Romans 1

この章を意図をもって読む

Romans 1 opens the most influential letter in Christian history. Paul introduces himself as a servant set apart for the gospel about God's Son, greets a church he did not found, and explains that he has long wanted to visit Rome. Then he states his theme: he is not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, revealing a righteousness that comes by faith. The rest of the chapter explains why that gospel is needed. God's wrath is revealed against people who suppress the truth visible in creation, exchange the Creator for idols, and are handed over to their own desires, ending in a catalogue of vices that runs from envy to disobedience to parents.

章の解説を開く

Romans 1 is the doorway into a letter that has changed the course of history more than once, through Augustine, Luther, Wesley, and Barth, and the doorway is wide. Paul spends seven verses simply saying hello, because he is writing to a church he did not plant and wants them to know who he is: a servant, an apostle, set apart for a gospel that was promised long ago and concerns God's Son, David's descendant, declared Son of God with power by rising from the dead. He tells them he has prayed for them constantly and has been trying to come for years. Then he states, in two sentences, what the whole letter will unfold. He is not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, Jew first and then Greek, and in it a righteousness from God is revealed, by faith from first to last, as Habakkuk said: the righteous will live by faith. The second half of the chapter is darker and is meant to be. Paul describes a humanity that knows God from the world he made and refuses to thank him, that swaps the glory of the immortal God for statues of men and birds and reptiles, and that is handed over, three times, to the consequences of its own choices. The list of vices at the end is long enough to include everyone, which is the point; chapter 2 will begin with "therefore you have no excuse, you who judge." The bad news is the setup for the good news of chapter 3.

主要な箇所

Romans 1:1-7 Romans 1:16-17 Romans 1:18-25 Romans 1:26-32 Habakkuk 2:4 Romans 2:1-4

Historical and literary context

Paul wrote from Corinth around AD 57, dictating to Tertius, before carrying the Jerusalem collection east and hoping to go on to Spain by way of Rome. The Roman church had grown without an apostle, mostly in house churches. In AD 49 the emperor Claudius had expelled Jews from Rome, including Christian Jews such as Priscilla and Aquila; when they returned after his death in 54, they found congregations that had become largely Gentile. The letter's long argument about Jew and Gentile addresses that strain. Verses 18 to 32 draw on a Jewish critique of pagan idolatry familiar from the Wisdom of Solomon, which Paul will turn on his own people in chapter 2.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 to 7 are the greeting, expanded into a summary of the gospel: promised in Scripture, concerning the Son of David declared Son of God by the resurrection. Verses 8 to 15 give thanks for the Romans' faith and explain Paul's long-delayed visit and his obligation to preach to Greeks and non-Greeks alike. Verses 16 and 17 state the thesis, with the quotation from Habakkuk 2:4. Verses 18 to 23 describe the suppression of the truth known from creation and its exchange for images. Verses 24 to 32 record three times that God "gave them over," to impurity, to dishonorable passions, and to a depraved mind, and close with a list of vices.

Why this chapter matters

Verses 16 and 17 have been called the keystone of the letter and of Protestant theology; Luther described the phrase "the righteousness of God" as the gate through which he entered paradise once he understood it as a gift rather than a demand. Verse 20 is the classic text for natural revelation, the claim that creation itself leaves people without excuse. The threefold "God gave them over" describes judgment as abandonment to one's own choices rather than as external punishment, a picture that has shaped Christian thinking about sin ever since.

Interpretive tension to watch

Verses 26 and 27 are the New Testament's most discussed statement about same-sex relations, and readers disagree sharply about what Paul had in view and how it applies today. The passage's rhetorical shape matters for any reading: it builds a case against "them," the idolatrous pagan world, so that chapter 2 can spring the trap on anyone who judges, since "you who pass judgment do the same things." Whether "the righteousness of God" in verse 17 means God's own justice, the status he gives believers, or his saving action is a further debate that runs through the whole letter.

