⁸ First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith [your trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness] is being proclaimed in all the world. ⁹ For God, whom I serve with my spirit by preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how continuously I mention you ¹⁰ in my prayers; always pleading that somehow, by God’s will, I may now at last come to you. ¹¹ For I long to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift, to strengthen and establish you; ¹² that is, that we may be mutually encouraged and comforted by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. ¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, ^[a]brothers and sisters, that many times I have planned to come to you, (and have been prevented so far) so that I may have some fruit [of my labors] among you, even as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. ¹⁴ I have a duty to perform and a debt to pay both to Greeks and to barbarians [the cultured and the uncultured], both to the wise and to the foolish. ¹⁵ So, for my part, I am ready and eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

¹⁶ I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation [from His wrath and punishment] to everyone who believes [in Christ as Savior], to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed in a way that awakens more faith]. As it is written and forever remains written, “The just and upright shall live by faith.”^(A)