Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.

Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my compatriots. ¹ 

For the righteousness ¹  of God is revealed in the gospel ²  from faith to faith, ³  just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.” ⁴ 

They are filled ¹  with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with ²  envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips,

For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. ¹ 

So what benefit ¹  did you then reap ²  from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death.

Why not? Because they pursued ¹  it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. ²  They stumbled over the stumbling stone, ³ 

For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him.

And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

For the kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Therefore after I have completed this and have safely delivered this bounty to them, ¹  I will set out for Spain by way of you,

For these are the kind who do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By their smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds ¹  of the naive.

Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord ¹  is able to make him stand.

I do not want you to be unaware, ¹  brothers and sisters, ²  that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles. ³