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ROM EN_UST en_English_ltr Wed Dec 07 2022 14:03:42 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time) tc
Romans
1 I, Paul, am writing this letter. I serve the Messiah Jesus. He called me to represent him and specially chose me to proclaim God’s good news. 2 God previously promised this good news by means of his spokesmen who prophesied about it and wrote it down in the sacred writings. 3 This good news is about God’s Son. He was born a natural descendant of David. 4 In accordance with the Holy Spirit, God powerfully demonstrated that Jesus is his Son by causing him to live again after he had died. God’s Son is Jesus the Messiah, who is our Lord. 5 Jesus favored us who represent him and authorized us to represent him on his behalf in order that all the nations would obey God by trusting in Jesus the Messiah. 6 Jesus the Messiah has also called you who are living among the nations. 7 I am writing this letter to all of you believers who dwell in the city of Rome. God loves you and has called you to be people who belong to him. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus the Messiah continue to be kind to you and make you peaceful.
8 Now, the first thing I want to tell you, is that I am constantly thanking my God through Jesus the Messiah for all of you believers in the Messiah. I thank him because people throughout the known world are proclaiming how you trust in Jesus. 9 I can say this truthfully because God testifies for me that I frequently pray for you. I serve him devotedly by proclaiming the good news about his Son, Jesus. 10 When I pray, I very often request that I might finally succeed in coming to visit you because God wants me to. 11 I pray for this because I deeply desire to see you in person in order to share some kind of gracious gift with you from the Holy Spirit in order to help you become spiritually stronger. 12 In other words, I want to share some gracious gift with you in order that we may mutually encourage one other. Both you and I can help each other by sharing how we mutually trust in God. 13 My fellow believers, I certainly want you to know that I planned to visit you many times. But God has prevented me from visiting you until the present time. I planned to visit you in order to lead some people to believe in Christ among you as well, just like how I have also done so among the other nations. 14 I am obligated to proclaim the good news to all non-Jewish people, whether or not they are culturally Greek and whether or not they are educated. 15 So then, if it were my choice, I would gladly proclaim the good news to you who dwell in Rome.
16 I would gladly do this because I am deeply honored to proclaim the good news because it is the powerful way that God uses to save anyone who believes it. This is true for both the Jews who first heard the good news and then everyone else. 17 This is true because whenever people proclaim the good news, they reveal how God makes people righteous, which is entirely through trusting in the Messiah. This is what the prophet Habakkuk meant when he wrote in the Scriptures, “But the person whom God makes righteous will live forever by trusting in God.”
18 This is true because from where God dwells he is revealing how he is furious toward and will judge every person who does ungodly and unrighteous things. These people suppress the things that God says are true by living in an unrighteous manner.
19 God will judge them because what anyone can know about God is obvious to these people since God has made it obvious to them. 20 This is true because people can clearly perceive those things about God that they cannot see with their eyes. These things are how powerful God is and the fact that he is God. People could perceive these things since the time God created the universe. The things that God has made have understood these things. For this reason, people cannot excuse themselves from acknowledging that God exists. 21 People cannot excuse themselves because they do not honor him as God, even though they know that he exists. They also refuse to thank him. In contrast, they think about worthless things, and they are unable to understand spiritual things. 22 Although they assert that they are wise, they are actually fools. 23 They stop glorifying the God who is immortal, and instead they glorify idols that resemble mortal people, birds, four-legged animals, and animals that crawl on the ground.
24 Consequently, God lets these people do the lustful things that they desire to do, so that they become spiritually impure and they disgrace their bodies with one another by doing sexually immoral acts. 25 These people stop believing what is true about God and instead believe what is false about idols. They reverently worship things that God has created, instead of worshiping the God who created those things. He is the one whom people should bless forever! May it be so!
26 Because these people do that, God lets them do the dishonorable things they strongly desire to do. For example, their women stop doing natural sexual acts with men and instead do unnatural sexual acts with women. 27 Similarly, the men also stopped doing natural sexual acts with women and lusted intensely after other men. These men do shameless sexual acts with each other. They experience God penalizing them in their own bodies. God must penalize them because they pervert God’s natural sexual acts.
28 As these people thought that acknowledging God was worthless, God let their minds become worthless. As a result, they do inappropriate things. 29 These people are completely controlled by all kinds of unrighteous, wicked, covetous, and malicious thoughts. They are completely willing to be jealous, take another’s life, argue, deceive, and commit evil deeds against others. They reveal secrets about others. 30 They speak badly of other people. They hate God. They act violently. They think too highly of themselves. They boast about themselves. They think of new kinds of evil things to do. They do not obey their parents. 31 These people are morally foolish. They do not do what they promise to do. They do not care about other people. They do not show mercy to others. 32 These people fully understand that God has righteously declared that people who keep doing such inappropriate things deserve to die spiritually. Nevertheless, they not only keep on doing those inappropriate things, but they even happily approve of people who do such things!
2 Consequently, any one of you who judges another person cannot excuse yourself at all when God condemns you. This is because you are actually condemning yourself when you judge someone else, since you who judge someone else do the exact same things that they do! 2 Certainly, we acknowledge that God will correctly judge those people who continue doing such inappropriate things. 3 You who judge the people who continue to do such inappropriate things while you do the exact same things yourself should certainly not think that you can escape when God judges you! 4 You who despise how abundantly kind, tolerant, and patient God is must certainly know that God’s kind acts are meant to cause you to repent. 5 Instead, because you are stubborn and refuse to repent, you are causing God to punish you even more severely. This will happen when God punishes sinners and reveals how justly he judges.
6 God will justly reward or punish everyone for whatever they do. 7 Living eternally is how God repays those people who keep striving for God to glorify, honor, and preserve them forever. They do this by persisting in doing what is good. 8 By contrast, God will fiercely punish those people who refuse to do what he says is true and right because they are selfishly ambitious. 9 God will cause every human being who does what is evil to become distressed and troubled. This will happen especially to the Jew who does what is evil and also to everyone else who does so. 10 By contrast, God will glorify, honor, and reconcile every person who does what is good. This will happen especially to the Jew who does what is good and also to everyone else who does so. 11 These things are true because God is impartial.
12 We know this about God, because he will punish forever all people who sin without knowing the laws that God gave the Jews even though they do not know those laws. At the same time, God will judge according to his laws whoever sins while knowing those laws. 13 God will judge everyone who sins because God does not make righteous those people who only hear his laws. Rather, God will make righteous those people who obey his laws. 14 God will judge everyone who sins because whenever nations which do not know the laws that God gave the Jews naturally obey rules from those laws, they prove that they know laws within their minds even though they do not know God’s laws. 15 By naturally following some laws that God gave through Moses, these people demonstrate that God has made each person aware of how to obey his laws. What they think shows that this is true, in that what each of them thinks will either accuse or even defend their actions. 16 This will happen at the time when God finally judges the hidden thoughts that people think. God’s good news that I proclaim teaches that he will judge mankind through the Messiah Jesus.
17 Now, I am addressing you who identify yourselves as Jews: You depend on the laws God gave you to avoid God’s judgment. You brag that you know God. 18 You know what God wants. Also, since some people have taught you God’s law, you approve of what is superior. 19 You have even convinced yourselves that you Jews are the only ones who can teach those non-Jewish people who do not know about God. You are convinced that only you can enable ignorant people to understand who God is. 20 You have convinced yourself that you should instruct people who are foolish. You have convinced yourself that you should teach people who are as ignorant as infants. You think this way because you know the laws God gave the Jews, which fully contain what we can know and what is true. 21 So even though you Jews have convinced yourself that these things are true, you should teach yourselves to do what you teach others to do because you don’t do those things! You keep telling others that they should not steal, but you steal! 22 You keep telling people not to have sexual relations with people whom they did not marry, but you do so! You supposedly detest idols, but you ransack temples that contain idols! 23 You brag about how well you understand the laws God gave you, but you disgrace God by disobeying those laws! 24 These things are true because it is what the prophet Isaiah meant when he wrote in the Scriptures, “The nations say bad things about God because of how wickedly you Jews act.”
