Salvation by Faith Alone: The Book of Romans

Children of the Promise

Lesson #10 for December 9, 2017

Scriptures: Romans 9.

1.    In Romans 1-8, Paul set out his understanding of the plan of salvation. It is free to all people, Jew and Gentile alike. But, Paul recognized that this approach might alienate many of his fellow countrymen, the Jews. So, in Romans 9-11, he addressed their issues.

“As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. . . . For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy . . . , and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (Rom. 9:13, 15).

What is Paul talking about here? What about human free will and the freedom to choose, without which very little of what we believe makes sense? Are we not free to choose or reject God? Or are these verses teaching that certain people are elected to be saved and others to be lost, regardless of their own personal choices?

The answer is found, as usual, by looking at the bigger picture of what Paul is saying. Paul is following a line of argument in which he attempts to show God’s right to pick those whom He will use as His “elected” ones. After all, God is the One who carries the ultimate responsibility of evangelizing the world. Therefore, why can He not choose as His agents whomever He wills? So long as God cuts off no one from the opportunity of salvation, such an action on God’s part is not contrary to the principles of free will. Even more important, it’s not contrary to the great truth that Christ died for all humans and His desire that everyone have salvation.

As long as we remember that Romans 9 is not dealing with the personal salvation of those it names; but that it is dealing with their call to do a certain work, the chapter presents no difficulties.—Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide* for Sabbath, December 2, 2017.

2.    The Jews had always believed that they were God’s special people. They thought they had an inside track for salvation. Some of them believed that because they were Abraham’s descendants, they had an automatic guarantee of salvation. So, when they heard Paul spelling out how the gospel was equally for Gentiles and Jews, they were upset.

3.    Paul began by saying that he would be willing to give up his own eternal salvation if it would save the Jews. (See Romans 9:1-3; 10:1; 11:1-2[1]. Compare Moses in Exodus 32:30-34[2].) He acknowledged the fact that God chose their ancestors to be His special people. But, he also recognized that they had had a number of problems. Hosea 4:17[3] even suggested that the time might have come for God to abandon them completely! Hosea 2:8 says that in Hosea’s day, they were referred to not as God’s own people but as idol worshipers. But, as always, God was ready to take them back if they repented and turned to Him. (Hosea 2:14-23)[4] God’s attitude toward the Gentiles, however, is also clearly spelled out. (Hosea 2:23)

4.    Seventh-day Adventists have sometimes had a similar attitude. We have often suggested that “we have the truth,” when, in fact, God wishes that the truth had us! Why do many modern Christian churches claim that they are the one true church?

5.    Why do you think God chose Abram/Abraham? Was Abraham particularly righteous? Was he the best available? Was Abram the one who responded to God? Or, was Abraham called to do a special work for God-a special mission? What about us? (Romans 8:29-30)[5]

6.    What is God’s “election”? Is that referring to God offering us salvation? Or, is it talking about God choosing us to do a special work for Him? Many Christians especially those in the Calvinistic tradition have believed that this passage is talking about salvation. If that is true, then we are subject to “predestination.” Predestination means that God has already decided who is going to be saved and who is going to be lost, and there is nothing we can do about it. If that is true, is there any role left for human free choice? Is there any freedom of any kind? Does it matter what we believe? And if you say: “Okay, I will do whatever I want since it doesn’t matter,” they will respond that that is proof that you have been chosen to be lost!

7.    But, if this passage is talking about the ones God is calling to do a special work for Him, then, since He is the one responsible for spreading the gospel throughout the universe, He certainly has the right to choose anyone He wants to serve as His agent. Could God have chosen a better method of getting His work done? Wouldn’t the angels have done a better job of spreading the gospel than we are doing? Why did God choose to give us this job?

8.    What does this “calling” or “election” mean? Read Exodus 19:5-6 and 1 Peter 2:9[6]. Notice that God’s words about the people of Israel are almost identical with His New Testament words through Peter about the Christian church. But, we must remember that our freedom affects what God can do with us! Without freedom, there is no possibility for love; and God is all about love. (1 John 4:8,16)[7] God cannot force you to love Him and still have freedom.

9.    What was God’s original plan for the Israelites? Weren’t they placed at the crossroads of the ancient world so that they could witness for God? Weren’t they supposed to be shining lights to all around them? But, they believed that they had been chosen for special privileges and not for special responsibilities. How soon did Abraham and his descendants fall short of God’s ideal for them? Notice this interesting selection.

