Paul, a ¹bond-servant of Christ Jesus, ^acalled as an apostle (special messenger, personally chosen representative) , ^bset apart for preaching ^cthe ²gospel of God the good news of salvation, 2 which He ^apromised beforehand through His ^bprophets in the sacred Scriptures— 3 the good news regarding His Son, who, ^aas to the flesh His human nature, was born ^ba descendant of David to fulfill the covenant promises, 4 and as to His divine nature according to the Spirit of holiness was openly designated to be ^athe Son of God with power in a triumphant and miraculous way by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 It is through Him that we have received grace and our ^aapostleship to promote ^bobedience to the faith and make disciples for His name’s sake among ^call the Gentiles, 6 and you also are among those who are ^acalled of Jesus Christ to belong to Him;

7 I am writing to all who are ^abeloved of God in Rome, called to be ^bsaints (God’s people) and set apart for a sanctified life, that is, set apart for God and His purpose: ^cGrace to you and peace inner calm and spiritual well-being from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

8 First, ^aI thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because ^byour faith your trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness is being proclaimed in all the world. 9 For ^aGod, whom I ^bserve with my spirit by preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how continuously ^cI mention you 10 in my prayers; always pleading that somehow, by ^aGod’s will, I may now at last come to you. 11 For ^aI long to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift, to strengthen and establish you; 12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged and comforted by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 ^aI do not want you to be unaware, ^1bbrothers and sisters, that many times I ^chave planned to come to you, (and have been prevented so far) so that I may have some ^dfruit of my labors among you, even as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I have ^aa duty to perform and a debt to pay both to Greeks and to ^bbarbarians the cultured and the uncultured, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So, for my part, I am ready and eager to ^apreach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

16 I am not ^aashamed of the gospel, for ^bit is the power of God for salvation from His wrath and punishment to everyone who believes in Christ as Savior, to the ^cJew first and also to ^dthe Greek. 17 For in the gospel ^athe righteousness of God is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith disclosed in a way that awakens more faith. As it is written and forever remains written, “^bTHE JUST and UPRIGHT SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.” Hab 2:4

18 For God does not overlook sin and ^athe wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who in their wickedness ^bsuppress and stifle the truth, 19 because ^athat which is known about God is evident within them in their inner consciousness, for God made it evident to them. 20 For ever ^asince the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, ^bbeing understood through His workmanship all His creation, the wonderful things that He has made, so that they who fail to believe and trust in Him are without excuse and without defense. Ps 19:1-4; Eph 2:10 21 For even though ¹they knew God as the Creator, they did not ²honor Him as God or give thanks for His wondrous creation. On the contrary, they became ^aworthless in their thinking godless, with pointless reasonings, and silly speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 ^aClaiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and ^aexchanged the glory and majesty and excellence of the immortal God for ¹an image worthless idols in the shape of mortal man and birds and four-footed animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore ^aGod gave them over in the lusts of their own hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies would be ^bdishonored among them abandoning them to the degrading power of sin, 25 because by choice they exchanged the truth of God for a ^alie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, ^bwho is blessed forever! Amen. Jer 2:11

26 For this reason ^aGod gave them over to ^bdegrading and vile passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural a function contrary to nature, 27 and in the same way also the men turned away from the natural function of the woman and were consumed with their desire toward one another, ^amen with men committing shameful acts and in return receiving in their own bodies the inevitable and appropriate penalty for their wrongdoing.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or consider Him worth knowing as their Creator, ^aGod gave them over to a depraved mind, to do things which are improper and repulsive, 29 until they were filled (permeated, saturated) with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice and mean-spiritedness. They are ^agossips spreading rumors, 30 slanderers, ^ahaters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of new forms of evil, ^bdisobedient and disrespectful to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, ^aunloving, unmerciful without pity. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree and His judgment, that those who do such things deserve ^adeath, yet they not only do them, but they ^beven enthusiastically approve and tolerate others who practice them.