Romans  (GOD'S WORD)












































Romans  1:1-17 (GOD'S WORD)

      1From Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle and appointed to spread the Good News of God.
    2(God had already promised this Good News through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. 3This Good News is about his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.a In his human nature he was a descendant of David. 4In his spiritual, holy nature he was declared the Son of God. This was shown in a powerful way when he came back to life. 5Through him we have received God’s kindness and the privilege of being apostles who bring people from every nation to the obedience that is associated with faith. This is for the honor of his name. 6You are among those who have been called to belong to
Jesus Christ.)
    7To everyone in Rome whom God loves and has called to be his holy people. Good will and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are yours!
    8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for every one of you because the news of your faith is spreading throughout the whole world. 9I serve God by spreading the Good News about his Son. God is my witness that I always mention you 10every time I pray. I ask that somehow God will now at last make it possible for me to visit you. 11I long to see you to share a spiritual blessing
with you so that you will be strengthened. 12What I mean is that we may be encouraged by each other’s faith.
    13I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I often planned to visit you. However, until now I have been kept from doing so. What I want is to enjoy some of the results of working among you as I have also enjoyed the results of working among the rest of the nations. 14I have an obligation to those who are civilized and those who aren’t, to those who are wise and those who aren’t.
    15That’s why I’m eager to tell you who live in Rome the Good News also.16Im not ashamed of the Good News. It is God’s power to save everyone who believes, Jews first and Greeks as well. 17God’s approval is revealed in this Good News. This approval begins and ends with faith as Scripture says, “The person who has God’s approval will live because of faith.”















































Romans  1:18-32 (GOD'S WORD)

 18 God's anger is revealed from heaven against every ungodly and immoral thing people do as they try to suppress the truth by their immoral living. 19 What can be known about God is clear to them because he has made it clear to them. 20 From the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly observed in what he made. As a result, people have no excuse. 21 They knew God but did not praise and thank him for being God. Instead, their thoughts were pointless, and their misguided minds were plunged into darkness. 22 While claiming to be wise, they became fools. 23 They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for statues that looked like mortal humans, birds, animals, and snakes.
     24 For this reason God allowed their lusts to control them. As a result, they dishonor their bodies by sexual perversion with each other. 25 These people have exchanged God's truth for a lie. So they have become ungodly and serve what is created rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen!
    26For this reason God allowed their shameful passions to control them. Their women have exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27Likewise, their men have given up natural sexual relations with women and burn with lust for each other. Men commit indecent acts with men, so they experience among themselves the punishment they deserve for their perversion.
    28And because they thought it was worthless to acknowledge God, God allowed their own immoral minds to control them. So they do these indecent things. 29Their lives are filled with all kinds of sexual sins, wickedness, and greed. They are mean. They are filled with envy, murder, quarreling, deceit, and viciousness. They are gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, haughty, arrogant, and boastful. They think up new ways to be cruel. They don’t obey their parents, 31don’t have any sense, don’t keep promises, and don’t show love to their own families or mercy to others. 32Although they know God’s judgment that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do these things but also approve of others who do them.











































Romans  2:1-16  (GOD'S WORD)

    1No matter who you are, if you judge anyone, you have no excuse. When you judge another person, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things. 2We know that God's judgment is right when he condemns people for doing these things 3 When you judge people for doing these things but then do them yourself, do you think you will escape God's judgment? 4 Do you have contempt for God, who is very kind to you, puts up with you, and deals patiently with you? Don't you realize that it is God's kindness that is trying to lead you to him and change the way you think and act?
    5Since you are stubborn and don't want to change the way you think and act, you are adding to the anger that God will have against you on that day when God vents his anger. At that time God will reveal that his decisions are fair. 6He will pay all people back for what they have done. 7He will give everlasting life to those who search for glory, honor, and immortality by persisting in doing what is good. But he he will bring 8anger and fury on those who, in selfish pride, refuse to believe the truth and who follow what is wrong.9There will be suffering and distress for every person who does evil, for Jews first and Greeks as well. 10But there will be glory, honor, and peace for every person who does what is good, for Jews first and Greeks as well. 11God does not play favorites.
    12Here's the reason: Whoever sins without having laws from God will still be condemned to destruction. And whoever has laws from God and sins will still be judged by them. 13People who merely listen to laws from God don't have God's approval. Rather, people who do what those laws demand will have God's approval.
     14For example, whenever non-Jews who don't have laws from God do by nature the things that Moses' Teachings contain, they are a law to themselves even though they don't have any laws from God. 15They show that some requirements found in Moses' Teachings are written in their hearts. Their consciences speak to them. Their thoughts accuse them on one occasion and defend them on another. 16This happens when they face the day when God, through  Jesus Christ, will judge people's secret thoughts. He will use the Good News that I am spreading to make that judgment.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 




