25 You Jews who have sinned will be judged because, being circumcised only benefits you if you obey the laws God gave you. However, if you disobey those laws, being circumcised does not benefit you at all. 26 So then, if uncircumcised people obey what God requires in the laws he gave the Jews, God will regard those uncircumcised people as being circumcised. 27 And people who are physically uncircumcised yet fully obey the laws from God will judge you Jews! Although you know the written rules God gave the Jews and you are circumcised, you have disobeyed those laws! 28 This is true because a true Jew is not someone who does Jewish rituals that people can see. Similarly, people cannot see true circumcision on a person’s body. 29 Rather, a true Jew is one by means of something that people cannot see. True circumcision happens in a person’s mind and the Holy Spirit does it. Obeying the written rules God gave the Jews cannot do it. God commends a true Jew, but other people do not.
3 You Jews might say, “If what you have said is true, then surely being a Jew is not advantageous! Surely being circumcised is not beneficial at all!” 2 Then I would say, “Being a Jew benefits a person in many ways!” This is certainly true because, first of all, God trusted the Jews with preserving what he had said in the Scriptures. 3 So you might say, “Some of these Jews were certainly unfaithful to God! How unfaithful those people are certainly cannot invalidate how faithful God is!” 4 Then I would say, “Of course not!” On the contrary, God is always truthful, but everyone else is not. This is what David meant when he wrote in the Scriptures, “The result of my sin is that people will acknowledge that you, God, are right when you speak and victorious when people try to judge you.”
5 But you might say, “Suppose this is true and how unrighteous we Jews are actually confirms how righteous God is. That could not possibly mean that God is unrighteous because he punishes us!” (When I talk like this, I am expressing how human beings think.) 6 Then I would say, “Of course not! If God were unrighteous when he punishes us, then he could not possibly judge anyone in the world!” 7 But then you might say, “Suppose this is true, and my lying further glorifies God and how truthful he is. If that is so, then surely God should not still judge me as if I were sinning! 8 And if this is true, then you should just tell us to act wickedly in order that good things can happen!” (This is exactly what some people say falsely about me and claim that I say. It is right for God to condemn people who speak and act this way!)
9 You Jews might then say, “If what you have said is true, then we are surely not superior to non-Jewish people!” And I would say that indeed we are not. I say this because I have previously charged that all Jews and non-Jewish people cannot stop being sinful. 10 This is what the prophets meant when they wrote in the Scriptures, “No one is righteous, no one at all!”
11 “No one thinks wisely. No one is even trying to know God!
12 Everyone has refused to obey God. As a whole, they are worthless for doing what God wants. No one is kind, no one at all!”
13 “What people say is morally corrupt like the smell of rotten corpses in a grave! They constantly deceive people by what they say!” “What they say hurts people, like the venom of venomous snakes!” 14 “They constantly curse others and speak harshly against them.” 15 “They rush eagerly to murder people. 16 Wherever they go, they destroy lives and make people suffer. 17 They do not understand how to live peacefully with others.” 18 “They do not fear God at all!”
19 Certainly, we Jews know all that God says in his laws applies to the Jews, to whom God gave his laws. This is in order that no one can excuse themselves from being judged by God. This is also in order that God can justly punish everyone in the world as guilty. 20 This is true because God will not make anyone righteous with himself simply because they obey the laws he gave the Jews. This is so because those laws only make people aware of how sinful they are.
21 But now God has revealed how he makes people righteous. Becoming righteous is not related to obeying the laws God gave the Jews. Yet, in what they wrote in the Scriptures Moses and the prophets testify about how God makes people righteous. 22 How God makes people righteous is by trusting in Jesus the Messiah. God will make all types of people righteous if they trust in Jesus. This is because God does not distinguish between different types of people. 23 This is because all types of people sin and fail to acquire the glorious status from God. 24 God makes these sinful people righteous as a gift because he is so kind. People receive this gift from God when God unites them to Jesus the Messiah, who redeemed them from being punished for being sinful. 25 God offered Jesus as the one who atones for everyone’s sins. People are rescued from being punished for being sinful by trusting in his sacrificial death. God did this in order to show how God makes people righteous. This happened because God disregarded people’s sinful acts that they had previously done. 26 God did this because he is so tolerant. God also did this in order to show how he makes people righteous during our time. This is for the purpose of showing that God is righteous and that he makes people righteous if they trust in Jesus.
27 You Jews might say, “If what you have said is true, then surely no one can boast!” Then I would say, “Indeed, no one can!” Then you might say, “Surely we can become righteous by obeying the laws God gave the Jews! Surely doing those things will make us righteous!” Then I would say, “Absolutely not! On the contrary, people become righteous by trusting in Jesus the Messiah. 28 Indeed, we Jewish Christians consider people to become righteous by trusting in Jesus the Messiah. Being righteous is not related to doing those things that God commanded in the laws he gave the Jews.” 29 Or you might say, “Surely God is not only the God of the Jews. Surely he is the God of all the nations too!” So I would say, “Absolutely! He is the God of all the nations too. 30 This is true because there is certainly only one God for all people. He will make righteous both the Jews who trust in Jesus and the non-Jewish people who trust in Jesus.” 31 You Jews might say, “Then surely we make the laws God gave us invalid by trusting in Jesus!” So I would say, “Of course not! On the contrary, we confirm that what God said in those laws is valid.”
4 You Jews might say, “If what you have said is true, then surely our physical ancestor Abraham found out about it. 2 This must be true because if Abraham became righteous based on doing the things that God commanded in his laws, then he could brag about it.” On the contrary, I would say that Abraham could not possibly boast about it to God! 3 I say this because, Moses surely tells us in the Scriptures, “Abraham trusted in God, and God considered Abraham to be righteous because he trusted in him.” 4 Indeed, when a person works, he does not consider the wage he earns to be a gracious gift. On the contrary, that person considers the wage he earns to be what his employer owes him. 5 By contrast, when a person does not obey the laws God gave the Jews, but trusts in the God who can make unrighteous people righteous, God considers him to be righteous because he trusted in him. 6 This is also the same thing that David wrote in the Scriptures about how blessed people are when God considers them to be righteous, even though they do not do those things that God commanded. David wrote:
7 “People are so happy when God forgives their lawless acts! People are so happy when God no longer acknowledges their sinful acts! 8 Any person whom the Lord never again considers to be sinful is so happy!”
9 Therefore, these happy people are not only circumcised Jews but even uncircumcised people who are not Jews! This must be true because we Jews quote the scripture that states, “God considers Abraham to be righteous because he trusted in him.” 10 So then, you surely know when Abraham trusted in God and God considered him to be righteous! You surely know whether this happened before he was circumcised or afterward! Indeed, it was not while Abraham was circumcised, but while he was still uncircumcised that God considered him to be righteous. 11 Abraham was circumcised as a mark in his body to prove that God had made him righteous because Abraham trusted in him before he was circumcised. This happened in order for him to become the spiritual ancestor for every non-Jewish person who trusts in God in order that God would consider them to be righteous because they trust in him. 12 This also happened in order for Abraham to become the spiritual ancestor of those people who are circumcised, that is, those circumcised Jews who are not only circumcised in their bodies, but who also trust in God the same way that our ancestor Abraham did even before he was circumcised.
13 This is true because when God promised Abraham and those who descend from him that the whole world would belong to him, God did not promise this because Abraham obeyed the laws God gave the Jews. Rather, God promised this because God had made Abraham righteous because Abraham trusted in him. 14 This is true because, if people could inherit what God promised Abraham by obeying the laws he gave the Jews, then trusting in God would become useless! What God promised would also become invalid. 15 This is because the laws God gave the Jews are intended to punish those who disobey them. However, where God’s laws do not exist, no one can disobey them. 16 This is why what God promised comes by trusting in him in order to show how kind he is. God was so kind in order that he could secure what he promised to everyone who has spiritually descended from Abraham. Those who have spiritually descended from Abraham are not only those Jews who obey the laws God gave them, but also those who trust in God as Abraham did. Abraham is the spiritual ancestor of all of us who trust in God. 17 (This is exactly what God said in the Scriptures about Abraham: “I have chosen you to be a spiritual ancestor for numerous people groups.”) God considers Abraham to be our spiritual ancestor. Abraham trusted God. God is the one who causes dead people to become alive again. He also commands things that do not exist to exist, then they exist. 18 Abraham trusted in God by hoping in God despite what seemed hopeless. As a result, he became the spiritual ancestor for numerous people groups. This happened just as God had promised him in the Scriptures: “The people who descend from you will become as numerous as the stars in the sky.” 19 Abraham thought that his body was too old to produce children. (He was almost 100 years old!) He also thought that his wife Sarah was unable to become pregnant because she never had been able to do so before. Nevertheless, Abraham kept on trusting God. 20 Indeed, Abraham did not faithlessly doubt what God had promised. On the contrary, God empowered Abraham to continue trusting in him while Abraham was glorifying God. 21 God also totally assured Abraham that he is able to do what he had promised to do. 22 And this is why, “God considered Abraham to be righteous because he trusted in him.”
