Romans Chapter 1

(Tap footnote to read it.  Old Testament quotations/allusions are underlined. [Brackets] indicate a textual variant.^fnWhen two (or more) different copies of an original manuscript disagree on any given word or phrase — addition, omission, word order, etc. — the disagreement is called a "textual variant". ~99% of existing textual variants are either minor (like spelling), obviously not original (often appearing only in a few late manuscripts), or don't affect meaning (like "Jesus Christ" vs. "Christ Jesus"). The ~1% that remain do not affect any central doctrine of Christianity. The BOS Bible only marks significant textual variants that affect the meaning; smaller variants that do not affect meaning won't be marked for readability.  "Love" with a caret ("^love") is agapé.^fn"agapé" The Greek words ἀγάπη (agapé, noun), and ἀγαπάω (agapaó; verb) are typically translated "love".  However, unlike our English word "love" – which primarily speaks of affection and feelings — agapé centers on choice and behavior.  It’s the "love" based on will, choice, behavior, and action; not feelings.  (Feelings-based love is the Greek word φιλέω (phileó), which properly means "brotherly love/affection".)  Thus, you could hate someone passionately and still treat him with "agapé".  Agapé "love" is best understood as the pursuit of what is most beneficial to someone or something, regardless of the cost to yourself or the type of response received from the person or thing.  It can also indicate a preference for someone or something over other things. An asterisk (*) indicates a verb in the Greek perfect tense.^fnThe Greek perfect tense signifies a completed action in the past with a result and/or an ongoing state that extends into the present. For example, Hebrews 12:2 says in part: "He *sat down at the right hand of the throne of God"; the verb for "sat" is in the perfect tense, indicating that He sat down once (completed action in the past), and also that He remains seated until the present moment (ongoing state).)

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^fnquotation/allusion to 2 Samuel 7:12-16; see also Isaiah 11:1 and Jeremiah 23:5-6 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;^fnquotation/allusion to Psalm 2:7; see also Acts 13:33 and Hebrews 1:5 Jesus the Anointed, our Lord.
• 5 through whom we received grace and apostleship for the obedience of faith among 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 holy ones: 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 being 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 succeed in coming 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, 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, as 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 [of the Anointed], 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.”^fnquotation/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,^fnquotation/allusion to Psalm 19:1-4; see also Psalm 8:1 and Job 12:7-10 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.^fnquotation/allusion to Psalm 106:20, and possibly also Deuteronomy 4:15-19.  Additionally, “creeping things” is one word in Greek, which can refer to anything that creeps, including but not limited to insects and reptiles, especially snakes.
• 24 Therefore, God handed them over to the cravings of their hearts,^fnquotation/allusion to Psalm 81:12; also referenced in v26 and v28 to impurity, to disgrace their bodies among them,
• 25 who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and reverently worshiped and served the creation instead of the Creator, who is blessed through the ages. Amen.
• 26 Because of this, God handed those men^fn“those men” is more literally “them” in the masculine form.  However, since gender is significant to the meaning of this verse, “those 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 disgracefully depraved passions,^fnquotation/allusion to Psalm 81:12; also referenced in v24 and v28 for even^fn“even” is literally “both even” their^fn“their” is a masculine word, referring to men and not women; see the first footnote on this verse females exchanged the natural use of intercourse^fn“use of intercourse” is one word in Greek: χρῆσις (chrésis).  The BOS Bible takes a minority view in this verse.  Modern scholarship usually applies this verse to female homosexuality, and a significant portion of the early church fathers did as well.  However, some early church fathers (though not a majority) applied this verse to penetrative heterosexual acts, including sodomy.  This view sees the “natural use of intercourse” (vaginal intercourse) being contrasted with sodomy, which is “contrary to nature”.  Notably, in this context, the Greek word χρῆσις (chrésis) especially refers to intercourse (BDAG: “relations, function, esp. of sexual intercourse”); “intercourse” most commonly refers to penetration by a male in English. According to scholarship, when “chrésis” (or its related verb) is used in contemporary writings, the subject is almost always the man, with the context involving penetration; to date, no use referring to female homosexuality has been identified. (Fredrickson 2000, and subsequent lexical surveys.)  Additionally, “ὁμοίως” (homoiós), translated “doing the same thing” in v27, indicates similarity of action in the New Testament.  Thus, since sodomy is clearly present in verse 27, sodomy is more likely present in verse 26 as well.  For these reasons, the BOS Bible has taken the minority view on this verse. for intercourse that’s contrary to nature.
• 27 And doing the same thing, the males both rejected the natural use of intercourse with the female and were inflamed in their lust for one another; males with^fn“with” could also be translated “in”, likely 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;^fnquotation/allusion to Psalm 81:12; also referenced in v24 and v26
• 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, despite having known the righteous ordinance of God – that the men practicing such things are worthy of death – not only do them, but also join in approving of the men practicing them.

 

Next: Romans chapter 2

Previous: Acts chapter 28 (translation not started)

Up: The Book of Romans

Up: BOS Bible Index

 

Note: If you think a word, phrase, or passage could be better translated - or is wrong - then Please Say Something. This is an open source Bible that's accountable to all Christians. See this link for details.

Legal Use: Please feel free to quote the BOS Bible, but follow the guidelines on the Legal Use page when doing so. They are easy and mostly common sense.