Romans

¹ From: Paul, a worker enslaved to Christ Jesus, called to be an emissary appointed for God’s triumphant message, ² which was promised in advance through the prophets in the sacred writings ³ concerning the son who descended from the seed of David according to bodily origin ⁴ and who was distinguished to be Son of God with power by the Life-breath that designates for sacred purposes on the basis of reawakening from among the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. ⁵ Through him we received generosity and a mission to report for the duty of faithfulness among all people groups as his representatives, ⁶ by which you are also called to Jesus Christ.

⁷ To: All God’s loved ones in Rome, who are called and designated for sacred purposes.

Good fortune and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸ First of all, I give thanks to my God because of Jesus Christ concerning all of you because your faithfulness is being publicized throughout the whole world. ⁹ With God as my witness, whom I serve as representative with my life-breath regarding the triumphant message about God's son, I constantly call you to mind, ¹⁰ always asking in my prayers whether—maybe at last—I will now succeed in what God wants: to come to you. ¹¹ I long to see you, so I can confer some inspirational gift to you to encourage you, ¹² but it’s also so I can be mutually supported along with you through each other’s faithfulness, both yours and mine.

¹³ Family, I want you to know that I have often determined to come to you (but was prevented until now) so that I also could produce some fruit among you just like I’ve already produced among all the other people groups. ¹⁴ I owe it to both Greeks and those whom the Greeks see as uncultured, to both the wise and the unmindful, ¹⁵ so I am ready to announce the triumphant message among you who are in Rome as well.

¹⁶ You see, I’m not shamed by the triumphant message since it is the power of God for restoration for everyone who is faithful, for Jews first and then also for Greeks. ¹⁷ God’s justness is revealed by it because of faithfulness that results in faithfulness, just as it is written, “The just will be alive because of faithfulness.”

¹⁸ God’s anger is revealed from the heavens toward all the disrespectfulness and injustice of people who hinder the truth with injustice ¹⁹ since what is known of God is clearly visible to them because God made it clearly visible. ²⁰ You see, by contemplating the things that were made, the invisible things about God have been perceptible from the creation of the world: God's everlasting power and divinity. The result is for them to be without an excuse ²¹ because while they knew God, they did not praise or give thanks as is appropriate to God, but instead their reasoning became meaningless and their uncomprehending hearts were covered with darkness. ²² Claiming to be wise, they proved themselves to be foolish, ²³ and they exchanged the renown of the immortal God for a statue resembling mortal humans and birds and four-footed animals and reptiles.

²⁴ For that reason, God gave them over, regarding the desires of their hearts, to uncleanness, to treating their own bodies with contempt. ²⁵ These people exchanged the truth of God for the lie and abased themselves in tribute to and served as representatives performing rituals for the creation instead of the creator, who is praised throughout the ages. Amen.

²⁶ Because of that, God gave them over to demeaning experiences, for as the females among them exchanged being sexually used by males in natural ways for that which is beside nature, ²⁷ likewise, after the males abandoned the natural sexual use of females, they were inflamed with their appetite for each other, males performing humiliating acts with males and receiving from among themselves the inevitable repayment for their straying.

²⁸ And just as they knowingly decided not to hold close to God, God handed them over to a degrading mind to do things that aren’t appropriate, ²⁹ having been filled with every injustice, disgraceful behavior, greed, and abuse and being full of spite, murder, competitiveness, deception, and malice, being whisperers, ³⁰ people who speak badly of others, who are horrifying to God, violent, arrogant, frauds, inventors of harm, who disregard parents, ³¹ who are uncomprehending, disunited, cruel, and without loving-faithfulness. ³² These people know thoroughly what God has declared to be right, that those who practice these kinds of things are equivalent with death, yet they not only do them but also applaud those who practice them.

¹ Because of all that, you—you as an individual person—are without excuse when you judge. You see, by whatever you judge the other, you reach a verdict against yourself since you who judge practice the same things. ² But we have seen that God’s judgment about those who practice these kinds of things is genuine. ³ Do you imagine this—you person who judges those who practice things like these and who does them too—that you will escape God’s verdict? ⁴ Do you have no regard for the wealth of God's kindness, forbearance, and patience, not understanding that God’s kind character guides you toward the transformation of your mind?

⁵ Instead, based on your hardness and your heart that refuses to reconsider, you are accumulating anger at yourself on the day of God’s anger and just verdict. ⁶ God will repay each person based on their actions, ⁷ on the one hand, repaying agelong life to those who seek renown and honor and imperishability that’s based on enduring in actions that benefit others, ⁸ but on the other hand, repaying anger and indignation to those who both refuse to be persuaded by the truth because of competitive self-promotion and also are persuaded to injustice, ⁹ repaying oppression and lack of resources to each human being who performs harm, both Jews first and then also Greeks, ¹⁰ but repaying renown and honor and peace for each person who performs generosity, both Jews first and then also Greeks. ¹¹ There is no discrimination from God.

¹² You see, as many as deviated without Torah will also bring ruin on themselves without Torah, and as many as deviated with Torah will be judged by means of Torah. ¹³ It’s not the audience of Torah who are aligned with God but, rather, the doers of Torah will be considered aligned. ¹⁴ In fact, whenever people of other groups who do not have Torah naturally do the things in Torah, these people who do not have Torah are a Torah for themselves. ¹⁵ These people demonstrate that the actions of Torah are written on their hearts, their consciousness testifying with and between each other about reasons for accusing or defending them ¹⁶ on the day when God makes a judgment about people’s inward parts based on my triumphant message by means of Christ Jesus.

¹⁷ However, if you name yourself as Jewish and rely on Torah and boast about your connection with God ¹⁸ and, being informed because of Torah, you know the intention and approve the things that matter, ¹⁹ and you are convinced that you yourself are a guide for those who don’t see, a light for those who are in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor for the unwise, a teacher for little children, since you have the framework of the knowledge and the truth in Torah, ²¹ then as you teach someone else, don’t you teach yourself? While announcing not to steal, do you steal? ²² While saying not to be unfaithful in your marriage, are you unfaithful in your marriage? While you are disgusted by idols, do you rob them from temples? ²³ You, who boasts about your connection with Torah, discredit God by sidestepping Torah, ²⁴ just like it is written, “God’s name is being slandered by you among the other peoples.”

