I. Address

Greeting.* 1Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus,* called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God,a 2which he promised previously through his prophets in the holy scriptures,b 3* the gospel about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh,c 4but established as Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.d 5* Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles,e 6among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ;f 7to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy.* Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.g

Thanksgiving. 8First, I give thanks* to my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is heralded throughout the world.h 9God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in proclaiming the gospel of his Son, that I remember you constantly,i 10* always asking in my prayers that somehow by God’s will I may at last find my way clear to come to you.j 11For I long to see you, that I may share with you some spiritual gift so that you may be strengthened,k 12that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by one another’s faith, yours and mine. 13I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,* that I often planned to come to you, though I was prevented until now, that I might harvest some fruit among you, too, as among the rest of the Gentiles.l 14To Greeks* and non-Greeks alike, to the wise and the ignorant, I am under obligation; 15that is why I am eager to preach the gospel also to you in Rome.m

II. Humanity Lost Without the Gospel

God’s Power for Salvation.* 16For I am not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: for Jew first, and then Greek.n 17For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith;* as it is written, “The one who is righteous by faith will live.”o

Punishment of Idolaters. 18* The wrath* of God* is indeed being revealed from heaven against every impiety and wickednessp of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them.q 20Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made.r As a result, they have no excuse; 21for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened.s 22While claiming to be wise,t they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the likeness of an image of mortal man or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes.u

24Therefore, God handed them over to impurity through the lusts of their hearts* for the mutual degradation of their bodies.v 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and revered and worshiped the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.w 26Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, 27and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity.x 28And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to their undiscerning mind to do what is improper. 29y They are filled with every form of wickedness, evil, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, and spite. They are gossips 30and scandalmongers and they hate God. They are insolent, haughty, boastful, ingenious in their wickedness, and rebellious toward their parents. 31They are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know the just decree of God that all who practice such things deserve death, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.z