Romans 1–16

Chapter 1

The Gospel Exalted

¹Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, ^1acalled as an apostle, ^bset apart for ^cthe gospel of God,

²which He ^apromised beforehand through His ^bprophets in the holy Scriptures,

³concerning His Son, who was born ^aof a ¹descendant of David ^baccording to the flesh,

⁴who was declared ^athe Son of God with power ¹by the resurrection from the dead, according to the ²Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,

⁵through whom we have received grace and ^aapostleship ¹to bring about the ^bobedience of faith among ^call the Gentiles for His name’s sake,

⁶among whom you also are the ^acalled of Jesus Christ;

⁷to all who are ^abeloved of God in Rome, called as ^1bsaints: ^cGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸First, ^aI thank my God through Jesus Christ ¹for you all, because ^byour faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.

⁹For ^aGod, whom I ^bserve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly ^cI make mention of you,

¹⁰always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by ^athe will of God I may succeed in coming to you.

¹¹For ^aI long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be ¹established;

¹²that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.

^13aI do not want you to be unaware, ^bbrethren, that often I ^chave planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some ^dfruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.

^14aI am ¹under obligation both to Greeks and to ^bbarbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.

¹⁵So, for my part, I am eager to ^apreach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

¹⁶For I am not ^aashamed of the gospel, for ^bit is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the ^cJew first and also to ^dthe Greek.

¹⁷For in it ^athe righteousness of God is revealed ¹from faith to faith; as it is written, “^2bBut the righteous man shall live by faith.”

Unbelief and Its Consequences

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, 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 ¹honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became ^afutile in their speculations, 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 form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and ¹crawling 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 ^bdegrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is ¹unnatural,

²⁷and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, ^amen with men 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 any longer, ^aGod gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,

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

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

³¹without understanding, untrustworthy, ^aunloving, unmerciful;

³²and although they know the ordinance 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

The Impartiality of God

¹Therefore you have ^ano excuse, ^1beveryone of you 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 suppose this, ^aO man, ¹when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?

⁴Or do you think lightly of ^athe riches of His ^bkindness and ^ctolerance 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 render to each person according to his deeds:

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 indignation.

⁹There will be ^atribulation and distress ¹for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew ^bfirst and also of the Greek,

¹⁰but ^aglory and honor and peace to everyone who does 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 without the Law, and all who have sinned ²under the Law will be judged ³by the Law;

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

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

¹⁵in that they show ^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 Condemned 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 breaking 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 ^ckeeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

²⁷And ^ahe who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not ^bjudge you who ¹though having 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

All the World Guilty

¹Then what ¹advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit 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, their ²unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?

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

“^cThat You may be justified in Your words,

And prevail when You ¹are judged.”

⁵But if our unrighteousness ^1ademonstrates the righteousness of God, ^bwhat shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (^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? ^1aAre we better than they? 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 useless;

There is none who does good,

There is not even one.”

¹³“^aTheir throat is an open grave,

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 ¹under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed 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.

Justification by Faith

²¹But now apart ¹from the Law ^athe righteousness of God has been manifested, being ^bwitnessed by the Law and the Prophets,

²²even the ^arighteousness of God through ^bfaith ^cin Jesus Christ for ^dall those ¹who believe; for ^ethere is no distinction;

²³for all ^1…