Romans 1
1
God’s Good News for Rome
1Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle # Or Jesus, a called apostle # 1Co 1:1; 9:1; 2Co 1:1 and singled out # Ac 9:15; 13:2; Gl 1:15 for God’s good news # Mk 1:14 — 2which He promised long ago # Ti 1:2 through His prophets # Lk 1:70; Rm 3:21; 16:26 in the Holy Scriptures — 3concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David # Lit was of the seed of David # Mt 1:1 according to the flesh # Jn 1:14; Rm 4:1; 9:3,5; 1Co 10:18 4and who has been declared to be the powerful # Ac 10:38; 13:33; 17:31; 26:23 Son of God # Mt 4:3 by the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness. # Or the spirit of holiness, or the Holy Spirit 5We have received grace and apostleship # Ac 1:25; Gl 1:16 through Him to bring about # Or Him for ; lit Him into the obedience # Ac 6:7; Rm 16:26 of faith # Or the obedience that is faith, or the faithful obedience, or the obedience that comes from faith ; Rm 16:26 among all the nations, # Or Gentiles # Ac 9:15 on behalf of His name, 6including yourselves who also belong to Jesus Christ by calling: # Jd 1; Rv 17:14
7To all who are in Rome, loved by God, # Rm 5:5; 8:39; 1Th 1:4 called # Rm 8:28; 1Co 1:24 as saints. # 1Co 1:2-4
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s Desire to Visit Rome
8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because the news of your faith # Or because your faith is being reported in all the world. # Rm 16:19 9For God, whom I serve with my spirit # 2Tm 1:3 in telling the good news about His Son, is my witness # Rm 9:1; 2Co 1:23; 11:31; Php 1:8; 1Th 2:5,10 that I constantly mention you, # Eph 1:16; Php 1:3-5; 1Th 1:2; 2Tm 1:3; Phm 4 10always asking in my prayers that if it is somehow in God’s will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you. # Ac 18:21; Rm 15:32 11For I want very much to see you, # Ac 19:21; Rm 15:23 so I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, 12that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
13Now I want you to know, # Lit I don’t want you to be unaware # 1Co 10:1; 11:3 brothers, that I often planned to come to you (but was prevented until now # Ac 19:21) in order that I might have a fruitful ministry # Lit have some fruit among you, # Jn 4:36; Rm 15:16; Php 1:22; Col 1:6 just as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians, # Or non-Greeks # Ac 28:2 both to the wise and the foolish. 15So I am eager to preach the good news # Rm 15:20; 1Co 9:16 to you also who are in Rome.
The Righteous Will Live by Faith
16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, # Other mss add of Christ # 2Tm 1:8,12,16 because it is God’s power for salvation # 1Co 1:18,24 to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, # Ac 3:26; Rm 2:9 and also to the Greek. # Jn 7:35 17For in it God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, # Or revealed out of faith into faith # Rm 3:21; 9:30; Php 3:9 just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith. # Or The one who is righteous by faith will live # Hab 2:4; Gl 3:11; Heb 10:38 # Hab 2:4
The Guilt of the Gentile World
18For God’s wrath # Rm 5:9; Eph 5:6; Col 3:6 is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, # 2Th 2:6-10 19since what can be known # Or what is known about God is evident among them, # Ac 14:17; 17:24-27 because God has shown it to them. 20For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, # Mk 10:6 being understood through what He has made. # Jb 12:7-9; Ps 19:1-6; Jr 5:21-22 As a result, people are without excuse. 21For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. # 2Kg 17:15; Jr 2:5; Eph 4:17-20 22Claiming to be wise, they became fools # Jr 10:14; 1Co 1:20 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. # Ps 106:20; Jr 2:11; Ac 17:29
24Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts # Eph 2:3; 4:19 to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, # Is 44:20; Jr 10:14; 13:25; 16:19 and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. # Rm 9:5; 2Co 11:31 Amen.
From Idolatry to Depravity
26This is why God delivered them over to degrading passions. # 1Th 4:5 For even their females exchanged natural sexual relations # Lit natural use for unnatural ones. 27The males in the same way also left natural relations # Lit natural use with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males # Lv 18:22; 20:13; 1Co 6:9 and received in their own persons # Or in themselves the appropriate penalty of their error.
