Romans Chapter 1
Greeting
1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
3 concerning his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who was descended from David according to the flesh,
4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead,
5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for his name’s sake,
6 among whom you also are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul's desire to visit Rome
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.
9 For God, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers
10 always , asking that somehow, by God’s will, the journey may now be opened for me to come to you.
11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—
12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I have often planned to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now), in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
14 I am obligated to Greeks who are no longer Greeks, to wise men who are no longer wise.
15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you in Rome also.
The power of the gospel
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “The righteous will live by faith.”
Man's guilt
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.
30 They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant and boastful. They invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;
31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless, and without mercy.
32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Romans Chapter 2
God's righteous judgment
1 Therefore you have no excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge, for at whatever point you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the same things.
2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who practice such things is according to truth.
3 Do you suppose, O man, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?
4 Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
6 God will repay each person according to what they have done.
7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.
9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;
10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
11 For God does not show favoritism.
12 All who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.
14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things contained in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves,
15 showing that the work of the law is written on their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts accusing or else excusing them,
16 on the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
The Jews and the Law
17 Behold, you are called a Jew, and you rely on the law, and you boast in God,
18 and you know his will, and being instructed by the law you approve what is excellent,
19 and you trust that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,
20 an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of children, having in the law the form of knowledge and truth.
21 You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?
22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you commit sacrilege?
23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
25 Circumcision is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
26 So if an uncircumcised person keeps the requirements of the law, will not their uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?
27 And he who is physically uncircumcised, yet keeps the law perfectly, will condemn you, who with the letter of the law and circumcision are a transgressor of the law.
28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh;
29 but a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; such a person’s praise is not from men but from God.
Romans Chapter 3
1 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew? Or what value is there in circumcision?
2 Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
3 What if some were unbelievers? Does their unbelief nullify God’s faithfulness?
4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right in your words and prevail when you are judged.”
5 But if our unrighteousness highlights God’s righteousness, what shall we say? Is God unjust in bringing wrath on us? (I am using a human term.)
6 Certainly not! Otherwise, how could God judge the world?
7 But if through my falsehood God’s truthfulness abounded to his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?
8 And why not say (as we are slanderously accused, and as some, whose condemnation is just, claim we say): Let us do evil that good may come?
There is no fair
9 What then? Are we any better than they? Not at all! For we have already charged that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin.
10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery are in their paths;
17 the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
20 For by the works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Justice is through faith
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets;
22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no difference,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
25 God put forward him as a propitiation by his blood, through faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—
26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By the law of works? No, but by the law of faith.
28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
29 Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Indeed, from the Gentiles also.
30 For God is one, and he will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
31 Do we then nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
Romans Chapter 4
The example of Abraham
1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered?
2 If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about—but not before God.
3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.
5 However, to the one who does not work but believes in God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.
6 Just as David speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered!”
8 “Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them!”
9 Is this blessedness then only for the circumcised, or for the uncircumcised also? For we say that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.
10 How then was it credited to him? Was he circumcised or uncircumcised? Not circumcised, but uncircumcised.
11 And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them also.
12 He is also the father of the circumcised, who not only are circumcised but follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
The promise made through faith
13 For the promise that he would be heir of the world was not given to Abraham or to his offspring through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise nullified.
15 For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law there is no transgression.
16 Therefore, it is by faith, so that it may be by grace, in order that the promise may be guaranteed to all his offspring, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.
17 (as it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.
18 Against all hope, in hope he believed, so that he might become the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and that Sarah’s womb was also barren.
20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding God’s promise, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
21 being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
22 Therefore, his faith was credited to him as righteousness.
23 And it was not written for his sake alone that it was credited to him,
24 but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
25 who was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Romans Chapter 5
Results of the justification
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only that, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
6 For when we were still powerless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
11 Not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Adam and Christ
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world, but sin is not taken into account where there is no law.
14 Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as Adam did, who is a pattern of the one to come.
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
16 But the gift is not like the one man who sinned. For the judgment following one sin brought condemnation, but the gift following many sins brought justification.
17 For if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
18 Therefore, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one act of righteousness resulted in justification and life for all people.
19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
20 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.