If man had kept the law of God, as given to Adam after his fall, preserved in the ark by Noah, and observed by Abraham, there would have been no necessity of the ordinance of circumcision. And if the descendants of Abraham had kept the covenant, which circumcision was a token or pledge of, they would never have gone into idolatry, and been suffered to go down into Egypt, and there would have been no necessity of God’s proclaiming his law from Sinai, and engraving it upon tables of stone, and guarding it by definite directions in the judgments and statutes given to Moses.

Moses wrote these judgments and statutes from the mouth of God while he was with him in the mount. If the people of God had obeyed the principles of the ten commandments, there would have been no need of the specific directions given to Moses, which he wrote in a book, relative to their duty to God and to one another. The definite directions which the Lord gave to Moses in regard to the duty of his people to one another, and to the stranger, are the principles of the ten commandments simplified, and given in a definite manner that they need not err.—Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts,* vol. 3, 299.2-300.0 (1864); 1SP* 264.2265.1; The Signs of the Times,* June 17, 1880, par. 2-3. First paragraph: Patriarchs and Prophets* 364.2; second paragraph: compare Ibid.* 364.3; compare Pamphlet 064* p. 19 (1875).

10.    Doesn’t this passage seem to suggest that even in the earliest generations of Abraham’s descendants, they were departing quite some distance from God’s original plan? Who did the twelve sons of Jacob marry? Were they being sucked into Canaanite culture and religion? If

God had left them there in Canaan, how long would it have been before they just melted into Canaanite society? If they had remained faithful to God, they would never have been in Egypt! It should not have been necessary for God to give them the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai! But, weren’t they the “elected” ones?

The children of Israel were to occupy all the territory which God appointed them. Those nations that rejected the worship and service of the true God were to be dispossessed. But it was God’s purpose that by the revelation of His character through Israel men should be drawn unto Him. To all the world the gospel invitation was to be given. Through the teaching of the sacrificial service Christ was to be uplifted before the nations, and all who would look unto Him should live. All who, like Rahab the Canaanite, and Ruth the Moabitess, turned from idolatry to the worship of the true God, were to unite themselves with His chosen people. As the numbers of Israel increased they were to enlarge their borders, until their kingdom should embrace the world.—Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons* 290.1.

11.    Read Romans 9:1-12.[8] Paul was making it very clear that he had a great burden for his fellow Israelites. But, at the same time, he was pointing out that direct descent from Abraham did not make them automatically God’s privileged people. We are not saved by genetics. And he concluded with that challenging phrase, “I loved Jacob ... but I hated Esau”! It is from this verse and the following verses that Calvin and others came up with the idea of predestination.

12.    But, that is a result of not reading the Scriptures correctly. The verse quoted in Romans 9:13 is found in Malachi 1:2-3[9]. That is not a prediction of how God would treat them in the future; it is a summary of their relationship to Him hundreds of years earlier. Now, it is true that Rebekah was given a prophecy about the two children in her womb; (Genesis 25:19-26)[10] but, that prophecy simply stated that God had chosen Jacob rather than Esau to be the ancestor of His Son. It was a prophecy about the work that God had given them to do-not salvation.

13.    Did God really hate Esau? What is implied when we say God hates someone? How can a God who is love (1 John 4:8,16) hate anyone? There are many texts in Scripture suggesting that God loves everyone and wants to save everyone. And that would include Esau. So, how are we to read this passage? In scriptural language, to hate simply means to love less. It is a way of expressing preference for one as opposed to another. (See Genesis 29:31[11] [KJV\.) God “hates” anything that damages His children.

14.    God’s response to Jacob and Esau was based on their own behavior and choices. Salvation does not come automatically through genealogy. Clearly, God did not choose as His special agents all the descendants of Abraham through his eight sons. (Genesis 25:1)[12]

15.    Notice two important facts: 1) Not everyone who was a descendant of Abraham will be saved. And 2) God will not even save all the descendants of Isaac or Jacob. Therefore, salvation is based on a relationship with God-not on heredity. Did the Jews accept this?