²⁵ In fact, while circumcision is useful if you practice Torah, if instead, you are a sidestepper of Torah, your circumcision has become a foreskin. ²⁶ Therefore, if the person who has a foreskin gives careful attention to the standards of Torah, then won’t their foreskin be considered circumcision? ²⁷ Then, as they complete Torah, the person with a foreskin through natural lineage will make a judgment about you as the one who, based on the document and circumcision, is a sidestepper of Torah. ²⁸ You see, being Jewish is not in what is visible, and neither is circumcision about physical appearance. ²⁹ Instead, being Jewish is in what’s inward, and circumcision of the heart is about the Life-breath, not the document. Their approval is not from people but from God.

¹ With that being the case, what is it that’s superior about being Jewish, or what is the advantage of circumcision? ² There are many, based on that whole character. First and foremost, they were entrusted with the words of God. ³ What then? If some betrayed that trust, their unfaithfulness would not counteract God’s faithfulness, would it? ⁴ It’s not possible! God must be truthful, but all humanity false, just as it is written, “So you would be considered just regarding your words, and you would prevail whenever something is brought to you to be judged.” ⁵ However, if our unjustness is set side-by-side with God’s justness, what will we say? Not that the God who imposes anger is unjust, right? (I say this in conformity with humanity.) ⁶ It’s not possible! Otherwise, how would God render a verdict for the world system? ⁷ Now, if God’s truthfulness was more than enough for God's renown even with my falseness, then why am I still judged to be a deviator, ⁸ and why not say, “We should do harmful things so that beneficial things would come”? That’s how we are being slandered, what some people claim that we are saying. (Their verdict is justified.)

⁹ So then? Are we superior? Absolutely not! For we already alleged that both Jews and Greeks are all in the category of deviation, ¹⁰ just as it is written:

“No one is fully aligned, not even one,
¹¹ There is no one who makes the connection,
No one who is seeking God.
¹² Everyone turned aside;
All at once, they made themselves unhelpful to others.
There is no one being active in kindness,
Not even one.”

¹³ “Their throat is an opened grave.”

“They have been manipulating people with their tongues,
The venom of asps within their lips.”

¹⁴ “Their mouth is full of ill-wishes and bitterness.”

¹⁵ “Their feet are quick to shed blood;

¹⁶ Being worn down by each other and prolonged suffering are in their paths,
¹⁷ and the path of peace they have not understood.”

¹⁸ “There is no deference to God in their view.”

¹⁹ We have come to understand that whatever Torah says, it is speaking to those connected with Torah, so every mouth would be shut tight and the entire world system would come to be accountable to God. ²⁰ No one of any lineage will be considered just in God's view because of actions from Torah since what is through Torah is recognition of deviation.

²¹ Right now, the justness of God has been made visible separate from Torah (while being endorsed by Torah and the Prophets), ²² and the faithfulness of Jesus Christ is for all the faithful. You see, there is no distinction ²³ since all people deviated and are in need of God’s praiseworthiness, ²⁴ and with God's generosity, all are unconditionally considered just through the liberation purchased by paying the price of enslavement with Christ Jesus. ²⁵ God displayed him, a reconciliation cover through faithfulness with his blood, as a demonstration of his justness through passing over acts of deviation that had already happened ²⁶ with God’s forbearance, as a demonstration of his justness in the present moment, for him to be just and to be the one who considers just whoever is accepts the faithfulness of Jesus.

²⁷ Therefore, where is boasting? It is left outside. Is it through doing Torah? Through actions? No. Instead, it’s through a torah of faithfulness. ²⁸ You see, we reason that a person being recognized just by faithfulness is separate from actions of Torah. ²⁹ In other words, is God only for Jewish people? Isn’t God also for other people groups? Yes, God is also for other people groups. ³⁰ Since God is one, God will consider circumcised people just because of faithfulness, and God will consider people with foreskins just through faithfulness. ³¹ So then, do we counteract Torah through faithfulness? Absolutely not! Rather, we uphold Torah.

¹ In that case, what will we assert Abraham, our ancestor based on family line, to have found? ² If Abraham was determined to be just because of actions, he has reason to brag—but not to God. ³ What does the scripture say? “Abraham was faithful to God, and it was counted as justness for him.” ⁴ Now, for the one who works, payment is not calculated based on generosity but based on what is owed, ⁵ but for the one who doesn’t work but is faithful to the one who recognizes the disrespectful as just, their faithfulness is calculated as justness.

⁶ That’s even the way David speaks about the gratification of the person for whom God calculates justness without actions: ⁷ “Gratified are those whose Torah-less actions are dismissed and whose deviations are covered over. ⁸ Gratified is the individual for whom the Lord would not count a deviation.”

⁹ So then, is this gratification for the circumcision alone, or is it also for the one who has a foreskin? Remember, we say, “Faithfulness was counted for Abraham as justness.” ¹⁰ Then, how was it calculated? In connection with whether he is circumcised or has a foreskin? It was neither in connection with being circumcised nor with having a foreskin. ¹¹ He even received circumcision, a stamp of justness, as the symbol of the faithfulness of the one who had a foreskin, for him to be the father of all who are faithful while having a foreskin, to calculate justness for them too, ¹² and for him to be the father of the circumcised, not regarding them only because of their circumcision but also regarding them following in the footsteps of the one who was trustfully faithful while he had a foreskin: our father Abraham.

