Paul’s Letter to the Romans

Paul’s Letter to the Romans




1 [1-7] Paul, a worker of Yeshua the Christ, called to be a follower, set apart for the New Word of God, (Which God had promised before by the great preachers in the Holy Word,) about the Child of God, Yeshua the Christ, our Savior, who was in human form from the line of David; And by the spirit of faithfulness said to be the Child of God with power, by the coming to life again from the dead. We’ve accepted, by grace, the membership of the faith among all nations, for the name of Christ. You all that are in Rome are also called of Yeshua the Christ, dear loved ones of God, and called to be Christians. May grace and peace come to you from Yahweh God, and Yeshua the Christ.



Not Ashamed of the New Word

[8-17] First, I thank my God for you all, through Yeshua the Christ, that your faith is being spoken of throughout the whole world. God is my witness, whom I serve with all my spirit in the New Word of the Child of God, that I always remember you in my prayers, never stopping. I ask if, in any way now at last, I might come to you by the will of God and have a good journey. I long to see you, so that I can give you some spiritual gift, so that you’ll have what you need; That is, so that I’ll be in good spirits along with you by the faith that we now share. I want you to know, Christians, that I planned often to come to you, (but was unable before this,) that I might have some converts among you also, just as I do among the other peoples. I owe it both to the Greeks, and to the other foreigners, both to the wise, and to the unwise. So as much as is in me, I’m ready to preach the New Word to you who are at Rome also. I am not ashamed of the New Word of Christ because it’s the power of God to save everyone that believes; first the Jews, and then the other peoples. The goodness of God is made known, which is by faith: as the Word says, “Those made right will live by faith.”



No Excuses

[18-22] The judgment of God is revealed from heaven against all the evil and ungodliness of human beings, who hold back the truth with their ungodly actions; What might be known about God, they know, because God has clearly shown it to them. The things that we can’t see about God, have been clearly shown to us since the creation of the world, that is, God’s everlasting power and Godhead, which is understood by seeing everything that is made, so that they have no excuse. And even when they knew God, they wouldn’t praise God as God, nor thank God; but became like unthinking idiots in their thoughts, and their stupid hearts were darkened. They claim to be wise, but they became like unthinking idots, changing the light of the everlasting God into the false worship of other things, in the form of human beings, birds, animals, and water creatures.



On Homosexuality and Other Sins of the Flesh

[24-32] So God also gave them up to the evil they wanted out of their own hearts, to shame their own bodies among themselves. They changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served what was created more than the Creator who made them, who is blessed forever. So be it! Because of this God gave them up to the evil they wanted, so that even their women changed the natural way of sex into what is against nature: And in the same way the men also, not wanting to have sex with a woman naturally, but wanting to have sex with each other; men with men, doing what is clearly wrong, and getting diseases in themselves from their wrongs, which they rightfully deserved as punishment. And as they didn’t like to remember God, God gave them over to an ungodly mind, to do what isn’t natural; Being filled with all ungodliness, sexual sin, evil, greed, cruelty; jealousy, murder, arguments, lies, criticism; gossip, back-talkers, God-haters, wanting revenge, proud, braggers, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without knowledge, promise breakers, without natural love, stubborn, and uncaring: Who knowing the judgment of God, that those who do such things are worthy of death, and not only do them, but are happy when others do them.



Everyone will Come to Judgment

2 [1-16] So you’re inexcusable, you people, who judge others, because however you judge someone else, you accuse yourself because you who are judging others do the same kinds of things. But we’re sure that in truth the judgment of God is against those who do such things. And do you think, you people, who judge those who do such things, and do the same, that you’ll escape the judgment of God? Or do you hate the riches of God’s goodness, and patient waiting; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to a changed life? But because of your hardness and unchanged heart, you store up for yourself rage against the day of rage, when the good sense of God will be made known, who will give everyone just what their actions deserve. Everlasting life to them who patiently continue doing good, while looking for victory, honor, and a spiritual body: But God will have resentment and rage toward those who want to argue, and don’t obey the truth, but are ungodly. Suffering and sorrow will come to every soul of those who do evil, of the Jew first, and also of the other peoples; But victory, honor, and peace, to everyone that does good, to the Jew first, and also to the other peoples. God shows no favor to anyone. Whoever has sinned without knowing the Word of God will also be destroyed without the Word of God: and whoever has sinned knowing the Word of God will be judged by the Word of God. Those who only hear the Word of God aren’t right to God, but those who act on the Word of God will be made right. When the other peoples, which haven’t heard the Word of God, naturally do the things contained in the Word of God, these, not having the Word of God, are a law to themselves. This shows the work of the Word of God is written in their hearts, their conscience also giving proof, and their thoughts either accusing or else excusing them. This will happen in the day when God will judge the secrets of humanity by Yeshua the Christ as my New Word says.



