rsv Romans:1-9 SEEK
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Paul ,
a servant of Jesus Christ ,
called to be an apostle ,
set apart for the gospel of God
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which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures ,
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the gospel concerning his Son ,
who was descended from David according to the flesh
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and designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead ,
Jesus Christ our Lord ,
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through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations ,
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including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ ;
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To all God '
s beloved in Rome ,
who are called to be saints :
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ .
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First ,
I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you ,
because your faith is proclaimed in all the world .
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For God is my witness ,
whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son ,
that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers ,
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asking that somehow by God '
s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you .
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For I long to see you ,
that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you ,
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that is ,
that we may be mutually encouraged by each other '
s faith ,
both yours and mine .
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I want you to know ,
brethren ,
that I have often intended to come to you (
but thus far have been prevented ),
in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles .
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I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians ,
both to the wise and to the foolish :
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so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome .
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For I am not ashamed of the gospel :
it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith ,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek .
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For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith ;
as it is written , "
He who through faith is righteous shall live ."
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For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth .
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For what can be known about God is plain to them ,
because God has shown it to them .
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Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature ,
namely ,
his eternal power and deity ,
has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made .
So they are without excuse ;
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for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him ,
but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened .
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Claiming to be wise ,
they became fools ,
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and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles .
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Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity ,
to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves ,
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because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator ,
who is blessed for ever !
Amen .
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For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions .
Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ,
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and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another ,
men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error .
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And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God ,
God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct .
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They were filled with all manner of wickedness ,
evil ,
covetousness ,
malice .
Full of envy ,
murder ,
strife ,
deceit ,
malignity ,
they are gossips ,
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slanderers ,
haters of God ,
insolent ,
haughty ,
boastful ,
inventors of evil ,
disobedient to parents ,
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foolish ,
faithless ,
heartless ,
ruthless .
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Though they know God '
s decree that those who do such things deserve to die ,
they not only do them but approve those who practice them .
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Therefore you have no excuse ,
O man ,
whoever you are ,
when you judge another ;
for in passing judgment upon him you condemn yourself ,
because you ,
the judge ,
are doing the very same things .
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We know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who do such things .
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Do you suppose ,
O man ,
that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself ,
you will escape the judgment of God ?
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Or do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience ?
Do you not know that God '
s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance ?
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But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God '
s righteous judgment will be revealed .
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For he will render to every man according to his works :
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to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality ,
he will give eternal life ;
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but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth ,
but obey wickedness ,
there will be wrath and fury .
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There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil ,
the Jew first and also the Greek ,
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but glory and honor and peace for every one who does good ,
the Jew first and also the Greek .
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For God shows no partiality .
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All who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law ,
and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law .
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For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God ,
but the doers of the law who will be justified .
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When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires ,
they are a law to themselves ,
even though they do not have the law .
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They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts ,
while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them
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on that day when ,
according to my gospel ,
God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus .
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But if you call yourself a Jew and rely upon the law and boast of your relation to God
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and know his will and approve what is excellent ,
because you are instructed in the law ,
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and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind ,
a light to those who are in darkness ,
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a corrector of the foolish ,
a teacher of children ,
having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth --
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you then who teach others ,
will you not teach yourself ?
While you preach against stealing ,
do you steal ?
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You who say that one must not commit adultery ,
do you commit adultery ?
You who abhor idols ,
do you rob temples ?
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You who boast in the law ,
do you dishonor God by breaking the law ?
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For ,
as it is written , "
The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you ."
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Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law ;
but if you break the law ,
your circumcision becomes uncircumcision .
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So ,
if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law ,
will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision ?
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Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law .
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For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly ,
nor is true circumcision something external and physical .
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He is a Jew who is one inwardly ,
and real circumcision is a matter of the heart ,
spiritual and not literal .
His praise is not from men but from God .
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Then what advantage has the Jew ?
Or what is the value of circumcision ?
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Much in every way .
To begin with ,
the Jews are entrusted with the oracles of God .
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What if some were unfaithful ?
Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God ?
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By no means !
Let God be true though every man be false ,
as it is written , "
That thou mayest be justified in thy words ,
and prevail when thou art judged ."
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But if our wickedness serves to show the justice of God ,
what shall we say ?
That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us ? (
I speak in a human way .)
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By no means !
For then how could God judge the world ?
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But if through my falsehood God '
s truthfulness abounds to his glory ,
why am I still being condemned as a sinner ?
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And why not do evil that good may come ?--
as some people slanderously charge us with saying .
