THE LETTER OF PAUL TO THE
ROMANS
1
Greeting
1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh
4 and who was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the Gentiles,
6 including you who are also called to belong to Jesus Christ;
7 to all who are in Rome, beloved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul's Desire to Visit Rome
8 First, I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.
9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that I continually remember you,
10 always pleading in my prayers that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.
11 For I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, that you may be established,
12 that is, that while I am among you we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.
13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but have been hindered until the present time) so that I might have some fruit among you as well, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish;
15 thus the eagerness on my part to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
The Power of the Gospel
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, both to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous will live by faith.”
God's Wrath Against Unrighteousness
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness.
19 Because what is known about God is evident among them, for God has made it evident to them.
20 For his invisible qualities, both his everlasting power and his divinity, have been plainly seen from the creation of the world, being perceived through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their senseless hearts were darkened.
22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
25 because they exchanged the truth of God for falsehood and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions, for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is contrary to nature.
27 In the same way the men also, having abandoned the natural function of the female, were inflamed in their lust for one another, men committing shameful acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And just as they considered it worthless to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a worthless mind, to do what is not proper.
29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, evil, covetousness, and malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and maliciousness. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
31 senseless, untrustworthy, without natural affection, irreconcilable, and unmerciful.
32 Though they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things deserve death, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.