001:001 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle,
set apart to proclaim God's Good News,
001:002 which God had already promised through His Prophets in Holy Writ,
concerning His Son,
001:003 who, as regards His human descent, belonged to the posterity of David,
001:004 but as regards the holiness of His Spirit was decisively proved
by His Resurrection to be the Son of God—I mean concerning
Jesus Christ our Lord,
001:005 through whom we have received grace and Apostleship in His
service in order to win men to obedience to the faith,
among all Gentile peoples,
001:006 among whom you also, called, as you have been, to belong to Jesus Christ, are numbered:
001:007 To all God's loved ones who are in Rome, called to be saints.
May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
001:008 First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for what He
has done for all of you; for the report of your faith is
spreading through the whole world.
001:009 I call God to witness—to whom I render priestly and spiritual
service by telling the Good News about His Son—how unceasingly
I make mention of you in His presence,
001:010 always in my prayers entreating that now, at length, if such
be His will, the way may by some means be made clear for me
to come to you.
001:011 For I am longing to see you, in order to convey to you some
spiritual help, so that you may be strengthened;
001:012 in other words that while I am among you we may be mutually
encouraged by one another's faith, yours and mine.
001:013 And I desire you to know, brethren, that I have many a time intended to come to you—though until now I have been disappointed— in order that among you also I might gather some fruit from my labours, as I have already done among the rest of the Gentile nations.
001:014 I am already under obligations alike to Greek-speaking races
and to others, to cultured and to uncultured people:
001:015 so that for my part I am willing and eager to proclaim
the Good News to you also who are in Rome.
001:016 For I am not ashamed of the Good News. It is God's power
which is at work for the salvation of every one who believes—
the Jew first, and then the Gentile.
001:017 For in the Good News a righteousness which comes from God is
being revealed, depending on faith and tending to produce faith;
as the Scripture has it, "The righteous man shall live by faith."
001:018 For God's anger is being revealed from Heaven against all
impiety and against the iniquity of men who through iniquity
suppress the truth. God is angry:
001:019 because what may be known about Him is plain to their inmost consciousness; for He Himself has made it plain to them.
001:020 For, from the very creation of the world, His invisible perfections— namely His eternal power and divine nature—have been rendered intelligible and clearly visible by His works, so that these men are without excuse.
001:021 For when they had come to know God, they did not give Him glory as God nor render Him thanks, but they became absorbed in useless discussions, and their senseless minds were darkened.
001:022 While boasting of their wisdom they became utter fools,
001:023 and, instead of worshipping the imperishable God, they worshipped
images resembling perishable man or resembling birds or
beasts or reptiles.
001:024 For this reason, in accordance with their own depraved cravings,
God gave them up to uncleanness, allowing them to dishonour
their bodies among themselves with impurity.
001:025 For they had bartered the reality of God for what is unreal,
and had offered divine honours and religious service
to created things, rather than to the Creator—He who is
for ever blessed. Amen.
001:026 This then is the reason why God gave them up to vile passions.
For not only did the women among them exchange the natural
use of their bodies for one which is contrary to nature,
but the men also,
001:027 in just the same way—neglecting that for which nature intends women—
burned with passion towards one another, men practising
shameful vice with men, and receiving in their own selves
the reward which necessarily followed their misconduct.
001:028 And just as they had refused to continue to have a full knowledge
of God, so it was to utterly worthless minds that God gave
them up, for them to do things which should not be done.
001:029 Their hearts overflowed with all sorts of dishonesty,
mischief, greed, malice. They were full of envy and murder,
and were quarrelsome, crafty, and spiteful.
001:030 They were secret backbiters, open slanderers; hateful to God,
insolent, haughty, boastful; inventors of new forms of sin,
disobedient to parents, destitute of common sense,
001:031 faithless to their promises, without natural affection, without human pity.
001:032 In short, though knowing full well the sentence which God pronounces
against actions such as theirs, as things which deserve death,
they not only practise them, but even encourage and applaud
others who do them.
002:001 You are therefore without excuse, O man, whoever you are who
sit in judgement upon others. For when you pass judgement
on your fellow man, you condemn yourself; for you who sit
in judgement upon others are guilty of the same misdeeds;
002:002 and we know that God's judgement against those who commit such sins is in accordance with the truth.
002:003 And you who pronounce judgement upon those who do such things although your own conduct is the same as theirs— do you imagine that you yourself will escape unpunished when God judges?
002:004 Or is it that you think slightingly of His infinite goodness, forbearance and patience, unaware that the goodness of God is gently drawing you to repentance?
002:005 The fact is that in the stubbornness of your impenitent heart you are treasuring up against yourself anger on the day of Anger—the day when the righteousness of God's judgements will stand revealed.
002:006 To each man He will make an award corresponding to his actions;
002:007 to those on the one hand who, by lives of persistent right-doing,
are striving for glory, honour and immortality, the Life
of the Ages;
002:008 while on the other hand upon the self-willed who disobey