16.    As you consider these facts, are you comfortable with the idea that God is fair to everyone?

17.    Review the history of God’s relationship with human beings from the time of Adam to our day. He chose Adam and Eve, and their descendants ended up in the flood. He chose Noah, and his descendants soon became idol worshipers at the tower of Babel. He chose Abraham and worked with his descendants for almost 2000 years, and they finally crucified God’s own Son. He started over again with the Christian church, and it became the little horn of Daniel 7 and 8 and the leopard-like beast of Revelation 13. He worked with the Protestant reformers until their followers became almost as spiritually dead as the church from which they had come. God then chose to work with a small group calling themselves Seventh-day Adventists, and that is where we are. Is it likely that we will accomplish what none of those previous groups have succeeded in doing? This far from the tree of life, shrunken and shriveled as we are, what are the chances that we can be successful against the Devil?

18.    Read Romans 9:13-18[13]. What impression do you get from reading these verses? Does God seem at least a little bit arbitrary? Are we all just puppets? Doesn’t God’s desire to save everyone (1 Timothy 2:3-4; Titus 2:11; 2 Peter 3:9)[14] include people like Esau? Haven’t we all been chosen to be saved, not lost? (Ephesians 1:4-5; 2 Peter 1:10)[15] Why have human beings as a group generally failed so miserably to follow God’s plan for their lives? God has chosen every one of us to be His eternally-saved, elect children. (See Romans 1-8.)[16] Are we going to allow sin to deny us that wonderful heritage?

19.    In many ways we Adventists are in a position similar to that of the Jews. Haven’t we been given a message for the whole world? (Revelation 14:6-12)[17] Are we hiding our lights under a basket? Or, are we letting them shine out to all those around us? Why are we still here almost 2000 years after the life and death of Jesus and 173 years after the Great Disappointment? Are we in this generation just going to pass the job of finishing the gospel to the next generation and not make any more progress than those before us?

20.    Is there any basis from Scripture or any evidence in God’s behavior in more recent times that He regards any race, caste, ethnicity, color, or gender as having any special privilege when it comes to salvation? (Galatians 3:28) What are we doing to reach out to everyone in the world?

21.    So far in Romans, we have seen that: 1) Romans 1-3 spells out very clearly that we are all sinners. If we are all sinners-and on that basis equally lost-there is not much basis for arguing amongst ourselves about who is better! 2) In Romans 4-8, Paul explained why he believed that salvation is universally available to everyone. None of us can claim an inside track or special privileges.

22.    Read Romans 9:14-15.[18] Do these verses suggest to you that it is impossible for human beings to understand God? Or, is God telling us through Paul that we may not always understand why He does what He does; but, when we see the larger picture, we will understand? Compare Exodus 9:34-10:1[19] (KJV). How did God actually harden Pharaoh’s heart? Did Pharaoh’s own choices have anything to do with it? How do we explain the fact that in those three verses it says, “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened,” “Pharaoh hardened his own heart,” and “God hardened his heart”? By rebelling against God’s wishes, Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and God brought it about by sending the plagues. Why did God send the plagues on Egypt? Didn’t He love the Egyptians also? Was it fair to nearly destroy the entire nation and kill all the firstborn because Pharaoh was so stubborn?

23.    The crucial point in all this is that as fallen human beings we have such a narrow view of the world, of reality, and of God and how He works in the world. How can we expect to understand all of God’s ways when the natural world, everywhere we turn, holds mysteries we can’t understand? After all, it was only in the past 171 years that doctors learned it might be a good idea to wash their hands before performing surgery! That’s how steeped in ignorance we have been. And who knows, if time should last, what other things will we discover in the future that will reveal just how steeped in ignorance we are today?

Certainly we don’t always understand God’s ways, but Jesus came to reveal to us what God is like (John 14:9). Why, then, amid all of life’s mysteries and unexpected events is it so crucial for us to dwell on the character of Christ and what He has revealed to us about God and His love for us? How can knowing what God’s character is like help us to stay faithful amid trials that seem so unjustified and so unfair?—Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide* for Tuesday, December 5.

24.    What should be our main mission to the world in our day? Isn’t Jesus supposed to be our Example? Didn’t Jesus come primarily to teach us about the Father? (John 14:9) How well are we doing at correctly representing God to the world?