Being a Jew is of the Heart

[17-24] If you’re called a Jew, and rest in the Word of God, and brag about your relationship to God, and you know God’s will, and approve of the things that are best, being taught from the Word of God; And if you’re sure that you yourself are a guide to those who are blind, a light for those who are in darkness, a teacher of the stupid, a teacher of babies, you have, in the Word of God, the spirit of knowledge and the truth. So why do you teach others, but don’t teach yourself? You, who preach that someone shouldn’t steal, do you steal? You, who say that no one should act in sexual sin, do you act in sexual sin? You, who hate false worship, do you worship falsely? You that brag about yourself in using the Word of God, do you dishonor God by breaking the Word of God? So the Name of God is disrespected among the other peoples because of you, as the Word says. The truth is, if you obey the Word of God, your cleansing is good: but if you break the Word of God, your cleansing is as if you weren’t cleansed. So if those who aren’t cleansed keep the goodness of the Word of God, won’t their uncleanness be as if they were cleansed? And won’t those who aren’t clean by nature, if they fulfill the Word of God, judge you, who by the written word and by the Jews break the Word of God? Those who are only Jews outwardly aren’t really cleansed at all, which are only outwardly cleansed in the body: But it is those who are inwardly cleansed that are Jews; and being a Jew is of the heart, by the Spirit, and not by the letter of the law; whose praise isn’t of human beings, but of God.



No One is Good

3 [1-8] So what advantage has the Jew then? or what good is it to be cleansed? It’s good in every way: but most importantly, because they were trusted in to be the preachers of God’s Word. So what if some don’t believe? Will their unbelief make God’s faithfulness useless? Never! God speaks truth, but everyone else is a liar. The Word says, “That all Your words might be proved right, and that You might be found fair when You judge.” But if our ungodliness shows the goodness of God more, what can we say? Is God not good who punishes those who deserve it? (I speak as a human being) Never! Because then, how could God judge the world? Some might ask, “If the truth of God is shown more by my lie to God’s victory; then why am I judged as a sinner?” And some say, (as we’re falsely accused of saying,) “Let’s do whatever evil we want, so that good may come from it.” They’ll get just what they deserve!

[9-18] So what then? Are we any better than they are? No, in no way because we’ve proved to both the Jews and the other peoples, that they’re all sinners; As the Word says, “No one is good, no, not even one. No one understands; no one tries to find God. They’ve all turned out of the way. They’ve all together failed to be any good; There’s no one that does any good, no, not one. Their mouths are like open graves; they’ve spoken nothing but lies; their words spread like the poison of a snake. Their mouths are full of anger and cursing. They’re quick to murder. Their ways only destroy and hurt others. They don’t know how to make peace. They have no fear of God’s punishment.”



We are Saved By Faith

[19-31] Now we know that whatever things the Word of God says, it says to those who know the Word of God, so that every mouth can be shut, and all the world will be found guilty before God. So no one will be made right in God’s sight by doing the things the Word of God says to do, but the Word of God brings us to the knowledge of sin. But now the goodness of God that comes without doing what the Word of God says, is made known to us, being witnessed by the Word of God and the great preachers; This is the goodness of God which comes by faith in Yeshua the Christ to all those who believe. No one is any different. All have sinned, and fail to measure up to the goodness of God, who are made right freely by God’s grace. We are bought back by Christ Yeshua, who God has sent to take our place through faith in the Christ’s shed blood, to make known God’s goodness for the forgiveness of past sins, which were overlooked by God, to make known, I say, at this time God’s goodness. And in order to be fair, to cleanse those who believe in Yeshua. So why do you brag then? You have no reason to brag about the law you follow or of anything you’ve done. No, but only by following the Word of God, which is of faith. So we conclude that people are made right by their faith, not by doing what the Word of God says. Is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t God also the God of the other peoples? Yes, of the other peoples also! So seeing it’s One God, who will forgive those who are cleansed by faith, and those who aren’t cleansed by the same faith, do we then make the Word of God useless by our faith? Never! But we prove the Word of God is true.

4 [1-8] So what can we say then, that Abraham, our ancestor, as concerning the body, has found? If Abraham were made right by what he’d done, he’d have reason to brag; but not before God. What did the Word of God say? Abraham believed God, and he was counted as good. Now the pay of those who work isn’t a gift, but is earned. But those who don’t work, but believe on the One who forgives the ungodly, their faith is counted for good. Just as David also says the person who God calls good without considering what they’ve done is blessed, saying, “Blessed are those whose actions are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the person to whom God doesn’t count a sinner.”

[9-15] So are those who are cleansed, that is cut in the flesh, the only ones who are blessed, or are those who aren’t cleansed also blessed? Don’t we say that Abraham’s faith was counted for goodness. So when was it counted as good then? When he was cleansed, or before he was cleansed? Not in cleansing, but before then. He got the sign of cleansing, a seal of the goodness of the faith which he had before he was cleansed, in order to be the ancestor of all those who believe, who aren’t cleansed, so that they might be counted good also. And the ancestor of cleansing not just to those who are cleansed only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our ancestor Abraham, which he had when he was still not cleansed. The promise, to be the heir of the world, wasn’t to Abraham, or to his children, through the Word of God, but through the goodness of faith. If those who are of the Word of God are heirs, faith is useless, and the promise would be useless. The Word of God only brings us rage from God. And where there is no law, there’s no sin.

