1 Dear friends in Rome: This letter is from Paul, Jesus Christ's slave, chosen to be a missionary, and sent out to preach God's Good News.
2 This Good News was promised long ago by God's prophets in the Old Testament.
3 It is the Good News about his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who came as a human baby, born into King David's royal family line;
4 and by being raised from the dead he was proved to be the mighty Son of God, with the holy nature of God himself.
5 And now, through Christ, all the kindness of God has been poured out upon us undeserving sinners; and now he is sending us out around the world to tell all people everywhere the great things God has done for them, so that they, too, will believe and obey him.
6 And you, dear friends in Rome, are among those he dearly loves; you, too, are invited by Jesus Christ to be God's very own--yes, his holy people.
7 May all God's mercies and peace be yours from God our Father and from Jesus Christ our Lord.
8 Let me say first of all that wherever I go I hear you being talked about! For your faith in God is becoming known around the world. How I thank God through Jesus Christ for this good report, and for each one of you.
9 God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to the one I serve with all my might, telling others the Good News about his Son.
10 And one of the things I keep on praying for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you and, if possible, that I will have a safe trip.
11 For I long to visit you so that I can impart to you the faith that will help your church grow strong in the Lord.
12 Then, too, I need your help, for I want not only to share my faith with you but to be encouraged by yours: Each of us will be a blessing to the other.
13 I want you to know, dear brothers, that I planned to come many times before (but was prevented) so that I could work among you and see good results, just as I have among the other Gentile churches.
14 For I owe a great debt to you and to everyone else, both to civilized people and uncivilized alike; yes, to the educated and uneducated alike.
15 So, to the fullest extent of my ability, I am ready to come also to you in Rome to preach God's Good News.
16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is God's powerful method of bringing all who believe it to heaven. This message was preached first to the Jews alone, but now everyone is invited to come to God in this same way.
17 This Good News tells us that God makes us ready for heaven--makes us right in God's sight--when we put our faith and trust in Christ to save us. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scripture says it, "The man who finds life will find it through trusting God."
18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, evil men who push away the truth from them.
19 For the truth about God is known to them instinctively; God has put this knowledge in their hearts.
20 Since earliest times men have seen the earth and sky and all God made, and have known of his existence and great eternal power. So they will have no excuse when they stand before God at Judgment Day.
21 Yes, they knew about him all right, but they wouldn't admit it or worship him or even thank him for all his daily care. And after awhile they began to think up silly ideas of what God was like and what he wanted them to do. The result was that their foolish minds became dark and confused.
22 Claiming themselves to be wise without God, they became utter fools instead.
23 And then, instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they took wood and stone and made idols for themselves, carving them to look like mere birds and animals and snakes and puny men.
24 So God let them go ahead into every sort of sex sin, and do whatever they wanted to--yes, vile and sinful things with each other's bodies.
25 Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they prayed to the things God made, but wouldn't obey the blessed God who made these things.
26 That is why God let go of them and let them do all these evil things, so that even their women turned against God's natural plan for them and indulged in sex sin with each other.
27 And the men, instead of having normal sex relationships with women, burned with lust for each other, men doing shameful things with other men and, as a result, getting paid within their own souls with the penalty they so richly deserved.
28 So it was that when they gave God up and would not even acknowledge him, God gave them up to doing everything their evil minds could think of.
29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness and sin, of greed and hate, envy, murder, fighting, lying, bitterness, and gossip.
30 They were backbiters, haters of God, insolent, proud, braggarts, always thinking of new ways of sinning and continually being disobedient to their parents.
31 They tried to misunderstand, broke their promises, and were heartless--without pity.
32 They were fully aware of God's death penalty for these crimes, yet they went right ahead and did them anyway and encouraged others to do them, too.
1 "Well," you may be saying, "what terrible people you have been talking about!" But wait a minute! You are just as bad. When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are talking about yourselves, for you do these very same things.
2 And we know that God, in justice, will punish anyone who does such things as these.
3 Do you think that God will judge and condemn others for doing them and overlook you when you do them, too?
4 Don't you realize how patient he is being with you? Or don't you care? Can't you see that he has been waiting all this time without punishing you, to give you time to turn from your sin? His kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.
5 But no, you won't listen; and so you are saving up terrible punishment for yourselves because of your stubbornness in refusing to turn from your sin; for there is going to come a day of wrath when God will be the just Judge of all the world.
6 He will give each one whatever his deeds deserve.
7 He will give eternal life to those who patiently do the will of God, seeking for the unseen glory and honor and eternal life that he offers.
8 But he will terribly punish those who fight against the truth of God and walk in evil ways--God's anger will be poured out upon them.
9 There will be sorrow and suffering for Jews and Gentiles alike who keep on sinning.
10 But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who obey him, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.
11 For God treats everyone the same.
12 He will punish sin wherever it is found. He will punish the heathen when they sin, even though they never had God's written laws, for down in their hearts they know right from wrong.
13 God's laws are written within them; their own conscience accuses them, or sometimes excuses them.
14 And God will punish the Jews for sinning because they have his written laws but don't obey them.
15 They know what is right but don't do it. After all, salvation is not given to those who know what to do, unless they do it.
16 The day will surely come when at God's command Jesus Christ will judge the secret lives of everyone, their inmost thoughts and motives; this is all part of God's great plan, which I proclaim.
17 You Jews think all is well between yourselves and God because he gave his laws to you; you brag that you are his special friends.
18 Yes, you know what he wants; you know right from wrong and favor the right because you have been taught his laws from earliest youth.
19 You are so sure of the way to God that you could point it out to a blind man. You think of yourselves as beacon lights, directing men who are lost in darkness to God.
20 You think that you can guide the simple and teach even children the affairs of God, for you really know his laws, which are full of all knowledge and truth.
21 Yes, you teach others--then why don't you teach yourselves? You tell others not to steal--do you steal?
22 You say it is wrong to commit adultery--do you do it? You say "Don't pray to idols" and then make money your god instead.
