Now we know that everything in the Law applies to those who live under the Law, in order to stop all human excuses and bring the whole world under God's judgment.

What about you? You call yourself a Jew; you depend on the Law and boast about God;

You boast about having God's law---but do you bring shame on God by breaking his law?

If he was put right with God by the things he did, he would have something to boast about---but not in God's sight.

I will renew my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD.

I will forgive all the wrongs you have done, but you will remember them and be too ashamed to open your mouth." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

You will remember your evil conduct and the wrongs that you committed, and you will be disgusted with yourselves because of your sins and your iniquities.

Israel, I want you to know that I am not doing all this for your sake. I want you to feel the shame and disgrace of what you are doing. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken."

At that time you, my people, will no longer need to be ashamed that you rebelled against me. I will remove everyone who is proud and arrogant, and you will never again rebel against me on my sacred hill.

Jesus also told this parable to people who were sure of their own goodness and despised everybody else.

The Pharisee stood apart by himself and prayed, 'I thank you, God, that I am not greedy, dishonest, or an adulterer, like everybody else. I thank you that I am not like that tax collector over there.

But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even raise his face to heaven, but beat on his breast and said, 'God, have pity on me, a sinner!'

This means that no one can boast in God's presence.

So then, as the scripture says, "Whoever wants to boast must boast of what the Lord has done."

Who made you superior to others? Didn't God give you everything you have? Well, then, how can you boast, as if what you have were not a gift?

For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it.

God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.

But in order that the choice of one son might be completely the result of God's own purpose, God said to her, "The older will serve the younger." He said this before they were born, before they had done anything either good or bad; so God's choice was based on his call, and not on anything they had done.

And why not? Because they did not depend on faith but on what they did. And so they stumbled over the "stumbling stone"

Moses wrote this about being put right with God by obeying the Law: "Whoever obeys the commands of the Law will live."

His choice is based on his grace, not on what they have done. For if God's choice were based on what people do, then his grace would not be real grace.

Yet we know that a person is put right with God only through faith in Jesus Christ, never by doing what the Law requires. We, too, have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be put right with God through our faith in Christ, and not by doing what the Law requires. For no one is put right with God by doing what the Law requires.

So I find that this law is at work: when I want to do what is good, what is evil is the only choice I have.

But I see a different law at work in my body---a law that fights against the law which my mind approves of. It makes me a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body.

Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ! This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God's law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin.

For the law of the Spirit, which brings us life in union with Christ Jesus, has set me free from the law of sin and death.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not have life, but will remain under God's punishment.

But the scripture says that the whole world is under the power of sin; and so the gift which is promised on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ is given to those who believe.

The testimony is this: God has given us eternal life, and this life has its source in his Son.

Whoever has the Son has this life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.