The law of Jehovah was burdened with needless exactions and traditions, and God was represented as severe, exacting, revengeful, and arbitrary. He was pictured as one who could take pleasure in the sufferings of his creatures. The very attributes that belonged to the character of Satan, the evil one represented as belonging to the character of God. Jesus came to teach men of the Father, to correctly represent him before the fallen children of earth. Angels could not fully portray the character of God, but Christ, who was a living impersonation of God, could not fail to accomplish the work. The only way in which he could set and keep men right was to make himself visible and familiar to their eyes.

Christ exalted the character of God, attributing to him the praise, and giving to him the credit, of the whole purpose of his own mission on earth,-to set men right through the revelation of God. In Christ was arrayed before men the paternal grace and the matchless perfections of the Father. In his prayer just before his crucifixion, he declared, “I have manifested thy name.”

“I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” When the object of his mission was attained,-the revelation of God to the world,-the Son of God announced that his work was accomplished, and that the character of the Father was made manifest to men.—Ellen G. White, The Signs of the Times,* January 20, 1890, par. 6,9. Compare Manuscript Releases,* vol. 18, 359; RH* August 14, 1900; Yl* November 21, 1883.

25.    One of the largest issues raised by Romans 9 is the question of freedom versus foreknowledge. Do you believe that God has foreknowledge? If God is able to know in advance even our moral choices, does that eliminate the possibility of human freedom?

26.    How could God so correctly predict the rise and fall of the great empires of the ancient world and what has happened since then all the way to the second coming of Jesus? Did God manipulate things to make them come out the way He wanted them to? Or, could He, somehow, see the future?

27.    Read Job 1:6; 2:1; 42:7-8.[20] Was God able to predict in advance the outcome of that experiment? Did God manipulate the results? How did God know that Noah would only need a boat of a certain size and not a whole fleet of larger boats for all the people who would want to get aboard? Is there any evidence that God refused anyone admission to the ark? How do you understand Isaiah 40-55?

28.    In the New Testament when God performed several miracles to get Peter to go to Cornelius’s house and then poured out the Holy Spirit upon Cornelius’s family, wasn’t that sufficient reason for believing that God was willing to save Gentiles too? Why was that such a difficult thing for even the Christian leaders in Jerusalem to accept? (See Acts 10 & 11; compare 1 Timothy 2:4.)[21] Why did Peter find it so hard to accept Gentiles?

29.    Read Romans 9:25-29.[22] Why did Paul suggest that only a few Jews will be saved?

In Romans 9:25 Paul quotes Hosea 2:23, and in Romans 9:26 he quotes Hosea 1:10. The background is that God instructed Hosea to take “a wife of whoredoms” (Hos. 1:2) as an illustration of God’s relationship with Israel, because the nation had gone after strange gods. The children born to this marriage were given names signifying God’s rejection and punishment of idolatrous Israel. The third child was named Loammi(Hos. 1:9), meaning literally “not my people.”

Yet, amid all this, Hosea predicted that the day would come when, after punishing His people, God would restore their fortunes, take away their false gods, and make a covenant with them. (See Hos. 2:11-19.[23]) At this point those who were Loammi, “not my people,” would become Ammi, “my people.”

In Paul’s day, the Ammi were “even us, . . . not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles” (Rom. 9:24). What a clear and powerful presentation of the gospel, a gospel that from the start was intended for the whole world. No wonder we as Seventh-day Adventists take part of our calling from Revelation 14:6, “Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people” (NKJV). Today, as in Paul’s day, and as in the days of ancient Israel, the good news of salvation is to be spread throughout the world.—Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide* for Wednesday, December 6.

Are we doing that? As a church? Do we as individuals have any responsibility in doing that?

30.    Read Romans 9:30-32[24]. Who or what was the stumbling block? Is this parable related to Jesus’s own statement recorded in Luke 20:18[25]? In what sense was Jesus a stumbling block to the Jews? Was it that He was not the kind of Messiah they were hoping would come? Could we make a similar mistake? (See Acts 2:41; contrast 1 Peter 2:6-8.)

