But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us.

nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For I could wish that I myself were accursed – cut off from Christ – for the sake of my people, my fellow countrymen,

nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.”

What shall we say then? – that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith,

because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

And even they – if they do not continue in their unbelief – will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. Do not be conceited.

And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, and the one who rises to rule over the Gentiles, in him will the Gentiles hope.”

but as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”

Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.

Consequently, just as condemnation for all people came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people.

We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness.

So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God.

For the scripture says to Pharaoh: “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”

But who indeed are you – a mere human being – to talk back to God? Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

And do this because we know the time, that it is already the hour for us to awake from sleep, for our salvation is now nearer than when we became believers.