Chapter 1

¹Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, called as an apostle, set apart to declare God’s good news, ²which he promised long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³about his Son, who was physically descended from David, ⁴and decisively declared Son of God in his holiness of spirit, by being raised from the dead—Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵through whom we have received God’s favor and been commissioned in his name to urge obedience and faith upon all the heathen, ⁶including you who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ— ⁷to all those in Rome whom God loves, who are called to be his people; God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.

⁸First I thank my God through Jesus Christ about you all, because the news of your faith is spreading all over the world. ⁹As God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in spreading the good news of his Son, I never fail to mention you when I pray, ¹⁰and to ask that somehow by God’s will I may some day at last succeed in reaching you. ¹¹For I long to see you, to convey to you some spiritual gift that will strengthen you; ¹²in other words, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by one another’s faith. ¹³I want you to understand, brothers, that I have often intended to come to see you (though thus far I have been prevented) in order to produce some results among you, as well as among the rest of the heathen. ¹⁴I owe a debt both to Greeks and to foreigners, to the cultivated and the uncultivated. ¹⁵So, for my part, I am eager to preach the good news to you at Rome also. ¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the good news, for it is God’s power for the salvation of everyone who has faith, of the Jew first and then of the Greek. ¹⁷In it God’s way of uprightness is disclosed through faith and for faith, just as the Scripture says, “The upright will have life because of his faith.”

¹⁸For God’s anger is breaking forth from heaven against all the impiety and wickedness of the men who in their wickedness are suppressing the truth. ¹⁹For all that can be known of God is clearly before them; God has shown it to them. ²⁰Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible nature—his eternal power and divine character—have been clearly perceptible through what he has made. So they have no excuse, ²¹for, though they knew God, they have not honored him as God or given thanks to him, but they have indulged in futile speculations, until their stupid minds have become dark. ²²They called themselves wise, but they have turned into fools, ²³and for the splendor of the immortal God they have substituted images in the form of mortal man, birds, animals, and reptiles.

²⁴So God abandoned them, with their heart’s cravings, to impurity, and let them degrade their own bodies. ²⁵For they had exchanged the truth of God for what was false, and worshiped and served what he had created, instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen! ²⁶That is why God has abandoned them to degrading passions. Their women have exchanged their natural function for one that is unnatural, ²⁷and men too in the same way have disregarded the natural function of women and been consumed with passion for one another, men for men, acting indecently, and experiencing in their own persons the inevitable penalty of what they have done. ²⁸And just as they refused to recognize God any longer, God has abandoned them to unworthy impulses and indecent conduct. ²⁹They revel in every kind of wrongdoing, wickedness, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, quarreling, deceit, and ill-nature. ³⁰They are gossips, slanderers, abhorrent to God, insolent, overbearing, boastful, ingenious in evil, undutiful, ³¹conscienceless, treacherous, unloving, and unpitying. ³²They know God’s decree that those who act in this way deserve to die, yet they not only do it, but applaud any who do.