Romans 1-9

Worldwide English (New Testament)

1 I am Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. He called me to be an apostle and to tell God's good news.

² Through his prophets long ago God promised this good news to people, in the holy writings.

³ The good news was about his Son. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. He was a man born in David's family.

⁴ He came alive from death. That showed he was God's Son. He had God's power. God's Holy Spirit did all this.

⁵ This same Jesus Christ was kind to me. And he made me an apostle. I am sent in his name so that people in all nations will obey him.

⁶ You are some of them. You were called to belong to Jesus Christ.

⁷ I send greetings to all the Christians who live in the city of Rome. God loves you and has called you to be his people. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you. In their kindness may they give you peace.

⁸ People in all the world have heard that you believe. I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you.

⁹ God knows that I always talk to him about you. I worship him in my heart while I tell the good news about his Son.

¹⁰ I ask God that in some way now I may be able to visit you, if he wishes me to do it.

¹¹ I want very much to see you. I want to give you some gift from the Holy Spirit to make you stronger.

¹² I mean to say that we will both be helped. I will be helped because you believe, and you will be helped because I believe.

¹³ My brothers, I want you to know that I have often planned to come to you. But something has stopped me until now. I planned to come so that I might see good things happen among you. I have done this in the other nations which are not Jewish.

¹⁴ This is something I must do for the Greek people and for all other people. I must do it for people who are wise and for people who are not wise.

¹⁵ That is why I want so much to tell the good news to you people in the city of Rome also.

¹⁶ I am not ashamed of the good news of Jesus Christ. The good news is the power God uses to save every one who believes. The good news was for the Jews first, but also for those who are not Jews.

¹⁷ The good news shows how God puts a person right. God puts a person right when that person believes in his Son and keeps on believing. The holy writings say, `A person who is put right because he believes, will live for ever.'

¹⁸ God is angry. He has shown it from heaven. He is angry because of all the bad and wrong things people do. These people hold back God's truth by the wrong things they do.

¹⁹ They know about God. God himself has shown them.

²⁰ People cannot see that God has power which lasts for ever. They cannot see that he is really God. But ever since he made the world, he has clearly shown this by the things he made. So they cannot say, `I did not know about God.'

²¹ Even though they knew he was God, they did not worship him as God. They did not thank him. Their thoughts were no good. Their foolish minds became dark.

²² They said they were wise people, but they were foolish people.

²³ They did not worship God who cannot die. But they worshipped things made to look like a man who does die. They worshipped things made to look like birds and animals and snakes.

²⁴ So God left them to do the things their hearts wanted to do. They did the things that are not right to do with their bodies. They did not respect their own bodies.

²⁵ They would not believe what was true about God. They believed a lie. They worshipped and worked for something that was made by God. They did not worship God - God who made all things. He is the one to worship for ever. Amen. May it be so!

²⁶ That is why God left them to do the wrong things they wanted to do. Their women left the right way for women and did things that are wrong for women to do.

²⁷ Their men also left the right way with women. They wanted to have sex with one another. They did wrong things with other men. Their own bodies were punished because of the wrong things they did.

²⁸ They did not want to know God. So he left them to their wrong thoughts and to do things that are not right.

²⁹ They were very bad. They did every kind of wrong thing. They were greedy. They hated people. They were very jealous. They killed many people. They fought. They fooled people. They told lies about people. They carried stories from one person to another.

³⁰ They said wrong things about people. They hated God. They did not respect people. They were proud. They talked big. They even thought of new wrong things to do. They did not obey their parents.

³¹ .They were foolish. They did not do what they said they would do. They did not love people. They were not kind.

³² They know that God says that people who do such things should die. Even so, they not only do them, but they praise other people who do them.

2 Do you judge another people? You your-selves have done wrong things. So when you judge others, you judge yourselves, because you do the same things. You judge them and yet you do the same things.

² We know that God judges people who do such things. And he judges them by what is true.

³ Man, you judge people who do such things and yet you do them yourself. Do you think that God will not judge you?

⁴ Or do you not respect him for being kind, very patient, and for waiting a long time? Do you not know that God is kind, and he wants to lead you away from doing wrong things?

