Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, Romans
Excerpt
Book 45 Romans
001:001 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an
Apostle,
set apart to
proclaim God’s Good News,
001:002 which God had already promised through His Prophets in Holy
Writ,
concerning His
Son,
001:003 who, as regards His human descent, belonged to the
posterity of David,
001:004 but as regards the holiness of His Spirit was decisively
proved
by His Resurrection
to be the Son of God—I mean concerning
Jesus Christ our
Lord,
001:005 through whom we have received grace and Apostleship in
His
service in order to
win men to obedience to the faith,
among all Gentile
peoples,
001:006 among whom you also, called, as you have been, to
belong
to Jesus Christ,
are numbered:
001:007 To all God’s loved ones who are in Rome, called to be
saints.
May grace and peace
be granted to you from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
001:008 First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for what
He
has done for all of
you; for the report of your faith is
spreading through
the whole world.
001:009 I call God to witness—to whom I render priestly
and spiritual
service by telling
the Good News about His Son—how unceasingly
I make mention of
you in His presence,
001:010 always in my prayers entreating that now, at length, if
such
be His will, the
way may by some means be made clear for me
to come to
you.
001:011 For I am longing to see you, in order to convey to you
some
spiritual help, so
that you may be strengthened;
001:012 in other words that while I am among you we may be
mutually
encouraged by one
another’s faith, yours and mine.
001:013 And I desire you to know, brethren, that I have many a time
intended
to come to
you—though until now I have been
disappointed—
in order that among
you also I might gather some fruit
from my labours, as
I have already done among the rest
of the Gentile
nations.
001:014 I am already under obligations alike to Greek-speaking
races
and to others, to
cultured and to uncultured people:
001:015 so that for my part I am willing and eager to
proclaim
the Good News to
you also who are in Rome.
001:016 For I am not ashamed of the Good News. It is
God’s power
which is at work
for the salvation of every one who believes—
the Jew first, and
then the Gentile.
001:017 For in the Good News a righteousness which comes from God
is
being revealed,
depending on faith and tending to produce faith;
as the Scripture
has it, “The righteous man shall live by
faith.”
001:018 For God’s anger is being revealed from Heaven against
all
impiety and against
the iniquity of men who through iniquity
suppress the
truth. God is angry:
001:019 because what may be known about Him is plain to
their
inmost
consciousness; for He Himself has made it plain to them.
001:020 For, from the very creation of the world, His invisible
perfections—
namely His eternal
power and divine nature—have been
rendered
intelligible and clearly visible by His works,
so that these men
are without excuse.
001:021 For when they had come to know God, they did not give
Him
glory as God nor
render Him thanks, but they became absorbed
in useless
discussions, and their senseless minds were darkened.
001:022 While boasting of their wisdom they became utter
fools,
001:023 and, instead of worshipping the imperishable God, they
worshipped
images resembling
perishable man or resembling birds or
beasts or
reptiles.
001:024 For this reason, in accordance with their own depraved
cravings,
God gave them up to
uncleanness, allowing them to dishonour
their bodies among
themselves with impurity.
001:025 For they had bartered the reality of God for what is
unreal,
and had offered
divine honours and religious service
to created things,
rather than to the Creator—He who is
for ever
blessed. Amen.
001:026 This then is the reason why God gave them up to vile
passions.
For not only did
the women among them exchange the natural
use of their bodies
for one which is contrary to nature,
but the men
also,
001:027 in just the same way—neglecting that for which
nature intends women—
burned with passion
towards one another, men practising
shameful vice with
men, and receiving in their own selves
the reward which
necessarily followed their misconduct.
001:028 And just as they had refused to continue to have a full
knowledge
of God, so it was
to utterly worthless minds that God gave
them up, for them
to do things which should not be done.
001:029 Their hearts overflowed with all sorts of
dishonesty,
mischief, greed,
malice. They were full of envy and murder,
and were
quarrelsome, crafty, and spiteful.
001:030 They were secret backbiters, open slanderers; hateful to
God,
insolent, haughty,
boastful; inventors of new forms of sin,
disobedient to
parents, destitute of common sense,
001:031 faithless to their promises, without natural
affection,
without human
pity.
001:032 In short, though knowing full well the sentence which God
pronounces
against actions
such as theirs, as things which deserve death,
they not only
practise them, but even encourage and applaud
others who do
them.
002:001 You are therefore without excuse, O man, whoever you are
who
sit in judgement
upon others. For when you pass judgement
on your fellow man,
you condemn yourself; for you who sit
in judgement upon
others are guilty of the same misdeeds;
002:002 and we know that God’s judgement against those who
commit
such sins is in
accordance with the truth.
002:003 And you who pronounce judgement upon those who do
such
things although
your own conduct is the same as theirs—
do you imagine that
you yourself will escape unpunished
when God
judges?
002:004 Or is it that you think slightingly of His infinite
goodness,
forbearance and
patience, unaware that the goodness of God
is gently drawing
you to repentance?
002:005 The fact is that in the stubbornness of your impenitent
heart
you are treasuring
up against yourself anger on the day
of
Anger—the day when the righteousness of God’s
judgements
will stand
revealed.
002:006 To each man He will make an award corresponding to his
actions;
002:007 to those on the one hand who, by lives of persistent
right-doing,
are striving for
glory, honour and immortality, the Life
of the
Ages;
002:008 while on the other hand upon the self-willed who
disobey
the truth and obey
unrighteousness will fall anger and fury,
affliction and
awful distress,
002:009 coming upon the soul of every man and woman who
deliberately
does
wrong—upon the Jew first, and then upon the
Gentile;
002:010 whereas glory, honour and peace will be given to every
one
who does what is
good and right—to the Jew first and then
to the
Gentile.
002:011 For God pays no attention to this world’s
distinctions.
002:012 For all who have sinned apart from the Law will also
perish
apart from the Law,
and all who have sinned whilst living
under the Law, will
be judged by the Law.
002:013 It is not those that merely hear the Law read who are
righteous
in the sight of
God, but it is those that obey the Law
who will be
pronounced righteous.
002:014 For when Gentiles who have no Law obey by natural
instinct
the commands of the
Law, they, without having a Law,
are a Law to
themselves;
002:015 since they exhibit proof that a knowledge of the
conduct
which the Law
requires is engraven on their hearts,
while their
consciences also bear witness to the Law,
and their thoughts,
as if in mutual discussion, accuse them
or perhaps maintain
their innocence—
002:016 on the day when God will judge the secrets of men’s
lives by
Jesus Christ, as
declared in the Good News as I have taught it.
002:017 And since you claim the name of Jew, and find rest and
satisfaction
in the Law, and
make your boast in God,
002:018 and know the supreme will, and can test things that
differ—
being a man who
receives instruction from the Law—
002:019 and have persuaded yourself that, as for you, you are a
guide
to the blind, a
light to those who are in darkness,
002:020 a schoolmaster for the dull and ignorant, a teacher of the
young,
because in the Law
you possess an outline of real knowledge
and an outline of
the truth:
002:021 you then who teach your fellow man, do you refuse to teach
yourself?
You who cry out
against stealing, are you yourself a thief?
002:022 You who forbid adultery, do you commit
adultery?
