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Romans 1
New Life Version
Romans 1
New Life Version
1 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 The Good News was promised long ago by God’s early preachers in His Holy Writings. 3 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 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 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 You have been chosen to belong to Jesus Christ also. 7 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 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 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 pray that I might be able to visit you, if God wants me to. 11 I want to see you so I can share some special gift of the Holy Spirit with you. It will make you strong. 12 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 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 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 So I want to preach the Good News to you who live in Rome also.
16 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 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.” (A)
18 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 Men know about God. He has made it plain to them. 20 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 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 They said that they were wise, but they showed how foolish they were. 23 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 So God let them follow the desires of their sinful hearts. They did sinful things among themselves with their bodies. 25 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
Romans 1
New International Version
Romans 1
New International Version
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle(A) and set apart(B) for the gospel of God(C)— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand(D) through his prophets(E) in the Holy Scriptures(F) 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life[a](G) was a descendant of David,(H) 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power[b](I) by his resurrection from the dead:(J) Jesus Christ our Lord.(K) 5 Through him we received grace(L) and apostleship to call all the Gentiles(M) to the obedience that comes from[c] faith(N) for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.(O)
7 To all in Rome who are loved by God(P) and called to be his holy people:(Q)
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.(R)
Paul’s Longing to Visit Rome
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you,(S) because your faith is being reported all over the world.(T) 9 God, whom I serve(U) in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness(V) how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times;(W) and I pray that now at last by God’s will(X) the way may be opened for me to come to you.(Y)
11 I long to see you(Z) so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift(AA) to make you strong— 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. 13 I do not want you to be unaware,(AB) brothers and sisters,[d](AC) that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now)(AD) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
14 I am obligated(AE) both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.(AF)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel,(AG) because it is the power of God(AH) that brings salvation to everyone who believes:(AI) first to the Jew,(AJ) then to the Gentile.(AK) 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed(AL)—a righteousness that is by faith(AM) from first to last,[e] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”[f](AN)
God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity
18 The wrath of God(AO) is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.(AP) 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 what has been made,(AQ) so that people are without excuse.(AR)
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.(AS) 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools(AT) 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images(AU) made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over(AV) in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.(AW) 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie,(AX) and worshiped and served created things(AY) rather than the Creator—who is forever praised.(AZ) Amen.(BA)
26 Because of this, God gave them over(BB) to shameful lusts.(BC) Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.(BD) 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.(BE)
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over(BF) to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 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,(BG) 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;(BH) 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love,(BI) no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death,(BJ) they not only continue to do these very things but also approve(BK) of those who practice them.
Footnotes
- Romans 1:3 Or who according to the flesh
- Romans 1:4 Or was declared with power to be the Son of God
- Romans 1:5 Or that is
- Romans 1:13 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 7:1, 4; 8:12, 29; 10:1; 11:25; 12:1; 15:14, 30; 16:14, 17.
- Romans 1:17 Or is from faith to faith
- Romans 1:17 Hab. 2:4
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