Bible / Romans
Romans 1
World English Bible, Catholic edition, in plain modern English. About the translations
Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision, the traditional Catholic English Bible. About the translations
1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God, CCC · Fathers
2 which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, Fathers
3 concerning his Son, who was born of the offspring of David according to the flesh, CCC · Fathers
4 who was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, CCC · Fathers
5 through whom we received grace and apostleship for obedience of faith among all the nations for his name’s sake; CCC
6 among whom you are also called to belong to Jesus Christ;
7 to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.
9 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Good News of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers,
10 requesting, if by any means now at last I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you.
11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that you may be established;
12 that is, that I with you may be encouraged in you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.
13 Now I don’t desire to have you unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (and was hindered so far), that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.
14 I am debtor both to Greeks and to foreigners, both to the wise and to the foolish.
15 So as much as is in me, I am eager to preach the Good News to you also who are in Rome.
16 For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek. CCC
17 For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.” CCC · Fathers
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, CCC · Fathers
19 because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them. CCC
20 For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse. 1 CCC
21 Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened. CCC · Fathers
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, CCC
23 and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things. CCC
24 Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves; CCC
25 who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. CCC
26 For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature.
27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.
28 Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; CCC · Fathers
29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers, CCC
30 backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, CCC
31 without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful; CCC
32 who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. CCC · Fathers
1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. CCC · Fathers
2 Which he had promised before, by his prophets, in the holy scriptures, Fathers
3 Concerning his Son, who was made to him of the seed of David, according to the flesh, CCC · Fathers
4 Who was predestinated the Son of God in power, according to the spirit of sanctification, by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead: CCC · Fathers
5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith, in all nations, for his name: CCC
6 Among whom are you also the called of Jesus Christ:
7 To all that are at Rome, the beloved of God, called to be saints. Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
8 First, I give thanks to my God, through Jesus Christ, for you all: because your faith is spoken of in the whole world.
9 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make a commemoration of you:
10 Always in my prayers making request, if by any means now at length I may have a prosperous journey, by the will of God, to come unto you.
11 For I long to see you that I may impart unto you some spiritual grace, to strengthen you:
12 That is to say, that I may be comforted together in you by that which is common to us both, your faith and mine.
13 And I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that I have often purposed to come unto you (and have been hindered hitherto) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
14 To the Greeks and to the barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise, I am a debtor.
15 So (as much as is in me) I am ready to preach the gospel to you also that are at Rome.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth: to the Jew first and to the Greek. CCC
17 For the justice of God is revealed therein, from faith unto faith, as it is written: The just man liveth by faith. CCC · Fathers
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those men that detain the truth of God in injustice: CCC · Fathers
19 Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. For God hath manifested it unto them. CCC
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. His eternal power also and divinity: so that they are inexcusable. 1 CCC
21 Because that, when they knew God, they have not glorified him as God or given thanks: but became vain in their thoughts. And their foolish heart was darkened. CCC · Fathers
22 For, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. CCC
23 And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man and of birds, and of fourfooted beasts and of creeping things. CCC
24 Wherefore, God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness: to dishonour their own bodies among themselves. CCC
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. CCC
26 For this cause, God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature.
27 And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts, one towards another: men with men, working that which is filthy and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error.
28 And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient. CCC · Fathers
29 Being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness: full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity: whisperers, CCC
30 Detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, CCC
31 Foolish, dissolute: without affection, without fidelity, without mercy. CCC
32 Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death: and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them. CCC · Fathers
Where our lessons quote this chapter
This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church
Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text.