You who loathe
idols, do you plunder their temples?
002:023 You who make your boast in the Law, do you offend against
its
commands and so
dishonour God?
002:024 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentile
nations
because of you, as
Holy Writ declares.
002:025 Circumcision does indeed profit, if you obey the
Law;
but if you are a
Law-breaker, the fact that you have been
circumcised counts
for nothing.
002:026 In the same way if an uncircumcised man pays attention to
the just
requirements of the
Law, shall not his lack of circumcision
be overlooked,
and,
002:027 although he is a Gentile by birth, if he scrupulously obeys
the Law,
shall he not sit in
judgement upon you who, possessing, as you do,
a written Law and
circumcision, are yet a Law-breaker?
002:028 For the true Jew is not the man who is simply a Jew
outwardly,
and true
circumcision is not that which is outward and bodily.
002:029 But the true Jew is one inwardly, and true
circumcision
is
heart-circumcision—not literal, but spiritual;
and such people
receive praise not from men, but from God.
003:001 What special privilege, then, has a Jew? Or what
benefit
is to be derived
from circumcision?
003:002 The privilege is great from every point of view.
First of all,
because the Jews
were entrusted with God’s truth.
003:003 For what if some Jews have proved unfaithful? Shall
their
faithlessness
render God’s faithfulness worthless?
003:004 No, indeed; let us hold God to be true, though every
man
should prove to be
false. As it stands written, “That Thou
mayest be shown to
be just in the sentence Thou pronouncest,
and gain Thy cause
when Thou contendest.”
003:005 But if our unrighteousness sets God’s righteousness
in a
clearer light, what
shall we say? (Is God unrighteous—
I speak in our
everyday language—when He inflicts punishment?
003:006 No indeed; for in that case how shall He judge all
mankind?)
003:007 If, for instance, a falsehood of mine has made God’s
truthfulness
more conspicuous,
redounding to His glory, why am I judged
all the same as a
sinner?
003:008 And why should we not say—for so they wickedly
misrepresent us,
and so some charge
us with arguing—“Let us do evil that
good
may
come”? The condemnation of those who would so argue is
just.
003:009 What then? Are we Jews more highly estimated than
they?
Not in the least;
for we have already charged all Jews
and Gentiles alike
with being in thraldom to sin.
003:010 Thus it stands written, “There is not one righteous
man.
003:011 There is not one who is really wise, nor one who is a
diligent
seeker after
God.
003:012 All have turned aside from the right path; they have
every
one of them become
corrupt. There is no one who does what
is
right—no, not so much as one.”
003:013 “Their throats resemble an opened grave; with their
tongues
they have been
talking deceitfully.” “The venom of
vipers
lies hidden behind
their lips.”
003:014 “Their mouths are full of cursing and
bitterness.”
003:015 “Their feet move swiftly to shed blood.
003:016 Ruin and misery mark their path;
003:017 and the way to peace they have not known.”
003:018 “There is no fear of God before their
eyes.”
003:019 But it cannot be denied that all that the Law says is
addressed
to those who are
living under the Law, in order that every
mouth may be
stopped, and that the whole world may await
sentence from
God.
003:020 For on the ground of obedience to Law no man living will
be
declared righteous
before Him. Law simply brings a sure
knowledge of
sin.
003:021 But now a righteousness coming from God has been
brought
to light apart from
any Law, both Law and Prophets bearing
witness to
it—
003:022 a righteousness coming from God, which depends on
faith
in Jesus Christ and
extends to all who believe.
No distinction is
made;
003:023 for all alike have sinned, and all consciously come
short
of the glory of
God,
003:024 gaining acquittal from guilt by His free unpurchased
grace
through the
deliverance which is found in Christ Jesus.
003:025 He it is whom God put forward as a Mercy-seat,
rendered
efficacious through faith in His blood, in order
to demonstrate His
righteousness—because of the passing over,
in God’s
forbearance, of the sins previously committed—
003:026 with a view to demonstrating, at the present time, His
righteousness,
that He may be
shown to be righteous Himself, and the giver
of righteousness to
those who believe in Jesus.
003:027 Where then is there room for your boasting? It is for
ever
shut out. On
what principle? On the ground of merit?
No, but on the
ground of faith.
003:028 For we maintain that it is as the result of faith that a
man is held
to be righteous,
apart from actions done in obedience to Law.
003:029 Is God simply the God of the Jews, and not of the Gentiles
also?
He is certainly the
God of the Gentiles also,
003:030 unless you can deny that it is one and the same God who
will
pronounce the
circumcised to be acquitted on the ground of faith,
and the
uncircumcised to be acquitted through the same faith.
003:031 Do we then by means of this faith abolish the Law?
No, indeed;
we give the Law a
firmer footing.
004:001 What then shall we say that Abraham, our earthly
forefather,
has
gained?
004:002 For if he was held to be righteous on the ground of his
actions,
he has something to
boast of; but not in the presence of God.
004:003 For what says the Scripture? “And Abraham
believed God,
and this was placed
to his credit as righteousness.”
004:004 But in the case of a man who works, pay is not reckoned a
favour
but a
debt;
004:005 whereas in the case of a man who pleads no actions of his
own,
but simply believes
in Him who declares the ungodly free
from guilt, his
faith is placed to his credit as righteousness.
004:006 In this way David also tells of the blessedness of the man
to
whose credit God
places righteousness, apart from his actions.
004:007 “Blessed,” he says, “are those whose
iniquities have been forgiven,
and whose sins have
been covered over.
004:008 Blessed is the man of whose sin the Lord will not take
account.”
004:009 This declaration of blessedness, then, does it come
simply
to the circumcised,
or to the uncircumcised as well?
For Abraham’s
faith—so we affirm—was placed to
his
credit as
righteousness.
004:010 What then were the circumstances under which this took
place?
Was it after he had
been circumcised, or before?
004:011 Before, not after. And he received circumcision as a
sign,
a mark attesting
the reality of the faith-righteousness which was
his while still
uncircumcised, that he might be the forefather
of all those who
believe even though they are uncircumcised—
in order that this
righteousness might be placed to their credit;
004:012 and the forefather of the circumcised, namely of those
who
not merely are
circumcised, but also walk in the steps
of the faith which
our forefather Abraham had while he was
as yet
uncircumcised.
004:013 Again, the promise that he should inherit the world
did
not come to Abraham
or his posterity conditioned by Law,
but by
faith-righteousness.
004:014 For if it is the righteous through Law who are
heirs,
then faith is
useless and the promise counts for nothing.
004:015 For the Law inflicts punishment; but where no Law
exists,
there can be no
violation of Law.
004:016 All depends on faith, and for this reason—that
acceptance
with God might be
an act of pure grace,
004:017 so that the promise should be made sure to all
Abraham’s true
descendants; not
merely to those who are righteous through the Law,
but to those who
are righteous through a faith like that of Abraham.
Thus in the sight
of God in whom he believed, who gives life
to the dead and
makes reference to things that do not exist,
as though they did,
Abraham is the forefather of all of us.
As it is written,
“I have appointed you to be the forefather
of many
nations.”