この章のための質問

Paul says he is "not ashamed" of the gospel. What about the message might have been embarrassing in Rome, and what would it be today?
Verse 20 claims that creation makes God's power and nature plain. What can be known about God from the world, and what cannot?
Three times the chapter says God "gave them over." How is being left to your own desires a judgment?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

ノートに追加

1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, an Apostle by the selection of God, given authority as a preacher of the good news, 2 Of which God had given word before by his prophets in the holy Writings, 3 About his Son who, in the flesh, came from the family of David, 4 But was marked out as Son of God in power by the Holy Spirit through the coming to life again of the dead; Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 Through whom grace has been given to us, sending us out to make disciples to the faith among all nations, for his name: 6 Among whom you in the same way have been marked out to be disciples of Jesus Christ: 7 To all those who are in Rome, loved by God, marked out as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 8 First of all, I give praise to my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because news of your faith has gone into all the world. 9 For God is my witness, whose servant I am in spirit in the good news of his Son, that you are at all times in my memory and in my prayers, 10 And that I am ever making prayers that God will give me a good journey to you. 11 For I have a strong desire to see you, and to give you some grace of the spirit, so that you may be made strong; 12 That is to say, that all of us may be comforted together by the faith which is in you and in me. 13 You may be certain, my brothers, that it has frequently been in my mind to come to you (but till now I was kept from it), so that I might have some fruit from you in the same way as I have had it from the other nations. 14 I have a debt to Greeks and to the nations outside; to the wise and to those who have no learning. 15 For which reason I have the desire, as far as I am able, to give the knowledge of the good news to you who are in Rome. 16 For I have no feeling of shame about the good news, because it is the power of God giving salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first, and then to the Greek. 17 For in it there is the revelation of the righteousness of God from faith to faith: as it is said in the holy Writings, The man who does righteousness will be living by his faith. 18 For there is a revelation of the wrath of God from heaven against all the wrongdoing and evil thoughts of men who keep down what is true by wrongdoing; 19 Because the knowledge of God may be seen in them, God having made it clear to them. 20 For from the first making of the world, those things of God which the eye is unable to see, that is, his eternal power and existence, are fully made clear, he having given the knowledge of them through the things which he has made, so that men have no reason for wrongdoing: 21 Because, having the knowledge of God, they did not give glory to God as God, and did not give praise, but their minds were full of foolish things, and their hearts, being without sense, were made dark. 22 Seeming to be wise, they were in fact foolish, 23 And by them the glory of the eternal God was changed and made into the image of man who is not eternal, and of birds and beasts and things which go on the earth. 24 For this reason God gave them up to the evil desires of their hearts, working shame in their bodies with one another: 25 Because by them the true word of God was changed into that which is false, and they gave worship and honour to the thing which is made, and not to him who made it, to whom be blessing for ever. So be it. 26 For this reason God gave them up to evil passions, and their women were changing the natural use into one which is unnatural: 27 And in the same way the men gave up the natural use of the woman and were burning in their desire for one another, men doing shame with men, and getting in their bodies the right reward of their evil-doing. 28 And because they had not the mind to keep God in their knowledge, God gave them up to an evil mind, to do those things which are not right; 29 Being full of all wrongdoing, evil, desire for the goods of others, hate, envy, putting to death, fighting, deceit, cruel ways, evil talk, and false statements about others; 30 Hated by God, full of pride, without respect, full of loud talk, given to evil inventions, not honouring father or mother, 31 Without knowledge, not true to their undertakings, unkind, having no mercy: 32 Who, though they have knowledge of the law of God, that the fate of those who do these things is death, not only go on doing these things themselves, but give approval to those who do them.

読むことを本当の学びに変える

登録すると、聖句のブックマーク、ノート作成、AIツールでの学びができます。

新規登録ログイン

この章の後の次のステップを選ぶ読み続けるか、プランを選ぶか、AIで学習を続けてください。

次の章を読む Romans 2 in Bible in Basic English.

読書プラン

この章を繰り返し可能な習慣にしたい場合は、プランを選んでください。

この章についてAIに聞く

テキストが疑問を提起したり、一度の読書よりも深く迫る場合は、AI学習を続けてください。

この章が開くテーマを追うこの章が開いたより大きな疑問に関連するトピックハブ。

すべてのトピックを閲覧