| But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. | But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. |
| For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. | So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. |
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| For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. | God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. |
| Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. | Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. |
| By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life. | True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life. |
| Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. | Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law. |
| When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. | When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. |
| The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. | The hopes of the godly result in happiness, but the expectations of the wicked come to nothing. |
| Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. | You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. |
| For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. | The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow. |
| For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. | For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance. |
| For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. | For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God. |
| That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. | So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. |
| For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. | For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. |
| For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. | For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. |
| And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. | God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. |
| But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. | But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. |
| Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. | So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. |
| The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. | For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. |
| The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. | Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment. |
| For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. | So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. |
| Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. | You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. |
| Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. | Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. |
| Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient. | They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. |
| That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. | I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death. |