⁵ But your hearts are hard. You will not stop. That is why God will be angry with you. He will be angry on the day when people will see that he judges in the right way.

⁶ He will pay every man for what he has done.

⁷ He will give life for ever to people who keep on doing good. These people want to have glory and honour from God, and to live for ever.

⁸ But God will be very angry with the people who think of themselves first before others. They do not obey what is right. They do wrong things.

⁹ Every one who does what is wrong will have much trouble and a hard time. This will happen to the Jews first, then to those who are not Jews.

¹⁰ And every one who does what is good, will be made great. He will have honour and peace. This will happen to the Jews first and then to those who are not Jews.

¹¹ God does not love some people more than others.

¹² All those who do not know the law [of God given to Moses] and did what was wrong, will die. But they will not be judged by the law. All those who know the law and did what was wrong will be judged by the law.

¹³ (God does not say people are good because they have heard the law. But people who obey the law will be called good people.

¹⁴ Some people do not have the law. But they do what the law says because their own hearts tell them to. They have a law of their own, even though they do not know the law.

¹⁵ They show that the law is written in their hearts. They know what is right to do and what is wrong to do. Their own thoughts tell them they have done what is wrong or what is not wrong.)

¹⁶ This will be on the day when God judges the things men have kept secret. Jesus Christ will be the judge. That is part of the good news I tell people.

¹⁷ But you call yourselves Jews. You believe the law. You are proud of your God.

¹⁸ You know what he wants people to do. You know the thoughts that are good because you have been taught the law.

¹⁹ You are sure that you can lead people who are like blind men. You are like a light for people who are in the dark.

²⁰ You are sure that you can tell foolish people what is right. You can teach people who are like children. You know what you need to know and you know what is true because you have the law.

²¹ You teach another person. Do you not teach yourself? You say people must not steal. Do you steal?

²² You say people must not commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You hate idols. Do you steal things from the houses of idols?

²³ You are proud that you have the law. Do you break the law, and in that way show you do not honour God?

²⁴ The holy writings say, `People who are not Jews say wrong things about the name of God. They do it because of what you Jews do.'

²⁵ Circumcision of the body is a good thing if you obey the law. But if you break the law, you are like a man who has not been circumcised with this mark of the Jew.

²⁶ So if a man who has not been circumcised obeys the law, will he not be like a man who has been circumcised?

²⁷ Some people have not been circumcised, but they obey the law. They will show that you should be punished. You have the written law and you have been circumcised, and yet you break the law.

²⁸ If a person is a Jew only on the outside, he is not really a Jew. And true circumcision is not something that is done on the outside of the body.

²⁹ If a person is a Jew inside, he is really a Jew. It is God who praises him, not people. True circumcision is done in the heart. It is in the spirit, not in the body. Such people are not praised; but God praises them.

3 Then what does a Jew have that others do not have? Or what good is it if a person has been circumcised?

² It is much better in every way. First, God's law was given to the Jews.

³ But some Jews did not keep his law. Does that mean that God cannot be trusted?

⁴ No, it does not mean that. God must be true, even if every man is not true. The holy writings say this about God: `People will see that you are right in what you say. You will be without fault when you are judged.'

⁵ When we do wrong things, we show that God is right. What shall we say about that? Does God do wrong when he punishes us? (I speak the way people would think about it.)

⁶ No, he does not. If he did wrong, how could he judge the world?

⁷ Maybe I say what is not true. And that makes people praise God more because he is true. Then why does God still judge me and say I have done wrong?

⁸ Some people say wrong things about us. They say that we say, `Let us do wrong things so that good things will happen.' People who say such things should be punished.

⁹ So what shall we say? Are we Jews any better than other people? No, we are not! I have already shown that all men, both Jews and people who are not Jews have done wrong things.

¹⁰ The holy writings say, `No one is good. No, not one person.

¹¹ No one is wise. No one wants to know God.

¹² They all have turned away from the straight road. Together they have gone the wrong way. No one does good, not even one person!

¹³ Their mouth is like an open grave. They have used their tongues to fool people. The poison of bad snakes is under their lips.

¹⁴ Their mouths are full of cursing and saying bad words to people.

¹⁵ Their feet run quickly to kill people.

