Romans From the One who Prayed For interpretation

Romans 1

1 The apostle Paul confirms the authenticity of the Old Testament scripture regarding Jesus, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who was declared by God to be the Christ. The scriptures confirm that Jesus Christ, should also be considered the Son of God.

5 You are being called to belong to the Holy Spirit, Christ Jesus.

7 You are loved by God and called to be saints: Through the Spirit of Unconditional Love faith will grow all over the world. God, whom you will serve through faith in the Holy Light within, has opened a way for the gospel to come to us.

11 The Holy Spirit has tried to come before but was prevented from doing so until now. Now a path has been opened. Have faith in the Holy Spirit and let the Spirit of God’s Love guide your life. Be encouraged by each others faith, sharing your gifts of the Holy Spirit with all.

14 Do not be ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the elect/enlightened then for the congregation. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is being revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and sinful desires of men who suppress the truth by their deceit. God’s Light is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s Love for humanity, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what God has made, so that men are without excuse.

21 Although God’s Love is known, we neither give thanks nor does our love reflect the Love of the Holy Spirit. This thinking is futile and foolish and hearts are darkened. Although some have claimed to be wise, they became fools and they valued material possessions more than the welfare of humanity. God exchanged enlightenment for materialism in their minds because they refuse to repent.

24 Therefore God gave those who refuse to repent over to the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity and for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchange the truth of God’s Love for a lie. They love, worship and serve things they made with their hands, and have no concern for humanity.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Straight women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way straight men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Straight men committed indecent acts with other men, and became addicted to their perversion as the penalty for sexual perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what they knew they ought not do.

29 Those who place sexuality and material possessions ahead of love have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve when others do these things.

Romans 2

1 Those of you who have appointed yourself as God’s judges/priest, why do you judge others? When you pass judgment on someone else don’t you realize that you condemn yourself? When a man passes judgment on another man yet continues in sin himself how will he escape God’s judgment?

4 Or do you not realize that the intent of God’s kindness is for you to turn away from sin? Because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

6 God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” To those who through persistence of reasoning have recognized and followed the Light, the father will give eternal life.

8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good.

11 For God does not show favoritism.

12 All who remain in opposition to the law will perish in opposition to the law. All who receive the law will be judged by the law.

13 A man will not be declared righteous because he hears about the repentance required of the Holy Spirit. It is only those who obey the Holy Spirit that will be declared righteous. We know that some who have not heard the law, or did not understand it when it was heard, still by nature obey the Light. This proves the requirements of the Holy Spirit are written on our hearts, our consciences also bearing witness, and our thoughts now accusing us, now even defending us.

16 Judgment will be understood on the day when God will judge man’s secrets through the Holy Spirit, as the gospel declares.

17 Now you, if you call yourself a disciple of one of the prophets; if you brag about your relationship to God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the gospels; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the gospels the embodiment of knowledge and truth, do you not teach yourself when you teach others?

21 You who stand at the altar and preach against sinning, do you sin? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, have you become idols living above modesty? You who brag about God’s Love for you, do you dishonor God by sinning? As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the unbelievers because of your sinful ways.”

25 Rituals have value if their spiritual significance is recognized and you are guided by them away from sin. If you continue to sin, what benefit did you receive from ritual? If those who never believed in salvation through ritual live according to the Holy Spirit wont they be regarded as though they have obeyed the spiritual covenant?

27 The one who has not performed the rituals and yet obeys the law through the Holy Spirit will condemn those, who even though they performed the rituals, are sinners who do not obey the law and do not live according to the Light.

28 A man does not receive the Holy Spirit because he performs ritual, nor are rituals merely outward and physical. Circumcision and baptism represent the separation of the heart from sinful desire. It is God who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, not men and ritual.

Romans 3

1 What advantage is there in following God’s prophets, what value is there in the rituals? Much in every way! First of all, believers have been entrusted with the very words of God. What if some did not believe in the scriptures? Will their lack of faith corrupt God’s Love? Not at all! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”

5 If our sins teach us more about God’s Love, Is God unjust in bringing his wrath on us? Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?

7 Someone might argue, “If my sin enhances my understanding of God’s Love and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” Why not say “Let us do evil that good may result”?

9 What shall we conclude then? Are believers any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that everyone is under sin. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.

12 All have turned away from the Light within; they have together become without love for one another; there is no one who is guided by the Holy Spirit. “They deceive others because they are without wisdom.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

21 But now a righteousness from God is being revealed, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in the Holy Spirit. There is no difference, all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. None have been justified by the law but all who have repented have been justified by the Holy Spirit, given through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement for all that have faith in the Light. God left the sins committed in the past unpunished to demonstrate his justice at the present time. The Light was promised to come through faith in the Light, not by observing law or ritual. In this way God remains just and the one who justifies those who have faith that Jesus Christ is the Light.