004:018 Under utterly hopeless circumstances he hopefully
believed,
so that he might
become the forefather of many nations,
in agreement with
the words “Equally numerous shall
your posterity
be.”
004:019 And, without growing weak in faith, he could contemplate
his
own vital powers
which had now decayed—for he was nearly
100 years
old—and Sarah’s barrenness.
004:020 Nor did he in unbelief stagger at God’s promise, but
became
mighty in faith,
giving glory to God,
004:021 and being absolutely certain that whatever promise He is
bound
by He is able also
to make good.
004:022 For this reason also his faith was placed to his
credit as
righteousness.
004:023 Nor was the fact of its being placed to his credit put on
record
for his sake
only;
004:024 it was for our sakes too. Faith, before long, will be
placed
to the credit of us
also who are believers in Him who raised Jesus,
our Lord, from the
dead,
004:025 who was surrendered to death because of the offences
we
had committed, and
was raised to life because of the acquittal
secured for
us.
005:001 Standing then acquitted as the result of faith, let us
enjoy
peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
005:002 through whom also, as the result of faith, we have obtained
an
introduction into
that state of favour with God in which we stand,
and we exult in
hope of some day sharing in God’s glory.
005:003 And not only so: we also exult in our sufferings,
knowing as we do,
that suffering
produces fortitude;
005:004 fortitude, ripeness of character; and ripeness of
character, hope;
005:005 and that this hope never disappoints, because God’s
love
for us floods our
hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been
given to
us.
005:006 For already, while we were still helpless, Christ at the
right
moment died for the
ungodly.
005:007 Why, it is scarcely conceivable that any one would die for
a
simply just man,
although for a good and lovable man perhaps
some one, here and
there, will have the courage even to lay
down his
life.
005:008 But God gives proof of His love to us in Christ’s
dying for us
while we were still
sinners.
005:009 If therefore we have now been pronounced free from
guilt
through His blood,
much more shall we be delivered from God’s
anger through
Him.
005:010 For if while we were hostile to God we were reconciled to
Him
through the death
of His Son, it is still more certain
that now that we
are reconciled, we shall obtain salvation
through
Christ’s life.
005:011 And not only so, but we also exult in God through
our
Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now obtained
that
reconciliation.
005:012 What follows? This comparison. Through one man
sin entered
into the world, and
through sin death, and so death passed
to all mankind in
turn, in that all sinned.
005:013 For prior to the Law sin was already in the world; only
it
is not entered in
the account against us when no Law exists.
005:014 Yet Death reigned as king from Adam to Moses even
over
those who had not
sinned, as Adam did, against Law.
And in Adam we have
a type of Him whose coming was still future.
005:015 But God’s free gift immeasurably outweighs the
transgression.
For if through the
transgression of the one individual the mass
of mankind have
died, infinitely greater is the generosity
with which
God’s grace, and the gift given in His grace
which found
expression in the one man Jesus Christ, have been
bestowed on the
mass of mankind.
005:016 And it is not with the gift as it was with the results of
one
individual’s
sin; for the judgement which one individual
provoked resulted
in condemnation, whereas the free gift
after a multitude
of transgressions results in acquittal.
005:017 For if, through the transgression of the one
individual,
Death made use of
the one individual to seize the sovereignty,
all the more shall
those who receive God’s overflowing grace
and gift of
righteousness reign as kings in Life through
the one individual,
Jesus Christ.
005:018 It follows then that just as the result of a single
transgression
is a condemnation
which extends to the whole race, so also
the result of a
single decree of righteousness is a life-giving
acquittal which
extends to the whole race.
005:019 For as through the disobedience of the one individual the
mass
of mankind were
constituted sinners, so also through the obedience
of the One the mass
of mankind will be constituted righteous.
005:020 Now Law was brought in later on, so that
transgression
might
increase. But where sin increased, grace has
overflowed;
005:021 in order that as sin has exercised kingly sway in
inflicting death,
so grace, too, may
exercise kingly sway in bestowing
a righteousness
which results in the Life of the Ages through
Jesus Christ our
Lord.
006:001 To what conclusion, then, shall we come? Are we to
persist
in sinning in order
that the grace extended to us may
be the
greater?
006:002 No, indeed; how shall we who have died to sin, live
in
it any
longer?
006:003 And do you not know that all of us who have been
baptized
into Christ Jesus
were baptized into His death?
006:004 Well, then, we by our baptism were buried with Him in
death,
in order that, just
as Christ was raised from among the dead
by the
Father’s glorious power, we also should live an
entirely new
life.
006:005 For since we have become one with Him by sharing in His
death,
we shall also be
one with Him by sharing in His resurrection.
006:006 This we know—that our old self was nailed to the
cross with Him,
in order that our
sinful nature might be deprived of its power,
so that we should
no longer be the slaves of sin;
006:007 for he who has paid the penalty of death stands
absolved
from his
sin.
006:008 But, seeing that we have died with Christ, we believe that
we
shall also live
with Him;
006:009 because we know that Christ, having come back to
life,
is no longer liable
to die.
006:010 Death has no longer any power over Him. For by the
death
which He died He
became, once for all, dead in relation to sin;
but by the life
which He now lives He is alive in relation to God.
006:011 In the same way you also must regard yourselves as
dead
in relation to sin,
but as alive in relation to God,
because you are in
Christ Jesus.
006:012 Let not Sin therefore reign as king in your mortal
bodies,
causing you to be
in subjection to their cravings;
006:013 and no longer lend your faculties as unrighteous weapons
for Sin
to use. On
the contrary surrender your very selves to God
as living men who
have risen from the dead, and surrender
your several
faculties to God, to be used as weapons to
maintain the
right.
006:014 For Sin shall not be lord over you, since you are
subjects
not of Law, but of
grace.
006:015 Are we therefore to sin because we are no longer
under
the authority of
Law, but under grace? No, indeed!
006:016 Do you not know that if you surrender yourselves as
bondservants
to obey any one,
you become the bondservants of him whom you obey,
whether the
bondservants of Sin (with death as the result)
or of Duty
(resulting in righteousness)?
006:017 But thanks be to God that though you were once in thraldom
to Sin,
you have now
yielded a hearty obedience to that system of truth
in which you have
been instructed.
006:018 You were set free from the tyranny of Sin, and
became
the bondservants of
Righteousness—
006:019 your human infirmity leads me to employ these familiar
figures—
and just as you
once surrendered your faculties into bondage
to Impurity and
ever-increasing disregard of Law, so you
must now surrender
them into bondage to Righteousness ever
advancing towards
perfect holiness.
006:020 For when you were the bondservants of sin, you were under
no
sort of subjection
to Righteousness.
006:021 At that time, then, what benefit did you get from
conduct
which you now
regard with shame? Why, such things finally
result in
death.
006:022 But now that you have been set free from the tyranny of
Sin,
and have become the
bondservants of God, you have your reward
in being made holy,
and you have the Life of the Ages
as the final
result.
006:023 For the wages paid by Sin are death; but God’s free
gift is
the Life of the
Ages bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
007:001 Brethren, do you not know—for I am writing to
people acquainted
with the
Law—that it is during our lifetime that we are
subject to the
Law?