¹⁶ Death and trouble are on the ways they go.

¹⁷ They do not know the way of peace.

¹⁸ They do not fear God.'

¹⁹ We know that everything the law says, it says to the people who have the law. Then no one can say a word for themselves. All the people in the world will be brought to God to be judged.

²⁰ No one will be put right with God because he has tried to obey the law. The law only makes people know what they have done wrong.

²¹ So now God has shown how people can be put right with him without the law. The law and the prophets said he would do it.

²² God puts people right with himself when they believe in Jesus Christ. He does this for all who believe. They are all alike.

²³ All have done wrong and all are far from being as good as God.

²⁴ But God is kind and makes them right with himself. It is a gift. He does it because Christ Jesus paid the price to set them free.

²⁵ God gave him as a sacrifice. When people believe in him, his blood pays for the wrong things they have done. This shows that God is good and right. He was right when he forgave the wrong things that people did long ago.

²⁶ God also shows that he is right now. He does this when he makes right any person who believes in Jesus.

²⁷ Then what have we to be proud of? Nothing at all. Why not? Does God put us right with himself because of anything we have done? No. He does it because we believe.

²⁸ We know that if a person believes in Christ, God makes him right again. It is not because that person has obeyed the law.

²⁹ Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of other people also? Yes, he is. There is only one God of all peoples.

³⁰ He will put right people who have been circumcised [the Jews] because they believe. And he will also put right people who are not circumcised when they believe.

³¹ When we believe, does that make the law no good to us? No. That is not so. When we believe, we show that the law is right.

4 So what shall we say about Abraham? He is the father of our family on earth.

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.

³ What do the holy writings say? It says, `Abraham believed God. And God said that he was a good man.'

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

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.

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

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.

⁸ The Lord blesses people when he forgets the wrong things they have done.'

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

¹⁵ Because of the law, God is angry. Where there is no law, no one breaks the law.

¹⁶ That is why people must believe. Because God is kind, he makes the promise sure for all of Abraham's 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.

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.

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.

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.

²⁰ He did not stop believing God's promise. He believed God very much. He did not praise God for his own faith, but for God's promise.

²¹ He was sure that God was able to do what he had promised to do.

²² He was put right with God because he believed the promise.

²³ The holy writings do not say that for Abraham only.

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.

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

5 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.

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 God's greatness.

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

⁴ When we are strong to take trouble, we prove that we believe. When we prove that we believe, we have hope.

⁵ We will not be disappointed by this hope. God has given us the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit has put God's love in our hearts.

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

⁷ Almost no one would die to save even a good man. But perhaps someone would die to save a very good man.

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

⁹ The blood of Christ has now put us right with God. So even more, he will save us from God's strong anger.

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.

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.

¹² One man [Adam] did a wrong thing. And the wrong thing he did made him die. So all men die because all have done wrong things.

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.

¹⁴ Yet death ruled over people from Adam's 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 God's blessing will rule over them, and they will live for ever. Jesus Christ our Lord has done this for them.

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

² No, surely not! We died to our wrong ways and no longer live in them.

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?

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.

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

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.

⁷ Anyone who has died no longer does wrong things.

⁸ If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

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

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.

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.

¹² Do not let wrong things rule over your bodies that are going to die. Do not do the things your bodies want.

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.

¹⁴ Wrong ways will not be your masters. The law does not rule over you now, but God's loving kindness rules over you.

¹⁵ What then? The law does not rule over us now. God's loving kindness rules over us. So, shall we do wrong things? No, never!

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.

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.

¹⁸ You were made free from doing wrong things. You were made slaves to good things.

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.

²⁰ When you were slaves to wrong things, you were free from doing good things.

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

²² But now you have been made free from wrong ways and you have been made God's slaves. You are made good and you will live for ever.

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.

7 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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 people's things.' That is how I know it is wrong to want another person's things.

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.

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.

¹⁰ The same law which was meant to make a person live, made me die.

¹¹ My wrong ways used the law to fool me and kill me.

¹² So the law is holy. And what the law says is holy and right and good.

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.

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.

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.

¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

¹⁷ So now it is no longer I who do it, but my wrong ways in me.

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.

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.

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.

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.