¹³ You see, the promise to Abraham, or to his descendants—him being the heir of the whole world—was not through Torah but through justness from trustful faithfulness. ¹⁴ If they are heirs because of Torah, faithfulness has been voided, and the promise has been counteracted. ¹⁵ You see, the Torah produces anger, but where there is no Torah there is also no stepping around it. ¹⁶ That’s why it is from faithfulness, so that it is based on generosity, for the promise to be secure for all the descendants—not only for whoever receives it from Torah but also for whoever receives it from the faithfulness of Abraham, who is the father of us all ¹⁷ from the perspective of the God to whom he was faithful (just as it is written, “I have appointed you father of many people groups”), who gives life to the dead and names things that don’t yet exist as if they exist already. ¹⁸ From hope upon hope, Abraham faithfully placed his trust in him becoming the father of many people groups based on having been told, “This is how your descendants will be.” ¹⁹ Though he was not lacking in trust, he perceived his own body as having been on the point of death (he was about 100 years old) and Sarah’s womb as being dead. ²⁰ He did not mistrustfully dispute the promise of God; instead, he was reinforced regarding trust, and gave praise to God ²¹ and being fully convinced that what God promised, God is also able to do. ²² Therefore, it was counted as justness for him. ²³ However, that it was counted that way for him was not written only because of him ²⁴ but also because of us for whom it is going to be counted—for those who are faithful to the one who raised Jesus our Lord from among the dead. ²⁵ He was handed over because of our shortfalls, and he was raised for us to be calculated as just.

¹ Therefore, since we have been recognized as just because of faithfulness, we have peace in God’s presence through our Lord Jesus Christ ² through whom we have also, with faithfulness, acquired access to this generosity with which we stand firm, and we boast in the hope of God’s praiseworthiness. ³ Not only this, but we also boast in the oppressions we have experienced, having seen that the oppression produces endurance, ⁴ and then the endurance produces trustworthiness, and then the trustworthiness produces hope. ⁵ And hope does not bring dishonor, because God’s love has been poured over our hearts through the Sacred Life-breath who was given to us.

⁶ You see, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the sake of those who were still disrespectful at the time ⁷ (Rarely will someone die for the sake of a person who promotes justice, and someone might even bring themselves to die for the sake of a kind person), ⁸ so God demonstrates divine love for us because while we were still deviating, Christ died for our sake. ⁹ Therefore, much more now since we have been recognized as just, in connection with his blood, we will be liberated from anger through him. ¹⁰ If—while we were hostile—we were reconciled by God through the death of God's son, then that much more—after being reconciled—we will be liberated with his life. ¹¹ And not only that, but also boast in connection with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation.

¹² Because of this, just as deviation came into the world through one person and through deviation came death, that’s also how death spread to all people, and on top of that, all deviated. ¹³ You see, deviation was in the world before Torah, but deviation wasn’t calculated when Torah didn’t exist. ¹⁴ However, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not deviate in the same pattern of the sidestepping of Adam (who is a template of the coming one).

¹⁵ Nevertheless, unlike each shortfall, the act of generosity is also like deviation since if many people died through the shortfall of the one person, then the generosity of God and what is generously given through one person—Jesus Christ—overflowed to the many even that much more. ¹⁶ The gift is also not like what happened through the one who deviated since, while the verdict that came from the one was for a verdict against him, the act of generosity that came from many shortfalls was a verdict of being just. ¹⁷ If, with the shortfall of the one person, death reigned through that one, then even that much more those who receive the overflow of generosity and the gift of justness will reign with life through the one, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸ Therefore, like how through one shortfall the result for all people was a verdict against them, similarly, it’s also through one verdict of being just that the result for all people was recognition of justness, life. ¹⁹ Just as through the one’s refusal to listen, the many were set up to be people who deviate, similarly, also through the one’s consent to listen, the many were set up to be people who are just. ²⁰ Yet, additionally, Torah came in so that the shortfall would be excessive, but where deviation was excessive, generosity overflowed even more ²¹ so that just as deviation reigned with death, similarly generosity would also reign through justness resulting in agelong life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹ Then, what should we say? “We should keep staying in deviation so that generosity would be even more”? ² Absolutely not! How can people who died regarding deviation still be alive regarding it? ³ Or don’t you know that whoever was submersed in connection with Christ Jesus was submersed in connection with his death? ⁴ Therefore, we were buried along with him through the submersion connected with death, so just as Christ was raised from among the dead through the praiseworthiness of the Father, similarly, we also should walk in connection with new life. ⁵ If we have become united through the representation of his death, we certainly will also continue to be united through the reawakening. ⁶ We understand this: that our old Person was crucified along with him so that the body of deviation would be counteracted, no longer enslaving us with deviation ⁷ (since whoever has died has been recognized as just, separated from deviation). ⁸ So if we died along with Christ, we trust that we will also be alive along with him. ⁹ We understand that since Christ has been raised from among the dead, he isn’t going to die anymore; death no longer has lordship over him. ¹⁰ You see, he died; he died in connection with deviation once and for all. Nevertheless, he lives; he lives in connection with God. ¹¹ In the same way, also count yourselves both dead in connection to deviation and alive in connection to God with Christ Jesus.

¹² Therefore, deviation must not reign with regard to your mortal body resulting in listening to its desires, ¹³ and do not present your parts to deviation as tools of injustice. Instead, present yourselves to God as those from among the dead who are alive, and present your members to God as tools of justice. ¹⁴ You see, deviation will not have lordship over you since you are not under Torah but are under generosity instead.

¹⁵ Then, what? “We should deviate because we are not under Torah but under generosity instead”? ¹⁶ Don’t you understand that in presenting yourselves as enslaved workers consenting to listen, you are enslaved to whatever you consent to listen to, whether deviation toward death or listening toward justness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God that while you were workers enslaved by deviation and you had consented from your hearts to listen to the template of teaching to which you were given over, ¹⁸ then after you were liberated from deviation, you were enslaved by justness ¹⁹ (I am speaking with a human perspective because of the powerlessness of your self-preservation impulses). For just as you presented your members as enslaved by uncleanness and torahlessness resulting in torahlessness, similarly, now present your members as enslaved to justness resulting in designation for sacred purposes. ²⁰ You see, while you were enslaved by deviation, you had liberty from justness. ²¹ Therefore, what fruit did you have at that time? Now you feel ashamed of them because the end of those things is death. ²² But now, after you have been liberated from deviation and enslaved to God, you have your fruit for designation for sacred purposes, and the end is agelong life. ²³ You see, deviation repays its soldiers with death, but God generously gives agelong life with Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹ Or don’t you know, Family (since I am speaking to those who know Torah), that the Torah is lord over a person for as long as they live? ² A married woman has been bound by Torah to a man while he is alive, but if the man dies, her obligation to Torah regarding the man has been counteracted. ³ So then, if she were to come to be with a different man while the man is alive, she would be called maritally unfaithful, but if the man dies, she is liberated from the Torah obligation—she is not being maritally unfaithful having come to be with another man.

