bwe - Romans:4-7

bwe@Romans:4:1 @ So what shall we say about Abraham? He is the father of our family on earth.

bwe@Romans:4:2 @ If Abraham was put right with God, because of what he did, he has something to be proud of. But he has nothing to be proud of when he stands before God.

bwe@Romans:4:3 @ What do the holy writings say? It says, Abraham believed God. And God said that he was a good man.

bwe@Romans:4:4 @ When a person works, his pay is not a gift to him. His pay belongs to him.

bwe@Romans:4:5 @ But no person can work to put himself right with God. It is God alone who makes a bad person right. The one who believes in him-even a bad person is put right.

bwe@Romans:4:6 @ David also says that God blesses a man. God calls him a good man but not because he has kept the law.

bwe@Romans:4:7 @ David said, God blesses people who have been forgiven the wrong things they have done. God covers over the wrong things they have done.

bwe@Romans:4:8 @ The Lord blesses people when he forgets the wrong things they have done.

bwe@Romans:4:9 @ Does God bless only people who have been circumcised? Or does he also bless those who are not? We say, because Abraham believed God, God called him a good man. His faith made him right with God.

bwe@Romans:4:10 @ When did God say that? Was it when Abraham was circumcised? Or was it before? It was not when he was circumcised: it was before.

bwe@Romans:4:11 @ Abraham was circumcised as a sign. It was a sign that he was a good man, because he believed when he was not yet circumcised. That makes him the father of all people who believe, even those who are not circumcised. God says they are good people.

bwe@Romans:4:12 @ That makes him also the father of those who are circumcised. I mean people who are circumcised and do as our father Abraham did. Even when he was not circumcised, he believed.

bwe@Romans:4:13 @ God promised Abraham and his family that the world would belong to them. God did not make the promise because Abraham obeyed the law. But he made the promise because Abraham believed him and was put right with God.

bwe@Romans:4:14 @ If the world will belong to people who obey the law, it is of no use to believe God. And the promise is no good.

bwe@Romans:4:15 @ Because of the law, God is angry. Where there is no law, no one breaks the law.

bwe@Romans:4:16 @ That is why people must believe. Because God is kind, he makes the promise sure for all of Abrahams children. The promise is for those who have the law and also for those who believe as Abraham did. He is the father of us all.

bwe@Romans:4:17 @ the holy writings say, I have made you the father of many nations. Abraham was made the father of many nations by God. He believed God. He believed that God could make dead people live. He believed God when he said that things were true even though they had not happened yet.

bwe@Romans:4:18 @ Abraham believed and hoped, though there was nothing to give him hope. He believed that he would become the father of many nations. God had told him this would happen.

bwe@Romans:4:19 @ He did not stop believing when he thought about his own body. It was almost dead. He was about one hundred years old. He did not stop believing when he thought about Sarah, even though she had never given birth to any children.

bwe@Romans:4:20 @ He did not stop believing Gods promise. He believed God very much. He did not praise God for his own faith, but for Gods promise.

bwe@Romans:4:21 @ He was sure that God was able to do what he had promised to do.

bwe@Romans:4:22 @ He was put right with God because he believed the promise.

bwe@Romans:4:23 @ The holy writings do not say that for Abraham only.

bwe@Romans:4:24 @ They say it for us too. God will say we are put right if we believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from death.

bwe@Romans:4:25 @ He was killed because we did wrong things. He was raised from death in order that we might be made right with God.

bwe@Romans:5:1 @ We are made good people and put right with God when we believe in Jesus Christ. So now we have peace with God because of what our Lord Jesus Christ did.

bwe@Romans:5:2 @ Because we believe, Christ has brought us to the place where God can do us good. We are in that place now. We are very happy because we have the hope that we shall see Gods greatness.

bwe@Romans:5:3 @ And not only is that true, but we are very happy in our troubles, because we know that trouble makes us stronger.

bwe@Romans:5:4 @ When we are strong to take trouble, we prove that we believe. When we prove that we believe, we have hope.

bwe@Romans:5:5 @ We will not be disappointed by this hope. God has given us the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit has put Gods love in our hearts.

bwe@Romans:5:6 @ We could not help ourselves. So at the right time, Christ died to save us bad people.

bwe@Romans:5:7 @ Almost no one would die to save even a good man. But perhaps someone would die to save a very good man.

