Paul Greets the Saints in Rome 1 UDB I, Paul, who serve Christ Jesus, am writing this letter to all of you believers in the city of Rome. God chose me to be an apostle, and he appointed me in order that I should proclaim the good news that comes from him. BSB BSB: Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, and set apart for the gospel of God—
2 UDB Long before Jesus came to earth, God promised that he would reveal this good news by means of what his prophets wrote in the sacred scriptures. BSB BSB: the gospel He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,
4 UDB As to his divine nature, it was powerfully shown that he is God's own Son. God showed this when his Holy Spirit caused him to become alive again after he died. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. BSB BSB: and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
5 UDB He has shown us great kindness and appointed us to be apostles. He did that so that many among all the Gentiles would believe in him and obey him. BSB BSB: Through Him and on behalf of His name, we received grace and apostleship to call all those among the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.
6 UDB You believers who are living in Rome are included among those whom God has chosen to belong to Jesus Christ. BSB BSB: And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
7 UDB I 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 may continue to act kindly toward you and will continue to cause you to have peace. BSB BSB: To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Unashamed of the Gospel 8 UDB As 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 people all over the Roman Empire are talking about how you are trusting in him. BSB BSB: First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed all over the world.
9 UDB God, whom I devotedly serve as I proclaim to people the good news concerning his Son, knows that I tell the truth when I say that I always mention you whenever I pray to God. BSB BSB: God, whom I serve with my spirit in preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you
10 UDB I especially ask God that if he desires me to visit you, somehow at last I shall be able to do so. BSB BSB: in my prayers at all times, asking that now at last by God’s will I may succeed in coming to you.
11 UDB I pray this because I long to visit you to help you, so that you may trust and honor Christ more and more. BSB BSB: For I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,
12 UDB I mean that I want us to encourage each other by telling each other how we trust in Jesus. BSB BSB: that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.
13 UDB My fellow believers, many times I planned to visit you. I certainly want you to know that. But I have not been able to come to you because something has always stopped me. I have wanted to come so that more people among you might trust in Jesus, that his name would be honored among all the Gentiles. BSB BSB: I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, how often I planned to come to you (but have been prevented from visiting until now), in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
14 UDB I feel obliged to proclaim the good news to all those who speak Greek and to those who do not, to people who are smart and to those who are unintelligent. BSB BSB: I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.
15 UDB As a result, what I have eagerly desired is that I might proclaim this good news to you who are living in Rome also. BSB BSB: That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
17 UDB By means of this good news, God reveals how he puts people right with himself. This is like what a prophet wrote long ago in the scriptures: "Those whom God puts right with himself will live because they trust him." BSB BSB: For the gospel reveals the righteousness of God that comes by faith from start to finish, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
God’s Wrath against Sin 21 UDB Although they 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 were no longer able to understand what he wanted them to know about himself. BSB BSB: For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
22 UDB Although they claimed that they were wise, they became foolish, BSB BSB: Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
23 UDB and they refused to admit that God is glorious and will never die. Instead, they made and worshiped idols that resembled people who will someday die, and then they made other idols that resembled birds and four-footed animals, and finally they made idols that resembled reptiles. BSB BSB: and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 UDB So God allowed them to do immoral sexual things that they strongly desired, things that they thought they had to do, and so because of their filthy thoughts they did shameful things with each other. BSB BSB: Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another.
26 UDB So God let them follow their shameful lusts. For their women began sleeping with other women—something that goes against nature. BSB BSB: For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
27 UDB Similarly, many men abandoned their natural relationships with women. Instead, they developed strong sexual desires for each other. 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 the direct consequence of that kind of sin. BSB BSB: Likewise, the men abandoned natural relations with women and burned with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 UDB Furthermore, 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 no one should do. BSB BSB: Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
29 UDB They strongly desire to do all kinds of unrighteous deeds and evil things. They take what belongs to others and harm them in various ways. They always have envy toward other people; they desire to murder people. They cause arguments and quarrels with others; they also deceive people and speak with hate about them. BSB BSB: They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,
30 UDB Many say evil things about others. They slander others and do hateful things toward God and they are violent and treat people contemptuously. They boast about themselves to others and invent new ways to do evil deeds. Children disobey their parents. BSB BSB: slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent new forms of evil; they disobey their parents.
31 UDB Many act in other foolish ways that offend God. They do not do what they promised. They do not even love their own family members and they do not show mercy toward people who need mercy. BSB BSB: They are senseless, faithless, heartless, merciless.
32 UDB Although they know that God has declared that those who do such things deserve to be killed, they not only do these kinds of evil things, but they also approve of others who do them. BSB BSB: Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.