The Gospel of God for Rome
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle ,a and set apart b for the gospel of God c— 2 which he promised beforehand d through his prophets e in the Holy Scriptures— 3 concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David ,f according to the flesh g 4 and was appointed to be the powerful h Son of God i according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead. 5 Through him we have received grace and apostleship j to bring about the obedience k of faith for the sake of his name among all the Gentiles, ,l 6 including you who are also called by Jesus Christ. m
7 To all who are in Rome, loved by God, n called o as saints. p
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s Desire to Visit Rome
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because the news of your faith is being reported in all the world. q 9 God is my witness, r whom I serve with my spirit s in telling the good news about his Son—that I constantly mention you, t 10 always asking in my prayers that if it is somehow in God’s will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you. u 11 For I want very much to see you, v so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, 12 that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
13 Now I don’t want you to be unaware, w brothers and sisters, that I often planned to come to you (but was prevented until now x ) in order that I might have a fruitful ministry among you, y just as I have had among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians, ,z both to the wise and the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel a to you also who are in Rome.
The Righteous Will Live by Faith
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, ,b because it is the power of God for salvation c to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, d and also to the Greek. e 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, ,f just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith. ,,g
The Guilt of the Gentile World
18 For God’s wrath h is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, i 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, j because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, k being understood through what he has made. l As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. m 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools n 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. o
24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts p to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, q and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. r Amen.
From Idolatry to Depravity
26 For this reason God delivered them over to disgraceful passions. s Their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 The men in the same way also left natural relations with women and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men t and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.
28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right. 29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, u 30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, v inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, w 31 senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, ,x and unmerciful. 32 Although they know God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die ,y—they not only do them, but even applaud ,z others who practice them.
A. Sender, address, and salutation (1:1–7). 1:1. The first word, typical for ancient letters, is the name of the sender. Paul introduces himself with his Latin name, Paul(l)us (Gk Paulos); his Hebrew name was Saul (see Ac 7:58; 8:1, 3; 9:1, 4; 13:9). Paul underlines three realities that explain who he is: (1) He is a “servant” of Jesus Christ; his life totally belongs to Jesus Christ, to whom he thus owes total allegiance. (2) God called him to be an apostle, who carries the gospel to others (Gl 1:15–16; 1 Co 15:5–7). (3) Paul has been “set apart”—that is, consecrated and commissioned—“for the gospel of God.” The message he proclaims is the “good news” (Gk euangelion, “gospel”) of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ for the salvation of Jews and Gentiles.
1:2–4. The reference to “the gospel of God” (1:1) prompts Paul to describe the message he proclaims. (1) The gospel, which has been promised by God through his prophets (1:2), is God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. (2) The gospel of God concerns Jesus Christ (1:3–4). (3) As far as Jesus’s human nature (“flesh”) is concerned, he is of royal messianic descent. Jesus fulfills OT promises and Jewish expectations (2 Sm 7:16; Is 11:1, 10; Jr 33:14–18). (4) Jesus was declared to be “the powerful Son of God”; that is, he was installed in the messianic office as God’s Son, who is invested with God’s power (Ps 2:7). (5) Jesus’s resurrection from the dead marks the beginning of the new age of God’s Spirit, who gives life and holiness (Ezk 37:1–14). (6) Jesus the Messiah is “Lord” (Gk kyrios), exalted by God to be the ruler of the world.
1:5–6. The reference to Jesus Christ then prompts Paul to add a description of his own apostolic ministry. He has received the grace of being an apostle through the mediation of the risen and exalted Lord Jesus Christ. The plural “we” (1:5) is a writer’s plural, not a reference to all Christians; the structure of the epistolary prescript (“a to b, greetings”) clarifies that Paul still describes himself as the sender. The goal of his work as God’s envoy is to lead Gentiles to faith in the gospel and thus to faith in God himself and in his Son Jesus the Messiah and Lord. Faith in the one true God and in his Son Jesus Christ involves, by its very nature, obedience—loyalty to God’s sovereignty and submission to God’s will. The scope of Paul’s missionary work is focused on polytheists, pagans who worship other deities (Rm 11:13–14; Gl 2:8–9).
1:7. The addressees are described in 1:7a. They live in the city of Rome. They are loved by God. They have been called by the holy God of Israel. They are holy on account of the holiness of God, who both charges and enables them to live holy lives. In the light of what Paul will say about human beings in 1:18–3:20, the statement that the recipients are “loved by God” expresses the miracle of salvation.
B. Thanksgiving and petition (1:8–15). 1:8. Paul first expresses his thanksgiving to God, praying to God “through Jesus Christ.” He is convinced that now, when God’s righteousness has been revealed in Jesus Christ (3:21–22), God can be approached only through faith in Jesus the Messiah.
