To all those loved by God in Rome, ¹  called to be saints: ²  Grace and peace to you ³  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts ¹  were darkened.

God publicly displayed ¹  him ²  at his death ³  as the mercy seat ⁴  accessible through faith. ⁵  This was to demonstrate ⁶  his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. ⁷ 

He ¹  did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.

But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Not ¹  only this, but we also rejoice ²  in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

Or do you not know, brothers and sisters ¹  (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person ²  as long as he lives?

For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her ¹  husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage. ² 

But now we have been released from the law, because we have died ¹  to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code. ² 

But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. ¹  For apart from the law, sin is dead.

For the law of the life-giving Spirit ¹  in Christ Jesus has set you ²  free from the law of sin and death.

“And in the very place ¹  where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” ² 

Just ¹  as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of armies ²  had not left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have resembled Gomorrah.” ³ 

For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

And Isaiah is even bold enough to say, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me.” ¹ 

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.

But what was the divine response ¹  to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand people ²  who have not bent the knee to Baal.” ³ 

Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,

Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. ¹  Do not be conceited. ² 

And do this ¹  because we know ²  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.