 

Romans  2:28-29  (GOD'S WORD)

  28 A person is not a Jew because of his appearance, nor is circumcision a matter of how the body looks. 29Rather, a person is a Jew inwardly,
and circumcision is something that happens in a person’s heart. Circumcision is spiritual, not just a written rule. That person’s praise will come
from God, not from people.







































 

Romans  3:1-6  (GOD'S WORD)

     1Is there any advantage, then, in being a Jew? Or is there any value in being circumcised? 2There are all kind of advantages. First of all, God entrusted them with his word.
    3What if some of them were unfaithful? Can their unfaithfulness cancel God's faithfulness? 4That would be unthinkable! God is honest, and everyone else is a liar, as Scripture says,

          "So you hand down justice when you speak,
                and you win your case in court."

    5But if what we do wrong shows that God is fair, what should we say? Is God unfair when he vents his anger on us? (I'm arguing the way humans would.) 6That's unthinkable! Otherwise, how would God be able to judge the world?




































 
 

Romans  3:9-18  (GOD'S WORD)

     9What then, is the situation? Do we have any advantage? Not at all. We have already accused everyone (both Jews and Greeks) of being under the power of sin, 10as Scripture says,

            "Not one person has God's approval.
    11    No one understands.
                No one searches for God.
    12        Everyone has turned away.
                    Together they have become rotten to the core.
                        No one does anything good,
                            not even one person.
    13        Their throats are open greaves.
                Their tongues practice deception.
                    Their lips hide the venom of poisonous snakes.
    14            Their mouths are full of curses and bitter resentment.
    15                They run quickly to murder people.
    16                    There is ruin and suffering wherever they go.
    17                        They have not learned to live in peace.
    18                        They are not terrified of God."

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

























 

Romans  3:21-30  (GOD'S WORD)

     21 Now, the way to receive God's approval has been made plain in a way other than Moses' Teachings. Moses' Teachings and the Prophets tell us this. 22Everyone who believes has God's approval through faith in Jesus Christ.
    There is no difference between people. 23Because all people have sinned, they have fallen short of God's glory. 24They receive God's approval freely by an act of his kindness through the price Christ Jesus paid to set us free [from sin]. 25God showed that Christ is the throne of mercy where God's approval is given through faith in Christ's blood. In his patience God waited to deal with sins committed in the past. 26He waited so that he could display his approval at the present time. This shows that he is a God of justice, a God who approves of people who believe in Jesus.
    27So, do we have anything to brag about? Bragging has been eliminated. On what basis was it eliminated? On the basis of our own efforts? No, indeed! Rather, it is eliminated on the basis of faith.         28We conclude that a person has God’s approval because of faith, not because of his own efforts.29Is God the only the God of the Jews? isn't he also the God of the people who are not Jewish ? Certainly, he is,30 since it is the same God who approves circumcised people by faith and the un circumcised people threw this same faith. 














































Romans  4:3-8  (GOD'S WORD)

     3What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and that faith was regarded by God to be his approval of Abraham.”
    4When people work, their pay is not regarded as a gift but something they have earned. 5However, when people don’t work but believe God, the one who approves ungodly people, their faith is regarded as God’s approval. 6David says the same thing when he speaks this blessing: God approves of a person without that person’s earning it. David said,
    7 “Blessed are those whose disobedience is forgiven and whose sins are pardoned.
    8 Blessed is the person whom the Lord never considers sinful.”












 































Romans 5:1-5 (GOD'S WORD)

    1Now that we have God's approval by faith, we have peace with God because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done. 2Through Christ we can approach God and stand in his favor. So we brag because of our confidence that we will receive glory from God.  3 But that's not all. We also brag when we are suffering. We know that suffering creates endurance, 4 endurance creates character, and character creates confidence. 5 We're not ashamed to have this confidence, because God's love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 











Romans 5:8-9 (GOD'S WORD)

  8Christ died for us while we were still sinners. This demonstrates God's love for us.
       9Since Christ's blood has now given us God's approval, we are even more certain that Christ will save us from God's anger.

