Read the Catechism and Fathers
- CCC 437 “To the shepherds, the angel announced the birth of Jesus as the Messiah promised to Israel: "To you is born this day…”
- CCC 876 “Intrinsically linked to the sacramental nature of ecclesial ministry is its character as service. Entirely dependent on Christ who gives mission and…”
“… the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was made to Him of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestinated the Son of God with power through the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Fathers
“… the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was made to Him of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestinated the Son of God with power through the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism and Fathers
- CCC 445 “After his Resurrection, Jesus' divine sonship becomes manifest in the power of his glorified humanity. He was "designated Son of God in…”
- CCC 496 “From the first formulations of her faith, the Church has confessed that Jesus was conceived solely by the power of the Holy…”
“… the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was made to Him of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestinated the Son of God with power through the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
“who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestinated as the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism and Fathers
- CCC 695 “Anointing. the symbolism of anointing with oil also signifies the Holy Spirit, to the point of becoming a synonym for the Holy…”
“… the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was made to Him of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestinated the Son of God with power through the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
“who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestinated as the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism
- CCC 494 “At the announcement that she would give birth to "the Son of the Most High" without knowing man, by the power of…”
- CCC 2087 “Our moral life has its source in faith in God who reveals his love to us. St. Paul speaks of the "obedience…”
- CCC 143 “By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. With his whole being man gives his assent to God…”
Read the Catechism
- CCC 124 “The Word of God, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, is set forth and displays…”
Read the Catechism and Fathers
- CCC 1814 “Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us,…”
“To this effect also Paul, His apostle, says in the Epistle to the Romans, "But now, without the law, has the righteousness of God been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; for the just shall live by faith.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXIV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism and Fathers
- CCC 401 “After that first sin, the world is virtually inundated by sin There is Cain's murder of his brother Abel and the universal…”
- CCC 2087 “Our moral life has its source in faith in God who reveals his love to us. St. Paul speaks of the "obedience…”
- CCC 2125 “Since it rejects or denies the existence of God, atheism is a sin against the virtue of religion. The imputability of this…”
- CCC 57 “This state of division into many nations, each entrusted by divine providence to the guardianship of angels, is at once cosmic, social…”
“… lump." And as the wrath of God did then descend upon the unrighteous, here also does the apostle likewise say: "For the wrath of God shall be revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of those men who hold back the truth in unrighteousness.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXVII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism
- CCC 287 “The truth about creation is so important for all of human life that God in his tenderness wanted to reveal to his…”
- CCC 1147 “God speaks to man through the visible creation. the material cosmos is so presented to man's intelligence that he can read there…”
- CCC 32 “The world: starting from movement, becoming, contingency, and the world's order and beauty, one can come to a knowledge of God as…”
- CCC 54 “God, who creates and conserves all things by his Word, provides men with constant evidence of himself in created realities. and furthermore,…”
- CCC 57 “This state of division into many nations, each entrusted by divine providence to the guardianship of angels, is at once cosmic, social…”
Read the Catechism
- CCC 287 “The truth about creation is so important for all of human life that God in his tenderness wanted to reveal to his…”
- CCC 32 “The world: starting from movement, becoming, contingency, and the world's order and beauty, one can come to a knowledge of God as…”
- CCC 54 “God, who creates and conserves all things by his Word, provides men with constant evidence of himself in created realities. and furthermore,…”
- CCC 57 “This state of division into many nations, each entrusted by divine providence to the guardianship of angels, is at once cosmic, social…”
Read the Catechism and Fathers
- CCC 844 “In their religious behavior, however, men also display the limits and errors that disfigure the image of God in them: Very often,…”
- CCC 57 “This state of division into many nations, each entrusted by divine providence to the guardianship of angels, is at once cosmic, social…”
“… the dispensations of God, present with mankind, and announced things future, revealed things present, and narrated things past – [such a man] does indeed "judge all men, but is himself judged by no man." For he judges the Gentiles, "who serve the creature more than the Creator,”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism
- CCC 57 “This state of division into many nations, each entrusted by divine providence to the guardianship of angels, is at once cosmic, social…”
Read the Catechism
- CCC 57 “This state of division into many nations, each entrusted by divine providence to the guardianship of angels, is at once cosmic, social…”
Read the Catechism
- CCC 57 “This state of division into many nations, each entrusted by divine providence to the guardianship of angels, is at once cosmic, social…”
Read the Catechism
Read the Catechism and Fathers
- CCC 1852 “There are a great many kinds of sins. Scripture provides several lists of them. the Letter to the Galatians contrasts the works…”
“… the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine [unto them]." And again, in that to the Romans: "And as they did not think fit to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things that are not convenient.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXIX. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism
- CCC 1852 “There are a great many kinds of sins. Scripture provides several lists of them. the Letter to the Galatians contrasts the works…”
Read the Catechism
- CCC 1852 “There are a great many kinds of sins. Scripture provides several lists of them. the Letter to the Galatians contrasts the works…”
Read the Catechism
- CCC 1852 “There are a great many kinds of sins. Scripture provides several lists of them. the Letter to the Galatians contrasts the works…”
Read the Catechism and Fathers
- CCC 1777 “Moral conscience, present at the heart of the person, enjoins him at the appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil.…”
- CCC 1852 “There are a great many kinds of sins. Scripture provides several lists of them. the Letter to the Galatians contrasts the works…”
“For they that do such things are hateful to God; and not only they that do them, but also those that take pleasure in them that do them.”
Quoted in First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Clement of Rome (c. AD 96), Chapter XXXV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1