23 You are so proud of knowing God's laws, but you dishonor him by breaking them.
24 No wonder the Scriptures say that the world speaks evil of God because of you.
25 Being a Jew is worth something if you obey God's laws; but if you don't, then you are no better off than the heathen.
26 And if the heathen obey God's laws, won't God give them all the rights and honors he planned to give the Jews?
27 In fact, those heathen will be much better off than you Jews who know so much about God and have his promises but don't obey his laws.
28 For you are not real Jews just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the Jewish initiation ceremony of circumcision.
29 No, a real Jew is anyone whose heart is right with God. For God is not looking for those who cut their bodies in actual body circumcision, but he is looking for those with changed hearts and minds. Whoever has that kind of change in his life will get his praise from God, even if not from you.
1 Then what's the use of being a Jew? Are there any special benefits for them from God? Is there any value in the Jewish circumcision ceremony?
2 Yes, being a Jew has many advantages. First of all, God trusted them with his laws so that they could know and do his will.
3 True, some of them were unfaithful, but just because they broke their promises to God, does that mean God will break his promises?
4 Of course not! Though everyone else in the world is a liar, God is not. Do you remember what the book of Psalms says about this? That God's words will always prove true and right, no matter who questions them.
5 "But," some say, "our breaking faith with God is good, our sins serve a good purpose, for people will notice how good God is when they see how bad we are. Is it fair, then, for him to punish us when our sins are helping him?" (That is the way some people talk.)
6 God forbid! Then what kind of God would he be, to overlook sin? How could he ever condemn anyone?
7 For he could not judge and condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty brought him glory by pointing up his honesty in contrast to my lies.
8 If you follow through with that idea you come to this: the worse we are, the better God likes it! But the damnation of those who say such things is just. Yet some claim that this is what I preach!
9 Well, then, are we Jews better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all men alike are sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles.
10 As the Scriptures say, "No one is good--no one in all the world is innocent."
11 No one has ever really followed God's paths or even truly wanted to.
12 Every one has turned away; all have gone wrong. No one anywhere has kept on doing what is right; not one.
13 Their talk is foul and filthy like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are loaded with lies. Everything they say has in it the sting and poison of deadly snakes.
14 Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
15 They are quick to kill, hating anyone who disagrees with them.
16 Wherever they go they leave misery and trouble behind them,
17 and they have never known what it is to feel secure or enjoy God's blessing.
18 They care nothing about God nor what he thinks of them.
19 So the judgment of God lies very heavily upon the Jews, for they are responsible to keep God's laws instead of doing all these evil things; not one of them has any excuse; in fact, all the world stands hushed and guilty before Almighty God.
20 Now do you see it? No one can ever be made right in God's sight by doing what the law commands. For the more we know of God's laws, the clearer it becomes that we aren't obeying them; his laws serve only to make us see that we are sinners.
21 But now God has shown us a different way to heaven --not by "being good enough" and trying to keep his laws, but by a new way (though not new, really, for the Scriptures told about it long ago).
22 Now God says he will accept and acquit us--declare us "not guilty"--if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like.
23 Yes, all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious ideal;
24 yet now God declares us "not guilty" of offending him if we trust in Jesus Christ, who in his kindness freely takes away our sins.
25 For God sent Christ Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to end all God's anger against us. He used Christ's blood and our faith as the means of saving us from his wrath. In this way he was being entirely fair, even though he did not punish those who sinned in former times. For he was looking forward to the time when Christ would come and take away those sins.
26 And now in these days also he can receive sinners in this same way because Jesus took away their sins. But isn't this unfair for God to let criminals go free, and say that they are innocent? No, for he does it on the basis of their trust in Jesus who took away their sins.
27 Then what can we boast about doing to earn our salvation? Nothing at all. Why? Because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds; it is based on what Christ has done and our faith in him.
28 So it is that we are saved by faith in Christ and not by the good things we do.
29 And does God save only the Jews in this way? No, the Gentiles, too, may come to him in this same manner.
30 God treats us all the same; all, whether Jews or Gentiles, are acquitted if they have faith.
31 Well then, if we are saved by faith, does this mean that we no longer need obey God's laws? Just the opposite! In fact, only when we trust Jesus can we truly obey him.
1 Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What were his experiences concerning this question of being saved by faith? Was it because of his good deeds that God accepted him?
2 If so, then he would have something to boast about. But from God's point of view Abraham had no basis at all for pride.
3 For the Scriptures tell us Abraham believed God, and that is why God canceled his sins and declared him "not guilty."
4 But didn't he earn his right to heaven by all the good things he did? No, for being saved is a gift; if a person could earn it by being good, then it wouldn't be free--but it is!
5 It is given to those who do not work for it. For God declares sinners to be good in his sight if they have faith in Christ to save them from God's wrath.
6 King David spoke of this, describing the happiness of an undeserving sinner who is declared "not guilty" by God.
7 "Blessed and to be envied," he said, "are those whose sins are forgiven and put out of sight.
8 Yes, what joy there is for anyone whose sins are no longer counted against him by the Lord."
9 Now then, the question: Is this blessing given only to those who have faith in Christ but also keep the Jewish laws, or is the blessing also given to those who do not keep the Jewish rules but only trust in Christ? Well, what about Abraham? We say that he received these blessings through his faith. Was it by faith alone, or because he also kept the Jewish rules?
10 For the answer to that question, answer this one: When did God give this blessing to Abraham? It was before he became a Jew--before he went through the Jewish initiation ceremony of circumcision.
11 It wasn't until later on, after God had promised to bless him because of his faith, that he was circumcised. The circumcision ceremony was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him just and good in his sight--before the ceremony took place. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who believe and are saved without obeying Jewish laws. We see, then, that those who do not keep these rules are justified by God through faith.
12 And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those Jews who have been circumcised. They can see from his example that it is not this ceremony that saves them, for Abraham found favor with God by faith alone before he was circumcised.
13 It is clear, then, that God's promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was not because Abraham obeyed God's laws but because he trusted God to keep his promise.
