Romans 1:1-7

I, Paul, an apostle whom God appointed to proclaim the good message about Jesus Christ, am writing this letter to all you believers who are in Rome. I pray that God will continue to act kindly toward you and grant you peace.

1I, Paul, who serve Christ Jesus, am writing this letter. God chose me to be an apostle, and I was appointed by him {he appointed me} in order that I should proclaim ◄the good message/the gospel► that comes from him.

2Long before Jesus came to earth, God promised that he would reveal this good message by means of what his prophets wrote in the sacred Scriptures.

3This good message is about the one whom we know as his Son. As to his Son’s physical/human nature, he was born a descendant of King David.

4As to his divine nature, it was shown {God showed} powerfully that he is ◄God’s own Son/the man who is also God►. God showed this by his Holy Spirit causing him to become alive again after he died. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.

5He is the one who appointed me, who did not deserve it, to be an apostle. He did that in order that many among the non-Jews would honor him and would obey him as a result of their believing my message about him.

6You believers who are living in Rome city are included among those whom God has chosen to belong to Jesus Christ.

7I am writing this letter to all of you in Rome whom God loves and whom he has chosen to become his people. I pray that God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord will continue to act kindly toward you and will continue to cause you to have inner peace.

I thank God that people everywhere are talking about how you believers in Rome are trusting Jesus Christ. I pray that God will permit me to visit you soon. I want you to know that I have longed to visit you, but things have always prevented me from doing that. I am eager to proclaim the gospel to you who are living at Rome also.

8As I begin this letter, I thank my God for all you believers in Rome. It is because of what Jesus Christ has done for us that I am able to do that. I thank him because your trusting in Jesus Christ is something that people all over the Roman Empire [HYP] are talking about.

9God, whom I devotedly serve as I proclaim to people the gospel concerning his Son, knows that I tell the truth when I say that I always mention you whenever [DOU] I pray to God [HYP].

10I especially ask God that if he desires me to visit you, somehow at last I shall be able to do so.

11I pray this because I long to visit you to help you spiritually, in order that you will become stronger spiritually.

12I long to visit you in order that you and I might encourage each other by means of our sharing with each other how each of us trusts in Jesus.

13My fellow believers, many times I planned to visit you. I certainly want you to know [LIT] that. But I have not been able to come to you because I have been hindered {things have always prevented me} until the present time. I have wanted to come in order that I might help you to mature spiritually [IDM], as I have helped people to mature spiritually in many other non-Jewish groups [HYP].

14I feel obliged to proclaim the gospel to all non-Jewish people, specifically to people who know the Greek language and culture and to those who do not know it, to people who are educated and to those who are uneducated.

15So what I have eagerly desired is that I might proclaim this good message to you who are living in Rome also.

I very confidently proclaim the good message about what Christ has done, both to Jews and non-Jews, because by that message God reveals his way of declaring all people righteous.

16That leads me to say that I very confidently proclaim [LIT] the good message about what Christ has done, because this good message is the powerful means that God uses to save from the guilt of their sins all people who trust in what Christ has done for them. Specifically, God first has saved the Jews who believe the good message, and then he has saved non-Jews.

17By means of this good message God reveals how he erases the record of people’s sins (OR, declares people no longer guilty for having sinned); and his doing this is entirely because [IDM] they trust in Christ. This is confirmed by what a prophet long ago wrote that God said, “Those ◄whose record of sin I have erased/whom I have declared no longer guilty for sin► because they trust in me will live forever.”

God is making it clear to all non-Jewish people who are godless and wicked that he is angry with them.

18From where God rules in heaven he is making it clear to all non-Jewish people who show no respect for God and who do wicked things, that he is angry with them and that they deserve to be punished {that he would punish them} [MTY]. By means of their behaving wickedly, they keep other people from believing what they know to be true about God.

Everyone can clearly know what God is like; so no one has a basis for saying, “We never knew about God.”

19Everyone can clearly know what God is like, because God himself has revealed to everyone what he is like.

20People cannot see what God is like. But ever since he created the world, by means of what he created he has clearly revealed what he is like. He has made clear to everyone that he has always been able to do very powerful things. Therefore, we should recognize that God is powerful, completely different from all that he created. So no one has a basis for saying, “We never knew about God.”

21Although the non-Jews knew what God is like, they did not honor him as God, nor did they thank him for what he had done. But instead, they began to think foolish things about him, and they became unable to understand [MET] what he wanted them to know.

22Although they claimed that they were wise, they became foolish,

23and they refused to admit that God is glorious and will never die. Instead, they made and worshipped idols that resembled people who will some day die, and then they made other idols that resembled birds and four-footed animals, and finally they made idols that resembled reptiles.

So God let the non-Jewish people feel compelled to do disgraceful things, which resulted in their dishonoring their bodies sexually. He did this because they worshipped idols and things that were created instead of worshipping God. As a result of both men and women having unnatural sexual relations, they have been punished as they deserve.

24So God allowed the non-Jews do immoral sexual things that they [SYN] strongly desired, things that their desires were compelling them to do. As a result, they began to dishonor each other’s bodies by their sexual actions.

25Also, they chose to worship false gods instead ◄of admitting/of choosing to believe► what is true about God. They worshipped and served things that God created instead of worshipping and serving God himself, the one who created everything. They did this even though he deserves that those he created would forever praise him. Amen!/May it be so!

26So, God allowed the non-Jews to do shameful sexual things that they strongly desired. As a result, many women did not have natural sexual relations with their husbands [EUP]. Instead, they were doing sexual actions with other women [EUP].

27Similarly, many men stopped having/did not have natural sexual relations with women [EUP]. Instead, they strongly desired to have sexual relations with other men. They committed homosexual acts with other men, acts that were shameful. As a result, God has punished them by sicknesses in their bodies, which is what they deserve because they thought wrongly that God would not punish them for doing that.

The result of God’s letting people become obsessed by their own depraved thoughts was that they themselves began to do all manner of evil things that God says are improper. They even approve of others doing such things.

28Furthermore, because they decided that it was not worthwhile to know God, he allowed their own worthless thoughts to completely control them. As a result, they began doing evil things that God says that people should not do.

29They strongly desire to do all kinds of unrighteous things. They strongly desire to do all kinds of evil things to others. They strongly desire to possess things that belong to others. They strongly desire to harm others in various ways. Many non-Jews are constantly envying other people. Many constantly desire to murder people. Many constantly desire to cause strife between people. Many constantly desire to deceive others. Many constantly desire to speak hatefully about others (OR, to speak harmful things about others, things that are not true). Many gossip about others.

30Many slander others. Many act especially hatefully toward God. Many speak or act in an insulting way toward others. Many treat others contemptuously. Many boast about themselves to others. Many invent new ways to do evil things. Many non-Jewish children disobey their parents.

31Many non-Jews act in other morally foolish ways. Many do not do what they promised others that they would do. Many do not even love their own family members. And many do not act mercifully toward other people.

32Although they know that God has declared that those who do such things deserve to be killed, they not only habitually do these kinds of evil things, but they also approve of others who habitually do them.