Deuteronomy 32:4

32:4 As for the Rock, ¹  his work is perfect,

for all his ways are just.

He is a reliable God who is never unjust,

he is fair ²  and upright.

Romans 3:4-5

3:4 Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being ³  shown up as a liar, ⁴  just as it is written: “so that you will be justified ⁵  in your words and will prevail when you are judged.” ⁶ 

3:5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates ⁷  the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he? ⁸  (I am speaking in human terms.) ⁹ 

Romans 3:2

3:2 Actually, there are many advantages. ¹⁰  First of all, ¹¹  the Jews ¹²  were entrusted with the oracles of God. ¹³ 

Romans 1:6-7

1:6 You also are among them, ¹⁴  called to belong to Jesus Christ. ¹⁵  1:7 To all those loved by God in Rome, ¹⁶  called to be saints: ¹⁷  Grace and peace to you ¹⁸  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Romans 1:2

1:2 This gospel ¹⁹  he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,

Romans 4:8

4:8 blessed is the one ²⁰  against whom the Lord will never count ²¹  sin.” ²² 

Romans 4:1

The Illustration of Justification

4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, ²³  has discovered regarding this matter? ²⁴ 

Romans 1:9

1:9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit by preaching the gospel ²⁵  of his Son, is my witness that ²⁶  I continually remember you

[32:4]  ¹ tc The LXX reads Θεός (qeos, “God”) for the MT’s “Rock.”

[32:4]  ² tn Or “just” (KJV, NAB, NRSV, NLT) or “righteous” (NASB).

[3:4]  ³ tn Grk “every man”; but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to stress humanity rather than masculinity.

[3:4]  ⁴ tn Grk “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” The words “proven” and “shown up” are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning.

[3:4]  ⁵ tn Grk “might be justified,” a subjunctive verb, but in this type of clause it carries the same sense as the future indicative verb in the latter part. “Will” is more idiomatic in contemporary English.

[3:4]  ⁶ tn Or “prevail when you judge.” A quotation from Ps 51:4.

[3:5]  ⁷ tn Or “shows clearly.”

[3:5]  ⁸ tn Grk “That God is not unjust to inflict wrath, is he?”

[3:5]  ⁹ sn The same expression occurs in Gal 3:15, and similar phrases in Rom 6:19 and 1 Cor 9:8.

[3:2]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “much in every way.”

[3:2]  ¹¹ tc ‡ Most witnesses (א A D² 33 Ï) have γάρ (gar) after μέν (men), though some significant Alexandrian and Western witnesses lack the conjunction (B D* G Ψ 81 365 1506 2464* pc latt). A few mss have γάρ, but not μέν (6 1739 1881). γάρ was frequently added by scribes as a clarifying conjunction, making it suspect here. NA²⁷ has the γάρ in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

[3:2]  ¹² tn Grk “they were.”

[3:2]  ¹³ tn The referent of λόγια (logia, “oracles”) has been variously understood: (1) BDAG 598 s.v. λόγιον takes the term to refer here to “God’s promises to the Jews”; (2) some have taken this to refer more narrowly to the national promises of messianic salvation given to Israel (so S. L. Johnson, Jr., “Studies in Romans: Part VII: The Jews and the Oracles of God,” BSac 130 [1973]: 245); (3) perhaps the most widespread interpretation sees the term as referring to the entire OT generally.

[1:6]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “among whom you also are called.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. The NIV, with its translation “And you also are among those who are called,” takes the phrase ἐν οἳς ἐστε to refer to the following clause rather than the preceding, so that the addressees of the letter (“you also”) are not connected with “all the Gentiles” mentioned at the end of v. 5. It is more likely, however, that the relative pronoun οἳς has τοῖς ἔθνεσιν as its antecedent, which would indicate that the church at Rome was predominantly Gentile.

[1:6]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “called of Jesus Christ.”

[1:7]  ¹⁶ map For location see JP4 A1.

[1:7]  ¹⁷ tn Although the first part of v. 7 is not a complete English sentence, it maintains the “From…to” pattern used in all the Pauline letters to indicate the sender and the recipients. Here, however, there are several intervening verses (vv. 2-6), which makes the first half of v. 7 appear as an isolated sentence fragment.

[1:7]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “the gospel of God, which he promised.” Because of the length and complexity of this sentence in Greek, it was divided into shorter English sentences in keeping with contemporary English style. To indicate the referent of the relative pronoun (“which”), the word “gospel” was repeated at the beginning of v. 2.

[4:8]  ²⁰ tn The word for “man” or “individual” here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” However, as BDAG 79 s.v. 2 says, here it is “equivalent to τὶς someone, a person.”

[4:8]  ²¹ tn The verb translated “count” here is λογίζομαι (logizomai). It occurs eight times in Rom 4:1-12, including here, each time with the sense of “place on someone’s account.” By itself the word is neutral, but in particular contexts it can take on a positive or negative connotation. The other occurrences of the verb have been translated using a form of the English verb “credit” because they refer to a positive event: the application of righteousness to the individual believer. The use here in v. 8 is negative: the application of sin. A form of the verb “credit” was not used here because of the positive connotations associated with that English word, but it is important to recognize that the same concept is used here as in the other occurrences.

[4:8]  ²² sn A quotation from Ps 32:1-2.

[4:1]  ²³ tn Or “according to natural descent” (BDAG 916 s.v. σάρξ 4).

[4:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “has found?”

[1:9]  ²⁵ tn Grk “whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel.”

[1:9]  ²⁶ tn Grk “as.”