 

Romans 5:12-21 (GOD'S WORD)

  12Sin came into the world through one person, and death came through sin. So death spread to everyone, because everyone sinned. 13Sin was in the world before there were any laws. But no record of sin can be kept when there are no laws. 14Yet, death ruled from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin in the same way Adam did when he disobeyed. Adam is an image of the one who would come.
    15There is no comparison between {God's} gift and {Adam's} failure. If humanity died as the result of one  person's failure, it is certainly true that God's kindness and the gift given through the kindness of one person, Jesus Christ, have been showered on humanity.
    16There is also no comparison between {God} gift and the one who sinned. The verdict which followed one person's failure condemned everyone. But, even after many failures, the gift brought God's approval. 17 It is certain that death ruled because of one person's failure. It's even more certain that those who receive God's overflowing kindness and the gift of his approval will rule in life because of one person, Jesus Christ.
   18 Therefore, everyone was condemned through one failure, and everyone received God's life-giving approval through one verdict. 19Clearly, through one person's disobedience humanity became sinful, and through one person's obedience humanity will receive God's approval. 20 Laws were added to increase the failure. But where sin increased, God's kindness increased even more. 21 As sin ruled by bringing death, God's kindness would rule by bringing us his approval. This results in our living forever because of Jesus Christ our Lord.
 
 
 
 
 
 






































Romans 6:1-14 (GOD'S WORD)

     1What shall we say then? Should we continue to sin so that God's kindness will increase?
     2That's unthinkable! As far as sin is concerned, we have died. So how can we still live under sin's influence?
    3Don't you know that all of us who where baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4When we were baptized into his death, we were placed into the tomb with him. As Christ was brought back from death to life by the glorious power of the Father, so we, too, should live a new kind of life. 5If we've become united with him in a death like his, certainly we will also be united with him when we come back to life as he did. 6We know that the person we use to be was crucified with him to put an end to sin in our bodies. Because of this we are no longer slaves to sin. 7The person who has died has been freed from sin.
     8If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9We know that Christ, who was brought back to life, will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10When he died, he died once and for all to sin's power. But now he lives, and he lives for God. 11So consider yourselves dead to sin's powerful but living for the power that Christ Jesus gives you.
    12Therefore, never let sin rule your physical body so that you obey its desires. 13Never offer any part of your body to sin’s power. No part of your body should ever be used to do any ungodly thing. Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have come back from death and are now alive. Offer all the parts of your body to God. Use them to do everything that God approves of. 14Certainly, sin shouldn’t have power over you because you’re not controlled by laws, but by God’s favor.
















 





















Romans 6:15-23 (GOD'S WORD)

  15 Then what is the implication? Should we sin because we are controlled by laws but by God's favor? That's unthinkable! 16Don't you know that if you offer to be someone's slave, you must obey that master? Either your master is sin, or your master is obedience. Letting sin be your master leads to death. Letting obedience be your master leads to God's approval. 17You were slaves to sin. But I thank God that you have become wholeheartedly obedient to the teachings which you were given. 18Freed from sin, you were made slaves who do what God approves of.
    19I'm speaking in a human way because of the weakness of your corrupt nature. Clearly, you once offered all the parts of your body as slaves to sexual perversion and disobedience. This led you to live disobedient lives. Now, in the same way, offer all the parts of your body as slaves that do what God approves of. This leads you to live holy lives. 20When you were slaves to sin, you were free from doing what God approves of.
    21What did you gain by doing these things? You're ashamed of what you used to do because it ended in death. 22Now you have been freed fron sin and have become God's slaves. This results in a holy life and, finally, in everlasting life. 23The payment for sin is death, but the gift that God freely gives is everlasting life found in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 7:1-6 (GOD'S WORD)

