A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Romans 1
Romans 1 is the opening chapter of the forty-fifth book of the Bible. The 32-verse chapter opens Paul's most systematic letter with an extended greeting, a statement of his eagerness to visit Rome, a thesis statement for the gospel, and the first part of his argument that all humanity stands guilty before God.
The chapter opens with Paul's formal greeting. He identifies himself as a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. He describes the gospel in terms of Jesus's descent from David and his designation as the Son of God in power through the resurrection. He addresses the letter to all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.
Paul then explains why he is writing. He has wanted to visit Rome for a long time and has been prevented. He longs to see them, to share some spiritual gift, and to be mutually encouraged by their faith.
The thesis comes in verses 16 and 17. Paul declares that he is not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew and then to the Greek. In the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.
The argument then begins. The chapter shifts in tone as Paul describes God's wrath against ungodliness. The chapter argues that what can be known about God has been clearly seen since the creation of the world, so people are without excuse. Knowing God, they did not honor him. They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images, the truth of God for a lie. The chapter describes the resulting moral disorder in a long, escalating list of consequences. The chapter closes with a final indictment: people not only do these things but approve of others who do them.
Verse 1. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, and set apart for the gospel of God—
Verse 2. the gospel He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,
Verse 3. regarding His Son, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh,
Verse 4. and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
Verse 5. Through Him and on behalf of His name, we received grace and apostleship to call all those among the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.
Verse 6. And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
Verse 7. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 8. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed all over the world.
Verse 9. God, whom I serve with my spirit in preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you
Verse 10. in my prayers at all times, asking that now at last by God’s will I may succeed in coming to you.
Verse 11. For I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,
Verse 12. that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.
Verse 13. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, how often I planned to come to you (but have been prevented from visiting until now), in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
Verse 14. I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.
Verse 15. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
Verse 16. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek.
Verse 17. For the gospel reveals the righteousness of God that comes by faith from start to finish, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Verse 18. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
Verse 19. For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
Verse 20. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse.
Verse 21. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
Verse 22. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
Verse 23. and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Verse 24. Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another.
Verse 25. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen.
Verse 26. For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
Verse 27. Likewise, the men abandoned natural relations with women and burned with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Verse 28. Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
Verse 29. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,
Verse 30. slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent new forms of evil; they disobey their parents.
Verse 31. They are senseless, faithless, heartless, merciless.
Verse 32. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.
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