There is an election of individuals and a people, the only election found in the word of God, where man is elected to be saved. Many have looked at the end, thinking they were surely elected to have heavenly bliss; but this is not the election the Bible reveals. Man is elected to work out his own salvation with fear and trembling. He is elected to put on the armor, to fight the good fight of faith. He is elected to use the means God has placed within his reach to war against every unholy lust, while Satan is playing the game of life for his soul. He is elected to watch unto prayer, to search the Scriptures, and to avoid entering into temptation. He is elected to have faith continually. He is elected to be obedient to every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, that he may be, not a hearer only, but a doer of the word. This is Bible election.—Ellen G. White, A Tract: The Sin of Licentiousness;* Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers,* 453.5-454.0.

© 2017, Kenneth Hart, MD, MA, MPH. Permission is hereby granted for any noncommercial use of these materials. Free distribution of all or of a portion of this material such as to a Bible study class is encouraged. *Electronic version.    Info@theox.org

1-Rom 9:1-3 NIV I speak the truth in Christ--I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit-- (2) I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. (3) For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race,

Rom 10:1 NIV Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.

Rom 11:1-2 NIV I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. (2) God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don't you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah--how he appealed to God against Israel:

2-Exo 32:30-34 NIV The next day Moses said to the people, "You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." (31) So Moses went back to the LORD and said, "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. (32) But now, please forgive their sin--but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written." (33) The LORD replied to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. (34) Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin."

3-Hos 4:17 NIV Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone!

4-Hos 2:14-23 NIV "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. (15) There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. (16) "In that day," declares the LORD, "you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master.' (17) I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked. (18) In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety. (19) I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. (20) I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD. (21) "In that day I will respond," declares the LORD-- "I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth; (22) and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. (23) I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one.' I will say to those called 'Not my people,' 'You are my people'; and they will say, 'You are my God.'"

5-Rom 8:29-30 NIV For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. (30) And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

6-Exo 19:5-6 NIV Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, (6) you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."

1Pe 2:9 NIV But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

7-1Jn 4:8 NIV Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1Jn 4:16 NIV And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

8-Rom 9:1-12 NIV I speak the truth in Christ--I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit-- (2) I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. (3) For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, (4) the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. (5) Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen. (6) It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. (7) Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." (8) In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. (9) For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son." (10) Not only that, but Rebekah's children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. (11) Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad--in order that God's purpose in election might stand: (12) not by works but by him who calls--she was told, "The older will serve the younger."

9-Mal 1:2-3 NIV "I have loved you," says the LORD. "But you ask, 'How have you loved us?' "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" declares the LORD. "Yet I have loved Jacob, (3) but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals."

10-Gen 25:19-26 NIV This is the account of the family line of Abraham's son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, (20) and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. (21) Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. (22) The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the LORD. (23) The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger." (24) When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. (25) The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. (26) After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

11-Gen 29:31 NIV When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless.

12-Gen 25:1 NRSV Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah.

13-Rom 9:13-18 NRSV As it is written, "I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau." (14) What then are we to say? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! (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." (16) So it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy. (17) For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth." (18) So then he has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses.

14-1Ti 2:3-4 NRSV This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, (4) who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Tit 2:11 NRSV For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all,

2Pe 3:9 NRSV The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.

15-Eph 1:4-5 NRSV just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. (5) He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,

2Pe 1:10 NRSV Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble.

16-Rom 1:1-32 NRSV Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, (2) which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, (3) the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh (4) and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, (5) through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, (6) including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, (7) To all God's beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (8) First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. (9) For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, (10) asking that by God's will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. (11) For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you-- (12) or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. (13) I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. (14) I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish (15) --hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome. (16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (17) For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, "The one who is righteous will live by faith." (18) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. (19) For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. (20) Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; (21) for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. (22) Claiming to be wise, they became fools; (23) and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. (24) Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, (25) because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (26) For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, (27) and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error. (28) And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. (29) They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, (30) slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, (31) foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. (32) They know God's decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die--yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.

Rom 2:1-29 NRSV Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. (2) You say, "We know that God's judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth." (3) Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? (4) Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (5) But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. (6) For he will repay according to each one's deeds: (7) to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; (8) while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. (9) There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, (10) but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. (11) For God shows no partiality. (12) All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. (13) For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God's sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified. (14) When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. (15) They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them (16) on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all. (17) But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relation to God (18) and know his will and determine what is best because you are instructed in the law, (19) and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, (20) a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, (21) you, then, that teach others, will you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? (22) You that forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You that abhor idols, do you rob temples? (23) You that 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." (25) Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. (26) So, if those who are uncircumcised keep the requirements of the law, will not their uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? (27) Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you that have the written code and circumcision but break the law. (28) For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. (29) Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart--it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God.

