1 F rom Paul, a bond servant of Jesus Christ (the Messiah) called to be an apostle, (a special messenger) set apart to the Gospel (good news) of and from God,

This letter is from Paul. I am a servant owned by Jesus Christ and a missionary chosen by God to preach His Good News.

2 W hich He promised in advance through His prophets in the sacred Scriptures—

The Good News was promised long ago by God’s early preachers in His Holy Writings.

3 r egarding His Son, Who as to the flesh (His human nature) was descended from David,

It tells of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who was born as a person in the flesh through the family of King David.

4 A nd according to the Spirit of holiness was openly designated the Son of God in power by His resurrection from the dead, even Jesus Christ our Lord (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

The Holy Spirit proved by a powerful act that Jesus our Lord is the Son of God because He was raised from the dead.

5 I t is through Him that we have received grace (God’s unmerited favor) and apostleship to promote obedience to the faith and make disciples for His name’s sake among all the nations,

Jesus has given us His loving-favor and has made us His missionaries. We are to preach to the people of all nations that they should obey Him and put their trust in Him.

6 A nd this includes you, called of Jesus Christ and invited to belong to Him.

You have been chosen to belong to Jesus Christ also.

7 T o all God’s beloved ones in Rome, called to be saints and designated for a consecrated life: Grace and spiritual blessing and peace be yours from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

So I write to all of you in the city of Rome. God loves you and has chosen you to be set apart for Himself. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you His loving-favor and peace.

8 F irst, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is made known to all the world and is commended everywhere.

First of all, I keep thanking my God, through Jesus Christ, for all of you. This is because the whole world knows of your faith in Christ.

9 F or God is my witness, Whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel and the good news of His Son, how incessantly I always mention you when at my prayers.

God knows how I work for Him. He knows how I preach with all my heart the Good News about His Son. He knows how I always pray for you.

10 I keep pleading that somehow by God’s will I may now at last prosper and come to you.

I pray that I might be able to visit you, if God wants me to.

11 F or I am yearning to see you, that I may impart and share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen and establish you;

I want to see you so I can share some special gift of the Holy Spirit with you. It will make you strong.

12 T hat is, that we may be mutually strengthened and encouraged and comforted by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

Both of us need help. I can help make your faith strong and you can do the same for me. We need each other.

13 I want you to know, brethren, that many times I have planned and intended to come to you, though thus far I have been hindered and prevented, in order that I might have some fruit (some result of my labors) among you, as I have among the rest of the Gentiles.

Christian brothers, many times I have wanted to visit you. Something has kept me from going until now. I have wanted to lead some of you to Christ also, as I have done in other places where they did not know God.

14 B oth to Greeks and to barbarians (to the cultured and to the uncultured), both to the wise and the foolish, I have an obligation to discharge and a duty to perform and a debt to pay.

I must help the people who have had a chance to hear the Good News and those who have not. I must help those with much learning and those who have never learned from books.

15 S o, for my part, I am willing and eagerly ready to preach the Gospel to you also who are in Rome.

So I want to preach the Good News to you who live in Rome also.

16 F or I am not ashamed of the Gospel (good news) of Christ, for it is God’s power working unto salvation to everyone who believes with a personal trust and a confident surrender and firm reliance, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,

I am not ashamed of the Good News. It is the power of God. It is the way He saves men from the punishment of their sins if they put their trust in Him. It is for the Jew first and for all other people also.

17 F or in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith.

The Good News tells us we are made right with God by faith in Him. Then, by faith we live that new life through Him. The Holy Writings say, “A man right with God lives by faith.”

18 F or God’s wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness repress and hinder the truth and make it inoperative.

We see the anger of God coming down from heaven against all the sins of men. These sinful men keep the truth from being known.

19 F or that which is known about God is evident to them and made plain in their inner consciousness, because God has shown it to them.

Men know about God. He has made it plain to them.

20 F or ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). So are without excuse,

Men cannot say they do not know about God. From the beginning of the world, men could see what God is like through the things He has made. This shows His power that lasts forever. It shows that He is God.

21 B ecause when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened.

They did know God, but they did not honor Him as God. They were not thankful to Him and thought only of foolish things. Their foolish minds became dark.

22 C laiming to be wise, they became fools.

They said that they were wise, but they showed how foolish they were.

23 A nd by them the glory and majesty and excellence of the immortal God were exchanged for and represented by images, resembling mortal man and birds and beasts and reptiles.

They gave honor to false gods that looked like people who can die and to birds and animals and snakes. This honor belongs to God Who can never die.

24 T herefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,

So God let them follow the desires of their sinful hearts. They did sinful things among themselves with their bodies.

25 B ecause they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever! Amen (so be it).

They traded the truth of God for a lie. They worshiped and cared for what God made instead of worshiping the God Who made it. He is the One Who is to receive honor and thanks forever. Let it be so.

26 F or this reason God gave them over and abandoned them to vile affections and degrading passions. For their women exchanged their natural function for an unnatural and abnormal one,

Because of this, God let them follow their sinful desires which lead to shame. Women used their bodies in ways God had not planned.

27 A nd the men also turned from natural relations with women and were set ablaze (burning out, consumed) with lust for one another—men committing shameful acts with men and suffering in their own bodies and personalities the inevitable consequences and penalty of their wrong-doing and going astray, which was fitting retribution.

In the same way, men left the right use of women’s bodies. They did sex sins with other men. They received for themselves the punishment that was coming to them for their sin.

28 A nd so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome,

Because they would not keep God in their thoughts anymore, He gave them up. Their minds were sinful and they wanted only to do things they should not do.

29 U ntil they were filled (permeated and saturated) with every kind of unrighteousness, iniquity, grasping and covetous greed, and malice. full of envy and jealousy, murder, strife, deceit and treachery, ill will and cruel ways. secret backbiters and gossipers,

They are full of everything that is sinful and want things that belong to others. They hate people and are jealous. They kill other people. They fight and lie. They do not like other people and talk against them.

30 S landerers, hateful to and hating God, full of insolence, arrogance, boasting; inventors of new forms of evil, disobedient and undutiful to parents.

They talk about people, and they hate God. They are filled with pride and tell of all the good they do. They think of new ways to sin. They do not obey their parents.

31 w ithout understanding, conscienceless and faithless, heartless and loveless merciless.

They are not able to understand. They do not do what they say they will do. They have no love and no loving-pity.

32 T hough they are fully aware of God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them themselves but approve and applaud others who practice them.

They know God has said that all who do such things should die. But they keep on doing these things and are happy when others do them also.