28And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong. 29They are filled with all unrighteousness, # Other mss add sexual immorality evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, # 2Co 12:20 30slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, # Ps 5:5 inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, # 2Tm 3:2 31undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, # Other mss add unforgiving # 2Tm 3:3 and unmerciful. 32Although they know full well God’s just sentence — that those who practice such things deserve to die # Lit things are worthy of death # Rm 6:21 — they not only do them, but even applaud # Lit even take pleasure in # Lk 11:48; Ac 8:1; 22:20 others who practice them.
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Romans 1: HCSB
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Romans 1
1
1I, Paul, am writing this letter. I serve Christ Jesus. I have been appointed to be an apostle. God set me apart to tell others his good news. 2He promised the good news long ago. He announced it through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. 3The good news is about God’s Son. He was born into the family line of King David. 4By the Holy Spirit, he was appointed to be the mighty Son of God. God did this by raising him from the dead. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. 5We received grace because of what Jesus did. He made us apostles to the Gentiles. We must invite all of them to obey God by trusting in Jesus. We do this to bring glory to him. 6You also are among those Gentiles who are appointed to belong to Jesus Christ.
7I am sending this letter to all of you in Rome. You are loved by God and appointed to be his holy people.
May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
Paul Longs to Visit Rome
8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you. People all over the world are talking about your faith. 9I serve God with my whole heart. I preach the good news about his Son. God knows that I always remember you 10in my prayers. I pray that now at last it may be God’s plan to open the way for me to visit you.
11I long to see you. I want to make you strong by giving you a gift from the Holy Spirit. 12I want us to encourage one another in the faith we share. 13Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that I planned many times to visit you. But until now I have been kept from coming. My work has produced results among the other Gentiles. In the same way, I want to see results among you.
14I have a duty both to Greeks and to non-Greeks. I have a duty both to wise people and to foolish people. 15So I really want to preach the good news also to you who live in Rome.
16I want to preach it because I’m not ashamed of the good news. It is God’s power to save everyone who believes. It is meant first for the Jews. It is meant also for the Gentiles. 17The good news shows God’s power to make people right with himself. God’s power to be made right with him is given to the person who has faith. It happens by faith from beginning to end. It is written, “The one who is right with God will live by faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4)
God’s Anger Against Sinners
18God shows his anger from heaven. It is against all the godless and evil things people do. They are so evil that they say no to the truth. 19The truth about God is plain to them. God has made it plain. 20Ever since the world was created it has been possible to see the qualities of God that are not seen. I’m talking about his eternal power and about the fact that he is God. Those things can be seen in what he has made. So people have no excuse for what they do.
21They knew God. But they didn’t honor him as God. They didn’t thank him. Their thinking became worthless. Their foolish hearts became dark. 22They claimed to be wise. But they made fools of themselves. 23They would rather have statues of gods than the glorious God who lives forever. Their statues of gods are made to look like people, birds, animals and reptiles.
24So God let them go. He allowed them to do what their sinful hearts wanted to. He let them commit sexual sins. They made one another’s bodies impure by what they did. 25They chose a lie instead of the truth about God. They worshiped and served created things. They didn’t worship the Creator. But he is praised forever. Amen.
26So God let them continue to have their shameful desires. Their women committed sexual acts that were not natural. 27In the same way, the men turned away from their natural love for women. They burned with sexual desire for each other. Men did shameful things with other men. They suffered in their bodies for all the wrong things they did.
28They didn’t think it was important to know God. So God let them continue to have evil thoughts. They did things they shouldn’t do. 29They are full of every kind of sin, evil and ungodliness. They want more than they need. They commit murder. They want what belongs to other people. They fight and cheat. They hate others. They say mean things about other people. 30They tell lies about them. They hate God. They are rude and proud. They brag. They think of new ways to do evil. They don’t obey their parents. 31They do not understand. They can’t be trusted. They are not loving and kind. 32They know that God’s commands are right. They know that those who do evil things should die. But they continue to do those very things. They also approve of others who do them.
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