27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

29 Is God the God of believers only? Is he not the God of everyone? There is only one God who will justify all through faith. Does this mean we no longer need the law? Not at all! Rather, through the obedience to the Light we uphold the law. Therefore, the law remains for sinners, but the repentant will overcome sin through Christ within.

Romans 4

1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”

9 Is this blessing only for those who have the law and performed rituals, or for everyone? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

11 So then, Abraham is the father of all who obey the Light who have not performed rituals, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the religious who not only perform the rituals but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith of Abraham before he was circumcised. It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith in the Light.

14 If the law itself could teach a man to love humanity, faith has no value and the promise is worthless. Failure to obey the law brings fear of punishment. Therefore the law is for the lawless, so that they may be judged according to it.

15 Through faith in the Holy Spirit, we have been promised forgiveness. By following Christ, who is within us, we overcome the need for the law. For the one who overcomes the law through the Light does not continue to sin.

16 God’s Love has been guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring, all who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of all who obey the Light. As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old, and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness, for us who believe in God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Romans 5

1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through the Holy Spirit, through whom we have gained access by faith into God’s love in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, his Son, whom he has given us.

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us, leaving us in darkness.

Since we have now been justified by faith in his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Christ! If the father has reconciled us to himself through the death of his son while we were still sinners, Now that we have been reconciled by rebirth, how much more Grace will we receive through his life, the Light within you! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through the Holy Spirit, through whom we have now been reconciled.

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned, for before the law was given sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.

14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

15 The gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the sin of the one man, how much more did God’s Love, the gift that came by the Unconditional Love of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

16 The gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant Love, reign in life through the one man, Christ Jesus.

18 Consequently, just as the result of one sin is condemnation for all men, so also one act of unconditional love is justification for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were made sinners, so also through obedience to the Light many will overcome sin.

20 The law was added so that trespass might increase. But where sin increased, God’s Love increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also God’s Love might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6

1 What shall we say, then? Should we go on sinning so that God’s Love may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we continue to sin? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death, the giving of your flesh to do the will of the father?

4 Our flesh is buried with him through baptism into death. Just as Jesus Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too are being raised to live a new life. If we have given our flesh to the father and been united with Christ in his death, we will also be untied to the Holy Spirit through his resurrection.

6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Anyone who has been untied to Christ through his death has been freed from the body and sin. We have put to death our old selves and chosen to follow the Light within, Christ himself will teach us all things.

8 If we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in the Holy Spirit, Christ Jesus.

12 Therefore do not continue to sin. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness. Rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and through the Holy Spirit offer yourselves to him as instruments of righteousness.

14 What then? Shall we continue to sin because we are no longer under law but understand our sins are covered by God’s Love? By no means! For sin shall not be your master.

16. Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey? You are either slaves to sin which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to the Light.

17 Thanks be to God; Although you used to be slaves to sin, through faith you obey the Holy Spirit. You have been set free from sin and become slaves to God’s Love. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to your sins and addictions, so now offer them in slavery to the Holy Spirit, leading to holiness.

20 Slaves to sin are not following the Light. What benefit is there in doing the things that you are now
ashamed of? Those things result in death!

22 Therefore repent and be set free from sin and become slaves to God’s Love. The benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in the Holy Spirit, Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 7

1 Do you know that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?

2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.

4 You also died to the law when you gave yourself to the Light, who was raised from the dead so that you might bear fruit for God. When you were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions taught by the law were at work in your body, so that you bore fruit for death. But now, by sacrificing yourself to God’s Love you are released from the law. We now serve in the new way of the Holy Spirit, which leads to forgiveness, and not in the old way of the written code, which leads to self righteousness and death.

7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed you would not have known what sin was except through the law. You would not have known what coveting really is if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” Through the law you become conscious of sin. The commandment that says do not value material goods more than you value fellowship with your neighbors, which is intended to keep you from sinning, actually produces thoughts about your neighbors material possessions and how you might obtain them. If the law did not said do not covet, would you contemplate coveting?

12 The law is holy, and the commandment is holy. Did the law become death to you? By no means! So that you might recognize sin, sin produced spiritual death in you. Through God’s commandments sin may be understood to lead to spiritual death.

14 You know that the law is spiritual; but you are not spiritual, sold as a slave to sin. You do not understand why you do the things you do. You want to follow the Holy Spirit but you continue to due the things that lead to sin and addictions.

18 You desire to do what is right, confirming that the law is good. You have the desire to do good but you keep failing. Nothing good lives in your sinful nature. For what you do is not the good you want to do; rather it is the sin and your addictions that you don’t want to do that you keep doing.

21 When you want to change your life and do good, evil is right there with you. For in your mind you agree with God’s Law; but your body wages war against your mind, making you a prisoner to sinful desires at work within your body. Sin and addiction waging war against the Light within you. What a wretched situation! Who will rescue you from your sinful nature?

25 Thanks be to God through Christ Jesus! Let your mind become a slave to God’s Light, put to death the sinful nature living in you.

