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Romans 1

1Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for God's good news, 2which he promised beforehand through his prophets in holy writings, 3concerning his Son, who came from David's seed according to the flesh, 4who was appointed Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead—Jesus the Messiah our Lord. 5Through him we received grace and apostleship for the obedience of faith among all the nations for the sake of his name, 6among whom you too are called to belong to Jesus the Messiah. 7To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as holy ones: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus the Messiah.

8First, I thank my God through Jesus the Messiah for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. 9For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the good news of his Son, is my witness that I mention you without ceasing, 10always in my prayers asking whether somehow at last, by God's will, the way might open for me to come to you. 11For I long to see you, so that I may share some spiritual gift with you to strengthen you—12that is, to be encouraged together among you through one another's faith, both yours and mine. 13I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I often intended to come to you, though I have been prevented until now, so that I might have some fruit among you too, as among the other Gentiles. 14I am a debtor both to Greeks and to non-Greeks, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15So, for my part, I am eager to proclaim the good news to you in Rome too.

16For I am not ashamed of the good news, because it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it God's righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “The righteous person will live by faith.”

18For God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because what can be known of God is plain to them, for God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world, his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divinity—have been clearly seen, understood through what he has made, so that they are without excuse. 21For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or thank him, but their reasoning became futile and their uncomprehending heart was darkened. 22Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the imperishable God for the likeness of an image of perishable humanity and birds and four-footed animals and reptiles.

24Therefore God handed them over in the desires of their hearts to uncleanness, so that their bodies were dishonored among them. 25They exchanged God's truth for the lie and revered and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26For this reason God handed them over to dishonorable passions. For their females exchanged natural sexual relations for those contrary to nature, 27and likewise the males, leaving natural sexual relations with the female, burned in their desire for one another, males committing the shameful act with males and receiving in themselves the due repayment for their error.

28And just as they did not see fit to keep God in their knowledge, God handed them over to an unfit mind, to do what is not fitting. 29They are filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and spite. They are whisperers, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31without understanding, without faithfulness, without affection, without mercy. 32Although they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve death, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.

Translation notes 8

1:1–7 — Calling and titles. “Slave” retains Paul's ownership language. “Christ Jesus” follows that Greek name order; “Jesus the Messiah” expresses the title in the reverse order here. “Holy ones” means people set apart for God, not a later class of canonized saints. “Nations” can also mean Gentiles, or non-Jews; the latter sense is clearer in verse 13.

1:3–4 — Son, flesh, and Spirit. “David's seed” means his descendants. “According to the flesh” concerns human descent here. “Appointed Son of God in power” retains the appointment verb and its qualification; verse 3 already calls him God's Son. “Designated” or “declared to be Son of God with power” are significant alternatives. “Spirit of holiness” is usually understood as God's Spirit, though some understand Jesus' own spirit. The passage's relation to later accounts of Jesus' divine and human natures is not spelled out in the translation.

1:5 — Obedience of faith. This can mean obedience arising from faith or obedience consisting in faith. The compact wording preserves their close relationship rather than settling it in the text.

1:13–14 — Brothers, fruit, and peoples. “Brothers” addresses the community, including women. “Fruit” preserves the image of a result from Paul's work. “Non-Greeks” renders the Greek term often translated “barbarians”; the contrast concerns language and culture, not simply cruel behavior.

1:16–17 — Righteousness and faith. “God's righteousness” leaves visible the relationship between God's own righteousness, his saving action, and the righteous standing he gives. “From faith to faith” is deliberately compact; “by faith from beginning to end” is a significant interpretation. In the Habakkuk 2:4 quotation, “by faith” can also attach to “righteous”: “The person who is righteous by faith will live.”

1:18–25 — Knowledge and exchange. “Plain to them” in verse 19 can also be “plain among them” or “in them.” “The lie” opposes God's truth and is illustrated by worship of created things. “Handed them over” recurs in verses 24, 26, and 28; the translation retains God's action rather than reducing it to permission alone.

1:26–27 — Female and male. The Greek uses explicit female and male terms. “Sexual relations” expresses the contextual sense of the word for use or function. Verse 27 explicitly describes male sexual activity with males; the parallel strongly suggests female same-sex activity in verse 26, though that verse does not name the partners. The text does not itself restrict these acts to prostitution or coercion, and it does not use modern sexual-orientation categories. The “repayment” is not identified as a particular disease or historical event.

1:28–32 — Unfit mind and the wider list. “See fit” and “unfit” reproduce a related Greek wordplay. The list extends well beyond sexual conduct. Some textual traditions add “sexual immorality” in verse 29 and “irreconcilable” in verse 31; neither addition is in the working Greek base.