1 I am Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. He called me to be an apostle and to tell God's good news.
2 Through his prophets long ago God promised this good news to people, in the holy writings.
3 The good news was about his Son. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. He was a man born in David's family.
4 He came alive from death. That showed he was God's Son. He had God's power. God's Holy Spirit did all this.
5 This same Jesus Christ was kind to me. And he made me an apostle. I am sent in his name so that people in all nations will obey him.
6 You are some of them. You were called to belong to Jesus Christ.
7 I send greetings to all the Christians who live in the city of Rome. God loves you and has called you to be his people. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you. In their kindness may they give you peace.
8 People in all the world have heard that you believe. I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you.
9 God knows that I always talk to him about you. I worship him in my heart while I tell the good news about his Son.
10 I ask God that in some way now I may be able to visit you, if he wishes me to do it.
11 I want very much to see you. I want to give you some gift from the Holy Spirit to make you stronger.
12 I mean to say that we will both be helped. I will be helped because you believe, and you will be helped because I believe.
13 My brothers, I want you to know that I have often planned to come to you. But something has stopped me until now. I planned to come so that I might see good things happen among you. I have done this in the other nations which are not Jewish.
14 This is something I must do for the Greek people and for all other people. I must do it for people who are wise and for people who are not wise.
15 That is why I want so much to tell the good news to you people in the city of Rome also.
16 I am not ashamed of the good news of Jesus Christ. The good news is the power God uses to save every one who believes. The good news was for the Jews first, but also for those who are not Jews.
17 The good news shows how God puts a person right. God puts a person right when that person believes in his Son and keeps on believing. The holy writings say, `A person who is put right because he believes, will live for ever.'
18 God is angry. He has shown it from heaven. He is angry because of all the bad and wrong things people do. These people hold back God's truth by the wrong things they do.
19 They know about God. God himself has shown them.
20 People cannot see that God has power which lasts for ever. They cannot see that he is really God. But ever since he made the world, he has clearly shown this by the things he made. So they cannot say, `I did not know about God.'
21 Even though they knew he was God, they did not worship him as God. They did not thank him. Their thoughts were no good. Their foolish minds became dark.
22 They said they were wise people, but they were foolish people.
23 They did not worship God who cannot die. But they worshipped things made to look like a man who does die. They worshipped things made to look like birds and animals and snakes.
24 So God left them to do the things their hearts wanted to do. They did the things that are not right to do with their bodies. They did not respect their own bodies.
25 They would not believe what was true about God. They believed a lie. They worshipped and worked for something that was made by God. They did not worship God - God who made all things. He is the one to worship for ever. Amen. May it be so!
26 That is why God left them to do the wrong things they wanted to do. Their women left the right way for women and did things that are wrong for women to do.
27 Their men also left the right way with women. They wanted to have sex with one another. They did wrong things with other men. Their own bodies were punished because of the wrong things they did.
28 They did not want to know God. So he left them to their wrong thoughts and to do things that are not right.
29 They were very bad. They did every kind of wrong thing. They were greedy. They hated people. They were very jealous. They killed many people. They fought. They fooled people. They told lies about people. They carried stories from one person to another.
30 They said wrong things about people. They hated God. They did not respect people. They were proud. They talked big. They even thought of new wrong things to do. They did not obey their parents.
31 .They were foolish. They did not do what they said they would do. They did not love people. They were not kind.
32 They know that God says that people who do such things should die. Even so, they not only do them, but they praise other people who do them.
