1:1From Paul,¹ a slave² of Christ Jesus,³ called to be an apostle,⁴ set apart for the gospel of God 1:2 that he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 1:3 concerning his Son who was a descendant⁵ of David with respect to the flesh,⁶ 1:4 who was appointed the Son-of-God-in-power⁷ according to the Holy Spirit⁸ by the resurrection⁹ from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1:5 Through him¹⁰ we received grace and apostleship¹¹ to bring about the obedience¹² of faith¹³ among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name. 1:6 You also are among them,¹⁴ called to belong to Jesus Christ.¹⁵ 1:7 To all those loved by God in Rome, called to be saints: Grace and peace to you¹⁶ from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

1:8 First of all,¹⁷ I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. 1:9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, is my witness that¹⁸ I continuously remember you 1:10 and I always ask¹⁹ in my prayers, if perhaps now at last I may succeed in visiting²⁰ you in the will of God. 1:11 For I long to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, 1:12 that is, that we may be mutually comforted by one another’s faith,²¹ both yours and mine. 1:13 I do not want you to be unaware,²² brothers and sisters,²³ that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have even some fruit among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles.²⁴ 1:14 I am a debtor²⁵ both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 1:15 Thus I am eager²⁶ also to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.

1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.²⁷ 1:17 For the righteousness²⁸ of God is revealed in the gospel²⁹ from faith to faith,³⁰ just as it is written, “the righteous by faith will live.”³¹

1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people³² who suppress the truth by their³³ unrighteousness,³⁴ 1:19 because what can be known about God is plain to them;³⁵ because God has made it plain to them. 1:20 For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people³⁶ are without excuse. 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts³⁷ were darkened. 1:22 Although they claimed³⁸ to be wise, they became fools 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling a mortal human being³⁹ and birds and four-footed animals⁴⁰ and reptiles.

1:24 Therefore God gave them over⁴¹ in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor⁴² their bodies among themselves.⁴³ 1:25 They⁴⁴ exchanged the truth of God for a lie⁴⁵ and worshiped and served the creation⁴⁶ rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones,⁴⁷ 1:27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women⁴⁸ and were inflamed in their passions⁴⁹ for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.⁵⁰

1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God,⁵¹ God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done.⁵² 1:29 They are filled⁵³ with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with⁵⁴ envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 1:31 senseless, covenant-breakers,⁵⁵ heartless, ruthless. 1:32 Although they fully know⁵⁶ God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die⁵⁷, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.⁵⁸