bwe@Romans:5:8 @ God shows his love for us in this way: Christ died to save us while we were bad people.

bwe@Romans:5:9 @ The blood of Christ has now put us right with God. So even more, he will save us from Gods strong anger.

bwe@Romans:5:10 @ When we were enemies, the death of his Son brought us back to God. Now that we are made right with God, it is the life of Jesus that will save us.

bwe@Romans:5:11 @ Not only is that true, but it is through our Lord Jesus Christ that we can enjoy God. This is for all who have been brought back to God by him.

bwe@Romans:5:12 @ One man <FI>Adam<Fi> did a wrong thing. And the wrong thing he did made him die. So all men die because all have done wrong things.

bwe@Romans:5:13 @ People in the world were not right with God before he gave the law. But wrong things are not punished when there is no law.

bwe@Romans:5:14 @ Yet death ruled over people from Adams time to Moses time. It even ruled over the people who were not as wrong as Adam. Adam was like a person who would come later.

bwe@Romans:5:15 @ But the free gift is not like the wrong thing. Many people died because one man did a wrong thing. This is sure. God was very kind and he gave a free gift. This gift was given to many people because one man, Jesus Christ, did a very kind thing.

bwe@Romans:5:16 @ The free gift is not like the wrong thing one man did. Because of that one man people were judged. And they were punished. Because many people did wrong things, God gave his free gift and many people were made right with him.

bwe@Romans:5:17 @ One man did a wrong thing. And so death ruled over people because of that one man. God has been kind to people and given them his free gift. That gift is to make people right with God. People who take that gift will live and rule because of one man, Jesus Christ.

bwe@Romans:5:18 @ One man did a wrong thing. And so all people were punished through him. But Christ did the right thing. And so all people can have the free gift of life through being put right with God.

bwe@Romans:5:19 @ One man did not obey. And so many people were bad people. One man obeyed. And so many people will be made right with God.

bwe@Romans:5:20 @ When the law came, it showed how wrong people really were. But when people were really bad, God was even more kind.

bwe@Romans:5:21 @ The wrong things people did ruled over them, and they died. Now God has been very kind. He has made people right with him. So now Gods blessing will rule over them, and they will live for ever. Jesus Christ our Lord has done this for them.

bwe@Romans:6:1 @ What shall we say then? Shall we keep on doing wrong things so that God will be more kind to us?

bwe@Romans:6:2 @ No, surely not! We died to our wrong ways and no longer live in them.

bwe@Romans:6:3 @ All of us have been baptised in water. This means we are joined to Christ Jesus. We were baptised into his death. Do you know that?

bwe@Romans:6:4 @ We were buried when he was buried because we were baptised into his death. Christ was raised from death by the wonderful power of the Father. So we also must live a new life.

bwe@Romans:6:5 @ Have we shared with Christ and died as he died? Then we shall share with him by rising from death as he arose.

bwe@Romans:6:6 @ We know this is true. The old person we used to be was nailed to the cross with him, so that our bodies which do wrong things would die. Then we will no longer be like slaves to the wrong things we used to do.

bwe@Romans:6:7 @ Anyone who has died no longer does wrong things.

bwe@Romans:6:8 @ If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

bwe@Romans:6:9 @ We know that Christ was raised from death and will not die again. Death has no power over him any more.

bwe@Romans:6:10 @ He died. And he died once for all time, so that people would stop their wrong ways. But now he lives. And he lives for God.

bwe@Romans:6:11 @ So you also must think you are dead, and stop your wrong ways. And you must think you are living for God along with Christ Jesus our Lord.

bwe@Romans:6:12 @ Do not let wrong things rule over your bodies that are going to die. Do not do the things your bodies want.

bwe@Romans:6:13 @ Do not use your bodies to do wrong things. But give yourselves to God like men who have been raised from death to life. Give your bodies to God and use them to do good things.

bwe@Romans:6:14 @ Wrong ways will not be your masters. The law does not rule over you now, but Gods loving kindness rules over you.

bwe@Romans:6:15 @ What then? The law does not rule over us now. Gods loving kindness rules over us. So, shall we do wrong things? No, never!

bwe@Romans:6:16 @ If you give yourselves to be slaves and obey your master, you are not free. You are his slaves. Do you not know this: you may be slaves to wrong things? But you will not live for ever. Or you may be slaves to obey God. Then you will be made good people and live with him.

