Romans 1 – Shortcode

Greeting

1. Paul, a slave of Jesus the Anointed, called to be an apostle and *set apart for God’s gospel
2. which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy scriptures,
3. concerning His Son, the One who was born from the seed of David according to the flesh,
4. the One who was declared God’s Son in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead; Jesus the Anointed, our Lord.
5. through whom we received grace and apostleship for the obedience of faith in all the gentiles for His name’s sake,
6. including in you, who are also called to be of Jesus the Anointed.
7. To all the men in Rome who are beloved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Anointed Lord Jesus.

Paul and the Gospel

8. First, I indeed thank my God through Jesus the Anointed for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in the whole world.
9. For God, whom I serve in my spirit by the gospel of His Son, is my witness of how unceasingly I make mention of you,
10. always imploring in my prayers that somehow now at last by the will of God, I will successfully travel to come to you
11. For I long to see you so I might impart some spiritual gift to you, for you to be strengthened.
12. And that is, I wish to be encouraged together among you through each other’s faith, both your faith and mine.
13. And brothers, I don’t want you to be ignorant that I frequently purposed to come to you (and was hindered until now), so I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the gentiles.
14. I’m indebted to both Greeks and barbarians; to both wise and foolish.
15. Thus for me, I’m also ready to preach the gospel to you, the men in Rome.
16. For I’m not ashamed of the gospel, for it’s the power of God for salvation to every man believing, both to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17. For God’s righteousness is revealed in it from faith to faith, just as it is *written: “And the righteous shall live by faith.”¹quotation/allusion to Habakkuk 2:4

God’s wrath upon unrighteousness

18. For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, the men suppressing the truth by unrighteousness.
19. because what’s known of God is obvious among them, for God revealed it to them.
20. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes – both His eternal power and divine nature – are clearly seen, being understood by the created things for them to be without excuse,
21. because while having known God, they didn’t glorify Him as God or thank Him, but they became futile in their reasoning and their foolish heart was darkened.
22. Though professing to be wise, they became fools.
23. And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into a likeness of the image of corruptible man, and birds, and four-legged animals, and creeping things.²“creeping things” is one word in Greek, which can refer to reptiles, especially snakes.
24. Therefore, God handed them over to the cravings of their hearts; to impurity, to disgrace their bodies among them,
25. who changed the truth of God into a lie, and reverently feared and served the creation instead of the One who created it, who is blessed through the ages. Amen.
26. Because of this, God handed their men³“their men” is more literally “them” in the masculine form.  However, since gender matters to this verse, “their men” was chosen to avoid readers misinterpreting “them” as applying to both genders.  It should be noted that the word “their” in the later phrase “their females” is also masculine. over to disgraceful, depraved passions; for both they and⁴“both they and” is a single word in Greek which properly means “both and”.  It’s a less common conjugation, though is used seven times in Romans 1, every time with the meaning of “both and”.  The antecedent for the “both” part is clearly the men in the first clause, thus “they” was added for clarity. their females exchanged the natural use of intercourse⁵“use of intercourse” is one word in Greek.  It should be noted that the Greek word χρῆσις (chrésis) refers specifically to intercourse, which requires penetration by the male.  While this verse is typically translated and interpreted to apply to female homosexuality, that is impossible because χρῆσις requires a male’s involvement.  Without a male, it isn’t χρῆσις.  There is no instance in all of Greek literature where χρῆσις is applied to female homosexuality.  The early church fathers applied this verse not to female homosexuality, but to sodomy, which requires a male penetrating another person (male or female).  Thus the “natural use of intercourse” (vaginal intercourse) is contrasted with sodomy, which is “close beside but contrary to nature”.  The “female homosexuality” interpretation of this verse arose primarily after the church began to use a Latin translation of the Bible instead of the original Greek, and thus the specificity of χρῆσις was lost in translation. for the one that’s close beside but contrary to⁶“close beside but contrary to” is one word in Greek.  It’s the Greek word “παρά” (para) which is the root of our word parallel.  The primary meaning is “close beside”, but when followed by a word in the Greek accusative case – which it is here – it also gains the nuance of being “contrary to”. nature.
27. And doing the same thing, the males both rejected the natural use of the female and were inflamed in their lust for one another; males in⁷“in” is literal, almost certainly a reference to the sodomy that homosexual males engage in. males, bringing about their shame and receiving in themselves the recompense that was proper for their error.
28. And as they didn’t see fit to have recognition of God, God handed them over to a depraved mind to do improper things;
29. *filling themselves with all unrighteousness, depravity, covetousness, wickedness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malevolence, secret slanderers;
30. slanderous, abhorring God, violent, arrogant, boasters, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
31. without understanding, covenant-breakers, without familial affection, and without mercy.
32. Men who, while having known the righteous judgement and ordinance of God – that the men practicing such things are worthy of death – not only do them, but also join in approvingly with the men practicing them.