13

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.

14

I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish:

15

so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

16

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.

17

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."

18

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth.

19

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

20

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;

21

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.

22

Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

23

and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles.

24

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,

25

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.

26

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural,

27

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.

28

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct.

29

They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips,

30

slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

31

foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

32

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.

1

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.

2

We know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who do such things.

3

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?

4

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?

5

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.

6

For he will render to every man according to his works:

7

to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;

8

but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury.

9

There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,

10

but glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.

11

For God shows no partiality.

12

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.

13

For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

14

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.

9

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,

10

as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;

11

no one understands, no one seeks for God.

12

All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong; no one does good, not even one."

13

"Their throat is an open grave, they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips."

14

"Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."

15

"Their feet are swift to shed blood,

16

in their paths are ruin and misery,

17

and the way of peace they do not know."

18

"There is no fear of God before their eyes."

19

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.

20

For no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

21

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it,

22

the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction;

23

since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

24

they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,

25

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;

26

it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.

27

Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On the principle of works? No, but on the principle of faith.

28

For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law.

29

Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,

30

since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of their faith and the uncircumcised through their faith.

31

Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

17

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

18

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

19

For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart."

20

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

21

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

22

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,

23

but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,

24

but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

25

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26

For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth;

27

but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong,

28

God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,

7

But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification.

8

None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

9

But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him,"

10

God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

11

For what person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

12

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.

13

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit.

14

The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

3

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.

4

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God.

5

For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

6

For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

7

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.

8

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;

9

persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

3

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

4

For if some one comes and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough.

13

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

14

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

15

So it is not strange if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

1

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

5

For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait for the hope of righteousness.

13

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another.

14

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

15

But if you bite and devour one another take heed that you are not consumed by one another.

16

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.

17

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you would.

18

But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.

19

Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness,

20

idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit,

21

envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23

gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.

24

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

26

Let us have no self-conceit, no provoking of one another, no envy of one another.

There has been some debate about the authorship of Ephesians. Some scholars question whether Paul himself was the author, attributing the letter to a disciple of Paul. In any case, the letter's message and themes are consistent with the other Pauline letters.

1

And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins

2

in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.

3

Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

4

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us,

5

even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

6

and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7

that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

8

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God--

9

not because of works, lest any man should boast.

10

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

11

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12

For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

13

Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14

Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

15

and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace;

16

besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one.

17

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18

Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

19

and also for me, that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,

20

for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

1

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of stress.

2

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3

inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good,

4

treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

5

holding the form of religion but denying the power of it. Avoid such people.

10

Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,

11

my persecutions, my sufferings, what befell me at Antioch, at Ico'nium, and at Lystra, what persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.

12

Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

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