21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans Chapter 6
Dead to sin
1 What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—
7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
9 For we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
13 Do not offer any part of yourselves to sin as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourselves to him as instruments of righteousness.
14 For sin shall have no dominion over you, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Servants of justice
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!
16 Do you not know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
17 But thanks be to God that, though you were slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted.
18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.
20 For when you were slaves to sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
21 What fruit were you getting at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? The end of those things is death.
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the end is eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans Chapter 7
Analogy taken from marriage
1 Do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a person only as long as that person lives?
2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.
3 So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.
6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
The sin that dwells in me
7 What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”
8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death to me.
11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, in order to be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
16 And if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good.
17 So then, it is no longer I who do it, but sin living in me.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want—this I keep on doing.
20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin living in me.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;
23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Romans Chapter 8
Living in the Spirit
1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
3For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,
4in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
6To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
7The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor indeed can it.
8Those who live according to the flesh cannot please God.
9But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him.
10But if Christ is in you, though your body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
12Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to it.
13For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father!”
16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.
17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
19For the creation waits in eager expectation for the revealing of the sons of God.
20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that
21the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now;
23and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?
25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
27And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
More than victors
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
33Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
34Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised—is now alive for us all. Moreover, he who was also raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, and who also intercedes for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
36 As it is written, “For your sake we face death all day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans Chapter 9
Israel's choice
1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—
2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, my relatives,
4 who are Israelites. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.
5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised. Amen.
6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. Not all who are descended from Israel are Israelites.
7 Nor are all Abraham’s descendants his children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”
8 In other words, it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are counted as his offspring.
9 For this is the word of promise: “About this time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
10 Not only that, but also when Rebekah conceived by one man, our father Isaac
—11 before the children were born or had done anything good or bad in order that God’s purpose in election might stand, not by works but by him who calls—
12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”
13 As it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not!
15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 So then it does not depend on human will or effort, but on God’s mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
18 Therefore he has mercy on whomever he wills, and whomever he wills he hardens.
19 You will say to me, “Why then does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”
20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”
21 Does not the potter have the right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
23 And to make known the riches of his glory, he displayed them toward the vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory,
24 whom he has also called, that is, us, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
25 As he says also in Hosea: “I will call those who were not my people ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’
26 And in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called children of the living God.”
27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved;
28 for the Lord will execute his judgment on the earth with justice and speed.”
29 And as Isaiah said before: “Unless the Lord of hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”
the justice that is by faith
30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;
31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, did not attain it.
32 Why? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if by works of the law, for they stumbled over the stumbling stone,
33 as it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and whoever believes in him will never be put to shame.”
Romans Chapter 10
1 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.
2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.
3 Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
5 Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”
6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down)
7 or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart.” This is the word of faith we proclaim:
9 that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
12 For there is no difference between Jew and Greek—the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches on all who call on him,
13 for “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
” 14 How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have never heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
16 But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says: Lord, who has believed our message?
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
18 But I ask, did they not hear? Indeed they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
19 Again I ask, did Israel not understand this? First, Moses says, “I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a foolish people.”
20 And Isaiah boldly declares, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”
21 But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a rebellious and contrary people.”
Romans Chapter 11
The Remnant of Israel
1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he pleaded with God against Israel, saying,
3 “ Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I alone am left, and they are trying to kill me”?
4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5 So too at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. And if by works, then it is no longer grace; otherwise work would no longer be work.
7 What then? What Israel sought, it did not obtain, but the elect obtained it, the rest were hardened,
8 As it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear, to this very day.”
9 And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution;
10 may their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and may their backs be bent forever.”
The salvation of the Gentiles
11 I ask then: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them jealous.
12 Now if their transgression means riches for the world, and their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness mean!
13 I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,
14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own flesh and blood to jealousy and save some of them.
15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
16 If the first portion is holy, so is the whole batch; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 If some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and now share in the nourishing sap and root of the olive tree,
18 do not boast against those branches. If you do, remember that it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.
21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
22 Consider therefore the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
23 And even they, if they do not persist in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
The restoration of Israel
5 For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in,
26 and in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.”
27 “And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs,
29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.
30 Just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience,
31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy.
32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has first given to God, and God will repay them?”
