceivable that any one would die for a
 simply just man, although for a good and lovable man perhaps
 some one, here and there, will have the courage even to lay
 down his life.
5:8 But God gives proof of His love to us in Christ's dying for
 us while we were still sinners.

5:9 If therefore we have now been pronounced free from guilt
 through His blood, much more shall we be delivered from /1
 God's anger through Him.
5:10 For if while we were hostile to God we were reconciled to
 Him through the death of His Son, it is still more certain that
 now that we are reconciled, we shall obtain salvation through
 Christ's life.
5:11 And not only so, but we also exult in God through our Lord
 Jesus Christ, through whom we have now obtained that
 reconciliation.
5:12 What follows? This comparison. Through one man sin entered
 into the world, and through sin death, and so death passed to
 all mankind in turn, in that all sinned.
5:13 For prior to the Law sin was already in the world; only it
 is not /2 entered in the account against us when no Law exists.
5:14 Yet Death reigned as king from Adam to Moses even over
 those who had not sinned, as Adam did, against Law. And in Adam
 we have a type of Him whose coming was still future.
5:15 But God's free gift immeasurably outweighs the /3
 transgression. For if through the transgression of the one
 individual /4 the mass of mankind have died, infinitely greater
 is the generosity with which God's grace, and the gift given in
 His grace which found expression in the one man Jesus Christ,
 have been bestowed on the mass of mankind.
5:16 And it is not with the gift as it was with the results of
 one individual's sin; for the judgement which one individual
 provoked resulted in condemnation, whereas the free gift after
 a multitude of transgressions results in acquittal.
5:17 For if, through the transgression of the one individual,
 Death made use of the one individual to seize the sovereignty,
 all the more shall those who receive God's overflowing grace
 and gift of righteousness reign as kings in Life through the
 one individual, Jesus Christ.

5:18 It follows then that just as the result of a single
 transgression is a condemnation which extends to the whole
 race, so also the result of a single decree of righteousness is
 a /1 life-giving /2 acquittal which /3 extends to the whole
 race.
5:19 For as through the disobedience of the one individual the
 mass of mankind were constituted sinners, so also through the
 obedience of the One the mass of mankind will be constituted
 righteous.
5:20 Now Law was brought in later on, so /4 that transgression
 might increase. But where sin increased, grace /5 has
 overflowed;
5:21 in order that as sin has exercised kingly sway in
 inflicting death, so grace, too, /6 may exercise kingly sway in
 bestowing a righteousness which results in the Life of the Ages
 through Jesus Christ our Lord.
6:1 To what conclusion, then, shall we come? Are we to persist
 in sinning in order that the grace extended to us may be the
 greater?
6:2 No, indeed; how shall we who have died to sin, live in it
 any longer?
6:3 And do you not know that all of us who have been baptized /7
 into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
6:4 Well, then, /8 we by our baptism were buried with Him /9 in
 death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from among the
 dead by the Father's /10 glorious power, we also should live an
 entirely new life.
6:5 For since we have become one with Him /11 by sharing in His
 death, we shall also be one with Him /11 by sharing in His
 resurrection.
6:6 This we know--that our old self was nailed to the cross with
 Him, in order that our sinful nature might be deprived of its
 power, so that we should no longer be the slaves of sin;

6:7 for he who /1 has paid the penalty of death /2 stands
 absolved from his sin.
6:8 But, seeing that we /3 have died with Christ, we believe
 that we shall also live with Him;
6:9 because we know that Christ, having come back to life, is no
 longer liable to die.
6:10 Death has no longer any power over Him. For by the death
 which He died He became, once for all, dead in relation to sin;
 but by the life which He now lives /4 He is alive in relation
 to God.
6:11 In the same way you also must regard yourselves as dead in
 relation to sin, but as alive in relation to God, because you
 are in Christ Jesus.
6:12 Let not Sin therefore reign as king in your mortal bodies,
 causing you to be in subjection to their cravings;
6:13 and no longer lend your faculties as unrighteous /5 weapons
 for Sin to use. On the contrary surrender your very selves to
 God /6 as living men who have risen from the dead, and
 surrender your several faculties to God, to be used as weapons
 to maintain the right.
6:14 For Sin shall not be lord over you, since you are subjects
 not of Law, but of grace.
6:15 Are we therefore to sin because we are no longer under the
 authority of Law, but under grace? No, indeed!
6:16 Do you not know that if you surrender yourselves as
 bondservants to obey any one, you /7 become the bondservants of
 him whom you obey, whether the bondservants of Sin (with death
 as the result) or of Duty (resulting in righteousness)?

