Romans 1 - 3
The Gospel Exalted
1Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, 1,acalled as an apostle, having been 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 the seed of David baccording to the flesh, 4who was designated as athe Son of God in power, according to the 1Spirit of holiness, 2by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5through whom we received grace and aapostleship for the bobedience of faith among call the Gentiles for the sake of His name, 6among whom you also are the acalled of Jesus Christ;
7to all who are abeloved of God in Rome, called as 1,bsaints: 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 gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how without ceasing cI make mention of you, 10always in my prayers earnestly asking, 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 strengthened; 12that is, to be mutually encouraged, while among you, by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13aI do not want you to be unaware, bbrothers, that often I chave planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may have 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. 15In this way, for my part, I am eager to aproclaim 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, “2,bBut the righteous will live by faith.”
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, 1,ahaters 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.
God’s Righteous Judgment
2Therefore 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 1,awithout 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 1,aapprove 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.
There Is None Righteous
3Then 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 1,ademonstrates 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 2,bthrough the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
The Righteousness of God through 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,ahave sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24being justified as a gift aby His grace through bthe redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25whom God displayed publicly as aa 1propitiation 2,bin His blood through faith, for a demonstration of His righteousness, 3because in the cforbearance of God He dpassed over the sins previously committed; 26for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who 1has faith in Jesus.
27Where then is aboasting? It is excluded. By bwhat kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 281For awe maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works 2of the Law. 29Or ais God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30since indeed aGod, bwho will justify the 1circumcised 2by faith and the 3uncircumcised through that faith, cis one.