Romans 1

Romans 1

Salutation

1Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

2which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,[#Acts 26.6; Gal 3.8]

3the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh[#Jn 1.14]

4and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,[#Acts 13.33; Heb 9.14; #1.4 Or Spirit]

5through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the gentiles for the sake of his name,[#Acts 6.7; 9.15; Gal 1.16]

6including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

7To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:[#1 Cor 1.2, 3; Gal 1; 3; Eph 1.2]

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

Prayer of Thanksgiving

8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world.[#Rom 16.19; Phil 1.3]

9For 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,[#Acts 24.14; Eph 1.16; Phil 1.8; #1.9 Gk my spirit in the gospel]

10asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you.

11For I long to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift so that you may be strengthened—

12or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

13I do not want you to be unaware, 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.

14I am obligated both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish,

15hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

The Power of the Gospel

16For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is God’s saving power for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.[#Acts 3.26; Rom 2.9; 1 Cor 1.18; 2 Tim 1.8; #1.16 Or trusts]

17For 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.”[#Rom 3.21; Gal 3.11; Heb 10.38; #1.17 Or The one who is righteous through faith will live]

The Guilt of Humankind

18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those who by their injustice suppress the truth.[#Eph 5.6; Col 3.6]

19For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

20Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been seen and understood through the things God has made. So they are without excuse,[#Ps 19.1–6]

21for 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 hearts were darkened.[#Jer 2.5; Eph 4.17, 18]

22Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

23and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.[#Ps 106.20; Jer 2.11; Acts 17.29]

24Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.[#Eph 4.18, 19; 1 Pet 4.3]

25They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.[#Isa 44.20; Jer 10.14; Rom 9.5]

26For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Their females exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural,[#Lev 18.22; Eph 4.19; 1 Thess 4.5; #1.26 Gk use]

27and in the same way also the males, giving up natural intercourse with females, were consumed with their passionate desires for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.[#Lev 18.22; 20.13; #1.27 Gk use]

28And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind and to do things that should not be done.[#Eph 4.19]

29They were filled with every kind of injustice, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips,

30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents,[#Ps 5.5; 2 Tim 3.2; #1.30 Or God-hated]

31foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.[#2 Tim 3.3]

32They 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.[#Acts 8.1; 22.20; Rom 6.21]

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, copyright © 2021 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Published by: National Council of the Churches of Christ