6:17 But thanks be to God that though you were once in thraldom
 to Sin, you /1 have now yielded a hearty obedience to that /2
 system of truth in which you have been /3 instructed.
6:18 You were set free from the tyranny of Sin, and became the
 bondservants of Righteousness--
6:19 your human infirmity leads me to employ these familiar
 figures--and just as you once surrendered your faculties into
 bondage to Impurity and ever-increasing disregard of Law, so
 you must now surrender them into bondage to Righteousness ever
 advancing towards perfect holiness.
6:20 For when you were the bondservants of sin, you were under
 no sort of subjection to Righteousness.
6:21 At that time, then, what benefit did you get from conduct
 which you now regard with shame? Why, such things finally
 result in death.
6:22 But now that you have been set free from the tyranny of
 Sin, and have become the bondservants of God, you have your
 reward in being made holy, and you have the Life of the Ages as
 the final result.
6:23 For the wages paid by Sin are death; but God's free gift is
 the Life of the Ages bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
7:1 Brethren, do you not know--for I am writing to people
 acquainted with the Law--that it is during our lifetime that we
 are subject to the Law?
7:2 A wife, for instance, whose husband is living is bound to
 him by the Law; but if her husband dies /4 the law that bound
 her to him has now no hold over her.
7:3 This accounts for the fact that if during her husband's life
 she lives with another man, she will be stigmatized as an
 adulteress; but that if her husband is dead she is /5 no longer
 under the old prohibition, and even though she marries again,
 she is not an adulteress.

7:4 So, my brethren, /1 to /2 you also the Law died through the
 /3 incarnation of Christ, that you might be wedded to Another,
 namely to Him who rose from the dead in order that /2 we might
 yield fruit to God.
7:5 For whilst we were under the thraldom of our earthly
 natures, sinful passions-- /4 made sinful by the Law--were
 always /5 being aroused to action in our bodily faculties that
 they might yield fruit to death.
7:6 But seeing that we have died to that which once held us in
 bondage, /6 the Law has now no hold over us, so that we render
 a service which, instead of being old and /7 formal, is new and
 spiritual.
7:7 What follows? Is the Law itself a sinful thing? No, indeed;
 on the contrary, unless I had been taught by the Law, I /8
 should have known nothing of sin as sin. For instance, I should
 not have known what covetousness is, if the Law had not /9
 repeatedly said, <"Thou shalt not covet.">
7:8 Sin took advantage of this, and by means of /10 the
 Commandment stirred up within me /11 every kind of coveting;
 for apart from Law sin would be dead.
7:9 Once, apart from Law, I was alive, but when the Commandment
 came, sin /12 sprang into life, and I died;
7:10 and, as it turned out, the very Commandment which was to
 bring me life, brought me death.
7:11 For sin seized the advantage, and by means of the
 Commandment it completely deceived me, and /13 also put me to
 death.
7:12 So that the Law itself is holy, and the Commandment is
 holy, just and good.
7:13 Did then a thing which is good become death to me? No,
 indeed, but sin did; so that through its bringing about death
 by means of what was good, it might be seen in its true light
 as sin, in order that by means of the Commandment the
 unspeakable sinfulness of sin might be plainly shown.

7:14 For we know that the Law is a spiritual thing; but I am
 unspiritual--the slave, bought and sold, of sin.
7:15 For what I do, /1 I do not recognize as my own action. What
 I desire to do is not what I do, but what I am averse to is
 what I do.
7:16 But if I do that which I do not desire to do, I admit the
 excellence of the Law,
7:17 and now it is no longer I that do these things, but the sin
 which has its home within me does them.
7:18 For I know that in me, that is, in my /2 lower self,
 nothing good has its home; for while the will to do right /3 is
 present with me, the power to carry it out is not.
7:19 For what I do is not the good thing that I desire to do;
 but the evil thing that I desire not to do, is what I
 constantly do.
7:20 But if I do that which I desire not to do, it can no longer
 be said that it is I who do it, but the sin which has its home
 within me does it.
7:21 I find therefore the /4 law of my nature to be that when I
 desire to do what is right, evil is /5 lying in ambush for me.
7:22 For in my inmost self all my sympathy is with the Law of
 God;
7:23 but I discover within me /6 a different Law at war with the
 Law of my understanding, and leading me captive to the Law
 which /7 is everywhere at work in my body--the Law of sin.

7:24 (Unhappy man that I am! who will rescue me from this
 death-burdened body?
7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!) To sum up
 then, with my understanding, I--my true self--am in servitude
 to the Law of God, but with my lower nature I am in servitude
 to the Law of sin.
8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in
 Christ Jesus;
8:2 for the Spirit's Law-- /1 telling of Life in Christ
 Jesus--has set /2 me free from the Law that deals only with sin
 and death.
8:3 For what was impossible to the Law--powerless as it was
 because it acted through frail /3 humanity--God effected.
 Sending His own Son in a body like that of sinful /3 human
 nature and as a sacrifice for sin, He /4 pronounced /5 sentence
 upon sin in human nature;
8:4 in order that in our case the requirements of the Law might
 be fully met. For our lives are regulated not by our earthly,
 but by our spiritual natures.
8:5 For if men are controlled by their earthly natures, they
 give their minds to earthly things. If they are controlled by
 their spiritual natures, they give their minds to spiritual
 things.
8:6 Because for the mind to be given up to earthly things means
 death; but for it to be given up to spiritual things means Life
 and peace.
8:7 Abandonment to earthly things is a state of enmity to God.
 Such a mind does not submit to God's Law, and indeed cannot do
 so.
8:8 And those whose hearts are absorbed in earthly things cannot
 please God.
8:9 You, however, are not devoted to earthly, but to spiritual
 things, if the Spirit of God is really dwelling in you; whereas
 if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, such a one does not
 belong to Him.
8:10 But if Christ is in you, though your body must die /6
 because of sin, yet your spirit has Life because of
 righteousness.

