1 Paul, ^aa servant¹ of Christ Jesus, ^bcalled to be an apostle, ^cset apart for the gospel of God, 2 which ^dhe promised beforehand ^ethrough his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, ^fwho was descended from David^{2 g}according to the flesh 4 and ^hwas declared to be the Son of God ⁱin power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom ^jwe have received grace and ^kapostleship ^lto bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name ^mamong all the nations, 6 including you who are ⁿcalled to belong to Jesus Christ,

7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:

^oGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

8 First, ^pI thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, ^qbecause your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 ^rFor God is my witness, ^swhom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, ^tthat without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow ^uby God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For ^vI long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged ^wby each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,³ that ^xI have often intended to come to you (but ^ythus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some ^zharvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 ^aI am under obligation both to Greeks and to ^bbarbarians,⁴ both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

16 For ^dI am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is ^ethe power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew ^ffirst and also to ^gthe Greek. 17 For in it ^hthe righteousness of God is revealed ⁱfrom faith for faith,^{5 j}as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”⁶

18 For ^kthe wrath of God ^lis revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be ^mknown about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, ⁿhave been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,⁷ in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they ^obecame futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 ^pClaiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and ^qexchanged the glory of ^rthe immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore ^sGod gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to ^tthe dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for ^ua lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, ^vwho is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason ^wGod gave them up to ^xdishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, ^ymen committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, ^zGod gave them up to ^aa debased mind to do ^bwhat ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know ^cGod’s righteous decree that those who practice such things ^ddeserve to die, they not only do them but ^egive approval to those who practice them.

1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, ^xthe Jews were entrusted with ^ythe oracles of God. 3 ^zWhat if some were unfaithful? ^aDoes their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! ^bLet God be true though ^cevery one were a liar, as it is written,

5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict ^fwrath on us? (^gI speak in a human way.) 6 By no means! For then how could ^hGod judge the world? 7 But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, ⁱwhy am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And why not ^jdo evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

9 What then? Are we Jews¹ any better off?² No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both ^kJews and ^lGreeks, are ^munder sin, 10 as it is written:

19 Now we know that whatever ^vthe law says it speaks to those who are under the law, ^wso that every mouth may be stopped, and ^xthe whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For ^yby works of the law no human being³ will be justified in his sight, since ^zthrough the law comes knowledge of sin.

21 But now ^athe righteousness of God ^bhas been manifested apart from the law, although ^cthe Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God ^dthrough faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. ^eFor there is no distinction: 23 for ^fall have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 ^gand are justified ^hby his grace as a gift, ⁱthrough the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God ^jput forward as ^ka propitiation ^lby his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in ^mhis divine forbearance he had passed over ⁿformer sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

27 ^oThen what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith ^papart from works of the law. 29 Or ^qis God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since ^rGod is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and ^sthe uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, ^tour forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but ^unot before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? ^v“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now ^wto the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but ^xbelieves in¹ him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

9 Is this blessing then only for ^athe circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? ^bFor we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 ^cHe received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was ^dto make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

13 For ^ethe promise to Abraham and his offspring ^fthat he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 ^gFor if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For ^hthe law brings wrath, but ⁱwhere there is no law ^jthere is no transgression.

16 That is why it depends on faith, ^kin order that the promise may rest on grace and ^lbe guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, ^mwho is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, ⁿ“I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, ^owho gives life to the dead and calls into existence ^pthe things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, ^q“So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was ^ras good as dead (^ssince he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered ^tthe barrenness² of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that ^uGod was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But ^vthe words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us ^wwho believe in ^xhim who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 ^ywho was delivered up for our trespasses and raised ^zfor our justification.