[16-25] So it’s of faith, that it might be by grace, to the end that the promise might be made sure to all the descendants; not only to those who are of the Word of God, but to those also who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the ancestor of us all. (As the Word says, “I’ve made you an ancestor of many peoples.”) Abraham believed God, the very God, who gives life to the dead, and speaks of what hasn’t happened yet as though it has already happened. Abraham, who against all hope, in hope, believed in order to become the ancestor of many peoples; just as it was spoken, “so will your descendants be.” And not at all having a weak faith, he didn’t consider that his body was as good as dead, even when he was about a hundred years old, nor even that Sarah's womb was dead: Who never swayed from believing the promise of God by doubting; but had great faith, giving praise to God; And being fully won over that, what God had promised, God was also able to do. And so it was counted as goodness for him. Now it wasn’t written for Abraham’s sake alone, that it was counted for good to him; But for us also, who will be counted as good, if we believe on the God who brought back Yeshua our Christ from the dead; Who died for our sins, and was raised again for our forgiveness.



Christ Brings Us Back to God

5 [1-11] So being made right by faith, we have peace with God through our Christ, Yeshua: By whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we now stand and celebrate in hope of the victory of God. And not only so, but we have victory in our trials as well, knowing that our troubles help us to patiently wait through it; And our patience builds good character; and our character gives us hope. And we aren’t ashamed of our hope because God’s love flows through our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us. Even when we were still without strength, when the time was right, Christ died for the ungodly. Someone would hardly die for a good person, but still some would even dare to die for a good person. But God shows love for us, in that, even while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now made right by the blood of Christ, we’ll be saved from God’s rage through Christ. And if, when we were enemies, we were brought back to God by the death of God’s own Child, much more, being brought back, we’ll be saved through the new life of Christ. And not only so, but we also celebrate in God through our Christ, Yeshua, by whom we’ve now been bought back.

[12-21] So, as sin came into the world by one person, and death by sin; and so death passed to everyone, because all have sinned: ( Until the Word of God came, sin was in the world, though sin isn’t counted when there’s no law. Just the same, death ruled from Adam to Moses, even over those who hadn’t sinned like Adam did when he disobeyed a direct order, who was the likeness of the One who was to come. But the free gift isn’t like the sin. But if through the sin of One person many die, God’s grace, and the gift by grace, which is by One, Yeshua the Christ, has come much more to many. And the gift isn’t like it was by someone who sinned, because the judgment was brought by One to accuse him, but the free gift is given to forgive the sins of many people. If by one person's sin death ruled; how much more will those who get the riches of grace and the gift of goodness reign in life by One, Yeshua the Christ.) So as by the sin of one judgment came on everyone to accuse them; in the same way by the goodness of One, the free gift came to everyone to forgive them and bring them life. As by one person's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One, many will become good. Besides this, the Word of God came so that the sin might grow more and more. But where sin grew, grace grew much more. So as sin has ruled to death, in the same way, grace might reign through goodness to everlasting life by Yeshua our Christ.



We are Dead to Sin

6 [1-11] So what will we say then? Will we keep on sinning, that grace can grow more? Never! How will we, that are dead to sin, live any longer in it? Don’t you know, that as many of us as were baptized into Yeshua the Christ were baptized into the death of Christ? So we’re buried with Christ by baptism into death, so that like Christ was brought back from the dead by the victory in God, in the same way, we also will walk in the newness of life. If we’ve been brought together in the likeness of Christ’s death, we’ll also be raised up, just like the Christ came to life again. Knowing this, our old person is put to death with Christ, so that the body of sin might be killed, and that we wouldn’t serve sin again. Whoever is dead is freed from sin. Now if we’re dead with Christ, we believe that we’ll also live with Christ. Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more; death has no more control over the Christ. In that the Christ died, Christ died to sin once, but in that the Christ lives, Christ lives to God. Just the same, think yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God through Yeshua, our Christ.

[12-23] So don’t let sin reign in your human body, that you would do whatever evil it wants. Don’t let your body parts be used as tools of ungodliness to sin, but give yourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and use your body parts as tools of goodness for God. Sin won’t have control over you because you aren’t under the Word of God, but under grace. What then? Will we sin, because we aren’t under the Word of God, but under grace? Never! Don’t you know, that to whom you give yourselves as workers to obey, you work for whoever you obey; whether it’s sin to death, or obedience to goodness? But God be thanked, that even though you were the workers of sin, you’ve obeyed from the heart the kind of teachings which was given you. So then, being made free from sin, you became the workers of goodness. I speak as a human being, because of the weakness of your body. Just as you’ve given your body parts as workers for evil and to sin which led to more sin; in the same way now give your body parts as workers to goodness which leads to faithfulness. When you were the workers of sin, you were free from goodness. What good did you get then from those things in which you’re now ashamed? The end result of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and becoming workers for God, the good you do leads to faithfulness, and in the end to everlasting life. Death is the payment for sin; but the gift of God is everlasting life through Yeshua our Christ.



