Day 273 of 365

¹This is the third time I am coming to you. "At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established."

²I have said beforehand, and I do say beforehand, as when I was present the second time, so now, being absent, to those who have sinned before now, and to all the rest, that, if I come again, I will not spare;

³seeing that you seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me; who toward you is not weak, but is powerful in you.

⁴For indeed he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives through the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we will live with him through the power of God toward you.

⁵Test your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or do you not know as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you?-unless indeed you are disqualified.

⁶But I hope that you will know that we are not disqualified.

⁷Now we pray to God that you do no evil; not that we may appear approved, but that you may do that which is honorable, though we are as reprobate.

⁸For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.

⁹For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. And this we also pray for, even your perfecting.

¹⁰For this cause I write these things while absent, that I may not deal sharply when present, according to the authority which the Lord gave me for building up, and not for tearing down.

¹¹Finally, brothers, rejoice. Be perfected, be comforted, be of the same mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

¹²Greet one another with a holy kiss.

¹³All the saints greet you.

¹⁴The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

¹Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God,

²which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,

³concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh,

⁴who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

⁵through whom we received grace and the office of apostle, for obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name's sake;

⁶among whom you are also called to belong to Jesus Christ;

⁷to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.

⁹For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Good News of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers,

¹⁰requesting, if by any means now at last I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you.

¹¹For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that you may be established;

¹²that is, that I with you may be encouraged in you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine.

¹³Now I do not desire to have you unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you, and was hindered so far, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.

¹⁴I am debtor both to Greeks and to foreigners, both to the wise and to the foolish.

¹⁵So, as much as is in me, I am eager to proclaim the Good News to you also who are in Rome.

¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the Good News, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.

¹⁷For in it is revealed God's righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, "But the righteous shall live by faith."

¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

¹⁹because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them.

²⁰For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divine nature; that they may be without excuse.

²¹Because, knowing God, they did not glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.

²²Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

²³and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.

²⁴Therefore God also abandoned them in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves,

²⁵who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

²⁶For this reason, God abandoned them to their degrading passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature.

²⁷Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.

²⁸Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God abandoned them to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;

²⁹being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers,

³⁰backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

³¹without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful;

³²who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.

¹Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things.

²We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.

³Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?

⁴Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

⁵But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;

⁶who "will pay back to everyone according to their works:"

⁷to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life;

⁸but to those who are self-seeking, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation,

⁹oppression and anguish, on every soul of man who works evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

¹⁰But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

¹¹For there is no partiality with God.

¹²For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

¹³For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified

¹⁴(for when Gentiles who do not have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves,

¹⁵in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them)

¹⁶in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Christ Jesus.

¹⁷But if you call yourself a Jew, and rest on the law, and glory in God,

¹⁸and know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,

¹⁹and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

²⁰a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth.

²¹You therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who proclaim that a man should not steal, do you steal?

²²You who say a man should not commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

²³You who glory in the law, through your disobedience of the law do you dishonor God?

²⁴For "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," just as it is written.

²⁵For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

²⁶If therefore the uncircumcised keep the ordinances of the law, won't his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision?

²⁷Won't the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfills the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law?

²⁸For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh;

²⁹but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.

¹Then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the profit of circumcision?

²Much in every way! Because first of all, they were entrusted with the oracles of God.

³For what if some were without faith? Will their lack of faith nullify the faithfulness of God?

⁴May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. As it is written, "That you might be justified in your words, and might prevail when you come into judgment."

⁵But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do.

⁶May it never be! For then how will God judge the world?

⁷For if the truth of God through my lie abounded to his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?

⁸Why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), "Let us do evil, that good may come?" Those who say so are justly condemned.

⁹What then? Are we better than they? No, in no way. For we previously warned both Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin.

¹⁰As it is written, "There is no one righteous; no, not one.

¹¹There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God.

¹²They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not, so much as one."

¹³"Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit." "The poison of vipers is under their lips;"

¹⁴"Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness."

¹⁵"Their feet are swift to shed blood.

¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their ways.

¹⁷The way of peace, they have not known."

¹⁸"There is no fear of God before their eyes."

¹⁹Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.

²⁰Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

²¹But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the Law and the Prophets;

²²even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all those who believe. For there is no distinction,

²³for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;

²⁴being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;

²⁵whom God set forth to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God's forbearance;

²⁶to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time; that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.

²⁷Where then is the boasting? It is excluded. By what manner of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.

²⁸We maintain therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

²⁹Or is God the God of Jews only? Is not he the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,

³⁰since indeed there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith, and the uncircumcised through faith.

³¹Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! No, we establish the law.