8:11 And if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead
 is dwelling in you, He who raised up Christ from the dead will
 give Life also to your mortal bodies /1 because of His Spirit
 who dwells in you.
8:12 Therefore, brethren, it is not to our lower natures that we
 are under obligation that we should live by their rule.
8:13 For if you so live, death is near; but if, through being
 under the sway of /2 the spirit, you are putting /3 your old
 bodily habits to death, you will live.
8:14 For those who are led by God's Spirit are, all of them,
 God's sons.
8:15 You have not for the second time acquired the consciousness
 of being--a consciousness which fills you with terror. But you
 have acquired a deep inward conviction of having been adopted
 as sons--a conviction which prompts us to cry aloud, "Abba! our
 Father!"
8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness, along with our own
 spirits, to the fact that we are children of God;
8:17 and if children, then heirs too--heirs of God and co-heirs
 with Christ; if indeed we are sharers in Christ's sufferings,
 in order that we may also be sharers in His glory.
8:18 Why, what we now suffer I count as nothing in comparison
 with the glory which is soon to be manifested in us.
8:19 For all creation, gazing eagerly as if with outstretched
 neck, is waiting and longing to see the manifestation of the
 sons of God.
8:20 For the Creation /4 fell into subjection to failure and
 unreality (not of its own choice, but by the will of Him who so
 subjected it).
8:21 Yet there was always the hope that at last the Creation
 itself would also be set free from the thraldom of decay so as
 to enjoy the liberty that will attend the glory of the children
 of God.
8:22 For we know that the whole of Creation is groaning together
 in the pains of childbirth until this hour.
8:23 And more than that, /5 we ourselves, though we possess

/1 the Spirit as a foretaste and pledge of the glorious future,
 yet we ourselves inwardly sigh, as we wait and long for open
 recognition as sons through the /2 deliverance of our bodies.
8:24 It is *in hope* that we have been saved. But /3 an object
 of hope is such no longer when it is present to view; /4 for
 when a man has a thing before his eyes, how can he be said to
 hope for it?
8:25 But if we hope for something which we do not see, then we
 eagerly and patiently wait for it.
8:26 In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness;
 for we do not know what prayers to offer nor in what way to
 offer them. But the Spirit Himself pleads for us in yearnings
 that can find no words,
8:27 and the Searcher of hearts knows what the Spirit's meaning
 is, /5 because His intercessions for God's people are in
 harmony with God's will.
8:28 Now we know that for those who love God /6 all things are
 working together for good--for those, I mean, whom with
 deliberate purpose He has called.
8:29 For those whom He has /7 known beforehand He has also
 pre-destined to bear the likeness of His Son, that He might be
 the Eldest in a vast family of brothers;
8:30 and those whom He has pre-destined He also has called; and
 those whom He has called He has also declared free from guilt;
 and those whom He has declared free from guilt He has also
 crowned with glory.
8:31 What then shall we say to this? If God is on our side, who
 is there to appear against us?
8:32 He who did not withhold even His own Son, but gave Him up
 for all of us, will He not also with Him freely give us all
 things?

8:33 Who shall impeach those whom God has chosen? /1 God
 declares them free from guilt.
8:34 Who is there to condemn them? Christ /2 Jesus died, or
 rather has risen to life again. /3 He is also at the right hand
 of God, and is interceding for us.
8:35 Who shall separate us from Christ's love? Shall affliction
 or distress, persecution or hunger, nakedness or danger or the
 sword?
8:36 As it stands written in the Scripture, <"For Thy sake they
 are, all day long, trying to kill us. We have been looked upon
 as sheep destined for slaughter.">
8:37 Yet amid all these things we are /4 more than conquerors
 through Him who has loved us.
8:38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither the
 lower ranks of evil angels nor the higher, neither things
 present nor /5 things future, nor the /6 forces of nature,
8:39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be
 able to separate us from the love of God which rests upon us in
 Christ Jesus our Lord.
9:1 I am telling you the truth as a Christian man--it is no
 falsehood, for my conscience enlightened, as it is, by the Holy
 Spirit adds its testimony to mine--
9:2 when I declare that I have deep grief and unceasing anguish
 of heart.
9:3 For /7 I could pray to be /8 accursed from Christ on behalf
 of my brethren, my human kinsfolk--for such the Israelites are.

9:4 To them belongs recognition as God's sons, and they have His
 glorious Presence and the Covenants, and the giving of the Law,
 and the Temple service, and /1 the ancient Promises.
9:5 To them the Patriarchs belong, and from them in respect of
 His human lineage came the Christ, who is exalted above all,
 God blessed throughout the Ages. Amen.
9:6 Not however that God's word has failed; for all who have
 sprung from Israel do not count as Israel,
9:7 nor because they are Abraham's true children. But the
 promise was <"Through Isaac shall your posterity be reckoned.">
9:8 In other words, it is not the children by natural descent
 who count as God's children, but the children made such by the
 promise are regarded as Abraham's posterity.
9:9 For the words are the language of promise and run thus,
 <"About this time next year I will come, and Sarah shall have a
 son.">
9:10 Nor is that all: /2 later on there was Rebecca too. She was
 soon to bear two children to her husband, our forefather
 Isaac--
9:11 and even then, though they were not then born and had not
 done anything either good or evil, yet in order that God's
 electing purpose might not be frustrated, based, as it was, not
 on their actions but on the will of Him who called them, she
 was told,
9:12 <"The elder of them will be bondservant to the younger.">
9:13 This agrees with the other Scripture which says, <"Jacob I
 /3 have loved, but Esau I /3 have hated.">
9:14 What then are we to infer? That there is injustice in God?
9:15 No, indeed; the solution is found in His words to Moses,
 <"Wherever I show mercy it shall be nothing but mercy, and
 wherever I show compassion it shall be simply compassion.">
9:16 And from this we learn that everything /4 is dependent not
 on man's will or /5 endeavour, but upon God who has mercy. For
 the Scripture said to Pharaoh,
9:17 <"It is for this very purpose that I have lifted you so
 high--that I may make manifest in you My power, and that My
 name may be proclaimed far and wide in all the earth.">