007:002 A wife, for instance, whose husband is living is bound to
him
by the Law; but if
her husband dies the law that bound her
to him has now no
hold over her.
007:003 This accounts for the fact that if during her
husband’s life she
lives with another
man, she will be stigmatized as an adulteress;
but that if her
husband is dead she is no longer under
the old
prohibition, and even though she marries again,
she is not an
adulteress.
007:004 So, my brethren, to you also the Law died through the
incarnation
of Christ, that you
might be wedded to Another, namely to
Him who rose from
the dead in order that we might yield
fruit to
God.
007:005 For whilst we were under the thraldom of our earthly
natures,
sinful
passions—made sinful by the Law—were always
being
aroused to action
in our bodily faculties that they might yield
fruit to
death.
007:006 But seeing that we have died to that which once held
us
in bondage, the Law
has now no hold over us, so that we
render a service
which, instead of being old and formal,
is new and
spiritual.
007:007 What follows? Is the Law itself a sinful
thing?
No, indeed; on the
contrary, unless I had been taught
by the Law, I
should have known nothing of sin as sin.
For instance, I
should not have known what covetousness is,
if the Law had not
repeatedly said, “Thou shalt not covet.”
007:008 Sin took advantage of this, and by means of the
Commandment
stirred up within
me every kind of coveting; for apart from
Law sin would be
dead.
007:009 Once, apart from Law, I was alive, but when the Commandment
came,
sin sprang into
life, and I died;
007:010 and, as it turned out, the very Commandment which was to
bring
me life, brought me
death.
007:011 For sin seized the advantage, and by means of the
Commandment
it completely
deceived me, and also put me to death.
007:012 So that the Law itself is holy, and the Commandment is
holy,
just and
good.
007:013 Did then a thing which is good become death to me?
No, indeed,
but sin did; so
that through its bringing about death by means
of what was good,
it might be seen in its true light as sin,
in order that by
means of the Commandment the unspeakable
sinfulness of sin
might be plainly shown.
007:014 For we know that the Law is a spiritual thing; but I am
unspiritual—
the slave, bought
and sold, of sin.
007:015 For what I do, I do not recognize as my own
action.
What I desire to do
is not what I do, but what I am averse
to is what I
do.
007:016 But if I do that which I do not desire to do, I
admit
the excellence of
the Law,
007:017 and now it is no longer I that do these things, but the
sin
which has its home
within me does them.
007:018 For I know that in me, that is, in my lower self, nothing
good has
its home; for while
the will to do right is present with me,
the power to carry
it out is not.
007:019 For what I do is not the good thing that I desire to
do;
but the evil thing
that I desire not to do, is what
I constantly
do.
007:020 But if I do that which I desire not to do, it can no
longer
be said that it is
I who do it, but the sin which has its home
within me does
it.
007:021 I find therefore the law of my nature to be that when I
desire
to do what is
right, evil is lying in ambush for me.
007:022 For in my inmost self all my sympathy is with the Law of
God;
007:023 but I discover within me a different Law at war with the
Law
of my
understanding, and leading me captive to the Law
which is everywhere
at work in my body—the Law of sin.
007:024 (Unhappy man that I am! who will rescue me from
this death-burdened
body?
007:025 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!) To sum up
then,
with my
understanding, I—my true self—am in
servitude
to the Law of God,
but with my lower nature I am in servitude
to the Law of
sin.
008:001 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who
are
in Christ
Jesus;
008:002 for the Spirit’s Law—telling of Life in
Christ Jesus—
has set me free
from the Law that deals only with sin and death.
008:003 For what was impossible to the Law—powerless as
it was
because it acted
through frail humanity—God effected.
Sending His own Son
in a body like that of sinful human nature
and as a sacrifice
for sin, He pronounced sentence upon sin
in human
nature;
008:004 in order that in our case the requirements of the Law might
be
fully met.
For our lives are regulated not by our earthly,
but by our
spiritual natures.
008:005 For if men are controlled by their earthly natures, they
give
their minds to
earthly things. If they are controlled by their
spiritual natures,
they give their minds to spiritual things.
008:006 Because for the mind to be given up to earthly things means
death;
but for it to be
given up to spiritual things means
Life and
peace.
008:007 Abandonment to earthly things is a state of enmity to
God.
Such a mind does
not submit to God’s Law, and indeed
cannot do
so.
008:008 And those whose hearts are absorbed in earthly
things
cannot please
God.
008:009 You, however, are not devoted to earthly, but to spiritual
things,
if the Spirit of
God is really dwelling in you; whereas if
any man has not the
Spirit of Christ, such a one does not
belong to
Him.
008:010 But if Christ is in you, though your body must die because
of sin,
yet your spirit has
Life because of righteousness.
008:011 And if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the
dead
is dwelling in you,
He who raised up Christ from the dead
will give Life also
to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit
who dwells in
you.
008:012 Therefore, brethren, it is not to our lower natures that
we
are under
obligation that we should live by their rule.
008:013 For if you so live, death is near; but if, through
being
under the sway of
the spirit, you are putting your old bodily
habits to death,
you will live.
008:014 For those who are led by God’s Spirit are, all of
them, God’s sons.
008:015 You have not for the second time acquired the
consciousness
of
being—a consciousness which fills you with
terror.
But you have
acquired a deep inward conviction of having been
adopted as
sons—a conviction which prompts us to cry
aloud,
“Abba! our
Father!”
008:016 The Spirit Himself bears witness, along with our own
spirits,
to the fact that we
are children of God;
008:017 and if children, then heirs too—heirs of God and
co-heirs
with Christ; if
indeed we are sharers in Christ’s sufferings,
in order that we
may also be sharers in His glory.
008:018 Why, what we now suffer I count as nothing in
comparison
with the glory
which is soon to be manifested in us.
008:019 For all creation, gazing eagerly as if with outstretched
neck,
is waiting and
longing to see the manifestation of the sons of God.
008:020 For the Creation fell into subjection to failure and
unreality
(not of its own
choice, but by the will of Him who so subjected it).
008:021 Yet there was always the hope that at last the Creation
itself
would also be set
free from the thraldom of decay so as to enjoy
the liberty that
will attend the glory of the children of God.
008:022 For we know that the whole of Creation is groaning
together
in the pains of
childbirth until this hour.
008:023 And more than that, we ourselves, though we
possess
the Spirit as a
foretaste and pledge of the glorious future,
yet we ourselves
inwardly sigh, as we wait and long for open
recognition as sons
through the deliverance of our bodies.
008:024 It is in hope that we have been saved. But an
object
of hope is such no
longer when it is present to view;
for when a man has
a thing before his eyes, how can he be said
to hope for
it?
008:025 But if we hope for something which we do not see, then
we
eagerly and
patiently wait for it.
008:026 In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness;
for we
do not know what
prayers to offer nor in what way to offer them.
But the Spirit
Himself pleads for us in yearnings that can
find no
words,
008:027 and the Searcher of hearts knows what the Spirit’s
meaning is,
because His
intercessions for God’s people are in harmony
with God’s
will.
008:028 Now we know that for those who love God all things are
working
together for
good—for those, I mean, whom with deliberate
purpose He has
called.