⁴ So to speak, my Family, through Christ’s body, you too died regarding Torah for you to come to be with another person—with the one who was raised from among the dead—so that we would produce fruit for God. ⁵ When we were in self-preservation, experiences of suffering, deviations, were enacted through the Torah among the parts of our body, resulting in producing fruit for death. ⁶ But now after dying, our obligation to the Torah with which we were being restrained was counteracted for us to be enslaved workers with a newness of Life-breath and not with the antiquatedness of a written document.

⁷ Then, what should we say? “Torah is deviation”? Absolutely not! Just the opposite: I did not understand deviation except through Torah. Indeed, I had not understood craving except that Torah said, “Do not crave.” ⁸ However, deviation, taking the opportunity through the directive, produced in me every craving. Without Torah, deviation is lifeless. ⁹ I was once alive without Torah, but after the directive came, deviation came to life, ¹⁰ but I died. I found that the same directive whose purpose was life resulted in death, ¹¹ for deviation, taking the opportunity through the directive, tricked me and killed me through it. ¹² So, Torah is, in fact, sacred, and the directive is sacred and just and beneficial.

¹³ Then, did what is beneficial become death for me? Absolutely not! Just the opposite, so that deviation would be brought into the light, deviation produced death for me through what is beneficial, so that the deviation would become excessively deviated through the directive. ¹⁴ You see, we have come to understand that the Torah is of the Life-breath, but I am of bodily existence, having been sold into enslavement to deviation, ¹⁵ for I don’t understand what I perform. What I want to practice is what I don’t practice, but what I hate is what I do instead. ¹⁶ If what I don’t want to do is what I do, I acknowledge to Torah that it is right. ¹⁷ But now, I am not the one who performs it anymore, but it is the deviation that resides within me instead. ¹⁸ I have learned that what is beneficial for others does not reside within me, that is, within my self-preservation. For the desire to do things that benefit others is present for me, but performing them is not. ¹⁹ I don’t do the beneficial thing that I want to do, but instead, the harmful thing that I don’t want to do is what I practice. ²⁰ However, if what I don’t want to do is what I do, it’s no longer I but rather the deviation that resides within me who does it.

²¹ Therefore, I find the Torah when I want myself to do the right thing because the harmful thing is present within me. ²² You see, I delight in the Torah of God in my core self, ²³ but I see a different torah among my parts that wages war against the Torah of my mind and takes me prisoner with the torah of deviation, with the one that is among my parts. ²⁴ I am a person in suffering! Who will rescue me from this body vulnerable to death! ²⁵ Thanks be to God who does so through Jesus Christ our Lord! So therefore, I myself am enslaved both to the Torah of God with my mind but also to the torah of deviation with my self-preservation.

¹ Therefore, nothing is now a verdict against those connected with Christ Jesus, ² for the Torah of the Breath of Life liberated you with Christ Jesus from the torah of deviation and death. ³ Since the Torah was unable to accomplish it while it was powerless under self-preservation, God sent God's own son in the likeness of a human life shaped by self-preservation under deviation and rendered a verdict against deviation in self-preservation ⁴ so that the Torah’s act of restorative justice would be fully lived out among us, those who do not walk based on self-preservation but based on Life-breath instead.

⁵ Those who walk based on self-preservation focus on the things of the bodily impulses, but those who walk based on the Life-breath focus on the things of the Life-breath. ⁶ The thought pattern of the self-preservation is death, but the thought pattern of the Life-breath is life and peace. ⁷ That’s why the thought pattern of self-preservation is hostile toward God, for it does not cooperate with the Torah of God, and it is not even able to do so; ⁸ those who are within self-preservation are not able to make amends to God.

⁹ However, you are not within self-preservation but rather within the Life-breath—if the Life-breath of God actually resides among you. But if anyone does not have the Life-breath of Christ, they are not his. ¹⁰ If Christ is among you, the body is dead because of deviation while the Life-breath is alive because of justness. ¹¹ If the Life-breath of the one who has raised Jesus from among the dead resides among you, then the one who raised Christ from among the dead will make even your mortal bodies alive through God's Life-breath, which resides among you.

¹² So therefore, Family, we are not indebted to self-preservation, as though our very life were due to self-preservation ¹³ (for if you are alive based on self-preservation, you are going to die), but if you put to death the practices of the body with the Life-breath, you will live. ¹⁴ Whoever is led by the Life-breath of God, they are the children of God. ¹⁵ You see, you did not receive a spirit-breath of enslavement to fear again, but instead, you received a Life-breath that identifies you as heirs, with which we cry out, “Abba! (Father!)” ¹⁶ This Life-breath reports, along with our life-breath, that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ And if we are children, we are also heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ—if we actually suffer along with him with the result that we would also be praised along with him.

¹⁸ I calculate that the sufferings of the present time don’t carry the same weight as the renowned praiseworthiness that is going to be revealed among us. ¹⁹ Creation is patiently waiting in eager anticipation for the revealing of the children of God, ²⁰ for Creation was arranged as unable to fulfill its purpose, not voluntarily but due to the one who arranged it, in the hope ²¹ that even Creation itself would be liberated from enslavement to decay into the freedom of the renowned praiseworthiness of the children of God. ²² You see, we have come to understand that the entire Creation groans together and feels pain together from the beginning to now. ²³ Not only that, but we ourselves who have the first results of the Life-breath also groan among ourselves while we patiently await our adoption, the purchase of our bodies from slavery. ²⁴ We are liberated for the hope; however, hope that is already seen is not hope, for who still hopes for what they already see? ²⁵ But if we don’t see what we hope for, we wait patiently through endurance.

