Romans 1

Greeting

1 Paul a a servant ▼
▼ Or slave (for the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface)
 of Christ Jesus c called to be an apostle d set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which e he promised beforehand f through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son g who was descended from David ▼
▼ Or  who came from the offspring of David
 i according to the flesh 4 and j was declared to be the Son of God k in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom l we have received grace and m apostleship n to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name o among all the nations, 6 including you who are p called to belong to Jesus Christ,

7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:

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

Longing to Go to Rome

8 First r I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you s because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9  t For God is my witness u whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son v that without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow w by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For x I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged y by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, ▼
▼ Or  brothers and sisters. The plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) refers to siblings in a family. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, adelphoi may refer either to men or to both men and women who are siblings (brothers and sisters) in God’s family, the church
 that aa I have often intended to come to you (but ab thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some ac harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14  ad I am under obligation both to Greeks and to ae barbarians ▼
▼ That is, non-Greeks
 both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

16 For ag I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is ah the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew ai first and also to aj the Greek. 17 For in it ak the righteousness of God is revealed al from faith for faith ▼
▼ Or beginning and ending in faith
 an as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” ▼
▼ Or  The one who by faith is righteous shall live

God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness

18 For ap the wrath of God aq is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be ar known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature as have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world ▼
▼ Or  clearly perceived from the creation of the world
 in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they au became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22  av Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and aw exchanged the glory of ax the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore ay God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to az the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for ba a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, bb who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason bc God gave them up to bd dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another be men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God bf God gave them up to bg a debased mind to do bh what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know bi God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things bj deserve to die, they not only do them but bk give approval to those who practice them.

Copyright information for ESV