Romans 1:18-32

Romans 1

God’s Anger on All Who Reject Him

¹⁸ Indeed, God’s wrath is being revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who try to suppress the truth by unrighteousness. ¹⁹ This happens because what can be known about God is evident among them, because God made it evident among them. ²⁰ In fact, his invisible characteristics—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, because they are understood from the things he made. As a result, people are without excuse, ²¹ because, even though they knew God, they did not honor him or give him thanks as God. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless heart was darkened.

²² Although they claim to be wise, they have become fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human, or like birds, four-footed animals, and crawling things. ²⁴ So, as they followed the sinful desires of their hearts, God handed them over to the impurity of degrading their own bodies among themselves. ²⁵ Such people have traded the truth about God for the lie, worshipping and serving the creation rather than the Creator, who is worthy of praise forever. Amen.

²⁶ For this reason God handed them over to disgraceful passions. Even their females exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷ And, in the same way, their males, after abandoning natural sexual relations with females, were consumed by their lust for one another. Males perform indecent acts with males and receive in themselves the penalty that is fitting for their perversion.

²⁸ And since they did not consider it worthwhile to hold on to the true knowledge of God, God handed them over to a corrupted mind to do things that should never be done. ²⁹ They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarreling, deceit, and malice. They are gossipers, ³⁰ slanderers, God-haters, insolent mockers, arrogant boasters, and loudmouths. They dream up evil things. They disobey their parents. ³¹ They are senseless, faithless, heartless, and merciless. ³² Even though they know God’s righteous decree that those who do these things are worthy of death, such people not only continue to do them, but also approve of others who continue to commit such sins.