23 Yet, when Moses wrote in the Scriptures, “God considered how Abraham trusted him,” these words not only refer to Abraham. 24 On the contrary, these words also refer to us who trust in Jesus. God is going to consider how we believers trust him. We are the people who trust him. He is the one who caused our Lord Jesus to become alive again after he had died. 25 God allowed people to kill Jesus because we sinned against God. God also caused Jesus to become alive again in order to make us righteous.
5 Consequently, we should live peacefully with God by means of what our Lord Jesus the Messiah did for us because we have become righteous by trusting in Jesus. 2 Our Lord Jesus the Messiah also allows us to continually experience how kind God is by trusting in Jesus. We can confidently boast that we will share in God’s glorious status. 3 This is not the only thing about which we can confidently boast. Rather, we can also confidently boast about the painful things that we have experienced. We can do this because we know that a painful thing that we experience causes us to endure hardships better than before. 4 And being able to endure hardships results in God approving us. And when God approves us, we become more confident. 5 And when we become confident, we will not be disappointed. This is because the Holy Spirit has enabled us to deeply understand how much God loves us. God has given us this Holy Spirit.
6 In fact, while we were still helpless, Jesus the Messiah died for the sake of us impious people. God caused this to happen at just the right time. 7 Indeed, someone would rarely consider dying for the sake of a person who is righteous, although someone might possibly even bravely consider dying for the sake of a good person. 8 However, God shows his own love towards we believers by this fact: while we were still sinful, Jesus the Messiah died for our benefit! 9 Consequently, since the Messiah’s sacrificial death has already made us righteous, it is even more certain that he will rescue us when God finally punishes sinners! 10 Indeed, God’s Son Jesus died to reconcile us to God while we were still his enemies. Therefore, since Jesus has already reconciled us to God, it is even more certain that he will rescue us when God punishes sinners because he is alive again! 11 Now these are not the only things God does for us. Rather, we also boast about God by means of what our Lord Jesus the Messiah has done for us. Jesus has already reconciled us with God!
12 So then, sin started existing in the world because one man sinned, and living things started to die because he sinned. In the same way, everyone started dying as well, because everyone sins. 13 Indeed, people throughout the world sinned before God gave his laws to the Jews. However, God did not legally regard what they did as sinning, since those laws did not yet exist to identify what it means to sin. 14 However, everyone died from the time of the first man Adam until the time of Moses. Even those people died who did not sin by violating the same command God gave to Adam. Adam is like the person who would come later. 15 But what God has kindly given us is not the same as how Adam rejected God’s command. In fact, it is true that many people died because the one man Adam rejected God’s command. But how kind God is and that which God kindly gives through the one man Jesus the Messiah extend to many people and are much greater! 16 Yet, what God gives is not like what happened because the one man Adam sinned. This is true because, in fact, God judged everyone after the sinful thing that Adam did, which resulted in God condemning everyone. By contrast, what God kindly gave people after they rejected his commands many times resulted in God making them righteous. 17 Indeed, since everyone died because the one man Adam rejected God’s command, it is even more certain that those people who accept how abundantly kind God is and are those people whom he makes righteous will live in control of themselves. This will happen because of what Jesus the Messiah has done.
18 Therefore, in the way that God condemned everyone because Adam rejected God’s command, in the same way, God makes everyone righteous, which results in them living eternally, because of the righteous act that Jesus did. 19 Indeed, in the same way that people became sinful because the one man Adam disobeyed God, in the same way many people will become righteous because the one man Jesus obeyed God. 20 Yet God added his laws in order that people might reject his commands even more. Nevertheless, whenever people began to sin even more, then even more God showed how kind he is! 21 This happened so that God could be gracious to people by making them righteous. Just as being sinful controlled people by making them die, in the same way, when God makes people righteous, they live forever. This is because of what our Lord Jesus the Messiah has done.
6 Someone might say, “If what you have said is true, then surely we believers should keep on sinning in order that, even more, God might show how kind he is even more!” 2 Then I would say, “Of course not!” We who are no longer controlled by sinning surely must not continue living sinfully! 3 You surely know that God unites to the Messiah Jesus whomever someone baptizes, and it is as if that baptized person also died with the Messiah! 4 So, by being baptized as if we died with the Messiah, it is like God buried us in the tomb with Jesus. This is so in order that, just as God the Father’s glorious power caused the Messiah to become alive again after he had died, in the same way, we too can live a new way of living. 5 Indeed, since we share in what resembles Jesus dying, we will surely also share in God making us alive again. 6 We know that God also did away with our former sinful way of living when people crucified Jesus. He did this in order to totally remove the way sin controls us, so that we no longer have to live sinfully. 7 This is because, when people who live sinfully share in Jesus’ death, God frees them from having to live sinfully. 8 Now since it is as if we died with the Messiah, we trust that we will also live with him eternally. 9 We know that the Messiah can never die again, because God caused him to become alive again after he had died. Nothing can ever cause the Messiah to die again! 10 This is because when Jesus died, he only had to die that one time only in order to remove the way sin controls people. Now that he is alive again, he lives in order to glorify God. 11 Similarly, you too regard yourselves as no longer controlled by sinning. Indeed, regard yourselves as alive in order to glorify God because God has united you to the Messiah Jesus. 12 Since this is true, do not allow your sinful desires to control you. This would result in you doing the sinful things that you want to do. 13 Do not use your body parts in order to do unrighteous things or to sin. Instead, live in order to do what God wants you to do, like people whom God caused to live again after they had died. Also, use your body parts in order to do righteous things to glorify God. 14 Indeed, do not allow your desire to sin to control you because the laws God gave the Jews do not control you. Instead, how kind God is controls you.
15 Someone might say, “If what you have said is true, then surely we believers should keep on sinning because the laws God gave the Jews do not control us. Instead, how kind God is controls us!” Then I would say, “Of course not!” 16 You surely know that if you submit yourselves to be controlled by a thing or person, you become like slaves to that thing or person you submit to! This is true whether you submit yourselves to living sinfully, which will kill you eternally, or you submit yourselves to God, which will make you righteous. 17 Although you used to submit yourselves to living sinfully, now you are sincerely submissive to the type of teaching to which God has submitted you. Thank God! 18 Indeed, since God liberated you from living sinfully, you are now serving God righteously. 19 (I Paul am speaking in human terms, because you are spiritually immature.) Indeed, just as you previously used your body parts to live impurely and to increasingly break God’s laws, in the same way, now use your body parts to live righteously. This will cause you to live like God’s people should live. 20 This is because when you used to submit yourselves to living sinfully, you were not living righteously. 21 So, formerly you did not benefit from those sinful things you did that now embarrass you. This is because those things will eventually kill you eternally. 22 But now that you trust in Jesus, God has freed you from living sinfully and has caused you to serve him the way slaves would serve him. Therefore, you receive what is beneficial, which results in you living like God’s people should live. Indeed, living in that way will eventually result in you living eternally. 23 I say this because living sinfully causes those who do so to die eternally, but God graciously causes those who are united to our Lord, the Messiah Jesus, to live eternally.
7 My fellow Jewish believers, you are well-aware that the laws God gave the Jews must be obeyed by Jewish people throughout their whole lives. (I know that you are well-aware of this fact, because I am speaking to people who are familiar with the laws God gave the Jews.) 2 For instance, according to the laws God gave the Jews, a married woman must remain married to her husband as long as he lives. However, if her husband dies, God’s law no longer requires her to remain married to him. 3 Therefore, if she marries another man while her husband is alive, according to God’s law she will be an adulterous woman. However, if her husband dies, she no longer has to obey what God’s law requires of those who are married. As a result, she would not be an adulterous woman if she married another man. 4 So, my fellow Jewish believers, by means of the Messiah dying on the cross the laws God gave the Jews no longer control you. God did this in order to unite you to the Messiah, as if you were marrying a new husband. He is the person whom God made alive again after he had died. God did this in order that we may do things that please him. 5 Indeed, when living sinfully used to control us, the laws God gave us caused us to want to sin even more. Our living sinfully controlled what we did with our body parts. As a result, we would eventually die eternally. 6 But now that we trust in Jesus, God cancels what his laws require us to do. The laws God gave the Jews no longer control us as if we were prisoners. As a result, we now serve God in the new way that comes from the Holy Spirit. We no longer serve God in the old way that the written rules God gave the Jews require.