9:18 This is a proof that wherever He chooses He shows mercy,
 and wherever he chooses He /1 hardens the heart.
9:19 "Why then does God still find fault?" you will ask; "for
 who is resisting His will?"
9:20 Nay, but who are you, /2 a mere man, that you should cavil
 against GOD? <Shall the thing moulded say to him who moulded
 it, "Why have you made me thus?">
9:21 Or has not the potter rightful power over the clay to make
 out of the same lump one vessel for more honourable and another
 for less honourable uses?
9:22 And what if God, while choosing to make manifest the
 terrors of His anger and to show what is possible with Him, has
 yet borne with long-forbearing patience with the subjects of
 His anger who /3 stand ready for destruction,
9:23 /4 in order to make known /5 His infinite goodness towards
 the subjects of His mercy whom He has /6 prepared beforehand
 for glory,
9:24 even towards us whom He has called not only from among the
 Jews but also from among the Gentiles?
9:25 So also in Hosea He says, <"I will call that nation My
 People which was not My People, and I will call her beloved who
 was not beloved.
9:26 And in the place where it was said to them, `No people of
 Mine are you,' there shall they be called sons of the /7
 everliving God.">
9:27 And Isaiah cries aloud concerning Israel, <"Though the
 number of the sons of Israel be like the sands of the sea, only
 a remnant of them shall be saved;
9:28 for the Lord will /8 hold a reckoning upon the earth,

/1 making it efficacious and brief.">
9:29 Even as Isaiah /2 says in an earlier place, <"Were it not
 that the Lord, the God of /3 Hosts, had left us some few
 descendants, we should have become like Sodom, and have come to
 resemble Gomorrah.">
9:30 To what conclusion does this bring us? Why, that the /4
 Gentiles, who were not in /5 pursuit of righteousness, have
 overtaken it--a righteousness, however, which arises from
 faith;
9:31 while /6 the descendants of Israel, who were in pursuit of
 a Law that could give righteousness, have not arrived at one.
9:32 And why? Because they were pursuing a righteousness which
 should arise not from faith, but from /7 what they regarded as
 merit. They stuck their foot against the stone which lay in
 their way;
9:33 in agreement with the statement of Scripture, <"See, I am
 placing on Mount Zion a stone for people to stumble at, and a
 rock for them to trip over, and yet he whose faith rests upon
 it shall never have reason to feel ashamed.">
10:1 Brethren, the /8 longing of my heart, and my prayer to God,
 on behalf of my countrymen is for their salvation.
10:2 For I bear witness that they possess an enthusiasm for God,
 but it is an unenlightened enthusiasm.
10:3 Ignorant of the righteousness which God provides and /9
 building their hopes upon a /10 righteousness of their own,
 they have refused submission to God's righteousness.

10:4 For as a means of righteousness Christ is the /1
 termination of Law to every believer.
10:5 Moses /2 says that he whose actions conform to the
 righteousness required by the Law shall live by that
 righteousness.
10:6 But the righteousness which is based on faith speaks in a
 different tone. "Say not in your heart," it declares, "`Who
 shall ascend to Heaven?'" --that is, to bring Christ down;
10:7 "nor `Who shall go down into the /3 abyss?'" --that is, to
 bring Christ /4 up again from the grave.
10:8 But what does it say? "The Message is close to you, in your
 mouth and in your heart;" that is, the Message which we are
 publishing about the faith--
10:9 that if with your mouth you confess Jesus as Lord and in
 your heart believe that God brought Him back to life, you shall
 be saved.
10:10 For with the heart men believe and obtain righteousness,
 and with the mouth they make confession and obtain salvation.
10:11 The Scripture says, <"No one who believes in Him shall
 have reason to feel ashamed.">
10:12 Jew and Gentile are on precisely the same footing; for the
 same Lord is Lord over all, /5 and is infinitely kind to all
 who call upon Him for deliverance.
10:13 For <"every one, without exception, who calls on the name
 of the Lord shall be saved.">
10:14 But how are they to call on One in whom they have not
 believed? And how are they to believe in One whose voice they
 have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?
10:15 And how are men to preach unless they have been sent to do
 so? As it is written, <"How beautiful are the feet of those who
 bring glad tidings of good!">
10:16 But, some will say, they have not all hearkened to the
 Good News. No, for Isaiah asks, <"Lord, who has believed the
 Message they have heard from us?">
10:17 And this proves that faith comes from a Message heard, and
 that the Message comes through its having been spoken by
 Christ.