14 So if you still claim that God's blessings go to those who are "good enough," then you are saying that God's promises to those who have faith are meaningless, and faith is foolish.
15 But the fact of the matter is this: when we try to gain God's blessing and salvation by keeping his laws we always end up under his anger, for we always fail to keep them. The only way we can keep from breaking laws is not to have any to break!
16 So God's blessings are given to us by faith, as a free gift; we are certain to get them whether or not we follow Jewish customs if we have faith like Abraham's, for Abraham is the father of us all when it comes to these matters of faith.
17 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say that God made Abraham the father of many nations. God will accept all people in every nation who trust God as Abraham did. And this promise is from God himself, who makes the dead live again and speaks of future events with as much certainty as though they were already past.
18 So, when God told Abraham that he would give him a son who would have many descendants and become a great nation, Abraham believed God even though such a promise just couldn't come to pass!
19 And because his faith was strong, he didn't worry about the fact that he was too old to be a father at the age of one hundred, and that Sarah his wife, at ninety, was also much too old to have a baby.
20 But Abraham never doubted. He believed God, for his faith and trust grew ever stronger, and he praised God for this blessing even before it happened.
21 He was completely sure that God was well able to do anything he promised.
22 And because of Abraham's faith God forgave his sins and declared him "not guilty."
23 Now this wonderful statement--that he was accepted and approved through his faith--wasn't just for Abraham's benefit.
24 It was for us, too, assuring us that God will accept us in the same way he accepted Abraham--when we believe the promises of God who brought back Jesus our Lord from the dead.
25 He died for our sins and rose again to make us right with God, filling us with God's goodness.
1 So now, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith in his promises, we can have real peace with him because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.
2 For because of our faith, he has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to actually becoming all that God has had in mind for us to be.
3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us--they help us learn to be patient.
4 And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady.
5 Then, when that happens, we are able to hold our heads high no matter what happens and know that all is well, for we know how dearly God loves us, and we feel this warm love everywhere within us because God has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
6 When we were utterly helpless, with no way of escape, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners who had no use for him.
7 Even if we were good, we really wouldn't expect anyone to die for us, though, of course, that might be barely possible.
8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
9 And since by his blood he did all this for us as sinners, how much more will he do for us now that he has declared us not guilty? Now he will save us from all of God's wrath to come.
10 And since, when we were his enemies, we were brought back to God by the death of his Son, what blessings he must have for us now that we are his friends and he is living within us!
11 Now we rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God--all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done in dying for our sins--making us friends of God.
12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. His sin spread death throughout all the world, so everything began to grow old and die, for all sinned.
13 We know that it was Adam's sin that caused this because although, of course, people were sinning from the time of Adam until Moses, God did not in those days judge them guilty of death for breaking his laws--because he had not yet given his laws to them nor told them what he wanted them to do.
14 So when their bodies died it was not for their own sins since they themselves had never disobeyed God's special law against eating the forbidden fruit, as Adam had. What a contrast between Adam and Christ who was yet to come!
15 And what a difference between man's sin and God's forgiveness! For this one man, Adam, brought death to many through his sin. But this one man, Jesus Christ, brought forgiveness to many through God's mercy.
16 Adam's one sin brought the penalty of death to many, while Christ freely takes away many sins and gives glorious life instead.
17 The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to be king over all, but all who will take God's gift of forgiveness and acquittal are kings of life because of this one man, Jesus Christ.
18 Yes, Adam's sin brought punishment to all, but Christ's righteousness makes men right with God, so that they can live.
19 Adam caused many to be sinners because he disobeyed God, and Christ caused many to be made acceptable to God because he obeyed.
20 The Ten Commandments were given so that all could see the extent of their failure to obey God's laws. But the more we see our sinfulness, the more we see God's abounding grace forgiving us.
21 Before, sin ruled over all men and brought them to death, but now God's kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Well then, shall we keep on sinning so that God can keep on showing us more and more kindness and forgiveness?
2 Of course not! Should we keep on sinning when we don't have to?
3 For sin's power over us was broken when we became Christians and were baptized to become a part of Jesus Christ; through his death the power of your sinful nature was shattered.
4 Your old sin-loving nature was buried with him by baptism when he died; and when God the Father, with glorious power, brought him back to life again, you were given his wonderful new life to enjoy.
5 For you have become a part of him, and so you died with him, so to speak, when he died; and now you share his new life and shall rise as he did.
6 Your old evil desires were nailed to the cross with him; that part of you that loves to sin was crushed and fatally wounded, so that your sin-loving body is no longer under sin's control, no longer needs to be a slave to sin;
7 for when you are deadened to sin you are freed from all its allure and its power over you.
8 And since your old sin-loving nature "died" with Christ, we know that you will share his new life.
9 Christ rose from the dead and will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him.
10 He died once for all to end sin's power, but now he lives forever in unbroken fellowship with God.
11 So look upon your old sin nature as dead and unresponsive to sin, and instead be alive to God, alert to him, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
12 Do not let sin control your puny body any longer; do not give in to its sinful desires.
13 Do not let any part of your bodies become tools of wickedness, to be used for sinning; but give yourselves completely to God--every part of you--for you are back from death and you want to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for his good purposes.
14 Sin need never again be your master, for now you are no longer tied to the law where sin enslaves you, but you are free under God's favor and mercy.
15 Does this mean that now we can go ahead and sin and not worry about it? (For our salvation does not depend on keeping the law but on receiving God's grace!) Of course not!
16 Don't you realize that you can choose your own master? You can choose sin (with death) or else obedience (with acquittal). The one to whom you offer yourself--he will take you and be your master, and you will be his slave.
17 Thank God that though you once chose to be slaves of sin, now you have obeyed with all your heart the teaching to which God has committed you.
18 And now you are free from your old master, sin; and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness.
19 I speak this way, using the illustration of slaves and masters, because it is easy to understand: just as you used to be slaves to all kinds of sin, so now you must let yourselves be slaves to all that is right and holy.