Rom 3:1-31 NRSV Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? (2) Much, in every way. For in the first place the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. (3) What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? (4) By no means! Although everyone is a liar, let God be proved true, as it is written, "So that you may be justified in your words, and prevail in your judging." (5) But if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God, what should we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) (6) By no means! For then how could God judge the world? (7) But if through my falsehood God's truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? (8) And why not say (as some people slander us by saying that we say), "Let us do evil so that good may come"? Their condemnation is deserved! (9) What then? Are we any better off? No, not at all; for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, (10) as it is written: "There is no one who is righteous, not even one; (11) there is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. (12) All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, there is not even one." (13) "Their throats are opened graves; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of vipers is under their lips." (14) "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." (15) "Their feet are swift to shed blood; (16) ruin and misery are in their paths, (17) and the way of peace they have not known." (18) "There is no fear of God before their eyes." (19) Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. (20) For "no human being will be justified in his sight" by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. (21) But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, (22) the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, (23) since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; (24) they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (25) whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; (26) it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus. (27) Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. (28) For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law. (29) Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, (30) since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. (31) Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Rom 4:1-25 NRSV What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? (2) For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. (3) For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." (4) Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. (5) But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness. (6) So also David speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: (7) "Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; (8) blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin." (9) Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We say, "Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness." (10) How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. (11) He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, (12) and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised. (13) For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. (14) If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. (15) For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. (16) For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, (17) as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations")--in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. (18) Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said, "So numerous shall your descendants be." (19) He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. (20) No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, (21) being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. (22) Therefore his faith "was reckoned to him as righteousness." (23) Now the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, (24) but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, (25) who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

Rom 5:1-21 NRSV Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (2) through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. (3) And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, (4) and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, (5) and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (6) For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (7) Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. (8) But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. (9) Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. (10) For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. (11) But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (12) Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned-- (13) sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. (14) Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come. (15) But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man's trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. (16) And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. (17) If, because of the one man's trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. (18) Therefore just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. (19) For just as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. (20) But law came in, with the result that the trespass multiplied; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, (21) so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rom 6:1-23 NRSV What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? (2) By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? (3) Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (4) Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (5) For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (6) We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. (7) For whoever has died is freed from sin. (8) But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. (9) We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. (10) The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. (11) So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (12) Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. (13) No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. (14) For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (15) What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! (16) Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? (17) But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, (18) and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (19) I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. (20) When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. (21) So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. (22) But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. (23) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom 7:1-25 NRSV Do you not know, brothers and sisters--for I am speaking to those who know the law--that the law is binding on a person only during that person's lifetime? (2) Thus a married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is discharged from the law concerning the husband. (3) Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress. (4) In the same way, my friends, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. (5) While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. (6) But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are slaves not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit. (7) What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." (8) But sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law sin lies dead. (9) I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived (10) and I died, and the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. (11) For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. (12) So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. (13) Did what is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, working death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. (14) For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. (15) I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. (16) Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. (17) But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. (18) For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. (19) For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. (20) Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. (21) So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. (22) For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, (23) but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. (24) Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (25) Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.

Rom 8:1-39 NRSV There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. (3) For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, (4) so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (5) For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. (6) To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (7) For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law--indeed it cannot, (8) and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (9) But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (10) But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (11) If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. (12) So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- (13) for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (14) For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. (15) For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" (16) it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (17) and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ--if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. (18) I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. (19) For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; (20) for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope (21) that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (22) We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; (23) and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. (24) For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? (25) But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (26) Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. (27) And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (28) We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. (29) For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. (30) And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. (31) What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? (32) He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? (33) Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. (34) Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. (35) Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (36) As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered." (37) No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (38) For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, (39) nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

17-Rev 14:6-12 NRSV Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth--to every nation and tribe and language and people. (7) He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water." (8) Then another angel, a second, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." (9) Then another angel, a third, followed them, crying with a loud voice, "Those who worship the beast and its image, and receive a mark on their foreheads or on their hands, (10) they will also drink the wine of God's wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and they will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. (11) And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image and for anyone who receives the mark of its name." (12) Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus.

18-Rom 9:14-15 NRSV What then are we to say? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! (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."