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Romans Chapter 12
Christian duties
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
3 For by the grace given me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has assigned to each of you.
4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,
5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to each of us, let us use them: if prophecy, in accordance with our faith;
7 if service, in our serving; if teaching, in our teaching;
8 The one who exhorts, do so in exhortation; the one who gives, do so generously; the one who leads, do so diligently; the one who shows mercy, do so cheerfully.
9 Let love be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
12 Be joyful in hope, patient in tribulation, constant in prayer.
13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own eyes.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.
18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans Chapter 13
1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one in authority? Then do what is good, and you will be commended.
4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword in vain. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.
6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.
7 Give to everyone what you owe them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, Pay taxes to whom taxes are due; respect to whom respect is due; honor to whom honor is due.
8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
13 Let us walk properly, as in the daytime, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in lust and debauchery, not in quarreling and envy.
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.
Romans Chapter 14
Those weak in faith
1 Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.
2 For one person believes he may eat anything, while another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.
3 Let not the one who eats treat with contempt the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains judge the one who does, for God has accepted him.
4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master they stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in their own mind.
6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats food does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.
8 If we live, we live for the Lord; And if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we belong to the Lord.
9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11 For it is written: “As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.”
12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.
14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but to anyone who considers anything to be unclean, to them it is unclean.
15 But if your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat destroy someone for whom Christ died.
16 Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken against.
17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
18 For whoever serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.
19 Therefore let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual edification.
20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things are indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to cause another to stumble by what they eat.
21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother or sister to stumble.
22 Do you have faith? Keep it to yourself before God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself in what he approves.
23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
Romans Chapter 15
1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
2 Each of us should please our neighbor for their good, to build them up.
3 For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written: “The insults of those who insulted you fell on me.”
4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus,
6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The gospel to the Gentiles
7 Therefore welcome one another, just as Christ also welcomed us, to the glory of God.
8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs,
9 and so that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing praise to your name.”
10 And again it says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”
11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; extol him, all you peoples.”
12 And again Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles will put their hope.”
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
14 But I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and competent to instruct one another.
15 Yet I have written to you, brothers and sisters, somewhat boldly, to remind you of my words, because of the grace God gave me
16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. I preached the gospel of God so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
17 Therefore I have reason to boast in Christ Jesus in my service to God.
18 For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obedience—by what I have said and done,
19 by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
20 And in this way I made it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ had already been named, so as not to build on another’s foundation,
21 but, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”
Paul plans to go to Rome
22 For this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you.
23 But now, since I have no more opportunity in these regions, and have longed for many years to come to you,
24 I hope to visit you when I go to Spain. I hope to see you on my way there and to be helped on my way by you, after I have enjoyed your company.
25 But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints.
26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.
27 It seemed good to them, and they owe it to them, for if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to share with them in material blessings.
28 So when I have completed this and have delivered this contribution to them, I will go on to Spain, visiting you.
29 I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.
30 I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.
31 Pray that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service to the saints in Jerusalem may be acceptable to them,
32 so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed together with you.
33 The God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Romans Chapter 16
Personal greetings
1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deaconess of the church in Cenchreae.
2 I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me.
3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,
4 who risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.
5 Greet also the church that meets at their house. Greet Epenetus, my dear friend, who was the first convert to Christ in Achaia.
6 Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.
7 Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives and fellow prisoners, who are well known among the apostles, and who were in Christ before me.
8 Greet Amplias, my dear friend in the Lord.
9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ Jesus, and Stachys, my beloved.
10 Greet Apelles, approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.
11 Greet Herodion, my relative. Greet those who belong to the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord.
12 Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, who work hard in the Lord. Greet Persis, my beloved, who has worked hard in the Lord.
13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who is also mine.
14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brothers who are with them.
15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.
16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.
17 Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned, and to keep away from them.
18 For such people are not serving our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
19 For your obedience has become known to all, so I rejoice over you; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and innocent in what is evil.
20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
21 Timothy, my fellow worker, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my relatives, send you greetings.
22 I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, send you greetings in the Lord.
23 Gaius, who is my host and the host of the whole church, sends you greetings. Erastus, the city treasurer, and Quartus, our brother, send you greetings.
24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Final Doxology
25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages,
26 but has now been disclosed, and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—
27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.