Paul Greets the Saints in Rome 1 UST { I,} Paul,{ am writing this letter}. I serve the Messiah Jesus. He called me to represent him and specially chose me to proclaim God’ s good news. BSB BSB: Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, and set apart for the gospel of God—
2 UST God previously promised this good news by means of his spokesmen who prophesied about it{ and wrote it down} in the sacred writings. BSB BSB: the gospel He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,
4 UST In accordance with the Holy Spirit, God powerfully demonstrated that Jesus is his Son by causing him to live again after he had died.{ God’ s Son is} Jesus the Messiah,{ who is} 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 UST Jesus favored us who represent him and authorized us to represent him on his behalf in order that all the nations would obey{ God} by trusting{ in Jesus the Messiah}. 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 UST Jesus the Messiah has also called you who are{ living} among the nations. BSB BSB: And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
7 UST { I am writing this letter} to all of you{ believers} who dwell in the city of Rome. God loves you and has called you to be people who belong to him.{ May} God our Father and the Lord Jesus the Messiah{ continue to} be kind to you and make you peaceful. 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 UST Now,{ the} first{ thing I want to tell you, is that} I am constantly thanking my God through Jesus the Messiah for all of you{ believers in the Messiah}.{ I thank him} because{ people} throughout the known world are proclaiming how you trust{ in Jesus}. 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 UST { I can say this truthfully} because God testifies for me that I frequently pray for you. I serve him devotedly by proclaiming the good news about his Son{, Jesus}. 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 UST { When} I pray, I very often request that I might finally succeed in coming to{ visit} you because God wants{ me to}. 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 UST { I pray for this} because I deeply desire to see you{ in person} in order to share some kind of gracious gift with you from the Holy Spirit in order to help you become spiritually stronger. BSB BSB: For I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,
12 UST In other words,{ I want to share some gracious gift with you} in order that we may mutually encourage one other. Both you and I can help each other by sharing how we mutually trust in God. BSB BSB: that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.
13 UST My fellow believers, I certainly want you to know that I planned to visit you many times. But{ God} has prevented me from visiting you until the present time.{ I planned to visit you} in order to lead some people to believe in Christ among you as well, just like{ how I have} also{ done so} among the other nations. 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 UST I am obligated{ to proclaim the good news} to all non- Jewish people, whether or not they are{ culturally} Greek and whether or not they are educated. BSB BSB: I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.
15 UST So then, if it were my choice, I would gladly proclaim the good news to you who dwell in Rome. BSB BSB: That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
17 UST { This is true} because whenever{ people proclaim} the good news, they reveal how God makes people righteous, which is entirely through trusting{ in the Messiah}. This is what{ the prophet Habakkuk meant when} he wrote{ in the Scriptures},“But the person whom God makes righteous will live forever by trusting{ in God}.” 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 UST { People cannot excuse themselves} because they do not honor him as God, even though they know that he exists. They also refuse to thank him. In contrast, they think about worthless things, and they are unable to understand spiritual things. 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 UST { Although} they assert that they are wise, they are{ actually} fools. BSB BSB: Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
23 UST They stop glorifying the God who is immortal, and instead they glorify idols that resemble mortal people, birds, four- legged animals, and animals that crawl{ on the ground}. BSB BSB: and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 UST Consequently, God lets these people do the lustful things that they desire to do, so that they become{ spiritually} impure and they disgrace their bodies with one another{ by doing sexually immoral acts}. 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 UST Because{ these people do that}, God lets them do the dishonorable things they strongly desire{ to do}. For example, their women stop doing natural{ sexual} acts{ with men} and instead do unnatural{ sexual} acts{ with women}. BSB BSB: For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
27 UST Similarly, the men also stopped doing natural{ sexual} acts with women{ and} lusted intensely after other men. These men do shameless{ sexual} acts with each other. They experience God penalizing them in their own bodies.{ God must penalize them} because they pervert{ God’ s natural sexual acts}. 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 UST As these people thought that acknowledging God was worthless, God let their minds become worthless. As a result, they do inappropriate things. 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 UST { These people} are completely controlled by all kinds of unrighteous, wicked, covetous, and malicious{ thoughts}. They are completely willing to be jealous, take another’ s life, argue, deceive, and commit evil deeds{ against others}. They reveal secrets{ about others}. 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 UST They speak badly of{ other people}. They hate God. They act violently. They think too highly of themselves. They boast{ about themselves}. They think of{ new kinds of} evil things{ to do}. They do not obey their parents. BSB BSB: slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent new forms of evil; they disobey their parents.
31 UST These people are{ morally} foolish. They do not do what they promise to do. They do not care{ about other people}. They do not show mercy{ to others}. BSB BSB: They are senseless, faithless, heartless, merciless.
32 UST These people fully understand that God has righteously declared that people who keep doing such{ inappropriate} things deserve to die{ spiritually}.{ Nevertheless,} they not only keep on doing those{ inappropriate} things, but they even happily approve of people who do such things! 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.