    1Don’t you realize, brothers and sisters, that laws have power over people only as long as they are alive? (I’m speaking to people who are familiar with Moses’ Teachings.) 2For example, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he is alive. But if her husband dies, that marriage law is no longer in effect for her. 3So if she marries another man while her husband
is still alive, she will be called an adulterer. But if her husband dies, she is free from this law, so she is not committing adultery if she marries another man.
    4In the same way, brothers and sisters, you have died to the laws in Moses’ Teachings through Christ’s body. You belong to someone else, the one who was brought back to life.
As a result, we can do what God wants. 5While we were living under the influence of our corrupt nature, sinful passions were at work throughout our bodies. Stirred up by Moses’ laws, they did things that result in death. 6But now we have died to those laws that bound us. God has broken their effect on us so that we are serving in a new spiritual way, not in an old way dictated by written words.












































        

Romans 8:5-17 (GOD'S WORD)

    5 Those who live by the corrupt nature have the corrupt nature’s attitude. But those who live by the spiritual nature have the spiritual nature’s attitude. 6The corrupt nature’s attitude leads to death. But the spiritual nature’s attitude leads to life and peace. 7This is so because the corrupt nature has a hostile attitude toward God. It refuses to place itself under the authority of God’s standards because it can’t. 8Those who are under the control of the corrupt nature can’t please God. 9But if God's Spirit lives in you, you are under the control of your spiritual nature, not your corrupt nature.
    Whoever doesn't have the Spirit of Christ doesn't belong to him. 10However, if Christ lives in you, your bodies are dead because of sin, but your spirits are alive because you have God's approval. 11 Does the Spirit of the one who brought Christ back to life live in you? Then the one who brought Christ back to life will also make your mortal bodies alive by his Spirit who lives in you.
  12So, brothers and sisters, we have no obligation to live the way our corrupt nature wants us to live. 13If you live by your corrupt nature, you are going to die, But if you use your spiritual nature to put to death the evil activities of the body, you will live. 14Certainly, all who are guided by God's Spirit are God's children. 15You haven't received the spirit of slaves that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the spirit of God's adopted children by which we call out, "Abba! Father!" 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17If we are his children, we are also God's heirs. If we share in Christ's suffering in order to share his glory, we are heirs together with him.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


























 

Romans 8:18-25 (GOD'S WORD)

    18I consider our present sufferings insignificant compared to the glory that will soon be revealed to us. 19All creation is eagerly waiting for God to reveal who his children are. 20 Creation was subjected to frustration but not by its own choice. The one who subjected it to frustration did so in the hope 21 that it would also be set free from slavery to decay in order to share the glorious freedom that the children of God will have. 22We know that all creation has been groaning with the pains of childbirth up to the present time.
    23However, not only creation groans. We, who have the Spirit as the first of God’s gifts, also groan inwardly. We groan as we eagerly wait for our adoption, the freeing of our bodies {from sin}. 24We were saved with this hope in mind. If we hope for something we already see, it’s not really hope. Who hopes for what can be seen? 25But if we hope for what we don’t see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 













 















 

Romans 8:26-30 (GOD'S WORD)

   26At the same time the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we don’t know how to pray for what we need. But the Spirit intercedes along with our groans that cannot be expressed in words.         27The one who searches our hearts knows what the Spirit has in mind. The Spirit intercedes for God’s
people the way God wants him to.28We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God -- those whom he has called according to his plan.29 This is true because he already knew his people and had already appointed them to have the same form as the image of his Son. Therefore, his Son is the firstborn among many children.30 He also called those whom he had already appointed. He approved of those whom he had called, and he gave glory to those whom he had approved of.

Romans 8:31-39 (GOD'S WORD)

    31What can we say about all of this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32God didn’t spare his own Son but handed him over bto deathn for all of us. So he will also give us everything along with him. 33Who will accuse those whom God has chosen? God has approved of them. 34Who will condemn them? Christ has died, and more importantly, he was brought back to life. Christ has the highest position in heaven. Christ also intercedes for us. 35What will separate us from the love Christ has for us? Can trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, or violent death separate us from his love? 36As Scripture says:
   37The one who loves us gives us an overwhelming victory in all these difficulties. 38I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love which Christ Jesus our Lord shows us. We can't be separated by death or life, by angels or rulers, by anything in the present or anything in the future, by forces39or powers in the world above or in the world below, or by anything else in creation.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

















Romans 9:6-8 (GOD'S WORD)

  6 Now it is not as though God’s word has failed. Clearly, not everyone descended from Israel is part of Israel 7or a descendant of Abraham. However, as Scripture says, “Through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name.” 8This means that children born by natural descent from Abraham are not necessarily God’s children. Instead, children born by the promise are considered Abraham’s descendants.