²⁶ Likewise, the Life-breath also strives to attain it along with us during our powerlessness since we haven’t understood how we may pray according to what is necessary, and that same Life-breath intercedes with inexpressible groans. ²⁷ Nevertheless, the one who examines hearts has understood the thought pattern of the Life-breath, because she intercedes on behalf of those who are designated for sacred purposes according to God. ²⁸ We have understood that God collaborates in everything with those who love God, those who are called with intention. ²⁹ Because God knew them beforehand, God also decided beforehand for them to be conformed to the image of the Son, for God's Son to be the firstborn among many siblings. ³⁰ God both decided on them beforehand and also called them. God called them and also aligned them with justice. God aligned them with justice and also made them renowned for praiseworthiness.

³¹ Then, what will we say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³² In fact, the one who did not selfishly hold back their own Son but instead gave him over for all our sakes, how would they not also generously give everything along with him? ³³ Who will make an accusation against God’s chosen ones? God is the one who recognizes people as just. ³⁴ Who will render a verdict against them? Christ is the one who died (but what’s more, he was the one who was raised) and who is at the right hand of God and who intercedes for us.

³⁵ Who will separate us from Christ’s love? Oppression or disaster or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ It is just as it has been written: “For your sake, we are put to death the whole day; we are counted as sheep for slaughter.” ³⁷ Just the opposite of being separated, with all these things we attain something that transcends victory through the one who loved us. ³⁸ You see, I have been convinced that neither death nor life, neither messengers nor leaders, neither things that are already here nor things that are going to be, neither powerful forces ³⁹ nor things that are high or low, nor any other creation will be able to separate us from God’s love, which is demonstrated with Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹ I am speaking the truth in connection with Christ; I am not lying! My consciousness, with the Sacred Life-Breath, confirms for me ² that I have immense grief and unending anguish in my heart. ³ I have begun to wish that I myself would be designated for destruction—away from Christ—for the sake of my Family, my fellow members of the same bodily lineage: ⁴ whoever are Israelites. Adoption as heirs and praise and covenants and adoption of Torah and representative service and the promises are theirs. ⁵ Theirs are the ancestors and the Christ who bodily came from them and the God over everything who is spoken well of throughout the ages. Amen.

⁶ It is not as if what God has spoken has fallen flat. You see, not all who are descended from Israel are Israel, ⁷ and not all children are Abraham’s seed; instead, “The seed will be called yours in connection with Isaac.” ⁸ That is, these children of God are not bodily children, but rather, it is the children of the promise who are counted as “seed.” ⁹ You see, this is what was spoken as a promise: “At this time next year, I will come, and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁰ Not only that, but Rebekah also shared a bed with one man, Isaac our ancestor. ¹¹ While they had not yet been given birth or practiced anything, either beneficial or nasty, (so it stays based on God’s intentional choosing, ¹² not because of actions but because of the calling), it was said to her, “the older will be enslaved to the younger,” ¹³ just as it is written, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.”

¹⁴ Then what should we say? Isn’t injustice associated with God? It’s impossible! ¹⁵ God says to Moses, “I will show loving faithfulness to whomever I show loving faithfulness, and I will have compassion for whomever I have compassion.” ¹⁶ So then, it is not by wanting it or striving for it; instead, it is by God having compassion. ¹⁷ You see, the scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very thing, I provoked you, so I could demonstrate my power with you, and so my reputation would be spread throughout the whole earth.” ¹⁸ So then, God has compassion for whom God wants, and God provokes hardness from whom God wants.

¹⁹ Then, you’ll say to me, “Then, why does God still criticize? Who has withstood against God's intention?” ²⁰ But to the contrary, who are you, person who are responding against God? ²¹ Doesn’t the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay both an expensive container and one that is not expensive? ²² What if God, who wants to expose anger and to make God's power known, has endured with a lot of patience containers full of anger that have been prepared for destruction, ²³ and what if God has done it so as to make known the abundance of God's renowned praiseworthiness to containers full of loving faithfulness that God prepared in advance for praise? ²⁴ That is to say, to us whom God called not only from among Jews but also from among other people groups, ²⁵ as it specifically says in Hosea,

I will call ‘my people’ those who have not been my people
and ‘beloved’ she who has not been beloved.
²⁶ And in this place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,’
This is where they will be called children of the God-Who-Is-Alive.

²⁷ And Isaiah cried out for Israel’s sake, “Though the number of the children of Israel is as the sand of the sea, those who are left will be liberated, ²⁸ for the Lord will do on the earth what God spoke completely and quickly.” ²⁹ And just as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord-of-Multitudes had not left a seed for us, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have resembled Gomorrah.”

³⁰ What should we say, then? That other people groups that did not pursue justness attained justness, but justness that is because of faithfulness; ³¹ however, Israel who is pursuing a torah of justness did not attain Torah. ³² Why? Because it was not by faithfulness but how they pursued it was by means of actions. They tripped on the stone that trips people, ³³ just as it is written, “Look, I am placing in Zion a stone that trips people, and a rock that makes people fall down, and whoever is faithful because of it will not be shamed.”

¹ Family, what would be my heart’s desire and my request to God on behalf of Israel is for liberation. ² I vouch for them that they are passionate about God, but it is not based on understanding. ³ Since they do not understand God’s justice and they are seeking to set up their own justice, they have not cooperated with God’s justice. ⁴ Christ is the aim of the Torah, which results in justice for everyone who is faithful.

⁵ Moses writes about justness that is from the Torah, “The person does these things will have life through them.” ⁶ However, justness that is from faithfulness says it this way: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to the heavens?’ (to lead Christ downward) ⁷ or ‘Who will go down to the bottomless place?’ (to lead Christ up from among the dead).” ⁸ What does it say instead? “What was spoken is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that’s the discussion of faithfulness that we announced). ⁹ You see, if you openly acknowledge with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and trust in your heart that God raised him from among the dead, you will be liberated. ¹⁰ That’s because if you trust it in your heart, the result is justness, and if you openly acknowledge it with your mouth, the result is liberation. ¹¹ The scripture says, everyone who places their trust in him will not be shamed.” ¹² You see, there is no distinction between a Jewish person and a Greek person since they have the same Lord who richly provides for all who call on him. ¹³ “All who call on the name of the Lord will be liberated.”

