Romans 1
1Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, appointed for the good news of God,
2which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures
3concerning his Son, who was born from the seed of David according to the flesh,
4and who was appointed as the Son-of-God-with-power by his resurrection from among the dead according to the Spirit of Holiness—Jesus Christ our Lord—
5through whom we have received grace and apostleship in order to bring about obedience that is based on trust among all the nations for the sake of his name;
6and this includes you—the called ones who belong to Jesus Christ.
7To all who are in Rome, loved by God and called to be holy ones: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all because your trust is being talked about throughout the whole world.
9For God is my witness, whom I serve with my whole heart in proclaiming the good news of his Son, that I constantly remember you
10in my prayers, always praying earnestly that somehow by the will of God I will now at last succeed in coming to you.
11For I long to see you so that I can impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you.
12In other words, so that while I am with you, we can be mutually encouraged by each other’s trust, both yours and mine.”
13Now, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact that I often planned to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), so that I would have some fruit among you also, just as I have had among the rest of the Gentiles.
14I have an obligation to both Greeks and non-Greeks, to both the wise and the foolish.
15So, as for me, I am eager to proclaim the good news to you also who are in Rome.
16For I am not ashamed of the good news, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17For in it a righteousness from God is being revealed beginning with trust and ending with trust, as it is written: But the righteous person will live by trust.
18For the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness,
19because what can be known about God is visible to them, for God has made it visible to them.
20For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—are clearly seen, because they are understood through what he has made, so they are without excuse.
21For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks to him, but their thoughts became worthless, and their hearts, which lacked understanding, became darkened.
22While claiming to be wise, they became fools,
23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal humans and birds and four-footed animals and reptiles.
24Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity with the result that they dishonored their bodies with each other.
25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and showed devotion to and served created things rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their females exchanged natural sexual relations for ones that are against nature,
27and in the same way the males also abandoned natural sexual relations with females and burned with intense desire for one another, males committing shameful acts with other males, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.
28And since they did not regard God worthy to know, God gave them over to a worthless mind to do things that should never be done.
29They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, wickedness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossips,
30slanderers, haters of God, arrogantly aggressive, prideful, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
31without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful.
32Although they know God’s righteous requirement that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.