The Word of God Shows Us Our Sin

7 [1-6] Don’t you know, Christians, (for I speak to those who know the Word of God,) how that the law controls a person as long as they live. A person is joined to their spouse by the law so long as they both live; but if one of them dies, the other is set free from the law of marriage. So then if, while the spouse lives, they are married to another person, they would be acting in sexual sin: but if one dies, they are free from that law; so that they aren’t acting in sexual sin, though they’re married to another person. So, my dear Christians, you also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that you would be joined to another, even to the One who is raised from the dead, so that we would bring others to God. When we were acting on the wants of our bodies, the acts of sin, which were made known to us by the law of God, worked in our bodies to bring about death. But now we’re freed from the law of God, being dead to that which we were held by; so that we would serve in the newness of the spirit, and not in the letter of the law, which is now old to us.

[7-13] What can we say then? Is the law of God sin? Never! No, but I wouldn’t have known sin, but by the Word of God, because I wouldn’t have known want, unless the law of God had said, “You shouldn’t want what others have.” But sin, taking the opportunity by the Word, brought about all kinds of evil wants in me. Before I knew the Word of God, sin was dead. I was alive without the Word of God once, but when the law came, sin was awakened, and I died. And the law, which was given to bring life, I found to bring me death. Sin, taking opportunity by the Word, lied to me, and killed me by it. So the law of God is holy, and the Word holy, and just, and good. So then, was what’s good bringing death to me? Never! But sin, that it might be seen as sin, was bringing about death in me by what’s good; so that sin by that Word might become very sinful.



The Spiritual Battle Between the Mind and Body

[14-25] We know that the Word of God is spiritual: but I’m earthly, completely sold out by my sin. What I do I don’t allow. What I want to do, that I don’t do; but what I hate to do, that I do. If then, I do what I don’t want to, I admit that the Word of God is good. Now then, it’s not me that does it, but it’s the sin that lives in me. I know that nothing good lives in me (that is, in my body,) because even though I want to do what’s good; I don’t know how to do it. The good that I want to do I don’t do: but the evil things which I don’t want to do, that I do. Now if I do what I don’t want to, it’s not me that does it, but the sin that lives in me. So then, I find a law, that, when I want to do good, evil is right here with me. I truly want to do the Word of God in my inner person. But I see another law in my body, fighting against the law in my mind, and making me captive to the law of sin which is in my body. Oh what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this body of death? I thank God, through Yeshua the Christ, our Savior. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the body the law of sin.



Those Who Don’t Have Christ, Don’t Have God

8 [1-11] So God doesn’t accuse those who are in Christ Yeshua, who don’t act on what the body wants, but act on what the Spirit wants. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Yeshua has freed me from the law of sin and death. What the law couldn’t do, because it was weak in our bodies, God did by sending Yeshua, God’s own Child, in the likeness of a sinful human being. And because of sin, God accused all sin in the body of Christ, so that the goodness that the law calls for could happen in us, who don’t act on what the body wants, but act on what the Spirit wants. Those who live for the body act on the things the body wants; but those who live by the Spirit act on the things the Spirit wants. To be bodily-minded brings death; but to be spiritually-minded brings life and peace. The bodily mind is against God because it doesn’t answer to the law of God, nor can it. So then those who live by the body can’t please God. But you don’t live by the body, but by the Spirit, if in fact, the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, they’re not of God. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is alive because of goodness. But if the Spirit of the God, who brought back Yeshua from the dead, lives in you, the God who brought back Christ from the dead will also bring your human body back to life by the Spirit that lives in you.

We Owe Ourselves to Christ

[12-17] So, Christians, we owe our lives, not to the body, to live for the wants of the body, because if you live for the body, you’ll die; but if you put an end to the actions of the body through the Spirit, you’ll live. Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. You haven’t been given the Spirit to be controlled again by fear; but you’ve been given the Spirit of adoption, by this we cry out to God, who cares for us like a parent. The Spirit itself tells the truth to our own spirit, that we’re the children of God. And if we’re children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, that is, if we suffer with Christ, so that we can all be praised together.



Suffering for Christ

[18-30] I think that whatever we suffer now in this time isn’t worthy to be compared with the victory which we’ll have. The hope and expectation of all creation waits for the children of God to be made known. All creation was made useless, not willingly, but by the will of the One who has subjected it in hope, because even the creation itself will also be freed from the control of evil and given the amazing freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation groans and labors as in the pain of childbirth together until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves also, which have the promise of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, and for our bodies to be saved. We’re saved by hope: but hope that is seen isn’t hope, because what someone sees, they don’t still hope for. But if we hope for what we don’t yet see, then we wait for it with patience. Just the same, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses because we don’t even know what we should pray for as we ought to. So the Spirit itself speaks up for us with groanings which can’t be spoken. And the One who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit speaks up for Christians by the will of God. And we know that God will make everything work out and come together for the good of those who love God and are the called for God’s purpose. Those whom God knew before time, God also chose before time to be like God’s own Child, who is the firstborn among many Christians. Besides this, those whom God chose before time, God also called: and those whom God called, God has also made right: and those whom God has made right, God has also made known.