 





























Romans 9:27-29 (GOD'S WORD)

     27 Isaiah also says about Israel:

            “Although the descendants of Israel are
                as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore,
                    only a few will be saved.
    28     The Lord will carry out his sentence on the land,
                completely and decisively.”

    29This is what Isaiah predicted:

            “If the Lord of Armies hadn’t left us some descendants,
                    we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah.”









































Romans 10:4-10 (GOD'S WORD)

    4 Christ is the fulfillment of Moses’ Teachings so that everyone who has faith may receive God’s approval.
    5Moses writes about receiving God’s approval by following his laws. He says, “The person who obeys laws will live because of the laws he obeys.”
6However, Scripture says about God’s approval which is based on faith, “Don’t ask yourself who will go up to heaven,” (that is, to bring Christ down). 7“Don’t ask who will go down into the depths,” (that is, to bring Christ back from the dead). 8However, what else does it say? “This message is near you. It’s in your mouth and in your heart.” This is the message of faith that we spread. 9If you declare that Jesus is Lord, and believe that God brought him back to life, you will be saved. 10By believing you receive God’s approval, and by declaring your faith you are saved.









































Romans 10:17 (GOD'S WORD)

  17So faith comes from hearing the message, and the message that is heard is what Christ spoke.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 












 

Romans 11:23-36 (GOD'S WORD)

   23If Jewish people do not continue in their unbelief, they will be grafted onto the tree again, because God is able to do that.24 In spite of the fact that you have been cut from a wild olive tree, you have been grafted onto a cultivated one. So wouldn't it be easier for these natural branches to be grafted onto the olive tree they belong to?
 25Brothers and sisters, I want you to understand this mystery so that you won't become arrogant. The minds of some Israelites have become closed until all of God's non-Jewish people are included. 26In this way Israel as a whole will be saved, as Scripture says,     28The Good News made the Jewish people enemies because of you. But by God's choice they are loved because of their ancestors.29 God never changes his mind when he gives gifts or when he calls someone. 30In the past, you disobeyed God. But now God has been merciful to you because of the disobedience of the Jewish people. 31In the same way, the Jewish people have also disobeyed so that God may be merciful to them as he was to you. 32God has placed all people into the prison of their own disobedience so that he could be merciful to all people.33 God’s riches, wisdom, and knowledge are so deep that it is impossible to explain his decisions or to understand his ways.
    34 “Who knows how the Lord thinks? Who can become his adviser?”
    35 Who gave the Lord something which the Lord must pay back?
    36 Everything is from him and by him and for him. Glory belongs to him forever! Amen!











































         

Romans 12:3-8 (GOD'S WORD)

  3Because of the kindnessa that God has shown me, I ask you not to think of yourselves more highly than you should. Instead, your thoughts should lead you to use good judgment based on what God has given each of you as believers. 4Our bodies have many parts, but these parts don’t all do the same thing. 5In the same way, even though we are many individuals, Christ makes us one body and individuals who are connected to each other. 6God in his kindness gave each of us different gifts. If your gift is speaking God’s word, make sure what you say agrees with the Christian faith. 7If your gift is serving, then devote yourself to serving. If it is teaching, devote yourself to teaching. 8If it is encouraging others, devote yourself to giving encouragement. If it is sharing, be generous. If it is leadership, lead enthusiastically. If it is helping people in need, help them cheerfully.  











































 

Romans 12:9-13 (GOD'S WORD)

 9Love sincerely. Hate evil. Hold on to what is good. 10Be devoted to each other like a loving family. Excel in showing respect for each other. 11Don't be lazy in showing your devotion. Use your energy to serve the Lord. 12 Be happy in your confidence, be patient in trouble, and pray continually. 13Share what you have with God's people who are in need. Be hospitable.

Romans 12:17-21 (GOD'S WORD)

  17 Don't pay people back with evil for the evil they do to you. Focus your thoughts on those things that are considered noble. 18 As much as it is possible, live in peace with everyone. 19 Don't take revenge, dear friends. Instead, let God's anger take care of it. After all, Scripture says, "I alone have the right to take revenge. I will pay back, says the Lord." 20 But,

       "If your enemy is hungry, feed him.
             If he is thirsty, give him a drink.
                   If you do this, you will make him feel guilty and ashamed."