10:18 But, I ask, have they not heard? Yes, indeed: <"To the
 whole world /1 the preachers' voices have sounded forth, and
 their words to the remotest parts of the earth.">
10:19 But again, did Israel fail to /2 understand? Listen to
 Moses first. He says, <"I will fire you with jealousy against a
 nation which is no nation, and with fury against a nation
 devoid of understanding.">
10:20 And Isaiah, with strange boldness, exclaims, <"I have been
 found by those who were not looking for Me, I have revealed
 Myself to those who were not inquiring of Me.">
10:21 While as to Israel he says, <"All day long I have
 stretched out My /3 arms to a self-willed and fault-finding
 people.">
11:1 I ask then, Has God cast off His People? No, indeed. Why, I
 myself am an Israelite, of the posterity of Abraham and of the
 tribe of Benjamin.
11:2 God has not cast off His People whom He knew beforehand. Or
 are you ignorant of what Scripture says in speaking of
 Elijah--how he pleaded with God against Israel, saying,
11:3 <"Lord, they have put Thy Prophets to death, and have /4
 overthrown Thy altars; and, now that I alone remain, they are
 thirsting for my blood"?>
11:4 But what did God say to him in reply? <"I have reserved for
 Myself 7,000 men who have never bent the knee to Baal.">
11:5 In the same way also at the present time there has come to
 be a remnant whom God in His grace has selected.
11:6 But if it is in His grace that He has selected them, then
 His choice is no longer determined by human actions. Otherwise
 grace would be grace no longer. /5

11:7 How then does the matter stand? It stands thus. That which
 Israel are in earnest pursuit of, they have not obtained; but
 God's chosen servants have obtained it, and the rest have
 become hardened.
11:8 And so Scripture says, <"God has given them a spirit of
 drowsiness--eyes to see nothing with and ears to hear nothing
 with--even until now.">
11:9 And David says, <"Let their very food become a snare and a
 trap to them, a stumbling-block and a retribution.
11:10 Let darkness come over their eyes that they may be unable
 to see, and make Thou their backs continually to stoop.">
11:11 I ask, however, "Have they stumbled so as to be finally
 ruined?" No, indeed; but by their lapse salvation has come to
 the Gentiles in order to arouse the jealousy of the descendants
 of Israel;
11:12 and if their lapse is the /1 enriching of the world, and
 their overthrow the /1 enriching of the Gentiles, will not
 still greater good follow their restoration?
11:13 But to you Gentiles I say that, /2 since I am an Apostle
 specially sent to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry,
11:14 trying whether I can succeed in rousing my own countrymen
 to jealousy and thus save some of them.
11:15 For if their having been cast aside has carried with it
 the reconciliation of the world, what will their being accepted
 again be but Life out of death?
11:16 Now if the firstfruits of the dough are holy, so also is
 the whole mass; and if the root of a tree is holy, so also are
 the branches.
11:17 And if some of the branches have been pruned away, and
 you, although you were but a wild olive, have been grafted in
 among them and have become a sharer with others in the /3 rich
 sap of the root of the olive tree,
11:18 beware of glorying over the natural branches. Or if you
 are so glorying, do not forget that it is not you who uphold
 the root: the root upholds you.

11:19 "Branches have been lopped off," you will say, "for the
 sake of my being grafted in."
11:20 This is true; yet it was their unbelief that cut them off,
 and you only stand through your faith.
11:21 Do not be puffed up with pride. Tremble rather--for if God
 did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.
11:22 Notice therefore God's kindness and God's severity. On
 those who have fallen His severity has descended, but upon you
 His kindness has come, provided that you do not cease to
 respond to that kindness. Otherwise you will be cut off also.
11:23 Moreover, if they turn from their unbelief, they too will
 be grafted in. For God is powerful enough to graft them in
 again;
11:24 /1 and if you were cut from that which by nature is a wild
 olive and contrary to nature were grafted into the good olive
 tree, how much more certainly will these natural branches be
 grafted on their own olive tree?
11:25 For there is a truth, brethren, not revealed hitherto, of
 which I do not wish to leave you in ignorance, for fear you
 should attribute superior wisdom to yourselves--the truth, I
 mean, that partial blindness has fallen upon Israel until the
 great mass of the /2 Gentiles have come in;
11:26 and so all Israel will be saved. As is declared in
 Scripture, <"From Mount Zion /3 a Deliverer will come: He will
 remove /4 all ungodliness from /5 Jacob;
11:27 and this shall be My Covenant with them; when I have taken
 away their sins.">
11:28 In relation to the Good News, the Jews are God's enemies
 for your sakes; but in relation to God's choice they are dearly
 loved for the sake of their forefathers.
11:29 For God does not repent of His free gifts nor of His call;
11:30 /6 but just as you were formerly disobedient to Him, but
 now have received mercy

/1 at a time when they are disobedient,
11:31 so now they also have been disobedient at a time when you
 are receiving mercy; so that to them too there /2 may now be
 mercy.
11:32 For God has locked up all in the prison of unbelief, that
 upon all alike He may have mercy.
11:33 Oh, how inexhaustible are God's resources and God's wisdom
 and God's knowledge! How impossible it is to search into His
 decrees or trace His footsteps!
11:34 <"Who has ever known the mind of the Lord, or shared His
 counsels?"
11:35 "Who has first given God anything, so as to receive
 payment in return?">
11:36 For the universe owes its origin to Him, was created by
 Him, and has its aim and purpose in Him. To Him be the glory
 throughout the Ages! Amen.
12:1 I plead with you therefore, brethren, by the /3
 compassionsof God, to present /4 all your faculties to Him as a
 living and holy sacrifice acceptable to Him. This with you will
 be an act of reasonable worship.
12:2 And do not follow the customs of the present age, but be
 transformed by the entire renewal of your minds, so that you
 may /5 learn by experience what God's will is--that will which
 is good and beautiful and perfect.
12:3 For through the /6 authority graciously given to me I warn
 every individual among you /7 not to value himself unduly, but
 to cultivate sobriety of judgement in accordance with the
 amount of faith which God has allotted to each one.