[31-39] So then, what can we say about this? If God is for us, who can come against us? And won’t God, who didn’t spare God’s own Child, but gave the Christ up for us all, along with Christ, also freely give us everything? Who will blame God's chosen with anything? It’s God that forgives. Who is the One who accuses? It’s Christ that died, yes, but instead, that is here back to life again, who is even at the right side of God, who also speaks up for us. What can separate us from the love of Christ? Will troubles, or suffering, or discrimination, or hunger, or nakedness, or danger, or death? As the Word says, “For Your sake we’re killed all day long; we’re like animals going to be slaughtered.” No, but we can overcome all this and more through Christ who loves us. And I know without a doubt, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor things in spiritual realms, nor powers, nor what’s here now, nor the things that are yet to come, nor the heights of the heavens, nor the depths of Hell, nor any other creature, can separate us from God’s love, which is in Christ Yeshua our Savior.



The Chosen Ones

9 [1-5] I tell the truth in Christ, and am not lying, my conscience also being my witness in the Holy Spirit, that I’ve great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. I could almost wish that I myself could be damned from Christ for my people, my own race in the physical sense. They’re the Israelites; to whom the adoption was promised, and the victory, and the promised agreements were given, along with the Word of God, and the service of God, and all the promises. They’re the human ancestors of the Christ, who is over all, who God blessed forever. So be it!

[6-13] But it isn’t as though the Word of God has no effect. Not all who are descended from Israel, are Israelites. Neither, because they’re descended from Abraham, are they all children; but, “In Isaac will your promised descendents be called.” That is, those which are the natural children of the body, these aren’t the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the promised descendents. And this is the Word of promise, “at this time I will come, and Sarah will have a child.” And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived the twins by our ancestor Isaac (the children not being born yet, nor having done any good or evil) one was chosen, so that the purpose of God for the chosen ones would come to pass, not because of anything that’s done, but because of the God who calls. It was said to her, “The elder will serve the younger.” As the Word says, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

[14-21] What will we say then? Is there ungodliness with God? Never! God said to Moses, “I’ll have mercy on whoever I have mercy, and I’ll have compassion on whoever I have compassion. So then, it isn’t earned by those who choose, nor of those who try to work for it, but is given by the God that shows mercy. The Word said about Pharaoh, “I have raised you up even for this very purpose, that I might show my power in you, and that My Name might be made known throughout all the earth.” So God has mercy on whoever God has mercy, and whoever God wants to harden will be hardened. So then you might say to me, so why does God still find fault? Who can fight against God’s will? No, but you who are just a human being, who are you to question God? Will the thing made say to the One who made it, “Why have you made me this way?” Doesn’t the potter have power over the clay, to make the same lump a dish for a special purpose, and another for everyday use?

[22-33] What if God, wanting to show God’s rage, and make known God’s power, waits with much patience for those who God rages against, who are made to be destroyed; And to make known the riches of God’s victory on those who have God’s mercy, which God had prepared before time for victory? Yes, even us, whom God has called, not out of the Jews only, but also out of the other peoples. As God said also in Hosea, “I’ll call them My people, which weren’t My people; and her a dear loved one, which wasn’t a dear loved one.” And it’ll happen in the very place where it was said, “You aren’t my people;” there they’ll be called “the children of the living God.” Isaiah also cries out about Israel, "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a few will be saved: because in goodness God will make a quick end to the work, making a quick end with the final judgment on the earth.” And as Isaiah said before, “Unless God Almighty had left us a descendent, we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah.” So what can we say then? That the other peoples, which didn’t follow the ways of goodness, have gotten goodness, even the goodness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed the law of goodness, hasn’t reached the law of goodness. Why? Because they didn’t follow it by faith, but by what they’d done of the law. They stumbled over that stone, as the Word says, “I lay in Zion a stone that many will stumble over and a rock that many will be offended by, but whoever believes on the Christ won’t ever be ashamed.”



Claim Christ as Your Savior

10 [1-13] Everyone, what my heart wants and my prayer to God for Israel is, that they’ll be saved. I know that they have a passion for God, but not for knowledge. And they, being without knowledge of God's goodness, and going about to prove their own goodness, haven’t accepted the goodness of God. Christ is the goodness of the law of God for everyone that believes. Moses tells about the goodness which is of the law of God, “The person who does those things will live by them.” But the goodness which is of faith says it this way, “Don’t say in your heart, Who will go up into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above) Or, Who will go down into the depths of hell? (that is, to bring Christ up again from the dead.)” But what did it say? “The word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart;” that is, the Word of faith, which we preach. If you claim with your mouth Christ Yeshua as your savior, and believe in your heart that God has raised the Christ from the dead, you’ll be saved. With the heart a person believes for goodness, and with the mouth confession is made in order to be saved. The Word said, “Whoever believes on the Christ won’t be ashamed.” There’s no difference between the Jew and the other peoples because the same God over all blesses all that call on Yeshua the Christ. Whoever calls on the Name of Christ Yeshua will be saved.