²² In my own mind I am glad to obey the law of God.

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.

²⁴ I am a very sad man. Who will save me from this body that will make me die?

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.

8 So now those who belong to Christ Jesus will not be judged.

² The Spirit gives life in Christ Jesus. And the law of the Spirit has set me free from the law of wrong things, and the law of death.

³ God has done what the law could not do. The things people did made the law weak. God sent his own Son in a body of man. His body was like the bodies which others use to do wrong things. He sent him because people have done wrong things. And he judged the wrong things people have done in their bodies.

⁴ He did this so that we might be good people as the law said we should be. We are good people if we live the way the Spirit wants us to live, not the way our bodies want to live.

⁵ Some people live the way their bodies want to live. They think only about the things their bodies want to do. Other people live the way the Spirit wants them to live. They think about the things the Spirit wants them to do.

⁶ If you keep your mind on the things your bodies want to do, you will die. But if you keep your mind on the things the Spirit wants, you will live and have peace.

⁷ People who think about the things of this life are God's enemies. They do not obey God's law. They cannot obey it.

⁸ People who do what their bodies want cannot please God.

⁹ Does God's Spirit live in you? If he does, then you are not living the way the body wants, but you are living the way the Spirit wants. If anyone does not have Christ's Spirit, he does not belong to Christ.

¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, your bodies are dead because of the wrong things you have done. But your spirits live because you have been made right with God.

¹¹ God raised Christ Jesus from death. Does God's Spirit live in you? Then God will also give life to your bodies which die. He does this through his Spirit who lives in you.

¹² So, my brothers, we must not live the way our bodies want us to live. We must not be ruled by our wrong ways.

¹³ If you live the way your bodies wants to live, you will die. But if, by the help of the Spirit, you stop doing the wrong things your bodies want to do, you will live.

¹⁴ All who do what God's Spirit leads them to do are God's sons.

¹⁵ The Holy Spirit you have received does not make you a slave again so that you are afraid. But the Spirit you have received makes you sons of God.

¹⁶ So we say, `Father! Father!' The Spirit himself also, along with our own spirits, tells us that we are God's children.

¹⁷ If we are his children, God will give us the good things that children receive. He will give us these blessings along with Christ. He will give it to us if we suffer with Christ. If we suffer with Christ, we will also be made great with him.

¹⁸ I think that the troubles we have in this life are nothing when we think of the great things that we shall have.

¹⁹ The whole world is waiting for the time when the sons of God will be seen.

²⁰ The world was spoiled. It did not want to be spoiled, but God allowed it.

²¹ And it hoped to be free like God's children when they are made great.

²² We know that the whole world has been crying. It has had much pain until now.

²³ And not the world only, but we ourselves also cry out. We have the first blessing God gives of his Spirit. But we cry out in our hearts. We are waiting for God to finish making us his sons. Then our bodies will be set free.

²⁴ That is what we hoped for when we were saved. When the thing hoped for is seen, there is no more hoping. When a person sees a thing, how can he hope for it?

²⁵ But if we hope for something we do not see, we keep on waiting for it.

²⁶ Also the Spirit helps us because we are weak. We do not know how we should talk to God. But the Spirit himself talks to God for us, while we cry and cannot say any words.

²⁷ God looks to see what is in people's hearts. And he knows what the Spirit is going to do. The Spirit talks to God for God's people. And he asks for them what God wants them to have.

²⁸ We know that God works out everything for the good of those who love him. They are the people who are part of his plan.

²⁹ He knew all along that he would choose them. He chose them to be made like his Son. Then his Son would be the first one of many brothers.

³⁰ He chose them and he also called them. He called them to himself as if they had never been bad people. He made them right with himself and he also made them great in heaven.

³¹ So what shall we say about this? If God is on our side, who can be against us?

³² He did not keep his own Son, but gave him up for us all. Because he has given him to us, will he not also give us all other things?

³³ Who will say anything against God's chosen people? For it is God himself who says they have been put right with him.

³⁴ Who will say they are not right? Jesus Christ died. Yes, he was raised from death. He is at the right side of God. And he talks to God for us.