7 Someone might say, “If what you have said is true, then surely the laws God gave the Jews are sinful!” Then I would say, “Of course not!” On the contrary, without the laws God gave the Jews, I would never have become aware of what it means to sin. For instance, if God did not say in his laws, “You must not covet,” I would never have become aware of what it means to covet. 8 However, since I am sinful, I wanted to covet in many ways because I knew that God commanded us not to covet. This is because if the laws God gave the Jews did not exist, living sinfully would cease. 9 There was a time when I was living without being aware of the laws God gave the Jews. But, when I became aware of those commandments, I wanted to sin even more. 10 I became spiritually dead. God’s command was supposed to result in me living eternally. But God’s command actually will result in me dying eternally. 11 This is so because I wanted to sin even more because I knew what God had commanded. When I sinned, I tricked myself. Then disobeying what God had commanded killed me spiritually. 12 So the laws God gave the Jews are worthy of God and what God has commanded is worthy of God, just, and good.
13 So, God’s laws, which are good, surely did not cause me to die spiritually! Of course not! Rather, living sinfully did so. This happened so that God’s good laws would reveal how sinful it is to live sinfully. This also happened so that what God commands would reveal that living sinfully is utterly sinful.
14 This is true because we are all aware that the laws God gave the Jews are from God’s Spirit. But as for me, I am spiritually weak. It is as if I must serve as a slave to living sinfully. 15 This is true because I do not comprehend what I do! Indeed, I keep on doing what I do not want to do. But I do what I hate that I do. 16 Now because I do what I do not want to do, this proves that I agree with the laws God gave the Jews. I also testify that they are good laws. 17 This means that now I am no longer the one who causes me to do these sinful things. Rather, my wanting to live sinfully causes me to do them. 18 Indeed, I am aware that I am not good at all. In other words, my sinful self is not good at all. This is true because, even though I really want to do what is good, I am unable to do so. 19 Indeed, I do not do the good things I want to do. Rather, I keep on doing evil things that I do not want to do. 20 Now because I do what I do not want to do, I am no longer the one who causes me to do these sinful things. Rather, my wanting to live sinfully causes me to do them. 21 Consequently, I realized that a principle exists: I keep on doing evil things, even though I really want to do good things. 22 This is true because the laws God gave the Jews make my mind rejoice. 23 Yet, I notice another principle that controls what I do with my body parts. This principle conflicts with the other principle that my mind accepts. It also controls me, making me its prisoner by means of the principle that I tend to live sinfully. Living sinfully controls what I do with my body parts. 24 I am truly a wretched person! I feel as though there is no one who could possibly rescue me from this body that kills me! 25 I thank God who rescued me by means of our Lord Jesus the Messiah! Therefore, I actually do obey with my mind the laws God gave the Jews. Yet at the same time with my sinful self I obey the principle that I tend to live sinfully.
8 So now, God absolutely does not condemn anyone whom he has united with the Messiah Jesus. 2 This is true because the principle that pertains to the life-giving Holy Spirit has caused you believers to no longer be controlled by the principle that causes people to sin and die eternally. It did this by uniting you with the Messiah Jesus. 3 Indeed, God accomplished what the laws he gave the Jews could not accomplish, because they could not prevent people from living sinfully. Through the crucifying of his Son’s body, God removed how sinning controls people. He did this by sending his own Son Jesus to the world in a human body that was like the bodies of sinful people. God sent his Son in order to remove that which causes man to sin. 4 God did these things so that we believers could do the righteous acts that the laws he gave the Jews required. We can live as people whom living sinfully does not control. Rather, we can live as people whom the Holy Spirit controls. 5 This is true because those people whom living sinfully controls think about those things that are related to living sinfully. However, those people whom the Holy Spirit controls think about those things that are related to the Holy Spirit. 6 Indeed, focusing on living sinfully will cause a person to die eternally. However, focusing on the Holy Spirit will cause a person to live eternally and peacefully. 7 This is true because people who focus on living sinfully are God’s enemies. This is because they do not voluntarily obey the laws God gave the Jews; they are incapable of doing so. 8 But those whom living sinfully controls are incapable of pleasing God. 9 By contrast, you believers are not those whom living sinfully controls. Rather, you are those whom the Holy Spirit controls because God’s Spirit really does reside within you. But if some person does not possess Jesus the Messiah’s Spirit, this person does not belong to the Messiah. 10 Now, since the Messiah resides within you believers, the Holy Spirit gives you eternal life because he has made you righteous. This is true even though your bodies will die because you sin. 11 The Holy Spirit does indeed reside within you. He came from God, who caused Jesus to become alive again after he had died. Since this is true, God, who caused the Messiah Jesus to become alive again after he had died, will also cause your physical bodies to become alive again by his Spirit. This Spirit resides within you.
12 Therefore, my fellow believers, we are obligated. But we are not obligated to live sinfully, which means to live like those whom living sinfully controls. 13 Indeed, if you live like those whom living sinfully controls, you will die eternally. However, if the Holy Spirit enables you to stop doing what is sinful with your bodies, you will live eternally.
14 This is because those people whom God’s Spirit guides are God’s spiritual children. 15 Indeed, God has not given you believers an enslaved mind to terrify you, such as you had before. Rather, God has given you the Holy Spirit to spiritually adopt you as his children. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to cry out, “Abba, my Father!” 16 The Holy Spirit personally testifies, along with our own minds, that we are God’s spiritual children. 17 Since we are God’s spiritual children, we are also those who will inherit blessings from God. We inherit blessings from God himself and also together with the Messiah Jesus. This is true only if we keep suffering together with the Messiah in order for God to also glorify us together with the Messiah.
18 Indeed, I regard what we believers in the Messiah suffer at this time as being incomparable to what glorious things God will reveal to us in the future. 19 Indeed, what God created is very eagerly waiting for the time when God reveals whom his spiritual children are. 20 This is because God subjugated what he created so that it became useless. What God created did not want this to happen. Rather, God subjugated what he created because he wanted to do so. He did this to keep the creation confidently expecting 21 that God would also enable what he created to stop decaying and let it freely experience the same glorious status that belongs to his spiritual children. 22 Indeed, we are aware that, even at the present time, everything God has created keeps groaning and suffering together like a mother experiencing pain before bearing a child. 23 It is not only what God created that groans! On the contrary, even we ourselves who possess the Holy Spirit as the first portion from God feel suffering. We feel this way while we eagerly wait for God to spiritually adopt us, which will be when God redeems our bodies. 24 This is so because God rescued us while we confidently expect this. If we already had what we have been confidently expecting, then we would have nothing to confidently expect. This is because surely nobody confidently expects something that he already has. 25 Yet, if we keep on confidently expecting what we do not yet have, then we will keep on eagerly waiting for it while persevering.
26 The Holy Spirit similarly also assists us because we are weak. This is because we are not aware for what we should pray. However, the Holy Spirit personally pleads on our behalf by groaning without speaking words. 27 Now God is the one who investigates what we think and feel. He is aware of what the Holy Spirit intends, because the Spirit pleads for the sake of God’s people according to what God wants.
28 We are certain that God makes all things that happen to benefit those who love him. They are the people whom God called because he previously planned to do so. 29 This is because those whom God chose in advance, he also decided in advance to make resemble his Son Jesus. God did these things in order for his Son Jesus to have first place among many spiritual siblings. 30 Certainly, the people whom God chose in advance to become his people, he also summoned to become his people. And those people whom God summoned to become his people, he also made righteous. And those people whom God made righteous, he will also make glorious.