bwe@Romans:6:17 @ You were at one time slaves to wrong things. But I praise God that you obeyed what your teachers taught you. And you obeyed because you wanted to obey.

bwe@Romans:6:18 @ You were made free from doing wrong things. You were made slaves to good things.

bwe@Romans:6:19 @ I speak the way people would think about such things, because your minds are weak. At one time you gave your bodies to be slaves to your unclean ways, and to do more and more wrong things. So now give your bodies to be slaves to doing what is right, and to being good.

bwe@Romans:6:20 @ When you were slaves to wrong things, you were free from doing good things.

bwe@Romans:6:21 @ You are now ashamed of those things. What good did they do you? For the end of those things is death.

bwe@Romans:6:22 @ But now you have been made free from wrong ways and you have been made Gods slaves. You are made good and you will live for ever.

bwe@Romans:6:23 @ The reward that wrong ways give is to die. But the gift which God gives is to live for ever. Christ Jesus our Lord has done this for us.

bwe@Romans:7:1 @ My brothers, I am saying this to you people who know the law. Do you not know that the law is master over a person only while he lives?

bwe@Romans:7:2 @ A married woman belongs to her husband by law as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law that made her belong to her husband.

bwe@Romans:7:3 @ So if she belongs to another man while her husband is living, she commits adultery. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then if she belongs to another man, she does not commit adultery.

bwe@Romans:7:4 @ In the same way my brothers, you died when Christ died. And you are free from the law. Now you belong to another person. You belong to the one who has been raised from death. Because of that, we are able to do what God wants us to do.

bwe@Romans:7:5 @ One time we lived in the way our bodies wanted to live. The law made us think about doing wrong things. And we did things that made us die.

bwe@Romans:7:6 @ But now we have been made free from the law. We died, and so we are no longer slaves to the one who was our master. Now we are slaves to God in our new life. This new life is ruled by the Spirit. We do not work for the old written law.

bwe@Romans:7:7 @ So what shall we say? Shall we say that the law is bad? No! I would not have known what is wrong if there had been no law. The law says, Do not want to take other peoples things. That is how I know it is wrong to want another persons things.

bwe@Romans:7:8 @ My wrong ways used the law to make me want all kinds of things. When there is no law, the thing within me that wants to do wrong is dead.

bwe@Romans:7:9 @ Once I had no law, and I lived. But when the law came, that which wanted to do wrong things came to life, and I died.

bwe@Romans:7:10 @ The same law which was meant to make a person live, made me die.

bwe@Romans:7:11 @ My wrong ways used the law to fool me and kill me.

bwe@Romans:7:12 @ So the law is holy. And what the law says is holy and right and good.

bwe@Romans:7:13 @ So did that good thing make me die? No. The wrong things I did made me die, because that good thing showed they were wrong. And the law shows that the wrong things are very, very bad.

bwe@Romans:7:14 @ We know that the law came from the Holy Spirit. But I am a weak man. I have been sold like a slave to do wrong things.

bwe@Romans:7:15 @ I do not know why I do the things I do. I do not do what I want to do. But I do the things I hate.

bwe@Romans:7:16 @ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

bwe@Romans:7:17 @ So now it is no longer I who do it, but my wrong ways in me.

bwe@Romans:7:18 @ I know that no good thing lives in me. I mean, no good thing lives in my body. I want to do what is good, but I cannot do it.

bwe@Romans:7:19 @ I do not do the good thing I want to do, but I do the wrong thing that I do not want to do.

bwe@Romans:7:20 @ If I do the thing I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but the wrong thing in me that does it.

bwe@Romans:7:21 @ So there is a law I find that it is at work in me. When I want to do what is right, I can only do what is wrong.

bwe@Romans:7:22 @ In my own mind I am glad to obey the law of God.

bwe@Romans:7:23 @ But I see that in my body there is another law fighting against the law in my mind. And that makes me like a prisoner to the law of wrong things in my body.

bwe@Romans:7:24 @ I am a very sad man. Who will save me from this body that will make me die?

bwe@Romans:7:25 @ Thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord who will do it! So this is the way it is. In my mind I am a slave to do the law of God, but in my body I am a slave to do the law of wrong things.

bwe@Romans:8:1 @ So now those who belong to Christ Jesus will not be judged.