³⁵ Who can take us away from Christ's love? We may have trouble. We may have hard times. People may make us suffer because we believe. We may have no food to eat and no clothes to wear. We may be in danger. We may be killed with big knives. Can any of these things take us away from Christ's love?

³⁶ The holy writings say, `For your sake we are killed all day. We are like sheep ready to be killed.'

³⁷ But Christ loved us. He has helped us to win great victory in all these things.

³⁹ I know this. Death, life, angels, rulers, things happening now, things that will happen, high things, low things; nothing else in all the world can come between us and God's love in Christ Jesus our Lord.

9 What I say is true and Christ knows it is. I do not tell a lie. My heart tells me it is true. And the Holy Spirit knows this.

² I am very sad. I am always troubled. 3I could almost wish I were taken away from Christ for the sake of my brothers, the people of my own nation.

³ They are Jews. God gave them the right to be his sons. He showed them how great he is. He made agreements with them. He gave them the law. He told them how to worship him. He gave them the promises.

⁴ The great men were their fathers. Christ was born a Jew. He is God over all. Praise him for ever! Yes, he is!

⁵ God will do what he said he would do. Not all who are Jews belong to the real Israel.

⁶ Not all the people in Abraham's family are his children. But the holy writings say, `It is Isaac's family who will be called your family.'

⁷ This means that not all who were born in Abraham's family are God's children. God promised Abraham a son [Isaac]. His children [the Jews] are the ones that God called Abraham's true family.

⁸ For this is what God promised, `About this time next year I will come and Sarah shall have a son.'

⁹ And that is not all. Rebecca also had children. Their father was Isaac, our father.

¹¹ When the children were not yet born, they had done nothing good or bad. God chooses the people he wants. He does not choose people because of what they have done. He chooses people who will answer his call. So he said to Rebecca, `The older one will be a slave of the younger one.'

¹² The holy writings also say, `I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.'

¹³ So what shall we say? Does God do what is not right? No, never!

¹⁴ He says to Moses, `I will be kind to a person if I choose to be kind to him. I will share in the suffering of others if I choose to be sorry for them.'

¹⁵ God is not kind to a person because the person wants God to be kind to him. God is not kind to him because the person runs to him to ask him for help. God is kind because he chooses to be kind.

¹⁶ In the holy writings it says to Pharaoh, `That is why I made you live. I wanted to show my power through you. I wanted people to know about me all over the earth.'

¹⁷ So God is kind to any person if he wants to be kind to him. And God makes a man's heart hard if he wants to do that.

¹⁸ So you will ask me, `Why does God still blame us? Who can fight against what God has planned?'

¹⁹ But you are only a man. Will you tell God what to do? Can the pot say to the man who made it, `Why did you make me like this?'

²⁰ The person who makes pots has power over the mud. He can make two different pots out of one pile of mud. One pot will be fine and another will not be fine. Can the potter not make them so?

²¹ God has a right to be very angry if he wants to be. He has the right to show his power. God was very angry with some people who deserved to die. And yet he waited a long time before he did anything to them.

²² He did it to show how very great he is. He was kind to some people. He planned for them to be made great.

²³ That means he also called us. He called not only those who are Jews, but also those who are not Jews.

²⁴ In the book written long ago by the prophet Hosea, God says `They were not my people. But I will call them "my people". I did not love her, but I will call her "the one I love."

²⁵ 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." '

²⁶ Isaiah the prophet of God said long ago about Israel, `Even if the people of Israel are as many as the sand by the sea, only some of them will be saved.

²⁷ The Lord will do what he said he will do on the earth. He will do it all and do it soon.'

²⁸ And Isaiah also said, `The Lord who has power, left some of our children. If he had not, we would have been like Sodom. We would have been destroyed like Gomorrah.'

²⁹ So what shall we say? The people who are not Jews have been put right with God. They did nothing to make themselves right with God. But they were put right because they believed God.

³⁰ But the Jews tried to obey the law that could make them good people. But they did not obey it all.

³¹ Why was that? They did not trust in God. They only trusted in doing the things of the law. They therefore hit their feet on the stone on which men hit their feet.

³² That is what the holy writings say, `I put in Zion a stone on which people will hit their feet. It is a rock that will make them fall down. Anyone who believes in him will not be ashamed.'