20 In those days when you were slaves of sin you didn't bother much with goodness.
21 And what was the result? Evidently not good, since you are ashamed now even to think about those things you used to do, for all of them end in eternal doom.
22 But now you are free from the power of sin and are slaves of God, and his benefits to you include holiness and everlasting life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Don't you understand yet, dear Jewish brothers in Christ, that when a person dies the law no longer holds him in its power?
2 Let me illustrate: when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, she is no longer bound to him; the laws of marriage no longer apply to her.
3 Then she can marry someone else if she wants to. That would be wrong while he was alive, but it is perfectly all right after he dies.
4 Your "husband," your master, used to be the Jewish law; but you "died," as it were, with Christ on the cross; and since you are "dead," you are no longer "married to the law," and it has no more control over you. Then you came back to life again when Christ did and are a new person. And now you are "married," so to speak, to the one who rose from the dead, so that you can produce good fruit, that is, good deeds for God.
5 When your old nature was still active, sinful desires were at work within you, making you want to do whatever God said not to and producing sinful deeds, the rotting fruit of death.
6 But now you need no longer worry about the Jewish laws and customs because you "died" while in their captivity, and now you can really serve God; not in the old way, mechanically obeying a set of rules, but in the new way, with all of your hearts and minds.
7 Well then, am I suggesting that these laws of God are evil? Of course not! No, the law is not sinful, but it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known the sin in my heart--the evil desires that are hidden there--if the law had not said, "You must not have evil desires in your heart."
8 But sin used this law against evil desires by reminding me that such desires are wrong, and arousing all kinds of forbidden desires within me! Only if there were no laws to break would there be no sinning.
9 That is why I felt fine so long as I did not understand what the law really demanded. But when I learned the truth, I realized that I had broken the law and was a sinner, doomed to die.
10 So as far as I was concerned, the good law which was supposed to show me the way of life resulted instead in my being given the death penalty.
11 Sin fooled me by taking the good laws of God and using them to make me guilty of death.
12 But still, you see, the law itself was wholly right and good.
13 But how can that be? Didn't the law cause my doom? How then can it be good? No, it was sin, devilish stuff that it is, that used what was good to bring about my condemnation. So you can see how cunning and deadly and damnable it is. For it uses God's good laws for its own evil purposes.
14 The law is good, then, and the trouble is not there but with me because I am sold into slavery with Sin as my owner.
15 I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can't. I do what I don't want to--what I hate.
16 I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I am breaking.
17 But I can't help myself because I'm no longer doing it. It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am that makes me do these evil things.
18 I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn I can't make myself do right. I want to but I can't.
19 When I want to do good, I don't; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway.
20 Now if I am doing what I don't want to, it is plain where the trouble is: sin still has me in its evil grasp.
21 It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.
22 I love to do God's will so far as my new nature is concerned;
23 but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God's willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin.
24 So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I'm in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature?
25 Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free.
1 So there is now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus.
2 For the power of the life-giving Spirit--and this power is mine through Christ Jesus--has freed me from the vicious circle of sin and death.
3 We aren't saved from sin's grasp by knowing the commandments of God because we can't and don't keep them, but God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours--except that ours are sinful--and destroyed sin's control over us by giving himself as a sacrifice for our sins.
4 So now we can obey God's laws if we follow after the Holy Spirit and no longer obey the old evil nature within us.
5 Those who let themselves be controlled by their lower natures live only to please themselves, but those who follow after the Holy Spirit find themselves doing those things that please God.
6 Following after the Holy Spirit leads to life and peace, but following after the old nature leads to death
7 because the old sinful nature within us is against God. It never did obey God's laws and it never will.
8 That's why those who are still under the control of their old sinful selves, bent on following their old evil desires, can never please God.
9 But you are not like that. You are controlled by your new nature if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that if anyone doesn't have the Spirit of Christ living in him, he is not a Christian at all.)
10 Yet, even though Christ lives within you, your body will die because of sin; but your spirit will live, for Christ has pardoned it.
11 And if the Spirit of God, who raised up Jesus from the dead, lives in you, he will make your dying bodies live again after you die, by means of this same Holy Spirit living within you.
12 So, dear brothers, you have no obligations whatever to your old sinful nature to do what it begs you to do.
13 For if you keep on following it you are lost and will perish, but if through the power of the Holy Spirit you crush it and its evil deeds, you shall live.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
15 And so we should not be like cringing, fearful slaves, but we should behave like God's very own children, adopted into the bosom of his family, and calling to him, "Father, Father."
16 For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we really are God's children.
17 And since we are his children, we will share his treasures--for all God gives to his Son Jesus is now ours too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later.
19 For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day when God will resurrect his children.
20 For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay --the things that overcame the world against its will at God's command--will all disappear,
21 and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God's children enjoy.
22 For we know that even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await this great event.
23 And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us--bodies that will never be sick again and will never die.
24 We are saved by trusting. And trusting means looking forward to getting something we don't yet have--for a man who already has something doesn't need to hope and trust that he will get it.
25 But if we must keep trusting God for something that hasn't happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently.
26 And in the same way--by our faith --the Holy Spirit helps us with our daily problems and in our praying. For we don't even know what we should pray for nor how to pray as we should, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with such feeling that it cannot be expressed in words.
27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows, of course, what the Spirit is saying as he pleads for us in harmony with God's own will.
28 And we know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into his plans.
29 For from the very beginning God decided that those who came to him--and all along he knew who would--should become like his Son, so that his Son would be the First, with many brothers.
30 And having chosen us, he called us to come to him; and when we came, he declared us "not guilty," filled us with Christ's goodness, gave us right standing with himself, and promised us his glory.
31 What can we ever say to such wonderful things as these? If God is on our side, who can ever be against us?
32 Since he did not spare even his own Son for us but gave him up for us all, won't he also surely give us everything else?
33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has forgiven us and given us right standing with himself.
34 Who then will condemn us? Will Christ? No! For he is the one who died for us and came back to life again for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us there in heaven.