Their condemnation is just .
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What then ?
Are we Jews any better off ?
No ,
not at all ;
for I have already charged that all men ,
both Jews and Greeks ,
are under the power of sin ,
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as it is written : "
None is righteous ,
no ,
not one ;
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no one understands ,
no one seeks for God .
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All have turned aside ,
together they have gone wrong ;
no one does good ,
not even one ."
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Their throat is an open grave ,
they use their tongues to deceive ." "
The venom of asps is under their lips ."
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Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness ."
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Their feet are swift to shed blood ,
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in their paths are ruin and misery ,
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and the way of peace they do not know ."
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There is no fear of God before their eyes ."
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Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law ,
so that every mouth may be stopped ,
and the whole world may be held accountable to God .
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For no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law ,
since through the law comes knowledge of sin .
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But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law ,
although the law and the prophets bear witness to it ,
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the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe .
For there is no distinction ;
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since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God ,
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they are justified by his grace as a gift ,
through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus ,
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whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood ,
to be received by faith .
This was to show God '
s righteousness ,
because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins ;
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it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus .
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Then what becomes of our boasting ?
It is excluded .
On what principle ?
On the principle of works ?
No ,
but on the principle of faith .
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For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law .
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Or is God the God of Jews only ?
Is he not the God of Gentiles also ?
Yes ,
of Gentiles also ,
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since God is one ;
and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of their faith and the uncircumcised through their faith .
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Do we then overthrow the law by this faith ?
By no means !
On the contrary ,
we uphold the law .
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What then shall we say about Abraham ,
our forefather according to the flesh ?
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For if Abraham was justified by works ,
he has something to boast about ,
but not before God .
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For what does the scripture say ? "
Abraham believed God ,
and it was reckoned to him as righteousness ."
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Now to one who works ,
his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due .
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And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly ,
his faith is reckoned as righteousness .
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So also David pronounces a blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works :
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Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven ,
and whose sins are covered ;
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blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not reckon his sin ."
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Is this blessing pronounced only upon the circumcised ,
or also upon the uncircumcised ?
We say that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness .
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How then was it reckoned to him ?
Was it before or after he had been circumcised ?
It was not after ,
but before he was circumcised .
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He received circumcision as a sign or seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised .
The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them ,
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and likewise the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but also follow the example of the faith which our father Abraham had before he was circumcised .
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The promise to Abraham and his descendants ,
that they should inherit the world ,
did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith .
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If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs ,
faith is null and the promise is void .
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For the law brings wrath ,
but where there is no law there is no transgression .
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That is why it depends on faith ,
in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants --
not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham ,
for he is the father of us all ,
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as it is written , "
I have made you the father of many nations " --
in the presence of the God in whom he believed ,
who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist .
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In hope he believed against hope ,
that he should become the father of many nations ;
as he had been told , "
So shall your descendants be ."
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He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body ,
which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old ,
or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah '
s womb .
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No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God ,
but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God ,
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fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised .
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That is why his faith was "
reckoned to him as righteousness ."
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But the words , "
it was reckoned to him ,"
were written not for his sake alone ,
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but for ours also .
It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord ,
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who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification .
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Therefore ,
since we are justified by faith ,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ .
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Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand ,
and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God .
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More than that ,
we rejoice in our sufferings ,
knowing that suffering produces endurance ,
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and endurance produces character ,
and character produces hope ,
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and hope does not disappoint us ,
because God '
s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us .
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While we were still weak ,
at the right time Christ died for the ungodly .
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Why ,
one will hardly die for a righteous man--though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die .
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But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us .
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Since ,
therefore ,
we are now justified by his blood ,
much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God .
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For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son ,
much more ,
now that we are reconciled ,
shall we be saved by his life .
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Not only so ,
but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ ,
through whom we have now received our reconciliation .
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Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin ,
and so death spread to all men because all men sinned --
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sin indeed was in the world before the law was given ,
but sin is not counted where there is no law .
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Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses ,
even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam ,
who was a type of the one who was to come .
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But the free gift is not like the trespass .
For if many died through one man '
s trespass ,
much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many .
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And the free gift is not like the effect of that one man '
s sin .
For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation ,
but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification .
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If ,
because of one man '
s trespass ,
death reigned through that one man ,
much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ .
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Then as one man '
s trespass led to condemnation for all men ,
so one man '
s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men .
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For as by one man '
s disobedience many were made sinners ,
so by one man '
s obedience many will be made righteous .
