Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus,
called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which
he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning
his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and
was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness
by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through
whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of
faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including
you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be
saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Longing
to Go to Rome
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you,
because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 For God is
my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without
ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow
by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For
I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen
you— 12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each
other's faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be
unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have
been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as
among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both
to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So
I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
The
Righteous Shall Live by Faith
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of
God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from
faith for faith, as it is written, “The
righteous shall live by faith.”
God's
Wrath on Unrighteousness
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress
the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them,
because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible
attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly
perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been
made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew
God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became
futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming
to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of
the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and
creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to
impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because
they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the
creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions.
For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to
nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with
women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless
acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave
them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They
were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.
They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful,
inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish,
faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's
righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not
only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
26-32:
"26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions.
For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to
nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with
women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless
acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error."
I believe this is pretty self-explanatory. It's just saying that homosexuality is a dishonorable passion that they will pay the due penalty for their error.
"28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave
them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done."
God gave them up to a wicked mind who didn't know, and doesn't want to know, about God's mercy and love, so in the end, they will meet God's wrath and justice.
"29 They
were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.
They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful,
inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish,
faithless, heartless, ruthless."
Again, pretty self-explanatory. Just a list of what they were full of.
" 32 Though they know God's
righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not
only do them but give approval to those who practice them."
That's like someone taking drugs, even though they know it's illegal, and encouraging people to try it as well. They are just as guilty as those who are doing the drugs.