35 Who then can ever keep Christ's love from us? When we have trouble or calamity, when we are hunted down or destroyed, is it because he doesn't love us anymore? And if we are hungry or penniless or in danger or threatened with death, has God deserted us?
36 No, for the Scriptures tell us that for his sake we must be ready to face death at every moment of the day--we are like sheep awaiting slaughter;
37 but despite all this, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us enough to die for us.
38 For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels won't, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God's love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow,
39 or where we are--high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean--nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us.
1 O Israel, my people! O my Jewish brothers! How I long for you to come to Christ.
2 My heart is heavy within me, and I grieve bitterly day and night because of you.
3 Christ knows and the Holy Spirit knows that it is no mere pretense when I say that I would be willing to be forever damned if that would save you.
4 God has given you so much, but still you will not listen to him. He took you as his own special, chosen people and led you along with a bright cloud of glory and told you how very much he wanted to bless you. He gave you his rules for daily life so you would know what he wanted you to do. He let you worship him and gave you mighty promises.
5 Great men of God were your fathers, and Christ himself was one of you, a Jew so far as his human nature is concerned, he who now rules over all things. Praise God forever!
6 Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promises to the Jews? No! For these promises are only to those who are truly Jews. And not everyone born into a Jewish family is truly a Jew!
7 Just the fact that they come from Abraham doesn't make them truly Abraham's children. For the Scriptures say that the promises apply only to Abraham's son Isaac and Isaac's descendants, though Abraham had other children too.
8 This means that not all of Abraham's children are children of God, but only those who believe the promise of salvation which he made to Abraham.
9 For God had promised, "Next year I will give you and Sarah a son."
10 And years later, when this son Isaac was grown up and married and Rebecca his wife was about to bear him twin children,
11 God told her that Esau, the child born first, would be a servant to Jacob, his twin brother.
12 In the words of the Scripture, "I chose to bless Jacob but not Esau."
13 And God said this before the children were even born, before they had done anything either good or bad. This proves that God was doing what he had decided from the beginning; it was not because of what the children did but because of what God wanted and chose.
14 Was God being unfair? Of course not.
15 For God had said to Moses, "If I want to be kind to someone, I will. And I will take pity on anyone I want to."
16 And so God's blessings are not given just because someone decides to have them or works hard to get them. They are given because God takes pity on those he wants to.
17 Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was an example of this fact. For God told him he had given him the kingdom of Egypt for the very purpose of displaying the awesome power of God against him, so that all the world would hear about God's glorious name.
18 So you see, God is kind to some just because he wants to be, and he makes some refuse to listen.
19 Well then, why does God blame them for not listening? Haven't they done what he made them do?
20 No, don't say that. Who are you to criticize God? Should the thing made say to the one who made it, "Why have you made me like this?"
21 When a man makes a jar out of clay, doesn't he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar beautiful, to be used for holding flowers, and another to throw garbage into?
22 Does not God have a perfect right to show his fury and power against those who are fit only for destruction, those he has been patient with for all this time?
23 And he has a right to take others such as ourselves, who have been made for pouring the riches of his glory into,
24 whether we are Jews or Gentiles, and to be kind to us so that everyone can see how very great his glory is.
25 Remember what the prophecy of Hosea says? There God says that he will find other children for himself (who are not from his Jewish family) and will love them, though no one had ever loved them before.
26 And the heathen, of whom it once was said, "You are not my people," shall be called "sons of the Living God."
27 Isaiah the prophet cried out concerning the Jews that though there would be millions of them, only a small number would ever be saved.
28 "For the Lord will execute his sentence upon the earth, quickly ending his dealings, justly cutting them short."
29 And Isaiah says in another place that except for God's mercy all the Jews would be destroyed--all of them--just as everyone in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah perished.
30 Well then, what shall we say about these things? Just this, that God has given the Gentiles the opportunity to be acquitted by faith, even though they had not been really seeking God.
31 But the Jews, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping his laws, never succeeded.
32 Why not? Because they were trying to be saved by keeping the law and being good instead of by depending on faith. They have stumbled over the great stumbling stone.
33 God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, "I have put a Rock in the path of the Jews, and many will stumble over him (Jesus). Those who believe in him will never be disappointed."
1 Dear brothers, the longing of my heart and my prayer is that the Jewish people might be saved.
2 I know what enthusiasm they have for the honor of God, but it is misdirected zeal.
3 For they don't understand that Christ has died to make them right with God. Instead they are trying to make themselves good enough to gain God's favor by keeping the Jewish laws and customs, but that is not God's way of salvation.
4 They don't understand that Christ gives to those who trust in him everything they are trying to get by keeping his laws. He ends all of that.
5 For Moses wrote that if a person could be perfectly good and hold out against temptation all his life and never sin once, only then could he be pardoned and saved.
6 But the salvation that comes through faith says, "You don't need to search the heavens to find Christ and bring him down to help you," and,
7 "You don't need to go among the dead to bring Christ back to life again."
8 For salvation that comes from trusting Christ--which is what we preach--is already within easy reach of each of us; in fact, it is as near as our own hearts and mouths.
9 For if you tell others with your own mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and believe in your own heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For it is by believing in his heart that a man becomes right with God; and with his mouth he tells others of his faith, confirming his salvation.
11 For the Scriptures tell us that no one who believes in Christ will ever be disappointed.
12 Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect: they all have the same Lord who generously gives his riches to all those who ask him for them.
13 Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
14 But how shall they ask him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?
15 And how will anyone go and tell them unless someone sends him? That is what the Scriptures are talking about when they say, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of peace with God and bring glad tidings of good things." In other words, how welcome are those who come preaching God's Good News!
16 But not everyone who hears the Good News has welcomed it, for Isaiah the prophet said, "Lord, who has believed me when I told them?"
17 Yet faith comes from listening to this Good News--the Good News about Christ.
18 But what about the Jews? Have they heard God's Word? Yes, for it has gone wherever they are; the Good News has been told to the ends of the earth.
19 And did they understand that God would give his salvation to others if they refused to take it? Yes, for even back in the time of Moses, God had said that he would make his people jealous and try to wake them up by giving his salvation to the foolish heathen nations.
