¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,^(A) the God of our fathers,^(B) has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over^(C) to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate,^(D) though he had decided to let him go.^{(E) 14} You disowned the Holy^(F) and Righteous One^(G) and asked that a murderer be released to you.^{(H) 15} You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.^(I) We are witnesses^(J) of this.

¹⁴ I am obligated^(A) both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. ¹⁵ That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.^(B)

¹⁶ For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach.^(A) Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

¹³ It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”^[a](A) Since we have that same spirit of^[b] faith,^(B) we also believe and therefore speak,

¹⁴ because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead^(A) will also raise us with Jesus^(B) and present us with you to himself.^(C)

The Ministry of Reconciliation

¹¹ Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord,^(A) we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.^{(B) 12} We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again,^(C) but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us,^(D) so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. ¹³ If we are “out of our mind,”^(E) as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.^{(F) 15} And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves^(G) but for him who died for them^(H) and was raised again.

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly^(I) point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,^(J) the new creation^(K) has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here!^{(L) 18} All this is from God,^(M) who reconciled us to himself through Christ^(N) and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.^(O) And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors,^(P) as though God were making his appeal through us.^(Q) We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.^{(R) 21} God made him who had no sin^(S) to be sin^[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.^(T)

¹⁰ on the day^(A) he comes to be glorified^(B) in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.^(C)