008:029 For those whom He has known beforehand He has also
pre-destined
to bear the
likeness of His Son, that He might be the Eldest
in a vast family of
brothers;
008:030 and those whom He has pre-destined He also has
called;
and those whom He
has called He has also declared free from guilt;
and those whom He
has declared free from guilt He has also
crowned with
glory.
008:031 What then shall we say to this? If God is on our
side,
who is there to
appear against us?
008:032 He who did not withhold even His own Son, but gave Him up
for all
of us, will He not
also with Him freely give us all things?
008:033 Who shall impeach those whom God has chosen? God
declares
them free from
guilt.
008:034 Who is there to condemn them? Christ Jesus died, or
rather has
risen to life
again. He is also at the right hand of God,
and is interceding
for us.
008:035 Who shall separate us from Christ’s love? Shall
affliction
or distress,
persecution or hunger, nakedness or danger
or the
sword?
008:036 As it stands written in the Scripture, “For Thy sake
they are,
all day long,
trying to kill us. We have been looked upon
as sheep destined
for slaughter.”
008:037 Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors
through
Him who has loved
us.
008:038 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither the
lower
ranks of evil
angels nor the higher, neither things present
nor things future,
nor the forces of nature,
008:039 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, will
be
able to separate us
from the love of God which rests upon us
in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
009:001 I am telling you the truth as a Christian man—it
is no falsehood,
for my conscience
enlightened, as it is, by the Holy Spirit
adds its testimony
to mine—
009:002 when I declare that I have deep grief and
unceasing
anguish of
heart.
009:003 For I could pray to be accursed from Christ on behalf of my
brethren,
my human
kinsfolk—for such the Israelites are.
009:004 To them belongs recognition as God’s sons, and they
have His
glorious Presence
and the Covenants, and the giving of the Law,
and the Temple
service, and the ancient Promises.
009:005 To them the Patriarchs belong, and from them in respect of
His
human lineage came
the Christ, who is exalted above all,
God blessed
throughout the Ages. Amen.
009:006 Not however that God’s word has failed; for all who
have sprung
from Israel do not
count as Israel,
009:007 nor because they are Abraham’s true children.
But the promise
was “Through
Isaac shall your posterity be reckoned.”
009:008 In other words, it is not the children by natural
descent
who count as
God’s children, but the children made such
by the promise are
regarded as Abraham’s posterity.
009:009 For the words are the language of promise and run
thus,
“About this
time next year I will come, and Sarah shall
have a
son.”
009:010 Nor is that all: later on there was Rebecca
too.
She was soon to
bear two children to her husband,
our forefather
Isaac—
009:011 and even then, though they were not then born and had
not
done anything
either good or evil, yet in order that God’s
electing purpose
might not be frustrated, based, as it was,
not on their
actions but on the will of Him who called them,
she was
told,
009:012 “The elder of them will be bondservant to the
younger.”
009:013 This agrees with the other Scripture which says,
“Jacob I
have loved, but
Esau I have hated.”
009:014 What then are we to infer? That there is injustice in
God?
009:015 No, indeed; the solution is found in His words to Moses,
“Wherever I
show mercy it shall
be nothing but mercy, and wherever I show
compassion it shall
be simply compassion.”
009:016 And from this we learn that everything is dependent
not
on man’s will
or endeavour, but upon God who has mercy.
For the Scripture
said to Pharaoh,
009:017 “It is for this very purpose that I have lifted you
so high—
that I may make
manifest in you My power, and that My name
may be proclaimed
far and wide in all the earth.”
009:018 This is a proof that wherever He chooses He shows
mercy,
and wherever he
chooses He hardens the heart.
009:019 “Why then does God still find fault?” you will
ask;
“for who is
resisting His will?”
009:020 Nay, but who are you, a mere man, that you should
cavil
against GOD?
Shall the thing moulded say to him who moulded it,
“Why have you
made me thus?”
009:021 Or has not the potter rightful power over the clay to make
out
of the same lump
one vessel for more honourable and another
for less honourable
uses?
009:022 And what if God, while choosing to make manifest the
terrors
of His anger and to
show what is possible with Him, has yet
borne with
long-forbearing patience with the subjects of His
anger who stand
ready for destruction,
009:023 in order to make known His infinite goodness towards the
subjects
of His mercy whom
He has prepared beforehand for glory,
009:024 even towards us whom He has called not only from among the
Jews
but also from among
the Gentiles?
009:025 So also in Hosea He says, “I will call that nation My
People
which was not My
People, and I will call her beloved who
was not
beloved.
009:026 And in the place where it was said to them, `No people of
Mine
are you,’
there shall they be called sons of the everliving
God.”
009:027 And Isaiah cries aloud concerning Israel, “Though the
number
of the sons of
Israel be like the sands of the sea,
only a remnant of
them shall be saved;
009:028 for the Lord will hold a reckoning upon the earth, making
it
efficacious and
brief.”
009:029 Even as Isaiah says in an earlier place, “Were it not
that the Lord,
the God of Hosts,
had left us some few descendants, we should
have become like
Sodom, and have come to resemble Gomorrah.”
009:030 To what conclusion does this bring us? Why, that the
Gentiles,
who were not in
pursuit of righteousness, have overtaken it—
a righteousness,
however, which arises from faith;
009:031 while the descendants of Israel, who were in pursuit of a
Law
that could give
righteousness, have not arrived at one.
009:032 And why? Because they were pursuing a righteousness
which should
arise not from
faith, but from what they regarded as merit.
They stuck their
foot against the stone which lay in their way;
009:033 in agreement with the statement of Scripture, “See, I
am
placing on Mount
Zion a stone for people to stumble at,
and a rock for them
to trip over, and yet he whose faith
rests upon it shall
never have reason to feel ashamed.”
010:001 Brethren, the longing of my heart, and my prayer to
God,
on behalf of my
countrymen is for their salvation.
010:002 For I bear witness that they possess an enthusiasm for
God,
but it is an
unenlightened enthusiasm.
010:003 Ignorant of the righteousness which God provides and
building
their hopes upon a
righteousness of their own, they have
refused submission
to God’s righteousness.
010:004 For as a means of righteousness Christ is the
termination
of Law to every
believer.
010:005 Moses says that he whose actions conform to the
righteousness
required by the Law
shall live by that righteousness.
010:006 But the righteousness which is based on faith speaks in
a
different
tone. “Say not in your heart,” it
declares,
“`Who shall
ascend to Heaven?’”—that is, to bring Christ
down;
010:007 “nor `Who shall go down into the
abyss?’”—that is, to bring
Christ up again
from the grave.
010:008 But what does it say? “The Message is close to
you, in your
mouth and in your
heart;” that is, the Message which we are
publishing about
the faith—
010:009 that if with your mouth you confess Jesus as Lord and
in
your heart believe
that God brought Him back to life,
you shall be
saved.
010:010 For with the heart men believe and obtain
righteousness,
and with the mouth
they make confession and obtain salvation.
010:011 The Scripture says, “No one who believes in Him shall
have
reason to feel
ashamed.”
010:012 Jew and Gentile are on precisely the same
footing;
for the same Lord
is Lord over all, and is infinitely kind
to all who call
upon Him for deliverance.
