The Book of Romans – passages specific to God’s Plan for Man’s – Salvation
Romans 1
v.16 – I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the jew, then for the Gentile. v.17 – For in the gospel – a righteousness that is by faith – from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Romans 2
v.1 – You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things.
Romans 3
v.20 – Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. v.21 – But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. v.22 – This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ – to all who believe. There is no difference, v.23 – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forebearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – v.26 – he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
v.27 – Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. v.28 – For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. v.29 – Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, v.30 – since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through the same faith. v.31 – Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
Romans 4
v.1 – What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? v.2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God. v.3 – What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
v.4 – Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. v.5 – However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. v.6 – David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
v.7 – “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. v.8 – Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
v.9 – Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. v.10 – Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! v.11 – And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. v.12 – And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
v.13 – It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. v.14 – For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, v.15 – because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
v.16 – Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring – not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. v.17 – As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed – the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
v.18 – Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” v.19 – Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. v.20 – Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, v.21 – being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. v.22 – This is why “it is credited to him as righteousness – for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. v.25 – He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Romans 5
v.1 – Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, v.2 – through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. v.3 - Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; v.4 – perseverance, character; and character, hope. v.5 – And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
v.6 – You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. v.7 – Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly die. v.8 – But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
v.9 – Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! v.10 – For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! v.11 – Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Death Through Adam – Life Through Christ
v.12 – Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned – v.13 – for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. v.14 – Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
v.15 – But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! v.16 – Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgement followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses adn brought justification. v.17 – For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
v.18 – Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. v.19 – For jsut as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
v.20 – The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, v.21 – so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6
v.1 – What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? v.2 – By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? v.3 – Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus – were baptized into his death? v.4 – We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death – in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead – through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
v.5 – If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. v.6 – For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – v.7 – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
v.8 – Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. v.9 – For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. v.10 – The death he died, he died to sin – once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
v.11 – In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. v.12 – Therefore do not let sin reign in your motal body so that you obey its evil desires. v.13 – Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. v.14 – For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
v.15 – What then? Shall we sin because we are not under grace? By no means! v.16 – Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death – or to obedience, which leads to righteousnes? v.17 – But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching which you were entrusted. v.18 – You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
v.19 – I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. v.20 – When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. v.21 – What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! v.22 – But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. v.23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 7
v.1 – Do you not know, brothers – for I am speaking to men who know the law – that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? v.2 – For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. v.3 – So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adultress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adultress, even though she marries another man.
v.4 – So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. v.5 – For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. v.6 – But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Struggling With Sin
v.7 – What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” v.8 – But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. v.9 – Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. v.10 – I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
v.11 – For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. v.12 – So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. v.13 – Did that which is good, then become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
v.14 – We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. v.15 – I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do, not do, but what I hate I do. v.16 – And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. v.17 – As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. v.18 – I know that nothing good lives in me, that is in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. v.19 – For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. v.20 – Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
v.21 – So I find this law at work: When I want to do good – evil is right there with me. v.22 – For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; v.23 – but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. v.24 – What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? v.25 – Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Romans 8
v.1 – Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, v.2 – because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. v.3 – For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, v.4 – in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
v.5 – Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. v.6 – The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; v.7 – the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. v.8 – Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
v.9 – You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. v.10 – But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. v.11 – And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
v.12 – Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation – but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. v.13 – For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, v.14 – because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. v.15 – For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” v.16 – The Spirit himself testifies with our Spirit that we are God’s children. v. 17 – Now if we are children, then we are heirs- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Romans 9
v.10 – Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. v.11 – Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad – in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: v.12 – not by works but by him who calls – she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” v.13 – Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
v.14 – What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! v.15 – For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” v.16 – It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. v.17 – For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” v.18 – Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
v.19 – One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” v.20 – But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?” Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” v.21 – Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
v.22 – What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath – prepared for destruction? v.23 – What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory – v.24 – even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? v.25 – 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,” v.26 – and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ’sons of the living God.’”
v.27 – Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. v.28 – For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.” v.29 – It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”
Israel’s Unbelief
v.30 – What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; v.31 – but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. v.32 – Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.” v.33 – As it is written:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
Romans 10
v.1 – Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. v.2 – For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. v.3 – Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. v.4 – Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
v.5 – Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does these things will live by them.” v.6 – But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down) v.7 – “or” Who will descend into the deep?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). v.8 – But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: v.9 – That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. v.11 – As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” v.12 – For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, v.13 – for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
v.14 – How, then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? v.15 – And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
v.16 – But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” v.17 – Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. v.18 – But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:
“Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” v.19 – Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.” v.20 – And Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.” v.21 – But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”
Romans 11
v.1 – I ask them: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. v.2 – God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah – how he appealed to God against Israel: v.3 – “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? v.4 – And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” v.5 – So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. v.6 – And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
v.7 – What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, v.8 – as it is written:
“God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day.” v.9 – And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. v.10 – May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”
Ingrafted Branches
v.11 – Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. v.12 – But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!
v.13 – I am talking to you Gentiles. In as much as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry v.14 – in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. v.15 – For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? v.16 – If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
v.17 – If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, v.18 – do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. v.19 – You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” v.20 – Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. v.21 – For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
v.22 – Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. v.23 – And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. v.24 – After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
All Israel Will Be Saved
v.25 – I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. v.26 – And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. v.27 – And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
v.28 – As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, v.29 – for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. v.30 – Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, v.31 – For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
Doxology
v.33 – Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgements, and his paths beyond tracing out! v.34 – “Who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been his counselor?” v.35 – “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” v.36 – For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
June 01 2009 | New Testament - Salvation | No Comments »