Romans 1:1-17

Easy-to-Read Version

1 Greetings from Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus.

God chose me to be an apostle and gave me the work of telling his Good News. ² God promised long ago through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures to give this Good News to his people. ^3-4 The Good News is about God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. As a human, he was born from the family of David, but through the Holy Spirit^[a] he was shown to be God’s powerful Son when he was raised from death.

⁵ Through Christ, God gave me the special work of an apostle—to lead people of all nations to believe and obey him. I do all this to honor Christ. ⁶ You are some of those who have been chosen to belong to Jesus Christ.

⁷ This letter is to all of you in Rome. God loves you, and he has chosen you to be his holy people.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

A Prayer of Thanks

⁸ First I want to say that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you. I thank him because people everywhere in the world are talking about your great faith. ^9-10 Every time I pray, I always remember you. God knows this is true. He is the one I serve with all my heart by telling people the Good News about his Son. I pray that I will be allowed to come to you. It will happen if God wants it. ¹¹ I want very much to see you and give you some spiritual gift to make your faith stronger. ¹² I mean that I want us to help each other with the faith that we have. Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you.

¹³ Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that I have planned many times to come to you, but something always happens to change my plans. I would like to see the same good result among you that I have had from my work among the other non-Jewish people.

¹⁴ I must serve all people—those who share in Greek culture and those who are less civilized,^[b] the educated as well as the ignorant. ¹⁵ That is why I want so much to tell the Good News to you there in Rome.

¹⁶ I am proud of the Good News, because it is the power God uses to save everyone who believes—to save the Jews first, and now to save those who are not Jews. ¹⁷ The Good News shows how God makes people right with himself. God’s way of making people right begins and ends with faith. As the Scriptures say, “The one who is right with God by faith will live forever.”^[c]