010:013 For “every one, without exception, who calls on the
name
of the Lord shall
be saved.”
010:014 But how are they to call on One in whom they have not
believed?
And how are they to
believe in One whose voice they have
never heard?
And how are they to hear without a preacher?
010:015 And how are men to preach unless they have been sent to do
so?
As it is written,
“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring
glad tidings of
good!”
010:016 But, some will say, they have not all hearkened to the Good
News.
No, for Isaiah
asks, “Lord, who has believed the Message they
have heard from
us?”
010:017 And this proves that faith comes from a Message heard, and
that
the Message comes
through its having been spoken by Christ.
010:018 But, I ask, have they not heard? Yes, indeed:
“To the whole
world the
preachers’ voices have sounded forth, and their
words
to the remotest
parts of the earth.”
010:019 But again, did Israel fail to understand? Listen to
Moses first.
He says, “I
will fire you with jealousy against a nation
which is no nation,
and with fury against a nation
devoid of
understanding.”
010:020 And Isaiah, with strange boldness, exclaims, “I have
been
found by those who
were not looking for Me, I have revealed
Myself to those who
were not inquiring of Me.”
010:021 While as to Israel he says, “All day long I have
stretched
out My arms to a
self-willed and fault-finding people.”
011:001 I ask then, Has God cast off His People? No,
indeed.
Why, I myself am an
Israelite, of the posterity of Abraham
and of the tribe of
Benjamin.
011:002 God has not cast off His People whom He knew
beforehand.
Or are you ignorant
of what Scripture says in speaking of Elijah—
how he pleaded with
God against Israel, saying,
011:003 “Lord, they have put Thy Prophets to death, and have
overthrown
Thy altars; and,
now that I alone remain, they are thirsting
for my
blood”?
011:004 But what did God say to him in reply? “I have
reserved
for Myself 7,000
men who have never bent the knee to Baal.”
011:005 In the same way also at the present time there has come to
be
a remnant whom God
in His grace has selected.
011:006 But if it is in His grace that He has selected
them,
then His choice is
no longer determined by human actions.
Otherwise grace
would be grace no longer.
011:007 How then does the matter stand? It stands thus.
That which
Israel are in
earnest pursuit of, they have not obtained;
but God’s
chosen servants have obtained it, and the rest
have become
hardened.
011:008 And so Scripture says, “God has given them a spirit
of drowsiness—
eyes to see nothing
with and ears to hear nothing with—
even until
now.”
011:009 And David says, “Let their very food become a snare
and a trap
to them, a
stumbling-block and a retribution.
011:010 Let darkness come over their eyes that they may be unable
to see,
and make Thou their
backs continually to stoop.”
011:011 I ask, however, “Have they stumbled so as to be
finally ruined?”
No, indeed; but by
their lapse salvation has come to the Gentiles
in order to arouse
the jealousy of the descendants of Israel;
011:012 and if their lapse is the enriching of the world, and
their
overthrow the
enriching of the Gentiles, will not still
greater good follow
their restoration?
011:013 But to you Gentiles I say that, since I am an Apostle
specially
sent to the
Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry,
011:014 trying whether I can succeed in rousing my own
countrymen
to jealousy and
thus save some of them.
011:015 For if their having been cast aside has carried with
it
the reconciliation
of the world, what will their being accepted
again be but Life
out of death?
011:016 Now if the firstfruits of the dough are holy, so also
is
the whole mass; and
if the root of a tree is holy, so also
are the
branches.
011:017 And if some of the branches have been pruned away, and
you,
although you were
but a wild olive, have been grafted in among
them and have
become a sharer with others in the rich sap
of the root of the
olive tree,
011:018 beware of glorying over the natural branches. Or if
you are
so glorying, do not
forget that it is not you who uphold the root:
the root upholds
you.
011:019 “Branches have been lopped off,” you will say,
“for the sake
of my being grafted
in.”
011:020 This is true; yet it was their unbelief that cut them
off,
and you only stand
through your faith.
011:021 Do not be puffed up with pride. Tremble
rather—for if God did
not spare the
natural branches, neither will He spare you.
011:022 Notice therefore God’s kindness and God’s
severity.
On those who have
fallen His severity has descended,
but upon you His
kindness has come, provided that you do not
cease to respond to
that kindness. Otherwise you will be
cut off
also.
011:023 Moreover, if they turn from their unbelief, they too will
be
grafted in.
For God is powerful enough to graft them in again;
011:024 and if you were cut from that which by nature is a wild
olive
and contrary to
nature were grafted into the good olive tree,
how much more
certainly will these natural branches be grafted
on their own olive
tree?
011:025 For there is a truth, brethren, not revealed
hitherto,
of which I do not
wish to leave you in ignorance, for fear you
should attribute
superior wisdom to yourselves—the truth,
I mean, that
partial blindness has fallen upon Israel until
the great mass of
the Gentiles have come in;
011:026 and so all Israel will be saved. As is
declared
in Scripture,
“From Mount Zion a Deliverer will come:
He will remove all
ungodliness from Jacob;
011:027 and this shall be My Covenant with them; when I have
taken
away their
sins.”
011:028 In relation to the Good News, the Jews are God’s
enemies for
your sakes; but in
relation to God’s choice they are dearly
loved for the sake
of their forefathers.
011:029 For God does not repent of His free gifts nor of His
call;
011:030 but just as you were formerly disobedient to Him, but now
have
received mercy at a
time when they are disobedient,
011:031 so now they also have been disobedient at a time when you
are
receiving mercy; so
that to them too there may now be mercy.
011:032 For God has locked up all in the prison of unbelief, that
upon
all alike He may
have mercy.
011:033 Oh, how inexhaustible are God’s resources and
God’s wisdom
and God’s
knowledge! How impossible it is to search into His
decrees or trace
His footsteps!
011:034 “Who has ever known the mind of the Lord, or shared
His counsels?”
011:035 “Who has first given God anything, so as to
receive
payment in
return?”
011:036 For the universe owes its origin to Him, was created by
Him,
and has its aim and
purpose in Him. To Him be the glory
throughout the
Ages! Amen.
012:001 I plead with you therefore, brethren, by the compassionsof
God,
to present all your
faculties to Him as a living and holy
sacrifice
acceptable to Him. This with you will be an act
of reasonable
worship.
012:002 And do not follow the customs of the present age,
but be transformed
by the entire renewal of your minds,
so that you may
learn by experience what God’s will is—
that will which is
good and beautiful and perfect.
012:003 For through the authority graciously given to me I
warn
every individual
among you not to value himself unduly,
but to cultivate
sobriety of judgement in accordance with
the amount of faith
which God has allotted to each one.
012:004 For just as there are in the one human body many
parts,
and these parts
have not all the same function;
012:005 so collectively we form one body in Christ, while
individually
we are linked to
one another as its members.
012:006 But since we have special gifts which differ in
accordance
with the
diversified work graciously entrusted to us,
if it is prophecy,
let the prophet speak in exact proportion
to his
faith;
012:007 if it is the gift of administration, let the
administrator
exercise a sound
judgement in his duties.
012:008 The teacher must do the same in his teaching; and he who
exhorts
others, in his
exhortation. He who gives should be liberal;
he who is in
authority should be energetic and alert;
and he who succours
the afflicted should do it cheerfully.