20 And later on Isaiah said boldly that God would be found by people who weren't even looking for him.
21 In the meantime, he keeps on reaching out his hands to the Jews, but they keep arguing and refusing to come.
1 I ask then, has God rejected and deserted his people the Jews? Oh no, not at all. Remember that I myself am a Jew, a descendant of Abraham and a member of Benjamin's family.
2 No, God has not discarded his own people whom he chose from the very beginning. Do you remember what the Scriptures say about this? Elijah the prophet was complaining to God about the Jews,
3 telling God how they had killed the prophets and torn down God's altars; Elijah claimed that he was the only one left in all the land who still loved God, and now they were trying to kill him too.
4 And do you remember how God replied? God said, "No, you are not the only one left. I have seven thousand others besides you who still love me and have not bowed down to idols!"
5 It is the same today. Not all the Jews have turned away from God; there are a few being saved as a result of God's kindness in choosing them.
6 And if it is by God's kindness, then it is not by their being good enough. For in that case the free gift would no longer be free--it isn't free when it is earned.
7 So this is the situation: Most of the Jews have not found the favor of God they are looking for. A few have--the ones God has picked out--but the eyes of the others have been blinded.
8 This is what our Scriptures refer to when they say that God has put them to sleep, shutting their eyes and ears so that they do not understand what we are talking about when we tell them of Christ. And so it is to this very day.
9 King David spoke of this same thing when he said, "Let their good food and other blessings trap them into thinking all is well between themselves and God. Let these good things boomerang on them and fall back upon their heads to justly crush them.
10 Let their eyes be dim," he said, "so that they cannot see, and let them walk bent-backed forever with a heavy load."
11 Does this mean that God has rejected his Jewish people forever? Of course not! His purpose was to make his salvation available to the Gentiles, and then the Jews would be jealous and begin to want God's salvation for themselves.
12 Now if the whole world became rich as a result of God's offer of salvation, when the Jews stumbled over it and turned it down, think how much greater a blessing the world will share in later on when the Jews, too, come to Christ.
13 As you know, God has appointed me as a special messenger to you Gentiles. I lay great stress on this and remind the Jews about it as often as I can,
14 so that if possible I can make them want what you Gentiles have and in that way save some of them.
15 And how wonderful it will be when they become Christians! When God turned away from them it meant that he turned to the rest of the world to offer his salvation; and now it is even more wonderful when the Jews come to Christ. It will be like dead people coming back to life.
16 And since Abraham and the prophets are God's people, their children will be too. For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be too.
17 But some of these branches from Abraham's tree, some of the Jews, have been broken off. And you Gentiles who were branches from, we might say, a wild olive tree, were grafted in. So now you, too, receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in God's rich nourishment of his own special olive tree.
18 But you must be careful not to brag about being put in to replace the branches that were broken off. Remember that you are important only because you are now a part of God's tree; you are just a branch, not a root.
19 "Well," you may be saying, "those branches were broken off to make room for me, so I must be pretty good."
20 Watch out! Remember that those branches, the Jews, were broken off because they didn't believe God, and you are there only because you do. Do not be proud; be humble and grateful--and careful.
21 For if God did not spare the branches he put there in the first place, he won't spare you either.
22 Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is very hard on those who disobey, but very good to you if you continue to love and trust him. But if you don't, you too will be cut off.
23 On the other hand, if the Jews leave their unbelief behind them and come back to God, God will graft them back into the tree again. He has the power to do it.
24 For if God was willing to take you who were so far away from him--being part of a wild olive tree--and graft you into his own good tree--a very unusual thing to do--don't you see that he will be far more ready to put the Jews back again, who were there in the first place?
25 I want you to know about this truth from God, dear brothers, so that you will not feel proud and start bragging. Yes, it is true that some of the Jews have set themselves against the Gospel now, but this will last only until all of you Gentiles have come to Christ--those of you who will.
26 And then all Israel will be saved. Do you remember what the prophets said about this? "There shall come out of Zion a Deliverer, and he shall turn the Jews from all ungodliness.
27 At that time I will take away their sins, just as I promised."
28 Now many of the Jews are enemies of the Gospel. They hate it. But this has been a benefit to you, for it has resulted in God's giving his gifts to you Gentiles. Yet the Jews are still beloved of God because of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
29 For God's gifts and his call can never be withdrawn; he will never go back on his promises.
30 Once you were rebels against God, but when the Jews refused his gifts God was merciful to you instead.
31 And now the Jews are the rebels, but some day they, too, will share in God's mercy upon you.
32 For God has given them all up to sin so that he could have mercy upon all alike.
33 Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are his wisdom and knowledge and riches! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods!
34 For who among us can know the mind of the Lord? Who knows enough to be his counselor and guide?
35 And who could ever offer to the Lord enough to induce him to act?
36 For everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by his power, and everything is for his glory. To him be glory evermore.
1 And so, dear brothers, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living sacrifice, holy--the kind he can accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask?
2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how his ways will really satisfy you.
3 As God's messenger I give each of you God's warning: Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you.
4 Just as there are many parts to our bodies, so it is with Christ's body.
5 We are all parts of it, and it takes every one of us to make it complete, for we each have different work to do. So we belong to each other, and each needs all the others.
6 God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, then prophesy whenever you can--as often as your faith is strong enough to receive a message from God.
7 If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching.
8 If you are a preacher, see to it that your sermons are strong and helpful. If God has given you money, be generous in helping others with it. If God has given you administrative ability and put you in charge of the work of others, take the responsibility seriously. Those who offer comfort to the sorrowing should do so with Christian cheer.
9 Don't just pretend that you love others: really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good.
10 Love each other with brotherly affection and take delight in honoring each other.
11 Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically.
12 Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and prayerful always.
13 When God's children are in need, you be the one to help them out. And get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner or, if they need lodging, for the night.
