Romans 1

Moffatt^{(i) 1} PAUL, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God ² (which he promised of old by his prophets in the holy scriptures) ³ concerning his Son, who was born of David's offspring by natural descent ⁴ and installed as Son of God with power by the Spirit of holiness when he was raised from the dead — concerning Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵ through whom I have received the favour of my commission to promote obedience to the faith for his sake among all the Gentiles, ⁶ including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ: ⁷ to all in Rome who are beloved by God, called to be saints, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸ First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because the report of your faith is over all the world. ⁹ God is my witness, the God whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I always mention you in my prayers, ¹⁰ asking if I may at last be sped upon my way to you by God's will. ¹¹ For I do yearn to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift for your strengthening — ¹² or, in other words, that I may be encouraged by meeting you, I by your faith and you by mine. ¹³ Brothers, I would like you to understand that I have often purposed to come to you (though up till now I have been prevented) so as to have some results among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. ¹⁴ To Greeks and to barbarians, to wise and to foolish alike, I owe a duty. ¹⁵ Hence my eagerness to preach the gospel to you in Rome as well. ¹⁶ For I am proud of the gospel; it is God's saving power for everyone who has faith, for the Jew first and for the Greek as well. ¹⁷ God's righteousness is revealed in it by faith and for faith — as it is written, Now by faith shall the righteous live. ¹⁸ But God's anger is revealed from heaven against all the impiety and wickedness of those who hinder the Truth by their wickedness. ¹⁹ For whatever is to be known of God is plain to them; God himself has made it plain — ²⁰ for ever since the world was created, his invisible nature, his everlasting power and divine being, have been quite perceptible in what he has made. So they have no excuse. ²¹ Though they knew God, they have not glorified him as God nor given thanks to him; they have turned to futile speculations till their ignorant minds grew dark. ²² They claimed to be wise, but they have become fools; ²³ they have exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the semblance of the likeness of mortal man, of birds, of quadrupeds, and of reptiles. ²⁴ So God has given them up, in their heart's lust, to sexual vice, to the dishonouring of their own bodies, — ²⁵ since they have exchanged the truth of God for an untruth, worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed for ever: Amen. ²⁶ That is why God has given them up to vile passions; their women have exchanged the natural function of sex for what is unnatural, ²⁷ and in the same way the males have abandoned the natural use of women and flamed out in lust for one another, men perpetrating shameless acts with their own sex and getting in their own persons the due recompense of their perversity. ²⁸ Yes, as they disdained to acknowledge God any longer, God has given them up to a reprobate instinct, for the perpetration of what is improper, ²⁹ till they are filled with all manner of wickedness, depravity, lust, and viciousness, filled to the brim with envy, murder, quarrels, intrigues, and malignity — slanderers, ³⁰ defamers, loathed by God, outrageous, haughty, boastful, inventive in evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ devoid of conscience, false to their word, callous, merciless; ³² though they know God's decree that people who practise such vice deserve death, they not only do it themselves but applaud those who practise it.