Romans 1:18–3:20

God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness

¹⁸For ^athe wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who ^bsuppress the truth ¹in unrighteousness,

¹⁹because ^athat which is known about God is evident ¹within them; for God made it evident to them.

²⁰For ^asince the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, ^bbeing understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

²¹For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became ^afutile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.

^22aProfessing to be wise, they became fools,

²³and ^aexchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

²⁴Therefore ^aGod gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be ^bdishonored among them.

²⁵For they exchanged the truth of God for ¹a ^alie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, ^bwho is blessed ²forever. Amen.

²⁶For this reason ^aGod gave them over to ^bdishonorable passions; for their ^cfemales exchanged the natural function for that which is ¹unnatural,

²⁷and in the same way also the ^amales abandoned the natural function of the female and burned in their desire toward one another, ^bmales with males committing ¹indecent acts and receiving in ²their own persons the due penalty of their error.

²⁸And just as they did not see fit ¹to acknowledge God, ^aGod gave them over to an unfit mind, to do those things which are not proper,

²⁹having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are ^agossips,

³⁰slanderers, ^1ahaters of God, violent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, ^bdisobedient to parents,

³¹without understanding, untrustworthy, ^aunloving, unmerciful;

³²and although they know the righteous requirement of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of ^adeath, they not only do the same, but also ^bgive hearty approval to those who practice them.

CHAPTER 2

God’s Righteous Judgment

¹Therefore you are ^awithout excuse, ^bO man, everyone who passes judgment, for in that which ^cyou judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

²And we know that the judgment of God ¹rightly falls upon those who practice such things.

³But do you presume this, ^aO man—who passes judgment on those who practice such things and does the same—that you will escape the judgment of God?

⁴Or do you think lightly of ^athe riches of His ^bkindness and ^cforbearance and ^dpatience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

⁵But ¹because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart ^ayou are storing up wrath for yourself ^bin the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

^6awho will repay to each according to his works:

⁷to those who by ^aperseverance in doing good seek for ^bglory and honor and ^cimmortality, ^deternal life;

⁸but to those who are ^aselfishly ambitious and ^bdo not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and anger.

⁹There will be ^aaffliction and turmoil ¹for every soul of man who works out evil, of the Jew ^bfirst and also of the Greek,

¹⁰but ^aglory and honor and peace to everyone who works good, to the Jew ^bfirst and also to the Greek.

¹¹For ^athere is no partiality with God.

¹²For all who have sinned ^1awithout the Law will also perish ²without the Law, and all who have sinned ³under the Law will be judged ⁴by the Law.

¹³For it is ^anot the hearers ¹of the Law who are ²just before God, but the doers ³of the Law will be justified.

¹⁴For when Gentiles who do not have ¹the Law ^anaturally do the things of the Law, these, not having ²the Law, are a law to themselves,

¹⁵in that they demonstrate ^athe work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,

¹⁶on the day when, ^aaccording to my gospel, ^bGod will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

The Jew Is Judged by the Law

¹⁷But if you bear the name “Jew” and ^arely ¹upon the Law and boast in God,

¹⁸and know His will and ^1aapprove the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law,

¹⁹and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

²⁰a ¹corrector of the foolish, a teacher of ²the immature, having in the Law ^athe embodiment of knowledge and of the truth,

²¹you, therefore, ^awho teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who ¹preach that one shall not steal, do you steal?

²²You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you ^arob temples?

²³You who ^aboast ¹in the Law, through your transgression of the Law, do you dishonor God?

²⁴For “^athe name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles ^bbecause of you,” just as it is written.

²⁵For indeed circumcision is of value if you ^apractice ¹the Law, but if you are a transgressor ²of the Law, ^byour circumcision has become uncircumcision.

^26aSo if ^bthe ¹uncircumcised man ^cobserves the righteous requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?

²⁷And ^ahe who is physically uncircumcised, if he ¹fulfills the Law, will he not ^bjudge you who, through the letter of the Law and circumcision, are a transgressor ²of the Law?

²⁸For ^ahe is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.

²⁹But ^ahe is a Jew who is one inwardly; and ^bcircumcision is that which is of the heart, by the ^cSpirit, not by the letter; ^dand his praise is not from men, but from God.

CHAPTER 3

There Is None Righteous

¹Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?

²Great in every respect. First of all, that ^athey were entrusted with the ^boracles of God.

³What then? If ^asome ¹did not believe, does their ²unbelief abolish the faithfulness of God?

^4aMay it never be! Rather, let God be true and every man ^ba liar, as it is written,

“^cThat You may be justified in Your words,

And overcome when You ¹are judged.”

⁵But if our unrighteousness ^1ademonstrates the righteousness of God, ^bwhat shall we say? Is the God who inflicts wrath unrighteous? (^cI am speaking in human terms.)

^6aMay it never be! For otherwise, how will ^bGod judge the world?

⁷But if through my lie ^athe truth of God abounded to His glory, ^bwhy am I also still being judged as a sinner?

⁸And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “^aLet us do evil that good may come”? ¹Their condemnation is just.

⁹What then? ^aAre we ¹better? Not at all; for we have already charged that both ^bJews and ^cGreeks are ^dall under sin;

¹⁰as it is written,

“^aThere is none righteous, not even one;

¹¹There is none who understands,

There is none who seeks for God;

¹²All have turned aside, together they have become worthless;

There is none who does good,

There is not even one.”

¹³“^aTheir throat is an open tomb,

With their tongues they keep deceiving,”

“^bThe poison of asps is under their lips”;

¹⁴“^aWhose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;

¹⁵“^aTheir feet are swift to shed blood,

¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their paths,

¹⁷And the path of peace they have not known.”

¹⁸“^aThere is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the ^aLaw says, it speaks to ^bthose who are in the Law, so that every mouth may be shut and ^call the world may become accountable to God;

²⁰because ^aby the works ¹of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for ^2bthrough the Law comes the knowledge of sin.