By no means! If God is not just, how can he judge the world?

Does this mean that by this faith we do away with the Law? No, not at all; instead, we uphold the Law.

Certainly not! We have died to sin---how then can we go on living in it?

What, then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law but under God's grace? By no means!

Shall we say, then, that the Law itself is sinful? Of course not! But it was the Law that made me know what sin is. If the Law had not said, "Do not desire what belongs to someone else," I would not have known such a desire.

But does this mean that what is good caused my death? By no means! It was sin that did it; by using what is good, sin brought death to me, in order that its true nature as sin might be revealed. And so, by means of the commandment sin is shown to be even more terribly sinful.

Shall we say, then, that God is unjust? Not at all.

I ask, then: Did God reject his own people? Certainly not! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

I ask, then: When the Jews stumbled, did they fall to their ruin? By no means! Because they sinned, salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make the Jews jealous of them.

"He will come and kill those men, and turn the vineyard over to other tenants." When the people heard this, they said, "Surely not!"

You know that your bodies are parts of the body of Christ. Shall I take a part of Christ's body and make it part of the body of a prostitute? Impossible!

If, then, as we try to be put right with God by our union with Christ, we are found to be sinners, as much as the Gentiles are---does this mean that Christ is serving the cause of sin? By no means!

I refuse to reject the grace of God. But if a person is put right with God through the Law, it means that Christ died for nothing!

As for me, however, I will boast only about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; for by means of his cross the world is dead to me, and I am dead to the world.

"The LORD is your mighty defender, perfect and just in all his ways; Your God is faithful and true; he does what is right and fair.

Are you trying to prove that I am unjust--- to put me in the wrong and yourself in the right?

The LORD is good; his love is eternal and his faithfulness lasts forever.

The heart of your law is truth, and all your righteous judgments are eternal.

I face your holy Temple, bow down, and praise your name because of your constant love and faithfulness, because you have shown that your name and your commands are supreme.

You will show your faithfulness and constant love to your people, the descendants of Abraham and of Jacob, as you promised our ancestors long ago.

But whoever accepts his message confirms by this that God is truthful.

As surely as God speaks the truth, my promise to you was not a "Yes" and a "No."

which is based on the hope for eternal life. God, who does not lie, promised us this life before the beginning of time,

There are these two things, then, that cannot change and about which God cannot lie. So we who have found safety with him are greatly encouraged to hold firmly to the hope placed before us.

So those who believe in the Son of God have this testimony in their own heart; but those who do not believe God, have made a liar of him, because they have not believed what God has said about his Son.

We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we know the true God. We live in union with the true God---in union with his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this is eternal life.

"To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: "This is the message from the one who is holy and true. He has the key that belonged to David, and when he opens a door, no one can close it, and when he closes it, no one can open it.

Human beings are all like a puff of breath; great and small alike are worthless. Put them on the scales, and they weigh nothing; they are lighter than a mere breath.

even when I was afraid and said, "No one can be trusted."

My knowledge is wide; I will use what I know to show that God, my Creator, is just.

I have sinned against you---only against you--- and done what you consider evil. So you are right in judging me; you are justified in condemning me.

When the Son of Man came, he ate and drank, and everyone said, 'Look at this man! He is a glutton and wine drinker, a friend of tax collectors and other outcasts!' God's wisdom, however, is shown to be true by its results."