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 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.
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.