Holman Christian Standard Bible (332 page)

Malta's Hospitality

28
Once ashore, we then learned that the island was called Malta. 
2
 The local people showed us extraordinary kindness, for they lit a fire and took us all in, since it was raining and cold.
3
 As Paul gathered a bundle of brushwood and put it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself to his hand.
4
 When the local people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man is probably a murderer, and though he has escaped the sea, Justice does not allow him to live! ” 
5
 However, he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. 
6
 They expected that he would swell up or suddenly drop dead. But after they waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. 

Ministry in Malta

7
 Now in the area around that place was an estate belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days.
8
 Publius's father was in bed suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went to him, and praying and laying his hands on him, he healed him. 
9
 After this, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were cured.
10
 So they heaped many honors on us, and when we sailed, they gave us what we needed.

Rome at Last

11
 After three months we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island, with the Twin Brothers as its figurehead.
12
 Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed three days.
13
 From there, after making a circuit along the coast, we reached Rhegium. After one day a south wind sprang up, and the second day we came to Puteoli.
14
 There we found believers and were invited to stay with them for seven days.

And so we came to Rome.
15
 Now the believers from there had heard the news about us and had come to meet us as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.
16
 When we entered Rome, Paul was permitted to stay by himself with the soldier who guarded him. 

Paul's First Interview with Roman Jews

17
 After three days he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered he said to them: “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. 
18
 After they examined me, they wanted to release me, since I had not committed a capital offense. 
19
 Because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar; it was not as though I had any accusation against my nation.
20
 For this reason I've asked to see you and speak to you. In fact, it is for the hope of Israel that I'm wearing this chain.” 

21
 Then they said to him, “We haven't received any letters about you from Judea. None of the brothers has come and reported or spoken anything evil about you.
22
 But we would like to hear from you what you think. For concerning this sect, we are aware that it is spoken against everywhere.” 

The Response to Paul's Message

23
 After arranging a day with him, many came to him at his lodging. From dawn to dusk he expounded and witnessed about the kingdom of God. He tried to persuade them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets. 
24
 Some were persuaded by what he said, but others did not believe. 

25
 Disagreeing among themselves, they began to leave after Paul made one statement: “The Holy Spirit correctly spoke through the prophet Isaiah to your ancestors
26
 when He said,

28
 Therefore, let it be known to you that this saving work of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen! ” 
[
29
 After he said these things, the Jews departed, while engaging in a prolonged debate among themselves.]
 

Paul's Ministry Unhindered

30
 Then he stayed two whole years in his own rented house. And he welcomed all who visited him,
31
 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with full boldness and without hindrance.

Romans

Romans

God's Good News for Rome

1
Paul, a
•slave
of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and singled out for God's good news  —
2
 which He promised long ago through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures —
3
 concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh 
4
 and who has been declared to be the powerful Son of God by the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness. 
5
 We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations, on behalf of His name,
6
 including yourselves who also belong to Jesus Christ by calling: 

7
 To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as
•saints
. 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul's Desire to Visit Rome

8
 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because the news of your faith is being reported in all the world. 
9
 For God, whom I serve with my spirit in telling the good news about His Son, is my witness that I constantly mention you, 
10
 always asking in my prayers that if it is somehow in God's will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 
11
 For I want very much to see you, so I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,
12
 that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.

13
 Now I want you to know, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (but was prevented until now ) in order that I might have a fruitful ministry among you, just as among the rest of the Gentiles.
14
 I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish.
15
 So I am eager to preach the good news to you also who are in Rome.

The Righteous Will Live by Faith

16
 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. 
17
 For in it God's righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written:
The righteous will live by faith.
, 

The Guilt of the Gentile World

18
 For God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 
19
 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them.
20
 For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.
21
 For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. 
22
 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 
23
 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. 

24
 Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.
25
 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. 
•Amen
.

From Idolatry to Depravity

26
 This is why God delivered them over to degrading passions. For even their females exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.
27
 The males in the same way also left natural relations with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.

28
 And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong.
29
 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 
30
 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 
31
 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful.
32
 Although they know full well God's just sentence — that those who practice such things deserve to die — they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.

Romans

God's Righteous Judgment

2
Therefore, any one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.
2
 We know that God's judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth.
3
 Do you really think — anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same — that you will escape God's judgment?
4
 Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
5
 But because of your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment is revealed.
6
 
He will repay each one according to his works
:
7
 eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality; 
8
 but wrath and indignation to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth but are obeying unrighteousness;
9
 affliction and distress for every human being who does evil, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek; 
10
 but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.
11
 There is no favoritism with God. 

12
 All those who sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all those who sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
13
 For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be declared righteous. 
14
 So, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, instinctively do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law.
15
 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts will either accuse or excuse them 
16
 on the day when God judges what people have kept secret, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus. 

Jewish Violation of the Law

17
 Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rest in the law, boast in God,
18
 know His will, and approve the things that are superior, being instructed from the law,
19
 and if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those in darkness,
20
 an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of the immature, having the full expression of knowledge and truth in the law —
21
 you then, who teach another, don't you teach yourself? You who preach, “You must not steal” — do you steal?
22
 You who say, “You must not commit adultery” — do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob their temples? 
23
 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
24
 For, as it is written:
The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

Circumcision of the Heart

25
 For circumcision benefits you if you observe the law, but if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 
26
 Therefore if an uncircumcised man keeps the law's requirements, will his uncircumcision not be counted as circumcision?
27
 A man who is physically uncircumcised, but who fulfills the law, will judge you who are a lawbreaker in spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision.
28
 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh.
29
 On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart — by the Spirit, not the letter. That man's praise is not from men but from God.