[14-21] How then can they call on the One in whom they haven’t believed? How can they believe in the One, in whom they haven’t heard? How can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach, unless they’re sent? As the Word says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the New Word of peace, and bring happy news of good things!” But they haven’t all obeyed the Word. Isaiah said, “Yahweh God, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. But I ask, Haven’t they heard? Yes, the truth is, “Their sound went into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” But I ask, Didn’t Israel know? First Moses said, “I’ll make you jealous by those who are not a nation, and I’ll anger you by a nation that doesn’t understand.” But Isaiah has no fear, saying, “I was found of those who weren’t looking for me; I was made known to those who didn’t ask about me.” And said to Israel, “All day long I’ve stretched out my hands to a disobedient and arguing people.”



By Grace We Are Saved

11 [1-7] I say then, have the people of God been abandoned? Never! I also am an Israelite, from the line of Abraham, of the family of Benjamin. The people which God foreknew haven’t been left by God at all. Don’t you know what the Word said about Elijah? How he spoke to God against Israel, saying, “God, they’ve killed your great preachers, and torn down your altars; and I am left alone, and they want to take my life.” But what did God answer? “I’ve kept for myself seven thousand others, who haven’t bowed the knee to that false god Baal.” Just the same then, at this present time also, there’s still a few left who are chosen by grace. And if we’re chosen by grace, then it’s not by what you’ve done. Otherwise, grace isn’t grace at all. But if it’s by what you’ve done, then it’s not grace. Otherwise the work that you do isn’t work at all.

[7-12] So what then? Israel hasn’t found what they are looking for; but the chosen ones have found it, and the rest can’t understand. (As the Word says, “God has given them the spirit of slumber, their eyes don’t see, and their ears don’t hear;”) to this day. And David said, “Let their wealth have control over them, and become a trap, and a problem, and a punishment to them. Let their eyes be blinded, so that they can’t see, and may their backs be bent down always.” I say then, have they only stumbled to fall? Never! But through their fall the other peoples are saved, to make them jealous. Now if their fall brings the riches of being saved to the rest of the world, and their loss allows the other peoples to be saved; how much more will their addition bring greater riches to God’s realm?



Israel Blinded to Open the Eyes of Other Peoples

[13-24] I speak to you other peoples, because I am a minister to you, but I brag about my ministry so that maybe in some way I can make my own people jealous, and might save some of them. If their being tossed aside brings together the rest of the world, their acceptance will be as the dead coming back to life? If the first fruit is holy, the rest is also holy: and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches are broken off, and you, being like a wild olive tree that’s grafted in among them, are nourished by the root with them and are strengthen by the olive tree; don’t think that you’re better than the branches. But if you brag, know that you don’t strengthen the root, but the root strengthens you. You might say then, “The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.” That’s true; it was because of unbelief that they were broken off, and you’re joined by faith. So don’t think yourselves better than them, but fear, because if God didn’t spare the natural branches, be careful, in case God doesn’t spare you either. So think about God’s goodness and strict judgment both. Strict judgment came on those who fell; but God’s goodness came to you, that is, if you stay in God’s goodness. Otherwise you will also be cut off. And they also, if they quit living in unbelief, will be grafted back in because God is able to graft them in again. And if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted in against your own nature, into a good olive tree: how much better will these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

[25-32] Christians, I don’t want you to be without knowledge of this secret, in case you think yourselves better than you are; that Israel, in part, has been blinded until all the other peoples have come in. And so all Israel will be saved as the Word says, “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and will turn ungodliness away from Jacob: This is my promise to them, when I take away their sins.” But as to the New Word, they’re enemies of it for your sakes, and as touching the chosen ones, they’re loved for their ancestors' sakes. The gifts and calling of God can’t be taken back. As in the past you didn’t believe God, now you have found mercy through their unbelief. Just the same, they also don’t believe now, so that through your mercy, they also can have mercy. God has judged them all in unbelief, in order to have mercy on all of them.

[33-36] How deep are the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! God’s judgments can never be fully understood, and God’s ways can’t be fully known! Who understands the mind of God? Or who has questioned God? Or who has first given to God, so that it’ll be paid back to them again? Everything is of God, and through God, and for God, who will have victory forever. So be it!



Be a Living Sacrifice

12 [1-2] So I beg you, Christians, by the mercies of God, that you give your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is only reasonable for you to do. And don’t accept the ways of the world, but be changed by the renewing of your mind, so that you can know what is the good, acceptable, and complete will of God.

[3-8] And I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone that is among you, not to think of yourselves more highly than you should think; but to think with clear judgment, according to how much faith God has given to each of you. Just as we have many parts in one body, and they don’t all have the same purpose; so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and we are all part of one another. So then having differing gifts for the grace that is given to us, whether preaching, let’s preach according to our faith; Or ministry, let’s serve in our calling; or whoever teaches, let them use the teaching they’ve been given; Or whoever encourages, let them use the encouragement they have to give; whoever gives, let them do it in sincerity; whoever leads, let them lead with careful thought; and whoever shows mercy, let them show it with cheerfulness.