012:009 Let your love be perfectly sincere. Regard with
horror what is evil;
cling to what is
right.
012:010 As for brotherly love, be affectionate to one
another;
in matters of
worldly honour, yield to one another.
012:011 Do not be indolent when zeal is required. Be
thoroughly warm-hearted,
the Lord’s
own servants,
012:012 full of joyful hope, patient under persecution, earnest
and
persistent in
prayer.
012:013 Relieve the necessities of God’s people; always
practise hospitality.
012:014 Invoke blessings on your persecutors—blessings,
not curses.
012:015 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who
weep.
012:016 Have full sympathy with one another. Do not give
your
mind to high
things, but let humble ways content you.
Do not be wise in
your own conceits.
012:017 Pay back to no man evil for evil. Take thought for
what is
right and seemly in
every one’s esteem.
012:018 If you can, so far as it depends on you, live at peace
with
all the
world.
012:019 Do not be revengeful, my dear friends, but give way before
anger;
for it is written,
“`Revenge belongs to Me: I will pay
back,’
says the
Lord.”
012:020 On the contrary, therefore, if your enemy is hungry, give
him food;
if he is thirsty,
quench his thirst. For by doing this you
will be heaping
burning coals upon his head.
012:021 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome the evil with
goodness.
013:001 Let every individual be obedient to those who rule over
him;
for no one is a
ruler except by God’s permission, and our present
rulers have had
their rank and power assigned to them by Him.
013:002 Therefore the man who rebels against his ruler is
resisting
God’s will;
and those who thus resist will bring
punishment upon
themselves.
013:003 For judges and magistrates are to be feared not by
right-doers
but by
wrong-doers. You desire—do you not?—to
have no reason
to fear your
ruler. Well, do the thing that is right,
and then he will
commend you.
013:004 For he is God’s servant for your benefit. But
if you do what
is wrong, be
afraid. He does not wear the sword to no
purpose:
he is God’s
servant—an administrator to inflict
punishment upon
evil-doers.
013:005 We must obey therefore, not only in order to escape
punishment,
but also for
conscience’ sake.
013:006 Why, this is really the reason you pay taxes; for
tax-gatherers
are ministers of
God, devoting their energies to this very work.
013:007 Pay promptly to all men what is due to them: taxes to
those
to whom taxes are
due, toll to those to whom toll is due,
respect to those to
whom respect is due, honour to those to whom
honour is
due.
013:008 Owe nothing to any one except mutual love; for he who
loves
his fellow man has
satisfied the demands of Law.
013:009 For the precepts, “Thou shalt not commit
adultery,” “Thou shalt
do no
murder,” “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou
shalt not covet,”
and all other
precepts, are summed up in this one command,
“Thou shalt
love thy fellow man as much as thou lovest
thyself.”
013:010 Love avoids doing any wrong to one’s fellow man, and
is therefore
complete obedience
to Law.
013:011 Carry out these injunctions because you know the
critical
period at which we
are living, and that it is now high time,
to rouse yourselves
from sleep; for salvation is now nearer
to us than when we
first became believers.
013:012 The night is far advanced, and day is about to
dawn.
We must therefore
lay aside the deeds of darkness, and clothe
ourselves with the
armour of Light.
013:013 Living as we do in broad daylight, let us conduct
ourselves
becomingly, not
indulging in revelry and drunkenness,
nor in lust and
debauchery, nor in quarrelling and jealousy.
013:014 On the contrary, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus
Christ,
and make no
provision for gratifying your earthly cravings.
014:001 I now pass to another subject. Receive as a friend a
man
whose faith is
weak, but not for the purpose of deciding mere
matters of
opinion.
014:002 One man’s faith allows him to eat anything, while a
man
of weaker faith
eats nothing but vegetables.
014:003 Let not him who eats certain food look down upon him who
abstains
from it, nor him
who abstains from it find fault with him
who eats it; for
God has received both of them.
014:004 Who are you that you should find fault with the servant of
another?
Whether he stands
or falls is a matter which concerns his
own master.
But stand he will; for the Master can give him
power to
stand.
014:005 One man esteems one day more highly than another;
another esteems all
days alike. Let every one be thoroughly
convinced in his
own mind.
014:006 He who regards the day as sacred, so regards it for the
Master’s sake;
and he who eats
certain food eats it for the Master’s sake,
for he gives thanks
to God; and he who refrains from eating it
refrains for the
Master’s sake, and he also gives thanks to God.
014:007 For not one of us lives to himself, and not one dies to
himself.
014:008 If we live, we live to the Lord: if we die, we die to
the Lord.
So whether we live
or die, we belong to the Lord.
014:009 For this was the purpose of Christ’s dying and coming
to life—
namely that He
might be Lord both of the dead and the living.
014:010 But you, why do you find fault with your
brother?
Or you, why do you
look down upon your brother?
We shall all stand
before God to be judged;
014:011 for it is written, “`As I live,’ says the Lord,
`to Me every knee
shall bow, and
every tongue shall make confession to God.’”
014:012 So we see that every one of us will give account of himself
to God.
014:013 Therefore let us no longer judge one another; but, instead
of that,
you should come to
this judgement—that we must not put
a stumbling-block
in our brother’s path, nor anything
to trip him
up.
014:014 As one who lives in union with the Lord Jesus, I
know
and am certain that
in its own nature no food is `impure’;
but if people
regard any food as impure, to them it is.
014:015 If your brother is pained by the food you are
eating,
your conduct is no
longer controlled by love. Take care lest,
by the food you
eat, you lead to ruin a man for whom Christ died.
014:016 Therefore do not let the boon which is yours in common
be
exposed to
reproach.
014:017 For the Kingdom of God does not consist of eating and
drinking,
but of right
conduct, peace and joy, through the Holy Spirit;
014:018 and whoever in this way devotedly serves Christ, God
takes
pleasure in him,
and men highly commend him.
014:019 Therefore let us aim at whatever makes for peace and
mutual
upbuilding of
character.
014:020 Do not for food’s sake be throwing down God’s
work.
All food is pure;
but a man is in the wrong if his food
is a snare to
others.
014:021 The right course is to forego eating meat or drinking
wine
or doing anything
that tends to your brother’s fall.
014:022 As for you and your faith, keep your faith to yourself
in
the presence of
God. The man is to be congratulated who does
not pronounce
judgement on himself in what his actions sanction.
014:023 But he who has misgivings and yet eats meat is condemned
already,
because his conduct
is not based on faith; for all conduct
not based on faith
is sinful.
015:001 As for us who are strong, our duty is to bear with the
weaknesses
of those who are
not strong, and not seek our own pleasure.
015:002 Let each of us endeavour to please his fellow
Christian,
aiming at a
blessing calculated to build him up.
015:003 For even the Christ did not seek His own
pleasure.
His principle was,
“The reproaches which they addressed
to Thee have fallen
on me.”
015:004 For all that was written of old has been written for our
instruction,
so that we may
always have hope through the power of endurance
and the
encouragement which the Scriptures afford.