19-Exo 9:34-35 KJV And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. (35) And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the LORD had spoken by Moses.

Exo 10:1 KJV And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him:

20-Job 1:6 NRSV One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.

Job 2:1 NRSV One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.

Job 42:7-8 NRSV After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. (8) Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done."

21-Act 10:1-48 NRSV In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called. (2) He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God. (3) One afternoon at about three o'clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, "Cornelius." (4) He stared at him in terror and said, "What is it, Lord?" He answered, "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. (5) Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter; (6) he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside." (7) When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him, (8) and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa. (9) About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. (10) He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. (11) He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. (12) In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. (13) Then he heard a voice saying, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat." (14) But Peter said, "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean." (15) The voice said to him again, a second time, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane." (16) This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven. (17) Now while Peter was greatly puzzled about what to make of the vision that he had seen, suddenly the men sent by Cornelius appeared. They were asking for Simon's house and were standing by the gate. (18) They called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was staying there. (19) While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Look, three men are searching for you. (20) Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation; for I have sent them." (21) So Peter went down to the men and said, "I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for your coming?" (22) They answered, "Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say." (23) So Peter invited them in and gave them lodging. The next day he got up and went with them, and some of the believers from Joppa accompanied him. (24) The following day they came to Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. (25) On Peter's arrival Cornelius met him, and falling at his feet, worshiped him. (26) But Peter made him get up, saying, "Stand up; I am only a mortal." (27) And as he talked with him, he went in and found that many had assembled; (28) and he said to them, "You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. (29) So when I was sent for, I came without objection. Now may I ask why you sent for me?" (30) Cornelius replied, "Four days ago at this very hour, at three o'clock, I was praying in my house when suddenly a man in dazzling clothes stood before me. (31) He said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. (32) Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon, who is called Peter; he is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.' (33) Therefore I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. So now all of us are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say." (34) Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, (35) but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. (36) You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all. (37) That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: (38) how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. (39) We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; (40) but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, (41) not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. (42) He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. (43) All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." (44) While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. (45) The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, (46) for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, (47) "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" (48) So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

Act 11:1-30 NRSV Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. (2) So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, (3) saying, "Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?" (4) Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, (5) "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. (6) As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. (7) I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' (8) But I replied, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' (9) But a second time the voice answered from heaven, 'What God has made clean, you must not call profane.' (10) This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. (11) At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. (12) The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. (13) He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, 'Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; (14) he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.' (15) And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. (16) And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' (17) If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?" (18) When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, "Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life." (19) Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, and they spoke the word to no one except Jews. (20) But among them were some men of Cyprus and Cyrene who, on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists also, proclaiming the Lord Jesus. (21) The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number became believers and turned to the Lord. (22) News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. (23) When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion; (24) for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord. (25) Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, (26) and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called "Christians." (27) At that time prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. (28) One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine over all the world; and this took place during the reign of Claudius. (29) The disciples determined that according to their ability, each would send relief to the believers living in Judea; (30) this they did, sending it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

1Ti 2:4 NRSV who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

22-Rom 9:25-29 NRSV As indeed he says in Hosea, "Those who were not my people I will call 'my people,' and her who was not beloved I will call 'beloved.'" (26) "And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they shall be called children of the living God." (27) And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, "Though the number of the children of Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved; (28) for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth quickly and decisively." (29) And as Isaiah predicted, "If the Lord of hosts had not left survivors to us, we would have fared like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah."

23-Hos 2:11-19 NRSV I will put an end to all her mirth, her festivals, her new moons, her sabbaths, and all her appointed festivals. (12) I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, "These are my pay, which my lovers have given me." I will make them a forest, and the wild animals shall devour them. (13) I will punish her for the festival days of the Baals, when she offered incense to them and decked herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, says the LORD. (14) Therefore, I will now allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. (15) From there I will give her her vineyards, and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she shall respond as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. (16) On that day, says the LORD, you will call me, "My husband," and no longer will you call me, "My Baal." (17) For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more. (18) I will make for you a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety. (19) And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy.

24-Rom 9:30-32 NRSV What then are we to say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith; (31) but Israel, who did strive for the righteousness that is based on the law, did not succeed in fulfilling that law. (32) Why not? Because they did not strive for it on the basis of faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,

25-Luk 20:18 NRSV Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls."

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