¹⁴ Then, how would they call on someone whom they have not trusted? How would they trust someone they haven’t heard? How would they hear without someone being a herald? ¹⁵ How would they be a herald if they weren’t sent? Just as it is written, “How delightful are the footsteps of those who announce the triumphant message of good things.” ¹⁶ However, not everyone listened to the triumphant message. Isaiah says, “Lord, who has trusted what they heard from us?” ¹⁷ Then, trust is from what is heard, but what is heard is heard through what is spoken about Christ. ¹⁸ However, I ask, “Is it certain they didn’t hear it?” To the contrary! “Their voices have gone out to the whole earth, and what they have spoken has gone out to the boundaries of inhabited land.” ¹⁹ Nevertheless, I ask, “Did Israel not understand?” First, Moses says, “I will make you jealous because of those who aren’t even a people group; because of a group of people who don’t understand, I will anger you.” ²⁰ And Isaiah says with courage, “I was found by those who didn’t look for me, appeared clearly for those who did not ask for me” ²¹ but says to Israel “All day I reached my hands out to an antagonistic people who refused to be persuaded.”

¹ Therefore, I say, “Didn’t God reject God's own people?” It’s impossible! You see, I am an Israelite too, from the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. ² God did not reject the people whom God already knew. Or, haven’t you understood what the scripture says regarding Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? ³ “Lord, they killed your prophets; they demolished your altars. I alone am left, and they are seeking my very life.” ⁴ What did the divine response tell him? “I have left for myself 7,000 people who did not bend the knee to Baal.” ⁵ So, in the same way, also at this present moment, there has come to be a part that remains based on a generous choice. ⁶ But if it’s by generosity, then it’s not because of actions anymore; otherwise, generosity wouldn’t be generosity anymore.

⁷ So, what’s the outcome of that? What Israel was earnestly seeking is exactly what it did not attain, but the chosen attained it. The rest became callous, ⁸ just as it has been written, “God allowed them to experience spiritual despair, eyes that don’t see and that don’t hear, until this very day.” ⁹ and David says, “May their table become like a trap and like hunting, and like a snare and as repayment to them. ¹⁰ May their eyes go dark so they can’t see, and make their backs bend all the time.” ¹¹ So, I say, “Didn’t they trip and fall?” It’s impossible! Instead, with their staggering, liberation has been extended to other people groups so as to make them jealous. ¹² Now, if their staggering results in the enrichment of the whole world and their loss results in the enrichment of other people groups, how much more will result from their full restoration.

¹³ However, I’m speaking to you who are of other people groups. Therefore, as much as I am an emissary to other people groups, I advertise my service, ¹⁴ so maybe I might provoke my people to jealousy and liberate some of them. ¹⁵ You see, if their loss results in the reconciliation of the whole world, what will result from them being received if not life from among the dead? ¹⁶ If the first portion is sacred, then the dough is sacred, and if the root is sacred, then so are the branches.

¹⁷ If some of the branches were cut off, and since you were a wild olive tree, you were grafted in among them and became a sharer with them in the nourishment of the root of the cultivated olive tree, ¹⁸ don’t lord it over the branches. If you are lording it over them, remember that you don’t support the root, but rather the root supports you. ¹⁹ So, you’ll say, “The branches were cut off so that I could be grafted in.” ²⁰ Fine! They were cut off by their distrust, but you have stood in your place by trust. Don’t think of yourselves as above them but hesitate ²¹ since if God did not hold back the natural branches, maybe God won’t hold you back either. ²² So, notice both God’s active kindness and sharpness—sharpness toward those who have collapsed, on the one hand, and God’s active kindness toward you, on the other hand, if you continue with active kindness; otherwise, you will be cut off too. ²³ Also, if they don’t continue with distrust, they will be grafted in too since God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴ If, by your nature, you are cut off from a wild olive tree and unnaturally grafted into a cultivated olive tree, then it’s that much more possible for these natural branches to be grafted into their own olive tree!

²⁵ Family, I want you to understand this mystery so that you won’t be self-absorbed: A callousness from part of Israel has come to be until the fullness of the other people groups comes in, ²⁶ and in that way all Israel will be liberated, just as it has been written, “The Rescuer will arrive from Zion and will take away disrespectfulness from Jacob. ²⁷ This is my covenant with them, when I remove their deviations.”

²⁸ While they are hostile about the triumphant message because of you, they are also beloved regarding being chosen because of the ancestors. ²⁹ God’s gifts and call cannot be affected by a change of heart. ³⁰ Just as you used to refuse to be persuaded by God but now have received loving faithfulness by their unwillingness, ³¹ in the same way, now they also refuse to be persuaded by the loving faithfulness that is yours so that now they can also receive loving faithfulness. ³² God connected everyone together, though they were unwilling, in order to give everyone loving faithfulness.

³³ Oh, how deep are God’s riches and wisdom and understanding! How incomprehensible are God's decisions and unfathomable God's paths! ³⁴ “Who has understood the mind of the LORD? Or who has come to be the LORD's advisor?” ³⁵ “Or who gave to God first, and so would be paid back by God?” ³⁶ You see, everything is from God and through God and to God. The praise is for God throughout the ages. Amen.

¹ Therefore, Family, I encourage you to present your bodies through God’s compassion as a sacrifice that is alive, sacred, and pleasing to God, which is your logical representative service. ² Don’t be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renovation of the mind with the result that you discern what God’s desire is—what is beneficial and pleasing and complete.