[9-21] Love in truth, without faking it. Hate what is evil and hold on to what is good. Be loving and kind to one another with the love of friendship, wanting to honor others before yourselves; not having a lack of concern; but being passionate about your work, serving God; celebrating in your hope; being patient in your troubles; praying right away for everything; supplying the needs of Christians; and welcoming others. Bless those who mistreat you: bless, and don’t curse them. Celebrate with those who celebrate, and cry with those who cry. Get along with one another. Don’t be too proud of yourself, but think of others who are in a lower place. Don’t be wise in your own thinking. Don’t repay anyone evil for evil. Be honest in the sight of everyone. If it’s possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with everyone. Dear loved one, don’t try to get someone back, but instead leave room for God’s rage because the Word says, “Revenge is mine; I’ll repay, God said. So if your enemy is hungry, feed them; if they’re thirsty, give them a drink. If you do this you’ll make them burn with shame.” So don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.



Respect God’s Authority

13 [1-7] Let everyone answer to whoever leads them, because no one comes to power but of God: Whoever has power is put in place by God. So whoever doesn’t accept that power, doesn’t accept what God has put in place, and those who fight against it will bring judgment on themselves. Rulers aren’t a dread to those who do good, but to those who do evil. So why then are you afraid of those in power? Do what is good, and you’ll have their praise, because they’re the minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid because they don't hold power for no reason, but because they’re the minister of God, to carry out judgment on those who do evil. So you need to accept them, not only because you might be punished, but also for your conscience sake. Because of this, pay your taxes also because they’re God's ministers, who give all their time to service. So pay all their dues: taxes to whom taxes are due; payments to whom payments are due; respect to whom respect is due; and honor to whom honor is due.

[8-14] Owe no one anything, but to love one another, because whoever loves another has done what the Word of God says to do. Because of this, “You shouldn’t act in sexual sin, You shouldn’t kill, You shouldn’t steal, You shouldn’t lie about someone, You shouldn’t want what others have;" and if there’s any other word, it’s briefly understood in this saying, namely, “You should love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does nothing wrong to a neighbor, so love does what the Word of God says to do. And do that, knowing the time, that now it’s high time to awake from sleep, because now we’re closer to being saved than we ever thought. The night is almost over, and the day is near, so let’s put off what we’ve done in darkness, and let’s put on the covering of light. Let’s walk honestly, as in the day; not in fighting and drunkenness, not acting in sexual sin and shamelessness, not in arguing and jealousy. But put on the likeness of Yeshua the Christ, and don’t satisfy the wants of the body.



Everyone will Acknowledge God

14 [1-11] Allow those who are weak in the faith, but not as far as doubtful arguments. One believes that they can eat everything, but another, who is weak, eats only plants. Don’t let those who eat hate those who don’t eat; and don’t let those who don’t eat judge those who eat because God has accepted them. Who are you that judges another's worker? To their own employer they stand or fall. Yes, they’ll be held up because God is able to make them stand. Someone respects one day above another and another values every day alike. So let everyone be completely sure in their own mind. Whoever respects the day, respects it in God; and whoever doesn’t respect the day, to God they don’t respect it. Whoever eats, eats to God, and they give thanks to God; and whoever doesn’t eat, to God they don’t eat, and they give thanks to God. None of us lives to ourselves, and none of us dies to ourselves. If we live, we live to God; and if we die, we die to God, so whether we live, or die, we’re God's. For this reason Christ both died, and rose, and awakened, in order to be Christ both of the dead and the living. But why do you judge one another? Or why do you make one another not important? We’ll all stand at the judgment seat of Christ. The Word says, “As I live, God said, every knee will bow to Me, and every people will acknowledge God.”

[12-23] Then everyone of us will give account of ourselves to God. So let’s not judge one another any more, but decide to do this instead: Don’t be a problem to anyone else or give an occasion for another to fall. I know, and am sure by Christ Yeshua, that there isn’t anything evil of itself: but to those who believe anything to be evil, to them it’s evil. So if another gets upset about your food, then you aren’t acting in love. Don’t destroy their faith with your food, for whom Christ died. Don’t let your good be spoken ill of. The realm of God isn’t about food and drink; but goodness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever serves Christ in this is acceptable to God, and approved of by others. So let’s try to do the things which make peace, and the things that can benefit one another. Don’t let what you eat destroy the work of God. To be sure, all food is good; but it’s evil for someone to offend others with their food. It’s good not to eat meat, nor to drink wine, nor anything else if it makes another stumble, or be offended, or made weak. Do you have faith? Keep it for yourself and for God. We will be happy if we don’t bring guilt on ourselves in whatever we approve of. Whoever doubts is damned if they eat, because they don’t eat in faith, and whatever isn’t of faith is sin.