14 If someone mistreats you because you are a Christian, don't curse him; pray that God will bless him.
15 When others are happy, be happy with them. If they are sad, share their sorrow.
16 Work happily together. Don't try to act big. Don't try to get into the good graces of important people, but enjoy the company of ordinary folks. And don't think you know it all!
17 Never pay back evil for evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honest clear through.
18 Don't quarrel with anyone. Be at peace with everyone, just as much as possible.
19 Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for he has said that he will repay those who deserve it. Don't take the law into your own hands.
20 Instead, feed your enemy if he is hungry. If he is thirsty give him something to drink and you will be "heaping coals of fire on his head." In other words, he will feel ashamed of himself for what he has done to you.
21 Don't let evil get the upper hand, but conquer evil by doing good.
1 Obey the government, for God is the one who has put it there. There is no government anywhere that God has not placed in power.
2 So those who refuse to obey the laws of the land are refusing to obey God, and punishment will follow.
3 For the policeman does not frighten people who are doing right; but those doing evil will always fear him. So if you don't want to be afraid, keep the laws and you will get along well.
4 The policeman is sent by God to help you. But if you are doing something wrong, of course you should be afraid, for he will have you punished. He is sent by God for that very purpose.
5 Obey the laws, then, for two reasons: first, to keep from being punished, and second, just because you know you should.
6 Pay your taxes too, for these same two reasons. For government workers need to be paid so that they can keep on doing God's work, serving you.
7 Pay everyone whatever he ought to have: pay your taxes and import duties gladly, obey those over you, and give honor and respect to all those to whom it is due.
8 Pay all your debts except the debt of love for others--never finish paying that! For if you love them, you will be obeying all of God's laws, fulfilling all his requirements.
9 If you love your neighbor as much as you love yourself you will not want to harm or cheat him, or kill him or steal from him. And you won't sin with his wife or want what is his, or do anything else the Ten Commandments say is wrong. All ten are wrapped up in this one, to love your neighbor as you love yourself.
10 Love does no wrong to anyone. That's why it fully satisfies all of God's requirements. It is the only law you need.
11 Another reason for right living is this: you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for the coming of the Lord is nearer now than when we first believed.
12 The night is far gone, the day of his return will soon be here. So quit the evil deeds of darkness and put on the armor of right living, as we who live in the daylight should!
13 Be decent and true in everything you do so that all can approve your behavior. Don't spend your time in wild parties and getting drunk or in adultery and lust or fighting or jealousy.
14 But ask the Lord Jesus Christ to help you live as you should, and don't make plans to enjoy evil.
1 Give a warm welcome to any brother who wants to join you, even though his faith is weak. Don't criticize him for having different ideas from yours about what is right and wrong.
2 For instance, don't argue with him about whether or not to eat meat that has been offered to idols. You may believe there is no harm in this, but the faith of others is weaker; they think it is wrong and will go without any meat at all and eat vegetables rather than eat that kind of meat.
3 Those who think it is all right to eat such meat must not look down on those who won't. And if you are one of those who won't, don't find fault with those who do. For God has accepted them to be his children.
4 They are God's servants, not yours. They are responsible to him, not to you. Let him tell them whether they are right or wrong. And God is able to make them do as they should.
5 Some think that Christians should observe the Jewish holidays as special days to worship God, but others say it is wrong and foolish to go to all that trouble, for every day alike belongs to God. On questions of this kind everyone must decide for himself.
6 If you have special days for worshiping the Lord, you are trying to honor him; you are doing a good thing. So is the person who eats meat that has been offered to idols; he is thankful to the Lord for it; he is doing right. And the person who won't touch such meat, he, too, is anxious to please the Lord, and is thankful.
7 We are not our own bosses to live or die as we ourselves might choose.
8 Living or dying we follow the Lord. Either way we are his.
9 Christ died and rose again for this very purpose, so that he can be our Lord both while we live and when we die.
10 You have no right to criticize your brother or look down on him. Remember, each of us will stand personally before the Judgment Seat of God.
11 For it is written, "As I live," says the Lord, "every knee shall bow to me and every tongue confess to God."
12 Yes, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
13 So don't criticize each other anymore. Try instead to live in such a way that you will never make your brother stumble by letting him see you doing something he thinks is wrong.
14 As for myself, I am perfectly sure on the authority of the Lord Jesus that there is nothing really wrong with eating meat that has been offered to idols. But if someone believes it is wrong, then he shouldn't do it because for him it is wrong.
15 And if your brother is bothered by what you eat, you are not acting in love if you go ahead and eat it. Don't let your eating ruin someone for whom Christ died.
16 Don't do anything that will cause criticism against yourself even though you know that what you do is right.
17 For, after all, the important thing for us as Christians is not what we eat or drink but stirring up goodness and peace and joy from the Holy Spirit.
18 If you let Christ be Lord in these affairs, God will be glad; and so will others.
19 In this way aim for harmony in the church, and try to build each other up.
20 Don't undo the work of God for a chunk of meat. Remember, there is nothing wrong with the meat, but it is wrong to eat it if it makes another stumble.
21 The right thing to do is to quit eating meat or drinking wine or doing anything else that offends your brother or makes him sin.
22 You may know that there is nothing wrong with what you do, even from God's point of view, but keep it to yourself; don't flaunt your faith in front of others who might be hurt by it. In this situation, happy is the man who does not sin by doing what he knows is right.
23 But anyone who believes that something he wants to do is wrong shouldn't do it. He sins if he does, for he thinks it is wrong, and so for him it is wrong. Anything that is done apart from what he feels is right is sin.
1 Even if we believe that it makes no difference to the Lord whether we do these things, still we cannot just go ahead and do them to please ourselves;
2 for we must bear the "burden" of being considerate of the doubts and fears of others--of those who feel these things are wrong. Let's please the other fellow, not ourselves, and do what is for his good and thus build him up in the Lord.
3 Christ didn't please himself. As the Psalmist said, "He came for the very purpose of suffering under the insults of those who were against the Lord."
4 These things that were written in the Scriptures so long ago are to teach us patience and to encourage us so that we will look forward expectantly to the time when God will conquer sin and death.