31 Since these things are true, then we should say this about them: since God supports us, surely no one is powerful enough to oppose us! 32 God did not even spare his own Son, Jesus. On the contrary, God handed him over to die for the sake of us all. So God surely will also graciously give us, along with Jesus, every blessing! 33 Surely no one can rightly accuse those whom God chose to become his people! This is because God is the one who makes people righteous. 34 Surely no one can condemn God’s people! This is because the Messiah Jesus is the one who died. Furthermore, he is the one whom God made alive again. He is also at the place of highest honor next to God, and he even pleads for our sake. 35 Surely no one can make Jesus stop loving us! If people trouble us or distress us or persecute us, or if we are hungry or naked or in danger, or if people kill us with swords, surely none of those things can make Jesus stop loving us! 36 This is what God meant when he said in the Scriptures, “They constantly kill us because of you, God. They consider us to be like sheep for them to slaughter.” 37 However, he who loved us enables us to completely overcome all of these things that might happen to us. 38 In fact, God has persuaded me that none of these things—whether being dead, or what happens while we are alive, or angels, or demons who rule, or things that are happening to us, or things that will happen to us, or powerful demons, 39 or what is above us, or what is below us, or anything else that God created—can stop God from loving us! God loves us because we are united to the Messiah Jesus, our Lord!
9 I speak what is true as one whom God has united with the Messiah. I do not speak what is false. The Holy Spirit confirms what my conscience testifies within myself when I say 2 that I grieve very greatly and constantly! 3 I do so because I truly wish that God would curse me and completely alienate me from Jesus the Messiah for my fellow kinsmen to be saved! They are physically related to me. 4 These kinsmen of mine are the Israelites. They are those whom God spiritually adopted. God allowed them to experience how glorious he is. God made covenants with them. God gave them his laws. God gave them the way to worship him. God also made promises to them. 5 Our Jewish forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were Israelites. The Messiah is also one of them, as someone physically related to them. The Messiah rules over everything. He is the blessed God forever. May it be so!
6 Yet God has not failed to do what he promised to the Israelites. This is true because not all people who have physically descended from Israel are true Israelites. 7 It is also not true that all those who physically descended from Abraham are Abraham’s true offspring. Rather, as God says to Abraham in the Scriptures, “I will identify your true offspring through those who descend from Isaac.” 8 In other words, the people who only physically descended from Abraham are not God’s spiritual children. Rather, those who became God’s spiritual children as a result of what God promised are regarded as Abraham’s true spiritual offspring. 9 Indeed, this is what God promised would happen when he said in the Scriptures, “At a set time, I will come. As a result, Sarah will give birth to a son.” 10 This is not the only promise God made. But God made a promise also when Rebekah became pregnant by this same man, Isaac. He is the ancestor of us Israelites. 11 Indeed, God chose only one of her two sons even though she had not yet born them and they had not yet done anything right or wrong. God did this in order that what he had previously planned with regard to choosing people would happen. 12 God did not choose only one of her sons because of what he did. Rather, it was because God summons those whom he chooses. This is why God told Rebekah in the Scriptures, “Your older son will become a slave to your younger son.” 13 This is what God meant when he said in the Scriptures, “I love the younger son Jacob, but I emphatically reject the older son Esau.”
14 Someone might say, “If what you have said is true, then surely God must be unrighteous!” Then I would say, “Of course not!” 15 We know that God is truly righteous because God told Moses in the Scriptures, “I will be merciful to whomever I want to be merciful. I will be compassionate to whomever I want to be compassionate.” 16 Therefore, who receives God’s mercy does not depend on how much someone desires to receive it. Who receives God’s mercy also does not depend on how much effort someone exerts. Rather, it depends on what God wants. He is the one who is merciful. 17 Indeed, this is what God told Pharaoh in the Scriptures, “I allowed you to become king in Egypt for this exact reason: in order that I could use you to exhibit how powerful I am. I also allowed you to become king in order that I will be famous all over the world.” 18 Therefore, God is merciful to whomever he wants to be merciful. But he makes stubborn whomever he wants to become stubborn.
19 As a result of what I have said, one of you may tell me, “If what you have said is true, then surely God should not blame people for doing what they do! God should not do that because no one can ever stop him from doing whatever he wants to do!” 20 Then I would say, “You mere human! You who argue with God are truly not worthy to do so! Who God has made surely must not say to God who made him, ‘You should not have made me to be like this!’” 21 God can surely do whatever he wants to do with what he has made. In the same way, someone who makes containers can do whatever he wants to do with his materials. From the same material he can make both containers for special use and containers for ordinary use. 22 Now, you should surely not argue with God because he very patiently endured those people whom he would punish and had prepared to destroy eternally. He endured them because he wanted to show how angry he is and to reveal how powerful he is. 23 God also endures those whom he will punish in order to reveal how abundantly glorious he is to those people to whom he will be merciful. God has previously arranged to glorify these people eternally. 24 We are also among those people to whom God is merciful and whom God has summoned. God summons people from among Jewish people and even from among non-Jewish people. 25 In the same way, God also told Hosea in the Scriptures, “I will give the name ‘My people’ to people who were not my people. I will also give the name ‘Loved one’ to the person whom I did not love.”
26 God also told Hosea, “Then it will happen, in the exact same location where I previously told them, ‘You are not my people,’ I will give them the name, ‘Children of God who lives.’”
27 Indeed, elsewhere in the Scriptures Isaiah shouts out about the people of Israel, “Even though there were as many Israelites as there are grains of sand along the seashore, God will refrain from punishing only a few of them. 28 This is because the Lord will fully and swiftly accomplish what he promised to do on the earth.”
29 It is also just like Isaiah previously said in the Scriptures, “Unless the Lord, who rules over angel armies, had preserved offspring for us Israelites, he would have utterly destroyed us like he destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.”
30 Since these things are true, we should surely say that although the nations are not trying to be righteous, they became righteous. However, they became righteous by trusting God. 31 By contrast, the people of Israel tried to obey the laws God gave them in order to become righteous. But they could not become righteous by obeying those laws. 32 The reason why the people of Israel could not become righteous is that they did not try to become righteous by trusting God. Instead, they tried to become righteous by working for it. Because of this the Messiah offended them when he came. It is as if the Messiah is a stone that causes them to trip. 33 This is what God meant when he had Isaiah write in the Scriptures, “Pay attention! I am placing in Jerusalem someone who is like a stone that trips people and a rock that offends people. But God will not humiliate anyone who trusts in that person.”
10 My fellow believers, I strongly desire that God will save the Israelites. I also pray for him to save them! 2 This is because I personally confirm that they are zealous about God. However, they are not zealous based on fully knowing God. 3 This is because they are not aware of how God makes people righteous, and they try to make themselves righteous. This is why they refuse to subject themselves to the way God makes people righteous. 4 They were wrong to try to make themselves righteous, because Jesus the Messiah has ended the laws that God gave the Jews. Christ did this in order for God to make righteous anyone who trusts in Jesus.
5 Indeed, this is what Moses wrote in the Scriptures about being righteous by obeying the laws God gave the Jews: “The person who obeys all God’s laws perfectly will live eternally by doing so.” 6 However, this is what Moses said in the Scriptures about people becoming righteous by trusting in God, “Do not say to yourselves, ‘Surely no one can go up to heaven!’” (This refers to trying to make the Messiah come down to the earth.) 7 Moses also said not to say, “Surely no one can go down into the bottomless pit!” (This refers to trying to make the Messiah become alive again after he had died.) 8 However, Moses also said this in the Scriptures about people becoming righteous by trusting in God, “You can easily know what God said. You can proclaim it and know it personally.” This refers to what God said about trusting in him. This is what we believers in the Messiah keep announcing. 9 What we keep announcing is that God will save any of you who verbally acknowledges that Jesus is the Lord over all things and personally trusts that God made Jesus become alive again after he had died. 10 This is true because God makes righteous anyone who personally trusts in Jesus, and he saves anyone who verbally acknowledges that Jesus is the Lord. 11 Indeed, this is what God said in the Scriptures, “God will not humiliate anyone who trusts in that person.” 12 Indeed, the Lord Jesus does not discriminate between Jewish people and non-Jewish people. This is because Jesus is the same Lord who rules over everyone. He generously blesses all people who call out to him to save them. 13 Indeed, Joel wrote in the Scriptures, “God will save all people who call out to the Lord to save them.”
