Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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1 From Paul, a servant of Christ
Jesus and an apostle chosen and
called by God to preach his Good
News.
2 The Good News was promised
long ago by God through his prophets,
as written in the Holy Scriptures.
3 It is about his Son, our Lord
-- --
Jesus Christ: as to his humanity, he
was born a descendant of David;
4 as
to his divine holiness, he was shown
with great power to be the Son of
God by being raised from death.
5 Through him God gave me the
privilege of being an apostle for the
sake of Christ, in order to lead people
of all nations to believe and
obey.
6 This also includes you who
are in Rome, whom God has called
to belong to Jesus Christ.
7 And so I write to all of you in
Rome whom God loves and has
called to be his own people:
7 May God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ give you grace and
peace.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
8 First, I thank my God through
Jesus Christ for all of you, because
the whole world is hearing about
your faith.
9 God is my witness that
what I say is true—the God whom I
serve with all my heart by preaching
the Good News about his Son. God
knows that I remember you
10 every
time I pray. I ask that God in his
good will may at last make it possible
for me to visit you now.
11 For I
want very much to see you, in order
to share a spiritual blessing with you
to make you strong.
12 What I mean
is that both you and I will be helped
at the same time, you by my faith
and I by yours.
13 You must remember, my brothers,
that many times I have planned
to visit you, but something has always
kept me from doing so. I want
to win converts among you also, as I
have among other Gentiles. note
14 For I
have an obligation to all peoples, to
the civilized and to the savage, to
the educated and to the ignorant.
15 So then, I am eager to preach the
Good News to you also who live in
Rome.
The Power of the Gospel
16 I have complete confidence in
the gospel; it is God's power to save
all who believe, first the Jews and
also the Gentiles. note
17 For the gospel
reveals how God puts people right
with himself: it is through faith from
beginning to end. As the scripture
says, “The person who is put right
with God through faith shall live.” note note
The Guilt of Mankind
18 God's anger is revealed from
heaven against all the sin and evil of
the people whose evil ways prevent
the truth from being known.
19 God
punishes them, because what can be
known about God is plain to them,
for God himself made it plain.
20 Ever
since God created the world, his invisible
qualities, both his eternal
power and his divine nature, have
been clearly seen; they are perceived
in the things that God has made. So
those people have no excuse at all! note
21 They know God, but they do not
give him the honor that belongs to
him, nor do they thank him. Instead,
their thoughts have become complete
nonsense, and their empty
minds are filled with darkness. note
22 They say they are wise, but they
are fools;
23 instead of worshiping
the immortal God, they worship images
made to look like mortal man
or birds or animals or reptiles. note
24 And so God has given those people
over to do the filthy things their
-- --
hearts desire, and they do shameful
things with each other.
25 They exchange
the truth about God for a lie;
they worship and serve what God
has created instead of the Creator
himself, who is to be praised forever!
Amen.
26 Because they do this, God has
given them over to shameful passions.
Even the women pervert the
natural use of their sex by unnatural
acts.
27 In the same way the men give
up natural sexual relations with
women and burn with passion for
each other. Men do shameful things
with each other, and as a result they
bring upon themselves the punishment
they deserve for their wrong-doing.
28 Because those people refuse to
keep in mind the true knowledge
about God, he has given them over
to corrupted minds, so that they do
the things that they should not do.
29 They are filled with all kinds of
wickedness, evil, greed, and vice;
they are full of jealousy, murder,
fighting, deceit, and malice. They
gossip
30 and speak evil of one another;
they are hateful to God, insolent, note
proud, and boastful; they think
of more ways to do evil; they disobey
their parents;
31 they have no
conscience; they do not keep their
promises, and they show no kindness
or pity for others.
32 They know
that God's law says that people who
live in this way deserve death. Yet,
not only do they continue to do these
very things, but they even approve
of others who do them.
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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