5 May God who gives patience, steadiness, and encouragement help you to live in complete harmony with each other--each with the attitude of Christ toward the other.
6 And then all of us can praise the Lord together with one voice, giving glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 So warmly welcome each other into the church, just as Christ has warmly welcomed you; then God will be glorified.
8 Remember that Jesus Christ came to show that God is true to his promises and to help the Jews.
9 And remember that he came also that the Gentiles might be saved and give glory to God for his mercies to them. That is what the psalmist meant when he wrote: "I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name."
10 And in another place, "Be glad, O you Gentiles, along with his people the Jews."
11 And yet again, "Praise the Lord, O you Gentiles; let everyone praise him."
12 And the prophet Isaiah said, "There shall be an Heir in the house of Jesse, and he will be King over the Gentiles; they will pin their hopes on him alone."
13 So I pray for you Gentiles that God who gives you hope will keep you happy and full of peace as you believe in him. I pray that God will help you overflow with hope in him through the Holy Spirit's power within you.
14 I know that you are wise and good, my brothers, and that you know these things so well that you are able to teach others all about them.
15 But even so I have been bold enough to emphasize some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder from me; for I am, by God's grace,
16 a special messenger from Jesus Christ to you Gentiles, bringing you the Gospel and offering you up as a fragrant sacrifice to God; for you have been made pure and pleasing to him by the Holy Spirit.
17 So it is right for me to be a little proud of all Christ Jesus has done through me.
18 I dare not judge how effectively he has used others, but I know this: he has used me to win the Gentiles to God.
19 I have won them by my message and by the good way I have lived before them and by the miracles done through me as signs from God--all by the Holy Spirit's power. In this way I have preached the full Gospel of Christ all the way from Jerusalem clear over into Illyricum.
20 But all the while my ambition has been to go still farther, preaching where the name of Christ has never yet been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else.
21 I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures where Isaiah says that those who have never heard the name of Christ before will see and understand.
22 In fact, that is the very reason I have been so long in coming to visit you.
23 But now at last I am through with my work here, and I am ready to come after all these long years of waiting.
24 For I am planning to take a trip to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off there in Rome; and after we have had a good time together for a little while, you can send me on my way again.
25 But before I come, I must go down to Jerusalem to take a gift to the Jewish Christians there.
26 For you see, the Christians in Macedonia and Achaia have taken up an offering for those in Jerusalem who are going through such hard times.
27 They were very glad to do this, for they feel that they owe a real debt to the Jerusalem Christians. Why? Because the news about Christ came to these Gentiles from the church in Jerusalem. And since they received this wonderful spiritual gift of the Gospel from there, they feel that the least they can do in return is to give some material aid.
28 As soon as I have delivered this money and completed this good deed of theirs, I will come to see you on my way to Spain.
29 And I am sure that when I come the Lord will give me a great blessing for you.
30 Will you be my prayer partners? For the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and because of your love for me--given to you by the Holy Spirit--pray much with me for my work.
31 Pray that I will be protected in Jerusalem from those who are not Christians. Pray also that the Christians there will be willing to accept the money I am bringing them.
32 Then I will be able to come to you with a happy heart by the will of God, and we can refresh each other.
33 And now may our God, who gives peace, be with you all. Amen.
1 Phoebe, a dear Christian woman from the town of Cenchreae, will be coming to see you soon. She has worked hard in the church there. Receive her as your sister in the Lord, giving her a warm Christian welcome. Help her in every way you can, for she has helped many in their needs, including me.
2
3 Tell Priscilla and Aquila hello. They have been my fellow workers in the affairs of Christ Jesus.
4 In fact, they risked their lives for me, and I am not the only one who is thankful to them; so are all the Gentile churches.
5 Please give my greetings to all those who meet to worship in their home. Greet my good friend Epaenetus. He was the very first person to become a Christian in Asia.
6 Remember me to Mary, too, who has worked so hard to help us.
7 Then there are Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who were in prison with me. They are respected by the apostles and became Christians before I did. Please give them my greetings.
8 Say hello to Ampliatus, whom I love as one of God's own children,
9 and Urbanus, our fellow worker, and beloved Stachys.
10 Then there is Apelles, a good man whom the Lord approves; greet him for me. And give my best regards to those working at the house of Aristobulus.
11 Remember me to Herodion my relative. Remember me to the Christian slaves over at Narcissus House.
12 Say hello to Tryphaena and Tryphosa, the Lord's workers, and to dear Persis, who has worked so hard for the Lord.
13 Greet Rufus for me, whom the Lord picked out to be his very own; and also his dear mother who has been such a mother to me.
14 And please give my greetings to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the other brothers who are with them.
15 Give my love to Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and to Olympas, and all the Christians who are with them.
16 Shake hands warmly with each other. All the churches here send you their greetings.
17 And now there is one more thing to say before I end this letter. Stay away from those who cause divisions and are upsetting people's faith, teaching things about Christ that are contrary to what you have been taught.
18 Such teachers are not working for our Lord Jesus but only want gain for themselves. They are good speakers, and simple-minded people are often fooled by them.
19 But everyone knows that you stand loyal and true. This makes me very happy. I want you always to remain very clear about what is right and to stay innocent of any wrong.
20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The blessings from our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you.
21 Timothy my fellow worker, and Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my relatives, send you their good wishes.
22 I, Tertius, the one who is writing this letter for Paul, send my greetings too, as a Christian brother.
23 Gaius says to say hello to you for him. I am his guest, and the church meets here in his home. Erastus, the city treasurer, sends you his greetings and so does Quartus, a Christian brother.
24 Good-bye. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
25 I commit you to God, who is able to make you strong and steady in the Lord, just as the Gospel says, and just as I have told you. This is God's plan of salvation for you Gentiles, kept secret from the beginning of time.
26 But now as the prophets foretold and as God commands, this message is being preached everywhere, so that people all around the world will have faith in Christ and obey him.
27 To God, who alone is wise, be the glory forever through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Sincerely, Paul