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Law came in ,
to increase the trespass ;
but where sin increased ,
grace abounded all the more ,
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so that ,
as sin reigned in death ,
grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord .
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What shall we say then ?
Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound ?
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By no means !
How can we who died to sin still live in it ?
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Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death ?
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We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death ,
so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father ,
we too might walk in newness of life .
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For if we have been united with him in a death like his ,
we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his .
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We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed ,
and we might no longer be enslaved to sin .
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For he who has died is freed from sin .
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But if we have died with Christ ,
we believe that we shall also live with him .
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For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again ;
death no longer has dominion over him .
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The death he died he died to sin ,
once for all ,
but the life he lives he lives to God .
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So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus .
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Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies ,
to make you obey their passions .
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Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness ,
but yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life ,
and your members to God as instruments of righteousness .
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For sin will have no dominion over you ,
since you are not under law but under grace .
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What then ?
Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace ?
By no means !
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Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to any one as obedient slaves ,
you are slaves of the one whom you obey ,
either of sin ,
which leads to death ,
or of obedience ,
which leads to righteousness ?
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But thanks be to God ,
that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed ,
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and ,
having been set free from sin ,
have become slaves of righteousness .
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I am speaking in human terms ,
because of your natural limitations .
For just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity ,
so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification .
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When you were slaves of sin ,
you were free in regard to righteousness .
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But then what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed ?
The end of those things is death .
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But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God ,
the return you get is sanctification and its end ,
eternal life .
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For the wages of sin is death ,
but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord .
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Do you not know ,
brethren--for I am speaking to those who know the law--that the law is binding on a person only during his life ?
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Thus a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives ;
but if her husband dies she is discharged from the law concerning the husband .
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Accordingly ,
she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive .
But if her husband dies she is free from that law ,
and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress .
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Likewise ,
my brethren ,
you have died to the law through the body of Christ ,
so that you may belong to another ,
to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God .
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While we were living in the flesh ,
our sinful passions ,
aroused by the law ,
were at work in our members to bear fruit for death .
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But now we are discharged from the law ,
dead to that which held us captive ,
so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit .
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What then shall we say ?
That the law is sin ?
By no means !
Yet ,
if it had not been for the law ,
I should not have known sin .
I should not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said , "
You shall not covet ."
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But sin ,
finding opportunity in the commandment ,
wrought in me all kinds of covetousness .
Apart from the law sin lies dead .
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I was once alive apart from the law ,
but when the commandment came ,
sin revived and I died ;
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the very commandment which promised life proved to be death to me .
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For sin ,
finding opportunity in the commandment ,
deceived me and by it killed me .
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So the law is holy ,
and the commandment is holy and just and good .
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Did that which is good ,
then ,
bring death to me ?
By no means !
It was sin ,
working death in me through what is good ,
in order that sin might be shown to be sin ,
and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure .
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We know that the law is spiritual ;
but I am carnal ,
sold under sin .
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I do not understand my own actions .
For I do not do what I want ,
but I do the very thing I hate .
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Now if I do what I do not want ,
I agree that the law is good .
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So then it is no longer I that do it ,
but sin which dwells within me .
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For I know that nothing good dwells within me ,
that is ,
in my flesh .
I can will what is right ,
but I cannot do it .
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For I do not do the good I want ,
but the evil I do not want is what I do .
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Now if I do what I do not want ,
it is no longer I that do it ,
but sin which dwells within me .
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So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right ,
evil lies close at hand .
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For I delight in the law of God ,
in my inmost self ,
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but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members .
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Wretched man that I am !
Who will deliver me from this body of death ?
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Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord !
So then ,
I of myself serve the law of God with my mind ,
but with my flesh I serve the law of sin .
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There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus .
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For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death .
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For God has done what the law ,
weakened by the flesh ,
could not do :
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin ,
he condemned sin in the flesh ,
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in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us ,
who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit .
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For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh ,
but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit .
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To set the mind on the flesh is death ,
but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace .
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For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God ;
it does not submit to God '
s law ,
indeed it cannot ;
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and those who are in the flesh cannot please God .
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But you are not in the flesh ,
you are in the Spirit ,
if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you .
Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him .
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But if Christ is in you ,
although your bodies are dead because of sin ,
your spirits are alive because of righteousness .
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If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you ,
he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you .
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So then ,
brethren ,
we are debtors ,
not to the flesh ,
to live according to the flesh --
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for if you live according to the flesh you will die ,
but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live .
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For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God .
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For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear ,
but you have received the spirit of sonship .