14 So, people certainly will not call out for the Lord Jesus to save them if they do not trust in him. And people certainly will not trust in Jesus if they have not heard about him. And people certainly will not hear about Jesus if someone does not proclaim to them who he is. 15 And certainly people would not proclaim to other people who Jesus is unless someone sends them out! This is what Isaiah meant when he wrote in the Scriptures, “It is a beautiful thing when people go and declare to other people the good news about good things!” 16 However, not all Jews accepted the good news about Jesus. Indeed, this is what Isaiah meant when he said in the Scriptures, “Lord, no one trusts what we say!” 17 So then, a person can only trust in Jesus by hearing about him. And a person can only hear about Jesus through hearing the message that is about the Messiah. 18 However, this is what I say, “The Jews most definitely heard the message!” It is a fact. As David wrote in the Scriptures, “The heavenly bodies are like witnesses and everyone throughout the entire world could hear what they said.”
19 This is also what I say, “The people of Israel most definitely understood the message!” God first said through Moses in the Scriptures, “I will personally make you envious and angry by using a nation that does not belong to me and does not even know me.” 20 Moreover, God quite boldly declared through Isaiah in the Scriptures, “I revealed myself to those non-Jewish people who were not interested in knowing me and did not even ask about me.”
21 However, God told the people of Israel in the Scriptures, “I am always inviting you to know me, but you constantly disobey and oppose me!”
11 Since these things are true, this is what I say, “God certainly has not rejected his people, the Israelites!” Of course not! I know this is true because I too am one of the Israelites. I descended from Abraham. More specifically, I descended from the tribe that descended from Benjamin. 2 God did not discard his people. They are the people whom he chose in advance. You certainly are aware of what the Prophet Elijah said in the Scriptures when he appealed to God against the people of Israel! 3 Elijah said, “Lord, the people of Israel murdered all of your prophets except for me! They demolished all of your altars! I am the very last prophet who is still alive! Now, they are trying to kill me too!” 4 However, this is how God replied to Elijah, “I have kept alive 7,000 men for my purposes. These men have not worshipped the false god Baal.” 5 So, similarly, at this time some faithful Israelites also remain. This is because God has graciously chosen them to remain. 6 Yet because God chooses his people based on how gracious he is, God does not choose his people based on what they do. If God chose people based on what they do, then how gracious he is would not really be gracious.
7 So this is what we should conclude: Although the people of Israel keep trying to make themselves righteous, they cannot do so. Instead, those whom God graciously chose from them became righteous. But God made stubborn those people of Israel whom he did not graciously choose. 8 This is exactly what God meant when he wrote in the Scriptures, “God caused the people of Israel to not think properly. Until this present day, God has made them completely unable to understand how to become righteous.” 9 David also stated in the Scriptures, “O God, make the luxurious way they live punish them completely like a hunter catches an animal in a net or trap! Make the luxurious way they live cause them to sin and pay them back for sinning!
10 Make them unable to understand! Make them suffer like slaves forever!”
11 Since these things are true, this is what I say, “The Jewish people were certainly not offended in order that God would completely reject them!” Of course not! Rather, God saves non-Jewish people because the Jewish people disobeyed him. This happened in order for God to make the Jewish people envious of non-Jewish people who know him. 12 Indeed, God used how the Jewish people disobeyed him and failed to make themselves righteous to abundantly bless people from all the nations in the whole world. So, when the complete amount of faithful Jewish people become righteous, there will be even greater blessings!
13 But now I am speaking to you non-Jewish people who trust in Jesus. God indeed made me his representative to non-Jewish people. Therefore, I show how glorious is what I do to minister to non-Jewish people. 14 If possible, I want to make those who I am physically related to, the Jews, envious of the non-Jewish people who know God, so that God will save some of them. 15 Indeed, God is reconciling with people in the world as a result of him rejecting the Jewish people. So, when God accepts the Jewish people, it will result in God making alive those who are dead. 16 Indeed, because the ancestors of the Jewish people belong to God, just like the first portion of a lump of dough belongs to God, all the Jewish people belong to God, just like that whole lump of dough belongs to God. Also, because the ancestors of the Jewish people belonged to God, just like the root of an olive tree belongs to God, all the Jewish people belong to God, just like the branches of that same tree belong to God.
17 Indeed, God has removed some of the Jewish people from his people, as a farmer breaks unfruitful branches off of an olive tree. But, God has made you non-Jewish people who trust in Jesus part of his people, as a farmer grafts wild olive branches into a cultivated tree. You also share together in benefitting from being part of God‘s people, as grafted branches share in the nutrition in the olive tree root. 18 Therefore, you non-Jewish people who trust in Jesus must not boast against the Jewish people whom God removed, even though they are like broken off branches! If you do boast, you must realize that you indeed do not sustain the Jewish people. Rather, they sustain you, as the root sustains the branches! 19 So then, you might say, “God removed some of the Jewish people from his people, as a farmer breaks unfruitful branches off of a tree. God did this in order that he could join me to his people, as a farmer grafts a branch into a tree.” 20 I would reply by saying that what you said is correct. God removed some of the Jewish people from being his people, as a farmer breaks off unfruitful branches because they were unfaithful. However, you non-Jewish people who trust in Jesus remain part of God‘s people by trusting in him. Do not arrogantly think that you are better than unbelieving Jewish people! Rather, fear God! 21 You should fear God because he did not show pity to the faithless Jewish people, who are like natural branches. So, he will not show pity to you non-Jewish people if you stop trusting in Jesus!
22 Since this is true, pay attention to how kind and severe God can be! God acts severely toward those who stop trusting in him. However, God will act kindly toward you non-Jewish people who trust in Jesus if you continue accepting how kind he is. But, if you do not do this, God will reject you, like a farmer cuts an unfruitful branch off of a tree! 23 However, if those faithless Jewish people believe in Jesus, God will allow them to rejoin his people, just as a farmer grafts branches into a tree. This is because God is powerful enough to rejoin the Jewish people to his people. 24 Indeed, God removed you non-Jewish people who trust in Jesus from the nations and joined you to his people, as a farmer cuts off a branch from a naturally wild olive tree and grafts it into a cultivated olive tree, even though doing so is not natural. Since this is true, God will certainly join Israelites back into his people, just as a farmer grafts a naturally cultivated olive branch back into its own tree.
25 I say this because I really want you, my non-Jewish fellow believers, to know what God had previously hidden from people, so that you do not become arrogant. God had previously hidden from people the fact that some of the people of Israel will stubbornly oppose him until all the non-Jewish people God has chosen have joined his people. 26 Then, in the same way, God will save all of the people of Israel. This is what Isaiah meant when he wrote in the Scriptures, “God will send from Jerusalem someone to rescue his people. That man will make the descendants of Jacob stop being ungodly.”
27 God says, “This is the agreement that I will make with the descendants of Jacob, when I forgive them for the sinful things that they have done.”
28 With regard to Jewish people rejecting the good news, they are enemies of God for your benefit. However, with regard to God choosing Jewish people, God loves them for the sake of what he promised their ancestors. 29 This is true because God does not revoke the things he graciously gives. He also does not revoke the people whom he summons to be his people. 30 Indeed, it is just as you non-Jewish people who trust in Jesus used to disobey God, but now God has been merciful to you because the Jewish people disobeyed him. 31 In the same way, the Jewish people also are now disobeying God because God has been merciful to you non-Jewish people. This happened in order for God to now also be merciful to them. 32 Indeed, God allowed everyone to disobey him in order to be merciful to them.
33 God is so very wealthy, wise, and knowledgeable! No one can fully understand what he does! 34 Indeed, as Isaiah wrote, “No one could ever comprehend what the Lord thinks or advise him!” 35 Furthermore, “No one could ever give God anything that would cause God to owe him something!”
36 No one can do these things, because everything came from God, exists by God, and exists for God. I pray that everyone will glorify him forever. May this truly be so!
12 So then, considering everything that I have told you, I exhort you fellow believers, based on how compassionate God is: Devote yourselves to God, as if you were living animals someone offers to God. Be holy and please God. Doing so is the reasonable way for you to serve God. 2 Do not change yourselves to be like the sinful people who live at the current time. Rather, let God change the way you behave by changing the way you think in order that you can test and prove what God wants you to do. God wants you to do what is good, pleasing, and flawless.
3 Indeed, based on how God has kindly authorized me to represent him, I am telling every one of you to not think you are better than you really are. Rather, think properly about yourselves, according to the amount of trusting in God that God has apportioned to each one of you. 4 You must think properly about yourselves because, in the same way that a human body has many parts that all function for different purposes, 5 so also, we many believers in the Messiah are united to the Messiah as one group. Each one of us is united to each other like the individual parts of a human body are united. 6 Yet we believers in the Messiah have received different spiritual abilities in accordance with what God has kindly given to us. If God has enabled you to prophesy, then prophesy in accordance with the amount of trusting in God that God has apportioned to you. 7 If God has enabled you to serve, then you should serve others. If God has enabled you to teach others, then you should teach others. 8 If God has enabled you to encourage others, then you should encourage others. If God has enabled you to give what you have to others, then you should generously give what you have to others. If God has enabled you to lead others, then you should lead others diligently. If God has enabled you to be merciful, then you should cheerfully be merciful.
9 Love each other genuinely. Detest what is wicked. Fervently retain what is good. 10 Be affectionate toward each other in regard to loving fellow believers. Be the first to honor other fellow believers. 11 Do not be lazy, but be diligent. Be sincerely enthusiastic. Serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice because you are confident in the Lord. Be patient when you suffer. Pray persistently. 13 Share what you have to provide what God’s people need. Find opportunities to welcome others into your home. 14 Ask God to bless the people who mistreat you. Ask God to bless them rather than curse them. 15 Rejoice along with those people who are rejoicing. Cry along with those who are crying. 16 Be as concerned for each other as you are for yourselves. Do not think arrogantly about yourselves. Rather, associate with humble people. Do not be arrogant. 17 Do not do something evil to someone who has done something evil to you. Think carefully about doing things that everyone considers to be good. 18 Live peacefully with everyone whenever it is possible for you to do so. 19 Fellow believers whom I love, do not retaliate when people do something evil against you. Rather, let God punish them. I say this because Moses wrote in the Scriptures, “The Lord says, ‘I will retaliate when people do something evil against you. I will punish them according to what they have done.’” 20 Rather than permitting us to retaliate, God instructed us in the Scriptures, “Feed your enemy if that person is hungry. Give your enemy something to drink if that person is thirsty. Do this because when you do so, your enemy will feel ashamed, as if you were piling up burning coals on top of that person’s head.” 21 In other words, do not let what is evil defeat you by causing you to do what is evil. Rather, defeat what is evil by doing what is good.
13 Every one of you must submit yourselves to those whom God has authorized to govern you. This is because no one can govern unless God authorizes them to do so. God has instituted the existing governments. 2 So people who resist those whom God has authorized to govern are opposing what God has commanded. God will punish those people who oppose those whom he has authorized to govern. 3 Indeed, the people who rule are not supposed to terrify those people who do what is good. Rather, they are supposed to terrify those people who do what is evil. If you do not want to fear those whom God authorizes to rule, then do what is good and those who rule will commend you for doing so. 4 This is because the people whom God authorizes to rule serve God for your benefit. But if you do what is evil, you should be afraid, because God has authorized those people who rule to punish people for a good reason. Indeed, those people who rule serve God by avenging what is evil in order to punish anyone who practices what is evil. 5 Consequently, you must submit yourselves to those people whom God authorizes to rule. You must do this not only because they can punish you, but also because you know that to disobey them is to disobey God! 6 Indeed, you also pay taxes because of these things. You also pay taxes because those people whom God authorizes to rule serve God. They devote themselves to serving by governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay taxes to whom you owe taxes. Pay fees to whom you owe fees. Fear those people whom you should fear. Honor those people whom you should honor.
8 Do not owe anything to anyone. Rather, continue to love other people who believe in the Messiah as if you owe it to them. Do this because someone who loves another person accomplishes what God required in the laws he gave the Jews. 9 This is true because God commanded these things in his laws when he said, “Do not have sexual relations with someone whom you did not marry. Do not murder. Do not rob people. Do not lust for what belongs to other people.” You could summarize anything else that God commands in the laws he gave the Jews with this other thing God commanded: “Love other people in the same way you love yourself.” 10 When you love other people, you do not do evil things to them. This is why loving other people accomplishes what God required in the laws he gave the Jews.
11 Do these things because you know what time it is. It is already the time for you to be spiritually alert because the time when Jesus will return to finally save us is now closer than when we began trusting in him. 12 In the same way that the night ends just before the day begins, the time of this sinful world is almost over, and Jesus will return soon. So, we must stop doing what is evil, which is like what people do when it is dark. Instead, we must oppose what is evil by doing what is good, which is like a soldier puts on his armor to fight the enemy during the day. 13 We must behave appropriately, as if it were daytime and people could see what we do. We must not celebrate drunkenly or get drunk at all. We must not do any unrestrained sexually immoral acts at all. We must not quarrel with others or be jealous of others. 14 Rather than doing those things, act like the Lord Jesus the Messiah would act. Do not concern yourselves with anything that is related to what your sinful self wants to do.
14 Welcome any fellow believer in the Messiah who is immature in how they believe. Do not welcome them in order to argue with them about matters of opinion. 2 There are some people who are convinced that they can eat any kind of food. But the immature believer in the Messiah thinks that they can only eat vegetables. 3 The believer in the Messiah who eats every kind of food must not scorn his fellow believer who does not eat every kind of food. The believer in the Messiah who does not eat every kind of food also must not judge his fellow believer who eats every kind of food. This is because God has welcomed both of them. 4 You should not judge your fellow believer, who is like a slave belonging to another master. He either pleases or does not please his master, according to how the master judges. Yet God will make him pleasing to himself because the Lord can do so.
5 Some people consider certain days to be special, while other people consider all days to be the same. Each person must be completely certain that what they do honors God. 6 The person who thinks certain days are special does so in order to honor the Lord. The person who eats every kind of food does so in order to honor the Lord. This is because that person is thankful to God. The person who refuses to eat certain foods does so in order to honor the Lord. That person is thankful to God as well. 7 This is true because not one of us believers in the Messiah lives only to please himself, and not one of us dies only to please himself. 8 Indeed, while we believers in the Messiah live, we live to please the Lord. When we die, we die to please the Lord. So then, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 Indeed, this is why the Messiah Jesus died and became alive again: in order to become Lord over those who are dead and those who are alive.
10 As for you, those of you who judge your fellow believers must not do so! You also must not scorn your fellow believers! Do not do these things because one day God will judge all of us who believe in the Messiah. 11 Indeed, Isaiah wrote in the Scriptures, “The Lord says this oath, ‘As certainly as I am alive, it is just as certain that everyone will worship me. And everyone will acknowledge to me that I am God.’”
12 Therefore, each one of us who believes in the Messiah will certainly answer to God for whatever we do while we are alive.
13 So we must stop judging other believers. Instead, we must resolve not to do anything that could tempt our fellow believers to sin. 14 I am absolutely convinced by the Lord Jesus that no food is inherently sinful for believers in the Messiah to eat. If someone regards some food as sinful to eat, then it is only sinful for that person to eat it. 15 Do not tempt fellow believers to sin because, if you grieve your fellow believer by eating what that person considers to be sinful to eat, you are not acting in a loving manner anymore. Do not cause a fellow believer to stop trusting in God and become ruined eternally because of what you want to eat! The Messiah died to save that person! 16 So then, do not do anything that will cause anyone to slander the good things that God has given you. 17 Do not do this, because eating and drinking do not characterize God’s kingdom. Rather, being righteous, peaceful, and joyful through the Holy Spirit characterizes God’s kingdom. 18 Indeed, any believer who serves the Messiah by doing these things greatly pleases God, and other people will also approve of that person.
19 Therefore, we must eagerly try to live peacefully with other believers and help each other become spiritually mature. 20 Do not ruin what God has done because you want to eat certain foods! God permits us to eat all kinds of food. However, it is sinful for someone to eat certain foods if doing so tempts your fellow believer to sin. 21 It is better not to eat any meat, or drink any wine, or do anything that could tempt your fellow believer to sin, [or that could offend that person or cause that person to remain spiritually immature]. 22 Keep what you believe that God permits you to do between you and God. The person who does not feel guilty concerning what he believes to be right is blessed. 23 By contrast, God judges someone who considers eating certain foods to be sinful and eats those foods. This is because that person did not act according to what that person believes is right. A person who does anything that is not according to what that person believes is right is sinning.
15 Indeed, we spiritually mature believers in the Messiah must support our fellow believers in the Messiah who are spiritually immature. We must not only do what pleases us. 2 Each one of us believers in the Messiah must do what pleases his fellow believers in order to do what is good for them, and in order to help them become spiritually mature. 3 For instance, not even the Messiah Jesus pleased himself! Rather, he lived to please others. This is what David meant when he wrote in the Scriptures about the Messiah saying to God, “When people insult you, they also insult me!” 4 Indeed, the prophets previously wrote everything in the Scriptures in order to teach us. They also wrote the Scriptures in order to make us confident through what the Scriptures say that helps us endure and encourages us.
5 I pray that our patient and encouraging God will allow you to live harmoniously with each other the way the Messiah Jesus did. 6 I pray that you will live harmoniously with each other in order that you might be united when you glorify God. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.
7 Consequently, welcome your fellow believers in the Messiah in the same way that the Messiah Jesus also welcomed you in order to glorify God! 8 Indeed, I, Paul, am telling you that the Messiah Jesus serves the circumcised Jews because of how trustworthy God is. He did this in order to secure what God had promised to the Jewish forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 9 Jesus also did this in order for the nations to glorify God because he is so merciful. This is what David meant when he wrote in the Scriptures, “So I will proclaim who you are when I am among the nations, and I will praise you by singing songs.” 10 Again, Moses said in the Scriptures, “All you nations, celebrate along with God’s people!” 11 And also in the Scriptures someone said, “All you nations, praise the Lord! All you people groups, commend him!” 12 The Prophet Isaiah also said in the Scriptures, “The one who descends from David’s father Jesse will come. He will begin to rule over the nations. The nations will become confident because of him.”
13 I pray that the God who makes people confident will cause you to feel exceedingly joyful and peaceful by trusting in him! I pray that God will do this in order for you to be exceedingly confident by the Holy Spirit enabling you.
14 My fellow believers, God has also persuaded me personally that each of you are exceedingly good, exceedingly knowledgeable of many things, and even able to teach other people. 15 In this letter I have written to you believers in the Messiah in a bold manner about some things in order to remind you of them. I have done this because God has kindly authorized me to do so. 16 God did this in order for me to serve the Messiah Jesus among non-Jewish people by preaching the good news from God as if I were a priest. I do this in order for the non-Jewish people who trust in Jesus to be like something offered to God that pleases him, and that the Holy Spirit has set apart for him.
17 So, as someone who is united with the Messiah Jesus, I have good reasons to boast about what God is doing through me! 18 Indeed, I will only be so bold as to speak about what the Messiah has done through me that has led to the nations obediently trusting in God’s good news! The Messiah did this through what I said and did. 19 The Messiah also did this through powerful and wonderful miracles as God’s Holy Spirit powerfully enabled me! As a result, I have completed proclaiming the good news about the Messiah all the way around from Jerusalem to the province of Illyricum. 20 And so, I aspire to preach the good news where people have never heard about the Messiah Jesus. I desire this in order to not interfere with someone else’s work, as if I were building something where another person had already laid the foundation. 21 Rather, I preach the good news to those who have never heard it. This is what Isaiah meant when he wrote in the Scriptures, “Those people whom no one told about him will perceive who he is. Those people who have not heard about him will comprehend who he is.”
22 That also hindered me over and over again from visiting all of you at Rome. 23 Yet at the present time I have nowhere left to go in these areas to proclaim the good news. I also have deeply desired to visit you for many years. 24 So whenever I go to the province of Spain, I truly expect to visit you while passing through Rome. I also expect you to help me continue my journey to Spain after I first enjoy being with you for some time. 25 Yet, at the present time I am going to Jerusalem in order to serve God’s people there. 26 I am doing this because the believers in the provinces of Macedonia and Achaia were glad to give money to help the poor people of God who live in Jerusalem. 27 In fact, those believers were glad, and they should help the poor believers in Jerusalem. This is because the non-Jewish believers have spiritually benefited from the Jewish believers. So, the non-Jewish believers should also serve the Jewish believers by providing what they physically need. 28 So then, after I finish this task and safely deliver this money to the poor believers in Jerusalem, I will pass through your city on my way to Spain. 29 I am certain that the Messiah will fully bless us when I visit you!
30 Fellow believers, I appeal to you based on our Lord Jesus the Messiah and how the Holy Spirit has enabled us to love each other: Fervently pray to God with me and for me! 31 Pray that God will rescue me from the Jews in the province of Judea who do not believe in Jesus. Pray also that God’s people in Jerusalem will accept the money that I give them for the poor believers there. 32 Pray also that I can joyfully visit you as God wants, and we may refresh each other. 33 Finally, I pray that the God who makes us peaceful will be with all of you. May it be so!
16 I, Paul, recommend to you our fellow believer whose name is Phoebe. She also serves the group of believers that meets in the city of Cenchrea. 2 I recommend Phoebe to you in order for you to accept her as a fellow believer in the Lord Jesus. Accept her in a way that is appropriate for God’s people. I also recommend her to you in order for you to help her in whatever way and with anything she might need from you. Do this because she has helped many people, including me personally.
3 Say hello to Priscilla and her husband Aquila. They have worked with me to tell people about the Messiah Jesus. 4 They risked the Romans executing them in order to save my life. Both I and all the groups of believers among the nations are thankful for them. 5 Also, say hello to the group of believers that meets in the home of Priscilla and Aquila. Say hello to Epaenetus, whom I love. He is the first person from the province of Asia Minor to believe in the Messiah Jesus. 6 Say hello to Mary. She has labored a lot for your sake. 7 Say hello to Andronicus and Junia. They are my fellow Jews, and we were in prison together. Those whom Jesus sent to represent him know them very well. God united them to the Messiah before he did so to me. 8 Say hello to Ampliatus. I love him as a fellow believer in the Lord Jesus. 9 Say hello to Urbanus. He works with us to tell people about the Messiah Jesus. Also say hello to Stachys, whom I love. 10 Say hello to Apelles. The Messiah Jesus has approved him. Say hello to those believers who live in the household of Aristobulus. 11 Say hello to my fellow Jew Herodion. Say hello to those whom God united to the Lord Jesus who live in the household of Narcissus. 12 Say hello to Tryphaena and Tryphosa. These ladies labor to tell people about the Lord Jesus. Say hello to Persis, whom I love. She has labored a lot to tell people about the Lord Jesus. 13 Say hello to Rufus. The Lord Jesus chose him. Also say hello to his mother. She has been like a mother to me as well. 14 Say hello to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and our fellow believers who meet together with them. 15 Say hello to Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas. Also say hello to all God’s people who meet together with them. 16 Say hello to each other in a loving way. All of the groups of believers who belong to the Messiah in this area say hello to you!
17 My fellow believers, I exhort you to look out for the people who are causing believers to argue with each other and tempting them to sin, which contradicts what we have taught you. Stay away from them! 18 Indeed, people like this are not serving our Lord Jesus the Messiah! Rather, they only serve their own appetites. By speaking so eloquently and flatteringly, they trick the minds of people who do not suspect them of teaching what is false. 19 I tell you these things because believers in many places have heard about how you obey God. As a result, I am overjoyed because of you! But I also desire that you act wisely with regard to what is good and remain innocent with regard to what is bad. 20 The God who makes us peaceful will quickly make you victorious over Satan, as if you were tramplinghim under your feet! I pray that our Lord Jesus the Messiah will be gracious to you!
21 Timothy, who works with me to tell people about Jesus, says hello to you. My fellow Jews, Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, also say hello to you. 22 I am Tertius, and I am writing this letter as Paul dictates it to me. I say hello to you as a fellow believer in the Lord Jesus. 23 Gaius says hello to you. He hosts me and the whole group of believers who meet here. Erastus controls the money for this city. He and Quartus, our fellow believer, say hello to you. 24 [fn] [I pray that our Lord Jesus the Messiah will be gracious to all of you! May it be so!]
25 I pray that everyone will glorify God. He is the one who can strengthen you spiritually based on the good news that I proclaim about Jesus the Messiah. What I proclaim is based on the mysterious plan that God revealed but previously concealed from people for a very long time. 26 However, now God has revealed that mysterious plan. He has made it known through his prophets who wrote about it in the Scriptures. They did this according to what the God who lives forever commanded in order that all the nations would obey God by trusting in Jesus the Messiah. 27 God alone is wise. I pray that everyone will glorify him through Jesus the Messiah forever! May it be so!
The best ancient manuscripts do not include verse 24. (See: Romans 16:20).