Romans 1
Greeting
Paul, aa servant of Christ Jesus, bcalled to be an apostle, cset apart for the gospel of God, 2 which ahe promised beforehand bthrough his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, awho was descended from David baccording to the flesh 4 and awas declared to be the Son of God bin power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom awe have received grace and bapostleship cto bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name damong all the nations, 6 including you who are acalled to belong to Jesus Christ,
7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:
aGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Longing to Go to Rome
8 First, aI thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, bbecause your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 aFor God is my witness, bwhom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, cthat without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow aby God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For aI 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 aby each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that aI have often intended to come to you (but bthus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some charvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 aI am under obligation both to Greeks and to bbarbarians, 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 aI am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is bthe power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew cfirst and also to dthe Greek. 17 For in it athe righteousness of God is revealed bfrom faith for faith, cas it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness
18 For athe wrath of God bis revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be aknown 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, ahave been clearly perceived, ever since 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 abecame futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 aClaiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and aexchanged the glory of bthe immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore aGod gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to bthe dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for aa lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, bwho is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason aGod gave them up to bdishonorable 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, amen 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, aGod gave them up to ba debased mind to do cwhat 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 aGod’s righteous decree that those who practice such things bdeserve to die, they not only do them but cgive approval to those who practice them.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.