12:4 For just as there are in the one human body many parts, and
 these parts have not all the same function;
12:5 so collectively we form one body in Christ, while
 individually we are linked to one another as its members.
12:6 But since we have special gifts which differ in accordance
 with the diversified /1 work graciously entrusted to us, if it
 is prophecy, let the prophet speak /2 in exact proportion to
 his faith;
12:7 if it is the gift of /3 administration, let the
 administrator exercise a sound judgement in his duties.
12:8 The teacher must do the same in his teaching; and he who
 exhorts others, in his exhortation. He who gives should be
 liberal; he who is in authority should be energetic and alert;
 and he who succours the afflicted should do it cheerfully.
12:9 Let your love be perfectly sincere. Regard with horror what
 is evil; cling to what is right.
12:10 As for brotherly love, be affectionate to one another; in
 matters of worldly honour, yield to one another.
12:11 Do not be indolent when zeal is required. Be thoroughly
 warm-hearted, /4 the Lord's own servants,
12:12 full of joyful hope, patient under persecution, earnest
 and persistent in prayer.
12:13 Relieve the necessities of God's people; always practise
 hospitality.
12:14 Invoke blessings on your persecutors--blessings, not
 curses.
12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
12:16 Have full sympathy with one another. Do not give your mind
 to high things, but /5 let humble ways content you. <Do not be
 wise in your own conceits.>
12:17 Pay back to no man evil for evil. <Take thought for what
 is right and seemly in every one's esteem.>
12:18 If you can, so far as it depends on you, live at peace
 with all the world.
12:19 Do not be revengeful, my dear friends, but give way before
 /6 anger; for it is written, <"`Revenge belongs to Me: I will
 pay back,'> says the Lord."

12:20 On the contrary, therefore, <if your enemy is hungry, give
 him food; if he is thirsty, quench his thirst. For by doing
 this you will be /1 heaping burning coals upon his head.>
12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome the evil with
 goodness.
13:1 Let every individual be obedient to those who rule over
 him; for no one is a ruler except by God's permission, and our
 present rulers have had their rank and power assigned to them
 by Him.
13:2 Therefore the man who rebels against his ruler is resisting
 God's will; and those who thus resist will bring punishment
 upon themselves.
13:3 For judges and magistrates /2 are to be feared not by
 right-doers but by wrong-doers. You desire--do you not? --to
 have no reason to fear your ruler. Well, do the thing that is
 right, and then he will commend you.
13:4 For he is God's servant for your benefit. But if you do
 what is wrong, be afraid. He does not wear the sword to no
 purpose: he is God's servant--an administrator to inflict /3
 punishment upon evil-doers.
13:5 We must obey therefore, not only in order to escape
 punishment, but also for conscience' sake.
13:6 Why, this is really the reason you pay /4 taxes; for /5
 tax-gatherers are /6 ministers of God, devoting their energies
 to this very work.
13:7 Pay /7 promptly to all men what is due to them: taxes to
 those to whom taxes are due, toll to those to whom toll is due,
 respect to those to whom respect is due, honour to those to
 whom honour is due.
13:8 Owe nothing to any one except /8 mutual love; for he who
 loves his fellow man has satisfied the demands of Law.
13:9 For the precepts, <"Thou shalt not commit adultery," "Thou
 shalt do no murder," "Thou shalt not steal," "Thou shalt not
 covet,"> and all other precepts, are summed up in this one
 command, <"Thou shalt love thy fellow man as much as thou
 lovest thyself.">

13:10 Love avoids doing any wrong to one's fellow man, and is
 therefore complete obedience to Law.
13:11 Carry out these injunctions because you know the critical
 period at which we are living, and that it is now high time, /1
 to rouse yourselves from sleep; for salvation is now nearer to
 us than when we /2 first became believers.
13:12 The night is far advanced, and day is about to dawn. We
 must therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness, and clothe
 ourselves with the armour of Light.
13:13 Living as we do in broad daylight, let us conduct
 ourselves becomingly, not indulging in revelry and drunkenness,
 nor in lust and debauchery, nor in quarrelling and /3 jealousy.
13:14 On the contrary, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus
 Christ, and make no provision for gratifying your earthly
 cravings.
14:1 I now pass to another subject. Receive as a friend a man
 whose faith is weak, but not for the purpose of deciding /4
 mere matters of opinion.
14:2 One man's faith allows him to eat anything, while a man of
 weaker faith eats nothing but vegetables.
14:3 Let not him who eats certain food look down upon him who
 abstains from it, nor him who abstains from it find fault with
 him who eats it; for God has received both of them.
14:4 Who are you that you should find fault with the servant of
 another? /5 Whether he stands or falls is a matter which
 concerns his own master. But stand he will; for the Master can
 give him power to stand.
14:5 One man esteems one day more highly than another; another
 esteems all days alike. Let every one be thoroughly convinced
 in his own mind.
14:6 He who regards the day as sacred, so regards it for the
 Master's sake; and he who eats certain food eats it for the
 Master's sake, for he gives thanks to God; and he who refrains
 from eating it refrains for the Master's sake, and he also
 gives thanks to God.