When we cry , "
Abba !
Father !"
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it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God ,
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and if children ,
then heirs ,
heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ ,
provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him .
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I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us .
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For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God ;
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for the creation was subjected to futility ,
not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope ;
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because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God .
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We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now ;
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and not only the creation ,
but we ourselves ,
who have the first fruits of the Spirit ,
groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons ,
the redemption of our bodies .
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For in this hope we were saved .
Now hope that is seen is not hope .
For who hopes for what he sees ?
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But if we hope for what we do not see ,
we wait for it with patience .
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Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness ;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought ,
but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words .
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And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit ,
because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God .
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We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him ,
who are called according to his purpose .
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For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son ,
in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren .
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And those whom he predestined he also called ;
and those whom he called he also justified ;
and those whom he justified he also glorified .
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What then shall we say to this ?
If God is for us ,
who is against us ?
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He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all ,
will he not also give us all things with him ?
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Who shall bring any charge against God '
s elect ?
It is God who justifies ;
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who is to condemn ?
Is it Christ Jesus ,
who died ,
yes ,
who was raised from the dead ,
who is at the right hand of God ,
who indeed intercedes for us ?
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Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ?
Shall tribulation ,
or distress ,
or persecution ,
or famine ,
or nakedness ,
or peril ,
or sword ?
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As it is written , "
For thy sake we are being killed all the day long ;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered ."
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No ,
in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us .
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For I am sure that neither death ,
nor life ,
nor angels ,
nor principalities ,
nor things present ,
nor things to come ,
nor powers ,
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nor height ,
nor depth ,
nor anything else in all creation ,
will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord .
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I am speaking the truth in Christ ,
I am not lying ;
my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit ,
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that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart .
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For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren ,
my kinsmen by race .
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They are Israelites ,
and to them belong the sonship ,
the glory ,
the covenants ,
the giving of the law ,
the worship ,
and the promises ;
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to them belong the patriarchs ,
and of their race ,
according to the flesh ,
is the Christ .
God who is over all be blessed for ever .
Amen .
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But it is not as though the word of God had failed .
For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel ,
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and not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants ;
but "
Through Isaac shall your descendants be named ."
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This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God ,
but the children of the promise are reckoned as descendants .
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For this is what the promise said , "
About this time I will return and Sarah shall have a son ."
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And not only so ,
but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man ,
our forefather Isaac ,
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though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad ,
in order that God '
s purpose of election might continue ,
not because of works but because of his call ,
*
she was told , "
The elder will serve the younger ."
*
As it is written , "
Jacob I loved ,
but Esau I hated ."
*
What shall we say then ?
Is there injustice on God '
s part ?
By no means !
*
For he says to Moses , "
I will have mercy on whom I have mercy ,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion ."
*
So it depends not upon man '
s will or exertion ,
but upon God '
s mercy .
*
For the scripture says to Pharaoh , "
I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you ,
so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth ."
*
So then he has mercy upon whomever he wills ,
and he hardens the heart of whomever he wills .
*
You will say to me then , "
Why does he still find fault ?
For who can resist his will ?"
*
But who are you ,
a man ,
to answer back to God ?
Will what is molded say to its molder , "
Why have you made me thus ?"
*
Has the potter no right over the clay ,
to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use ?
*
What if God ,
desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power ,
has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction ,
*
in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy ,
which he has prepared beforehand for glory ,
*
even us whom he has called ,
not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles ?
*
As indeed he says in Hose '
a , "
Those who were not my people I will call `
my people ,'
and her who was not beloved I will call `
my beloved .'"
* "
And in the very place where it was said to them , `
You are not my people ,'
they will be called `
sons of the living God .'"
*
And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel : "
Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea ,
only a remnant of them will be saved ;
*
for the Lord will execute his sentence upon the earth with rigor and dispatch ."
*
And as Isaiah predicted , "
If the Lord of hosts had not left us children ,
we would have fared like Sodom and been made like Gomor '
rah ."
*
What shall we say ,
then ?
That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it ,
that is ,
righteousness through faith ;
*
but that Israel who pursued the righteousness which is based on law did not succeed in fulfilling that law .
*
Why ?
Because they did not pursue it through faith ,
but as if it were based on works .
They have stumbled over the stumbling stone ,
*
as it is written , "
Behold ,
I am laying in Zion a stone that will make men stumble ,
a rock that will make them fall ;
and he who believes in him will not be put to shame ."
*
Brethren ,
my heart '
s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved .