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Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—
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And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
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To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
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God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
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For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
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This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
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You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
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No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.
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Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
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Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.
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So then, if she has sexual relations with 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 if she marries another man.
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And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
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And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
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And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
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For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race,
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the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.
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even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
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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,”
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and, “In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”
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but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal.
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As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
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But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”
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The Remnant of Israel
I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
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God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel:
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What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened,