14:7 For not one of us lives to himself, and not one dies to
 himself.
14:8 If we live, we live to the Lord: if we die, we die to the
 Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
14:9 For this was the purpose of Christ's dying and coming to
 life--namely that He might be Lord both of the dead and the
 living.
14:10 But you, why do you find fault with your brother? Or you,
 why do you look down upon your brother? We shall all stand
 before God to be judged;
14:11 for it is written, <"`As I live,'> says the Lord, <`to Me
 every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall make confession to
 God.'">
14:12 So we see that every one of us will give account of
 himself to God.
14:13 Therefore let us no longer judge one another; but, instead
 of that, you should come to this judgement--that we must not
 put a stumbling-block in our brother's path, nor anything to
 trip him up.
14:14 As one who lives in union with the Lord Jesus, I know and
 am certain that in its own nature /1 no food is `impure'; but
 if people regard any food as impure, to them it is.
14:15 If your brother is pained by the food you are eating, your
 conduct is no longer controlled by love. /2 Take care lest, by
 the food you eat, you lead to ruin a man for whom Christ died.
14:16 Therefore do not let /3 the boon which is yours /4 in
 common /5 be exposed to reproach.
14:17 For the Kingdom of God does not consist of eating and
 drinking, but of right conduct, peace and joy, through the Holy
 Spirit;
14:18 and whoever in this way devotedly serves Christ, God takes
 pleasure in him, and men /6 highly commend him.

14:19 Therefore let us aim at whatever makes for peace and
 mutual upbuilding of character.
14:20 Do not for food's sake be throwing down God's work. /1 All
 food is pure; but a man is in the wrong if his food is a snare
 /2 to others.
14:21 The right course is to forego eating meat or drinking wine
 or doing anything that tends to your brother's /3 fall.
14:22 As for you and your faith, keep your faith to yourself in
 the presence of God. The man is to be congratulated who does
 not pronounce judgement on himself in what his actions
 sanction.
14:23 But he who has misgivings and yet eats meat is condemned
 already, because his conduct is not based on faith; for all
 conduct not based on faith is sinful.
15:1 As for us who are strong, our duty is to bear with the
 weaknesses of those who are not strong, and not seek our own
 pleasure.
15:2 Let each of us endeavour to please his fellow Christian,
 aiming at a blessing calculated to build him up.
15:3 For even the Christ did not seek His own pleasure. His
 principle was, <"The reproaches which they /4 addressed to Thee
 have fallen on me.">
15:4 For all that was written of old has been written for our
 instruction, so that we may always have hope through the power
 of endurance and the /5 encouragement which the Scriptures
 afford.
15:5 And may God, /6 the giver of power of endurance and of that
 encouragement, grant you to be in full sympathy with one
 another in accordance with the example of Christ Jesus,
15:6 so that with oneness both of heart and voice you may
 glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15:7 Habitually therefore give one another a friendly reception,
 just as Christ also has received you, and thus promote the
 glory of God.
15:8 /7 My meaning is that Christ has become /8 a servant to the
 people of Israel in vindication of God's truthfulness-- /9 in
 showing how sure are the promises made to our forefathers--

15:9 and that the Gentiles also have glorified God in
 acknowledgment of His mercy. So it is written, <"For this
 reason I will praise Thee among the Gentiles, and sing psalms
 in honour of Thy name.">
15:10 And again the Psalmist says, <"Be glad, ye Gentiles, in
 company with His People.">
15:11 And again, <"Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and let all
 the people extol Him.">
15:12 And again Isaiah says, <"There shall be the Root of Jesse
 and One who rises up to rule the Gentiles. On Him shall the
 Gentiles build their hopes.">
15:13 May God, the giver of hope, fill you with /1 continual joy
 and peace /2 because you trust in Him--so that you may have
 abundant hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
15:14 But as to you, brethren, I am convinced-- /3 yes, I Paul
 am convinced--that, even apart from my teaching, you are
 already full of goodness of heart, and enriched with complete
 Christian knowledge, and are also competent to instruct one
 another.
15:15 But I write to you the more boldly--partly as reminding
 you of what you already know--because of the /4 authority
 graciously entrusted to me by God,
15:16 that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus among the
 Gentiles, doing priestly duties in connexion with God's Good
 News so that the sacrifice--namely the Gentiles--may be
 acceptable to Him, being (as it is) an offering which the Holy
 Spirit has made holy.
15:17 I can therefore glory in Christ Jesus concerning the work
 for God in which I am engaged.