Romans 8

1 For those who live in the Light there is no longer condemnation, because the Light sets you free from the law of sin that leads to spiritual death. The law was powerless to teach you how to Love, because it was weakened by the sinful nature.

To overcome mans sinful nature, God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. Those who live according to the Light overcome the sinful nature. Through faith in Jesus Christ it becomes possible for the requirements of the law to be fully met in those who no longer live according to the sinful nature but according to the Light within.

5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on carnal desires; but those who live in accordance with the Holy Spirit have their minds set on God’s Love.

6 The mind of sinful man is spiritually dead, but the mind controlled by the Holy Spirit is full of life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s Love, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

9 Those who live according to the Holy Spirit are not controlled by the sinful nature. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if the Holy Spirit is in you, consider your body dead because of sin, and let your spirit be alive for the sake of God’s Love.

11 And if the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, the father who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through Christ, who lives in you.

12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation but it is not to the sinful nature. If you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Holy Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Light are sons of God.

15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by the Holy Spirit you cry, “Abba, Father.” The Holy Spirit himself testifies with your spirit that you are God’s child. Now since you are his child, you are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed you sacrifice yourself for humanity in order that you may also share in his glory.

18 Consider that your present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in you. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope you were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. No one who has the Light is still waiting. But if you hope for what you do not yet have, wait patiently for the Light to be revealed in you.

26 In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Holy Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

28 In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

32 God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all. How will the Father and his Son not also graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.

34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died, more than that, who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the Light? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through the Holy Spirit who loved us.

38 Be convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate you from the love of God that is in the Holy Spirit, Christ Jesus our Light.

Romans 9

1 I speak the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

6 It is not as though God’s word failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”

7 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.

11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. “What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” Enlightenment does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy for those on whom he wants to have mercy on, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?”

20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath, prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory, even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

25 As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ “Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.” It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”

30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained the Light, a righteousness that is by faith; but the religious, who pursued a law of righteousness, have not attained it.

32 Why not? Because they pursued the Light not by faith but as if the Light could be obtained by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.”

33 As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. The one who trusts in the Holy Spirit will never be put to shame.”

Romans 10

1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. They are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not understand the Light that comes from God and sought to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes in the Light.

5 Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that is by faith says: Do not ask who will ascend or descend, but rather obey the Light within. “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith in God’s Love that we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe in the Light and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, the same Light is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him. Everyone who calls on Christ will be saved.

14 How, then, can you call on the one you have not believed in? And how can you believe in the one of whom you have not heard? And how can you hear without someone preaching to you? And how can someone preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

18 But I ask: Did they not hear the word of Christ? Of course they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.” And Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.” But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

Romans 11

1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! Paul was an Israelite himself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew.

2 Don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel: “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

5 If the enlightened were chosen by works, God’s Love would be dependent on works not faith. At the present time there is a remnant who follow the Holy Spirit, chosen by God’s Grace. And if his enlightened are chosen by his Grace, let none boast in works, but all be humbled by his mercy.

7 What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the enlightened did? The others were hardened, as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear to this very day.” And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”

11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring! Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, his hope is that somehow through the gospel Israel might be aroused and saved. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead, the resurrection of faith?

16 If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.

30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.

32 For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Romans 12

1 Therefore, in view of God’s mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will.

3. For by the Grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in the Light we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Holy Spirit. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. Share with people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by sin, but overcome sin by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 13

1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

6. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.

9 The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore unconditional love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, understanding the present time.

11 The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because your salvation is nearer now than when you first believed.

12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of Light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Light of our Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Romans 14

1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

5 There are many different religious rituals. One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He, who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He, who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

7 None of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord to those in darkness and to the enlightened.

10 You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ ”

12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in anyone’s way.

14 As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating discourage your brother’s faith for whom Christ died.

16 Do not allow the freedom that you have found in God’s Love to be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men. Let us therefore make every effort to sacrifice ourselves for our brothers, which leads to peace and to mutual edification.

20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall. So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

Romans 15

1 You who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please yourselves. Each of you should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow the Light, so that with One heart and mouth you may glorify God the Father of Light, who is our Lord Jesus Christ.

7 Accept one another, just as the Holy Spirit accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God’s Love, as it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name.” Again, it says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples.” And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him.”

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ Jesus. I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.

15 The gospel is quite bold on some points, to remind you of them again. The hope is that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore remain in the glory of the Light in your service to God.

18 Do not speak of anything except what the Holy Spirit has accomplished through you in your obedience to God. Remember what the gospel says, and how the apostles acted. Remember the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ Jesus.

20 Preach the gospel where the Light is not known, so that you are not building on someone else’s foundation. Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”

33 The God of peace be with you all. Amen.

I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to repentance and the Holy Spirit. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. Remain obedient and full of joy so you may be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

To him who is able to establish you by the gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for ages long past, but is now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him. To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.