³ Through what has been generously given to me, I say to everyone who is among you not to think of yourselves as above others alongside what it is necessary to think, but to think about being thoughtful, since God has distributed a portion of trusting faithfulness to each person. ⁴ You see, just like within one body we have many parts, but the parts don’t all have the same function, ⁵ in the same way, we are many parts and one body in connection with Christ, and each person is a part of each other. ⁶ As we hold various gifts, we do so based on what is generously given to us, whether prophecy in proportion with being given faithful trust, ⁷ or service with being given service, or teaching with being given teaching, ⁸ or encouragement with being given encouragement. Whoever shares something, do so based on genuinely wanting to do so. Whoever stands as a protector, do so based on earnestly wanting to do so. Whoever shows committed compassion, do so based on being happy to do so.

⁹ Love must be without pretending. Since you are horrified at what causes harm and are joined together by what is beneficial, ¹⁰ and since you are mutually affectionate with familial love toward each other and lead the way in valuing each other, ¹¹ and since you are not hesitant in earnestness and are bubbling over with Life-breath and are enslaved workers for the Lord, ¹² and since you celebrate the hope and endure the oppression and persevere with prayer, ¹³ and since you share in meeting the needs of those who are designated for sacred purposes and pursue hospitality, ¹⁴ wish well-being on those who pursue you with intent to harm; wish them well, and do not wish them hardship. ¹⁵ Celebrate with those who celebrate. Weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Think of each other as equals, not thinking of yourselves as higher but yielding to those of low status. Do not come to consider only your own interests. ¹⁷ Not paying back harm for harm to anyone and considering what is beneficial from the perspective of all people, ¹⁸ as far as it is up to you, be at peace with all people. ¹⁹ Loved ones, that includes not avenging yourselves. Instead, give anger space since it is written, “Carrying out justice is for me to do; I will repay it,” says the Lord. ²⁰ Rather, if the one who is hostile to you is hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. Doing so piles up burning coals on their head.” ²¹ Do not be conquered by harmfulness, but instead conquer harmfulness with beneficialness to others.

¹ Each living being should cooperate with the authorities who arise over them since no authority figure exists without being under God, and those that exist are arranged under God. ² Therefore, whoever is organized in opposition against the authority has risen against God’s arrangement, and those who rise against it will take on decisive action against themselves ³ (Those who lead are not fearful to those with beneficial actions but with harmful). Do you want to have no reason to fear the authority? Do what is beneficial, and you will have the authority’s approval. ⁴ They are God’s servant for your benefit. But if you do harm, be afraid, for it isn’t for nothing that they carry the sword, they are God’s servant of injustice with anger against the one who practices harm. ⁵ Because of this, it is necessary to cooperate, not only because of the anger but also because of shared understanding.

⁶ That’s also why you complete your tribute payment, because the representative servants of God are those who persevere in this very thing. ⁷ Give away everything that is owed, tributes to whomever claims a tribute, tax to whomever claims a tax, fear to whomever elicits fear, and treating as having value whomever deserves being treated as having value. ⁸ Owe nothing to anyone except love to each other. Whoever loves the other fulfills Torah. ⁹ You see, the part that says, “Do not engage in marital infidelity, do not murder, do not steal, do not crave” (and any other directive) is summarized with this saying: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love doesn’t produce harm to the neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of Torah.

¹¹ Do this since we have come to understand the moment, that it is already time for us to wake up from sleep because our liberation is now nearer than when we began to trust. ¹² The night has progressed, and the day is near. Therefore, let’s put away the actions of the dark hours and put on tools for daylight hours. ¹³ Let’s walk appropriately for the daytime, not with indulgent festivities and drunkenness, not with sex without boundaries or accountability, not with fighting and jealousy, ¹⁴ but instead put on the Lord Jesus Christ and don’t make preparations for the desires of self-preservation.

¹ Welcome the one who is lacking in trust, so as not to lead to separations over differing rationales. ² One person might trust enough to eat everything while the one who is lacking in trust eats only vegetables. ³ The one who eats everything should not have contempt for the one who does not eat everything, and the one who does not eat everything should not judge the one who eats everything since God has welcomed them. ⁴ Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? They stand or fall with their own Lord, and they will be supported in standing because the Lord is able to support them in standing.

⁵ You see, one person judges one day as exceptional compared with another day while another person judges all days as equal. Each person should be fully convinced in their own mind. ⁶ The one who pays attention to the day pays attention to it for the Lord. Also, the one who eats everything eats it for the Lord because they give thanks to God, and the one who does not eat everything does not eat it and gives thanks to God. ⁷ You see, none of us is alive for themselves, and no one dies for themselves. ⁸ Both if we are alive, we are alive for God, and also if we die, we die for God. Therefore, whether we are alive or we die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹ That’s why Christ died and was alive, so he could be Lord of both the dead and the living.

¹⁰ Why are you judging your Family member? Or why do you have contempt for your Family member? Everyone will present themselves at God’s seat for making judgments, ¹¹ because it is written, “‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will openly acknowledge God’” ¹² That means each of us will give an account concerning ourselves.

¹³ Therefore, we shouldn’t judge each other anymore. Rather, use your judgment for this instead: not to set up an obstacle or something that trips up a member of the Family. ¹⁴ I have come to understand and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, except for the one who considers it to be unclean, it is unclean for that person. ¹⁵ If your Family member is grieved because of food, you’re not walking according to love anymore. Don’t lose that person for whom Christ died over the issue of food. ¹⁶ Don’t cause what is beneficial for you to be discredited. ¹⁷ God’s reign is not food and drink but justness and peace and joy according to the standard of the Sacred Life-breath. ¹⁸ Whoever is enslaved to Christ according to this standard is pleasing to God and esteemed by people.

¹⁹ Therefore, let’s pursue the things of peace and building each other up. ²⁰ Don’t tear down God’s work for the sake of food. Everything may be clean, but eating what is an obstacle for someone is harmful to them. ²¹ It’s admirable not to eat meat or drink wine or anything by which your Family member trips. ²² You have trust that is your own, hold onto it in God’s presence. The one who does not judge themselves by what they esteem is gratified, ²³ but the one who separates themselves if they eat has received a judgment against them because it is not from trust, and everything that is not from trust is deviation.