Love One Another

15 [1-6] We then that are strong ought to be patient with the sins of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let everyone of us please our neighbor for their good to build them up. Even Yeshua didn’t please the Christ’s own self; but as the Word says, “The accusations of those who dishonored You fell on Me.” Whatever things that were written before were written to help us learn, so that we, through the patience and comfort of the Word, might have hope. Now the God of patience and comfort will help you to think of one another in Christ Yeshua, so that you can with one mind and one mouth praise God, the God, who our Christ, Yeshua is from.

[7-13] So accept one another, as Christ also accepted us in order to make God known. Now I tell you that Yeshua the Christ was a minister of the Jews for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the ancestors, and so that the other peoples might praise God for God’s mercy; as the Word says, “Because of this, I’ll praise You among the other peoples, and sing to Your name.” And again it said, “Celebrate, you other peoples, with God’s people.” And again, “Praise God, all you other peoples; Praise God, all you peoples.” And again, Isaiah said, “A shoot will spring up from the root of Jesse, One who will rise up to reign over the nations, in Whom the other peoples will trust.” Now let the God of hope fill you with every joy and peace as you believe, so that you can grow in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

[14-21] And I myself am sure also that you Christians are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to warn one another. Just the same, Christians, I’ve written without fear all the more to you about some things, to remind you, because of the grace that has been given to me by God, so that I would be the minister of Yeshua the Christ to the other peoples, ministering the New Word of God, that the offering up of the other peoples might be acceptable, being set apart by the Holy Spirit. So I have a reason to make known what God has done through Yeshua the Christ in me. I won’t dare to speak of anything Christ hasn’t done in me, by word and action, to make the other peoples acceptable, through powerful signs and amazing things, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem to Illyricum, I’ve fully preached the New Word of Christ. Yes, I have tried hard to preach the New Word, not where Christ was named, in case I might build on another person's foundation, but as the Word says, “Those to whom the Christ wasn’t spoken of, will see: and those who haven’t heard will understand.”





Paul Plans His Journey

[22-29] For this reason I’ve also been stopped many times from coming to you, but now having no more place in these parts, and having wanted these many years to come to you, whenever I take my journey into Spain, I’ll come to you. I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way there by you, if first I enjoy your company. But now I go to Jerusalem to minister to the Christians. It has pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for those Christians who are poor which are at Jerusalem. It’s truly pleased them; and they do owe it to them. If the other peoples have shared in their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them with their earthly things. So when I’ve done this, and have brought to them this blessing, I’ll come to you first and then go on to Spain. And I am sure that, when I come to you, I’ll come in the fullness of the blessing of the New Word of Christ.

[30-33] Now I beg you, Christians, for Yeshua the Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that you work together with me in your prayers to God for me; so that I can be freed from those in Judea who don’t believe; and that my service for Jerusalem will be accepted by the Christians; And that I can come to you with joy by the will of God, and that I can be renewed with you. Now the God of peace be with you all. So be it!



Paul’s Final Greetings

16 [1-16] I entrust to you Phebe our sister, who is a church worker, which is at Cenchrea. I ask that you accept her in God, as Christians should, and that you assist her in whatever business she needs of you because she’s helped many people, and myself also. Say hello to Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Yeshua, who have for my life risked their own necks: to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the other peoples. Say hello also to the church that is in their house. Say hello to my dear loved one Epaenetus, who is the first one to be won for Christ in Achaia. Say hello to Mary, who worked very hard for us. Say hello to Andronicus and Junia, my kin people, and my prison mates, who are of note among the followers, who also were in Christ before me. Say hello to Amplias my dear loved one in God. Say hello to Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys my dear loved one. Say hello to Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Say hello to those who are of Aristobulus' family. Say hello to Herodion my kinsman. Say hello to those who are of the family of Narcissus, which are in God. Say hello to Tryphena and Tryphosa, who work together in God. Say hello to my dear loved one Persis, who worked very hard in God. Say hello to Rufus, chosen in God, and his mother and mine. Say hello to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the Christians which are with them. Say hello to Philologus, Julia, Nereus, their sister, Olympas, and all the Christians which are with them. Greet one another with a kiss of love. The churches of Christ greet you as well.



Stay Away From Those Who Cause Disagreements

[17-20] Now I beg you, Christians, mark those who cause disagreements and upsets against the Word of God which you’ve learned; and stay away from them. Those who are like this don’t serve our Christ, Yeshua, but their own way; and by nice words and smooth speeches they mislead the hearts of innocent people. Your acceptance of the word is heard about by everyone. I am so happy on your behalf, but I still want you to be wise about what’s good, and innocent about what’s evil. And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Christ, Yeshua be with you. So be it!

[21-24] Timothy, my worker, Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my kin people, say hello to you. I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, says hello to you in God. Gaius, my host, and the whole church, says hello to you. Erastus, the officer of the city, says hello to you, and Quartus, a Christian. The grace of our Christ Yeshua be with you all. So be it!

[25-27] Now to the One who has the power to approve you by my New Word, and the preaching of Yeshua the Christ, for the revelation of the secret, which was kept secret since the world began, but is now made known, and by the words of the great preachers, for the Word of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the acceptance of faith. To the God, who is only wise, be victory through Yeshua the Christ forever. So be it!