1:9–12. Paul now mentions the reasons for writing the letter. He solemnly asserts that he writes as a missionary who serves God, whose service is dependent on and made effective by the Spirit of God, whose sphere of service is the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus the Son of God, and whose service includes unceasing prayers for the churches (1:9). He informs his readers that he has been praying to visit Rome, while acknowledging his uncertainty as to when and how this might be carried out (1:10). He longs to meet the Christians in Rome and is confident that God would use his presence in the Roman congregation to consolidate their obedience (1:11) and to encourage them in their faith, and he is certain that he would be encouraged and strengthened himself (1:12). But he recognizes that this has not been God’s will so far (1:10).
1:13–15. Paul describes the background for his plans. The “fruitful ministry” (1:13) that he intends to carry out in Rome includes the strengthening of the faith of the Roman Christians (1:15; cf. 1:11–12). According to 15:24, 28, Paul wants to visit the Roman Christians in order to involve them in his mission to Spain. He asserts that he has been commissioned to proclaim the gospel to all people (1:14): to the “Greeks” (that is, to the elites of the Greco-Roman world) and to the “barbarians” (Gk barbaroi; that is, the uncivilized whom the elites despise), to “the wise” (those who are formally educated) and to “the foolish” (the uneducated and the uncultured). He preaches to all people.
C. Theme of the letter (1:16–17). Paul asserts that he is not ashamed of the gospel (1:16). He knows from experience that the gospel is an embarrassing message because it is “the word of the cross” (1 Co 1:18). The message about a Jewish man who was executed by Roman authorities by crucifixion and yet who is the messianic Savior of the world is a cause for revulsion to Jews and foolish nonsense to Gentiles (1 Co 1:23).
1:18. Paul now answers the questions implicit in 1:16–17: Why has God manifested his righteousness in the gospel of Jesus Christ? Why can salvation be received only through Jesus? The description of human sinfulness begins with the assertion that God’s wrath, which brings judgment and condemnation, “is revealed from heaven.” The object of God’s wrath is the universal failure to respect and honor the glory of God and the universal reality of sin, which causes death in God’s creation (cf. 5:12). Paul asserts that the reality of God’s anger is made manifest in the present. The gospel reveals the culpability of humankind and the consequences of sin, visible in the intellectual and moral decadence of human society.
1:19–23. Paul confirms the divine verdict of verse 18. The presupposition of sin is the knowledge of God, who has revealed himself to humankind (1:19–20a). What can be known about God is his power and divine nature; these are invisible realities, but they are manifest in the works of creation. Paul’s formulation “what can be known about God” is deliberately careful: the works of creation reveal God’s eternal power and divine nature. Because humankind has seen God’s power and divine nature in the works of creation, nobody has an excuse for suppressing this truth (1:20b). The reason God reveals his wrath against the godlessness and the wickedness of the human race is the universal refusal to acknowledge God. People refuse to give God the Creator the glory that he deserves, and they refuse to be grateful to God for his good gifts (1:21a).
1:24. God’s reaction to the suppression of the truth is described. God handed over the human race to the control of their own desires. They are thus forced to suffer the consequences of their willful distortion of the truth about God. The result of human beings left to their own resources is polluted behavior, which separates them from God and results in death, and which dishonors their own bodies.
1:25–27. Paul elaborates on the nature and the consequences of sin. As people venerated creatures rather than the Creator, they exchanged the truth about God for a lie. In 1:25 Paul interrupts his description of idolatry to praise God. The “amen” invites the readers to concur and join him. In 1:26–27 Paul explains for the second time God’s response to humankind’s assault on his honor and dignity. God delivered them up to dishonorable passions, including the exchange of natural sexual relations with unnatural sexual relations among women and among men (homosexuality). God created man and woman, male and female (Gn 1:27) to become “one flesh” (Gn 2:24). Paul’s language denies same-sex sexual activity as right or good.
1:28–32. Paul mentions for the fifth time humankind’s suppression of the truth about God (cf. 1:18, 21, 23, 25). Failure to acknowledge God leads to a mind that is worthless, not because it is uninformed or uncultured (which could be rectified through education) but because it perversely rejects truth about God and truth about nature. This is why people do things that are improper (1:28). The following catalog, which lists twenty-one types of evil behavior and characteristics of unrighteous people (1:29–31), explains that these evils are described not as problems of every individual but as the collective reality and experience of the human race. Paul concludes this depressing albeit realistic description of the human condition with a final affirmation of human culpability for their sins (1:32).