¹ In fact, we who have power owe it to provide support with what those who do not have power lack and not just strive to please ourselves. ² Each of us should strive to please their neighbor with building them up for their benefit. ³ Even Christ did not just strive to please himself, but just like it is written, “The insults of those who insult you fell on me.” ⁴ All of what has already been written was written for our instruction so that through the endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we could have the hope. ⁵ May the God of endurance and encouragement give you the same thinking with regard to each other based on Christ Jesus, ⁶ so that with a common purpose, as with one mouth, you would make known the praiseworthiness of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷ With that in mind, welcome each other, just as Christ also welcomed you, resulting in praise for God. ⁸ for I say, “The fact that Christ became a servant of the circumcised for the sake of the truth of God results in confirming the promises to the ancestors, ⁹ and the fact that the other people groups are making known the praiseworthiness of God for the sake of loving faithfulness does so too,” just as it is written, “Because of this I will publicly acknowledge you among other people groups, and I will sing praises to your name.” ¹⁰ And again it says, “Be delighted, other peoples, along with God's people.” ¹¹ And again, “Commend the Lord, all you other peoples, and recommend the Lord, all peoples.” ¹² And again, Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will be present, the one who rises up to lead the other peoples, The other peoples will place their hope in him.” ¹³ Now, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Sacred Life-breath.

¹⁴ My Family, I myself have been convinced about you that you yourselves are full of goodness to others, having been filled with complete understanding, even being able to instruct each other. ¹⁵ I have written to you more boldly in some parts as a reminder for you because of the generosity given to me by God ¹⁶ for me to be a representative servant of Christ Jesus for other people groups, acting as a priest presenting the triumphant message of God so that the offering of the other people groups would be acceptable, having been designated as sacred by the Sacred Life-breath. ¹⁷ Therefore, I have bragging rights in connection with Christ Jesus about the things pertaining to God ¹⁸ since I will not bring myself to speak anything except what Christ accomplished through me resulting in the other people groups listening, by speech and action, ¹⁹ with the power of signs and miracles, by the power of the Life-breath of God. Therefore, I have been fulfilling the triumphant message of Christ from Jerusalem and all around it as far as Illyricum. ²⁰ In the same way, I would like the honor of announcing the triumphant message where Christ hasn’t been named so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation, ²¹ yet just as it is written, “Those who did not receive the announcement about him will see, and those who have not heard will put it together.”

²² That’s the very reason why I have been blocked over and over again from coming to you. ²³ But now, since there is no longer anything holding me in these regions, and since I have been longing to come to you for many years, ²⁴ when I travel to Spain, I hope both to see you when I pass through and also to travel there with your support once I have satisfied my desire to be with you first.

²⁵ However, now I am traveling to Jerusalem to serve those designated for sacred purposes ²⁶ since Macedonia and Achaia were willing to do something as a community for those experiencing poverty among those designated for sacred purposes in Jerusalem. ²⁷ They were willing and also owe it to them. You see, if the other people groups participated in their things connected with the Life-breath, then they also owe it to provide service as representatives to them in connection with bodily things. ²⁸ Therefore, after I complete this and make sure this fruit gets to them, I will leave for Spain by your way. ²⁹ I know that when I come to you, I will come with Christ’s complete pronouncement of well-being.

³⁰ I encourage you, Family, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Life-breath to strive together alongside me with prayers to God on my behalf ³¹ that I would be rescued from those who refuse to be persuaded in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem would be acceptable to those designated for sacred purposes, ³² so when I come to you joyfully by God’s desire I may relax with you. ³³ May the God of peace be with all of you. Amen.

¹ Now, I introduce to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the assembly in Cenchrea, ² so that you can welcome her in connection with the Lord appropriately for those designated for sacred purposes and provide her with whatever action she may need of you since she has come to be a leader of many including me.

³ Greet Prisca and Aquilla, my collaborators in connection with Christ Jesus, ⁴ who risked their own necks for my very life. Not only I but also all the assemblies of the other people groups give thanks for them. ⁵ Also, greet the assembly based in their house. Greet my beloved Epenetus, who is the first-fruit offering to Christ from Asia. ⁶ Greet Miriam, who has worked to exhaustion for you. ⁷ Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews and my fellow prisoners. They are famous among the emissaries, and they came to be connected with Christ before me. ⁸ Greet my beloved Ampliatus in connection with the Lord. ⁹ Greet Urbanus, our collaborator in connection with Christ, and my beloved Stachys. ¹⁰ Greet Apelles, who is genuinely valuable in connection with Christ. Greet those from the household of Aristobulus. ¹¹ Greet my fellow Jew, Herodion. Greet those from the household of Narcissus who are connected with the Lord. ¹² Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa who work hard in connection with the Lord. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked to exhaustion in connection with the Lord. ¹³ Greet Rufus, who is chosen in connection with the Lord, and his mother who has also been a mother to me. ¹⁴ Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the members of the Family who are there with them. ¹⁵ Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all those who are designated for sacred purposes there with them. ¹⁶ Greet each other with a sacred kiss. All the assemblies of Christ greet you.

¹⁷ Family, I encourage you to watch those who create divisions and traps alongside the teaching which you learned, turn away from them. ¹⁸ People like these do not serve our Lord Christ but rather their own appetites, and through their smooth talk and flattery, they trick the hearts of those who are not aware of harm. ¹⁹ Word of your commitment to listening to what you learned has reached everyone, so I celebrate over you, but I want you to be wise regarding what is beneficial and to be uncontaminated regarding what is harmful. ²⁰ The God of peace will quickly crush the Adversarial One under your feet. May the generosity of our Lord Jesus be with you.

²¹ Timothy, my collaborator, greets you, and so do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my fellow Jews. ²² I, Tertius, who am transcribing this letter, greet you in connection with the Lord. ²³ Gaius, host to me and the whole assembly, greets you. Erastus, the steward of the city, and our brother Quartus greet you.

²⁵  To the one who is able to make you secure based on my triumphant message and heralding of Jesus Christ, based on uncovering the mystery that has been concealed for long ages ²⁶ but is now brought to light and being made known to all people groups through the prophetic writings by the order of the agelong God resulting in them listening with trusting faithfulness, ²⁷ to the one wise God through Jesus Christ be praise throughout the ages. Amen.