15:18 For I will not presume to mention any of the results that
 Christ has brought about by other agency than mine in securing
 the obedience of the Gentiles by word or deed,
15:19 with power manifested in signs and marvels, and through
 the power of the Holy Spirit. /1 But--to speak simply of my own
 labours--beginning in Jerusalem and the outlying districts, I
 /2 have proclaimed without reserve, even as far as Illyricum,
 the Good News of the Christ;
15:20 making it my ambition, however, not to tell the Good News
 where Christ's name was already known, for fear I should be
 building on another man's foundation.
15:21 But, as Scripture says, <"Those shall see, to whom no
 report about Him has hitherto come, and those who until now
 have not heard shall understand.">
15:22 And it is really /3 this which has again and again
 prevented my coming to you.
15:23 But now, as there is no more unoccupied ground in this
 part of the world, and I have for years past been eager to pay
 you a visit,
15:24 I hope, as soon as ever I extend my travels into Spain, to
 see you on my way and be helped forward by you on my journey,
 when I have first enjoyed being with you for a time.
15:25 But at present I am going to Jerusalem to serve God's
 people,
15:26 for Macedonia and Greece have kindly contributed a certain
 sum in relief of the poor among God's people, in Jerusalem.
15:27 Yes, they have kindly done this, and, in fact, it was a
 debt they owed them. For seeing that the Gentiles have been
 admitted in to partnership with the Jews in their spiritual
 blessings, they in turn are under an obligation to render
 sacred service to the Jews in temporal things.
15:28 So after /4 discharging this duty, and making sure that
 these kind gifts reach /5 those for whom they are intended, I
 shall start for Spain, passing through Rome on my way there;
15:29 and I know that when I come to you it will be with a vast
 amount of blessing from Christ.

15:30 /1 But I entreat you, brethren, in the name of our Lord
 Jesus Christ and by the love which His Spirit inspires, to help
 me by wrestling in prayer to God on my behalf,
15:31 asking that I may escape unhurt from those in Judaea who
 are disobedient, and that the service which I am going to
 Jerusalem to render may be well received by the Church there,
15:32 in order that if God be willing I may come to you with a
 glad heart, and may enjoy a time of rest with you.
15:33 May God, who gives peace be with you all! Amen.
16:1 Herewith I introduce our sister Phoebe to you, /2 who is a
 /3 servant of the Church at Cenchreae,
16:2 that you may receive her as a fellow Christian in a manner
 worthy of God's people, and may assist her in any matter in
 which she may need help. For she has indeed been a kind friend
 to many, including myself.
16:3 Greetings to Prisca and Aquila my fellow labourers in the
 work of Christ Jesus--
16:4 friends who have endangered their own lives for mine. I am
 grateful to them, and not I alone, but all the Gentile Churches
 also.
16:5 Greetings, too, to /4 the Church that meets at their house.
 Greetings to my dear Epaenetus, who was the earliest convert to
 Christ in the province of Asia;
16:6 to Mary who has laboured strenuously among you;
16:7 and to Andronicus and /5 Junia, my /6 countrymen, who once
 shared my imprisonment. They /7 are of note among the Apostles,
 and /8 are Christians of longer standing than myself.

16:8 Greetings to Ampliatus, dear to me in the Lord;
16:9 to Urban, our fellow labourer in Christ, and to my dear
 Stachys.
16:10 Greetings to Apella, that veteran believer; and to the
 members of the household of Aristobulus.
16:11 Greetings to my countryman, Herodion; and to the believing
 members of the household of Narcissus.
16:12 Greetings to those Christian workers, Tryphaena and
 Tryphosa; also to dear Persis, who has laboured strenuously in
 the Lord's work.
16:13 Greetings to Rufus, who is one of the Lord's chosen
 people; and to his mother, who has also been a mother to me.
16:14 Greetings to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas,
 Hermas, and to the brethren associated with them;
16:15 to Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister and
 Olympas, and to all God's people associated with them.
16:16 Salute one another with a holy kiss. All the Churches of
 Christ send greetings to you.
16:17 But I beseech you, brethren, to keep a watch on those who
 are causing the divisions among you, and are leading others
 into sin, in defiance of the instruction which you have
 received; and /1 habitually to shun them.
16:18 For men of that stamp are not bondservants of Christ our
 Lord, but are slaves to their own appetites; and by their
 plausible words and their flattery they utterly deceive the
 minds of the simple.
16:19 Your /2 fidelity to the truth is everywhere known. I
 rejoice over you, therefore, but I wish you to be wise as to
 what is good, and simple-minded as to what is evil.
16:20 And /3 before long, God /4 the giver of peace will crush
 Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus /5 Christ be
 with you!
16:21 Timothy, my fellow worker, sends you greetings, and so do
 my countrymen Lucius, Jason and Sosipater.
16:22 I, Tertius, who write this letter, send you Christian
 greetings.
16:23 Gaius, my host, who is also the host /6 of the whole
 Church, greets you. So do Erastus, the treasurer of the city,
 and Quartus our brother.

16:24 /1 []
16:25 /2 To Him who has it in His power to make you strong, as
 declared in the Good News which I am spreading, and the
 proclamation concerning Jesus Christ, in harmony with the
 unveiling of the Truth which in the periods of past Ages
 remained unuttered,
16:26 but has now been brought fully to light, and by the
 command of the God of the Ages has been made known by the
 writings of the Prophets among all the Gentiles to win them to
 /3 obedience to the faith--
16:27 to God, the only wise, through Jesus Christ, /4 even to
 Him be the glory through all the Ages! Amen.