    21 Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil with good.

Romans 14:1-23 (GOD'S WORD)

   1Welcome people who are weak in faith, but don't get into an argument over difference of opinion. 2Some people believe that they can eat all kinds of food. Other people with weak faith believe that they can eat only vegetables. 3People who eat all foods should not despise people who eat only vegetables. In the same way, the vegetarians should not criticize people who eat all foods, because God has accepted those people. 4Who are you to criticize someone else's servant? The Lord will determine whether his servant has been successful. The servant will be successful because the Lord makes him successful.
   5One person decides that one day is holier than another. Another person decides that all days are the same. Every person must make his own decision. 6 When people observe a special day, they observe it to honor the Lord. When people eat all kinds of foods, they honor the Lord as they eat, since they give thanks to God. Vegetarians also honor the Lord when they eat, and they, too, give thanks to God. 7 It's clear that we don't live to honor ourselves, and we don't die to honor ourselves. 8If we live, we honor the Lord, and if we die, we honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.9For this reason Christ died and came back to life so that he would be the Lord of both the living and the dead.
    10Why do you criticize or despise other Christians? Everyone will stand in front of God to be judged. 11Scripture says, “As certainly as I live, says the Lord, everyone will worship me,
and everyone will praise God.”
    12All of us will have to give an account of ourselves to God.
    13So let’s stop criticizing each other. Instead, you should decide never to do anything that would make other Christians have doubts or lose their faith.
    14The Lord Jesus has given me the knowledge and conviction that no food is unacceptable in and of itself. But it is unacceptable to a person who thinks it is.
    15So if what you eat hurts another Christian, you are no longer living by love. Don’t destroy anyone by what you eat. Christ died for that person. 16Don’t allow anyone to say that what you consider good is evil.
    17God’s kingdom does not consist of what a person eats or drinks. Rather, God’s kingdom consists of God’s approval and peace, as well as the joy that the Holy Spirit gives. 18The person who serves Christ with this in mind is pleasing to God and respected by people.
    19So let’s pursue those things which bring peace and which are good for each other. 20Don’t ruin God’s work because of what you eat. All food is acceptable, but it’s wrong for a person to eat something if it causes someone else to have doubts. 21The right thing to do is to avoid eating meat, drinking wine, or doing anything else that causes another Christian to have doubts. 22So whatever
you believe about these things, keep it between yourself and God. The person who does what he knows is right shouldn’t feel guilty. He is blessed.
    23But if a person has doubts and still eats, he is condemned because he didn’t act in faith. Anything that is not done in faith is sin.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 






























 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 






















Romans 15:28-29 (GOD'S WORD)

    28When the collection is completed and I have officially turned the money over to the Christians in Jerusalem, I will visit you on my way to Spain. 29I know that when I come to you I will bring the full blessing of Christ.




































 

Romans 16:7-20 (GOD'S WORD)

    7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, who are Jewish by birth like me. They are prisoners like me and are prominent among the apostles. They also were Christians before I was.
    8 Greet Ampliatus my dear friend in the service of the Lord.
    9 Greet Urbanus our coworker in the service of Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.
    10 Greet Apelles, a true Christian. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus.
    11 Greet Herodion, who is Jewish by birth like me. Greet those Christians who belong to the family of Narcissus.
    12 Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who have worked hard for the Lord. Greet dear Persis, who has worked very hard for the Lord.
    13 Greet Rufus, that outstanding Christian, and his mother, who has been a mother to me too.
    14 Greet Asyncitus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobos, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters who are with them.
    15Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all God's people that are with them.
    16Greet each other with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.
    17Brother and sisters, I urge you to watch out for those people who create divisions and who make others fall away [from the Chrisian faith] by teaching doctrine that is not the same as you have learned. Stay away from them.
    18People like these are not serving Christ our Lord. They are serving their own desires. By their smooth talk and flattering words they deceive unsuspecting people.
    19Everyone has heard about your obedience and this makes me happy for you. I want to do what is good and avoid what is evil.
    20The God of peace will quicky crush Satan under your feet. May the good will of our Lord Jesus be with you!