015:005 And may God, the giver of power of endurance and
of
that encouragement,
grant you to be in full sympathy with one
another in
accordance with the example of Christ Jesus,
015:006 so that with oneness both of heart and voice you may
glorify
the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
015:007 Habitually therefore give one another a friendly
reception,
just as Christ also
has received you, and thus promote
the glory of
God.
015:008 My meaning is that Christ has become a servant to the
people
of Israel in
vindication of God’s truthfulness—in
showing
how sure are the
promises made to our forefathers—
015:009 and that the Gentiles also have glorified God in
acknowledgment
of His mercy.
So it is written, “For this reason I will
praise Thee among
the Gentiles, and sing psalms in honour
of Thy
name.”
015:010 And again the Psalmist says, “Be glad, ye Gentiles,
in company
with His
People.”
015:011 And again, “Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and let
all
the people extol
Him.”
015:012 And again Isaiah says, “There shall be the Root of
Jesse and One
who rises up to
rule the Gentiles. On Him shall the Gentiles
build their
hopes.”
015:013 May God, the giver of hope, fill you with continual joy and
peace
because you trust
in Him—so that you may have abundant hope
through the power
of the Holy Spirit.
015:014 But as to you, brethren, I am convinced—yes, I
Paul am convinced—
that, even apart
from my teaching, you are already full of goodness
of heart, and
enriched with complete Christian knowledge,
and are also
competent to instruct one another.
015:015 But I write to you the more boldly—partly as
reminding you
of what you already
know—because of the authority graciously
entrusted to me by
God,
015:016 that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus among the
Gentiles,
doing priestly
duties in connexion with God’s Good News
so that the
sacrifice—namely the Gentiles—may be
acceptable
to Him, being (as
it is) an offering which the Holy Spirit
has made
holy.
015:017 I can therefore glory in Christ Jesus concerning the
work
for God in which I
am engaged.
015:018 For I will not presume to mention any of the results that
Christ
has brought about
by other agency than mine in securing
the obedience of
the Gentiles by word or deed,
015:019 with power manifested in signs and marvels, and through the
power
of the Holy
Spirit. But—to speak simply of my own
labours—
beginning in
Jerusalem and the outlying districts,
I have proclaimed
without reserve, even as far as Illyricum,
the Good News of
the Christ;
015:020 making it my ambition, however, not to tell the Good
News
where
Christ’s name was already known, for fear I should
be
building on another
man’s foundation.
015:021 But, as Scripture says, “Those shall see, to whom no
report
about Him has
hitherto come, and those who until now have
not heard shall
understand.”
015:022 And it is really this which has again and again
prevented
my coming to
you.
015:023 But now, as there is no more unoccupied ground in this
part
of the world, and I
have for years past been eager to pay
you a
visit,
015:024 I hope, as soon as ever I extend my travels into
Spain,
to see you on my
way and be helped forward by you on my journey,
when I have first
enjoyed being with you for a time.
015:025 But at present I am going to Jerusalem to serve God’s
people,
015:026 for Macedonia and Greece have kindly contributed a certain
sum
in relief of the
poor among God’s people, in Jerusalem.
015:027 Yes, they have kindly done this, and, in fact, it was a
debt they
owed them.
For seeing that the Gentiles have been admitted
in to partnership
with the Jews in their spiritual blessings,
they in turn are
under an obligation to render sacred service
to the Jews in
temporal things.
015:028 So after discharging this duty, and making sure that these
kind
gifts reach those
for whom they are intended, I shall start
for Spain, passing
through Rome on my way there;
015:029 and I know that when I come to you it will be with a
vast
amount of blessing
from Christ.
015:030 But I entreat you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ
and by the love
which His Spirit inspires, to help me
by wrestling in
prayer to God on my behalf,
015:031 asking that I may escape unhurt from those in Judaea
who
are disobedient,
and that the service which I am going to
Jerusalem to render
may be well received by the Church there,
015:032 in order that if God be willing I may come to you with a
glad heart,
and may enjoy a
time of rest with you.
015:033 May God, who gives peace be with you all!
Amen.
016:001 Herewith I introduce our sister Phoebe to you, who is a
servant
of the Church at
Cenchreae,
016:002 that you may receive her as a fellow Christian in a
manner
worthy of
God’s people, and may assist her in any matter
in which she may
need help. For she has indeed been a kind
friend to many,
including myself.
016:003 Greetings to Prisca and Aquila my fellow labourers in the
work
of Christ
Jesus—
016:004 friends who have endangered their own lives for
mine.
I am grateful to
them, and not I alone, but all the
Gentile Churches
also.
016:005 Greetings, too, to the Church that meets at their
house.
Greetings to my
dear Epaenetus, who was the earliest convert
to Christ in the
province of Asia;
016:006 to Mary who has laboured strenuously among you;
016:007 and to Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen, who once
shared
my
imprisonment. They are of note among the Apostles,
and are Christians
of longer standing than myself.
016:008 Greetings to Ampliatus, dear to me in the Lord;
016:009 to Urban, our fellow labourer in Christ, and to my dear
Stachys.
016:010 Greetings to Apella, that veteran believer; and to the
members
of the household of
Aristobulus.
016:011 Greetings to my countryman, Herodion; and to the
believing
members of the
household of Narcissus.
016:012 Greetings to those Christian workers, Tryphaena and
Tryphosa;
also to dear
Persis, who has laboured strenuously in
the Lord’s
work.
016:013 Greetings to Rufus, who is one of the Lord’s chosen
people;
and to his mother,
who has also been a mother to me.
016:014 Greetings to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas,
Hermas,
and to the brethren
associated with them;
016:015 to Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister and
Olympas,
and to all
God’s people associated with them.
016:016 Salute one another with a holy kiss. All the Churches
of Christ
send greetings to
you.
016:017 But I beseech you, brethren, to keep a watch on those who
are
causing the
divisions among you, and are leading others into sin,
in defiance of the
instruction which you have received;
and habitually to
shun them.
016:018 For men of that stamp are not bondservants of Christ our
Lord,
but are slaves to
their own appetites; and by their plausible
words and their
flattery they utterly deceive the minds
of the
simple.
016:019 Your fidelity to the truth is everywhere
known.
I rejoice over you,
therefore, but I wish you to be wise
as to what is good,
and simple-minded as to what is evil.
016:020 And before long, God the giver of peace will crush Satan
under
your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!
016:021 Timothy, my fellow worker, sends you greetings, and so do
my
countrymen Lucius,
Jason and Sosipater.
016:022 I, Tertius, who write this letter, send you Christian
greetings.
016:023 Gaius, my host, who is also the host of the whole
Church,
greets you.
So do Erastus, the treasurer of the city,
and Quartus our
brother.
016:024 []
016:025 To Him who has it in His power to make you strong, as
declared
in the Good News
which I am spreading, and the proclamation
concerning Jesus
Christ, in harmony with the unveiling of
the Truth which in
the periods of past Ages remained unuttered,
016:026 but has now been brought fully to light, and by the
command
of the God of the
Ages has been made known by the writings
of the Prophets
among all the Gentiles to win them to obedience
to the
faith—
016:027 to God, the only wise, through Jesus Christ, even to
Him
be the glory
through all the Ages! Amen.
