Galatians 1:16

1:16 to reveal his Son in ¹  me so that I could preach him ²  among the Gentiles, I did not go to ask advice from ³  any human being, ⁴ 

Acts 13:46-48

13:46 Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously, ⁵  “It was necessary to speak the word of God ⁶  to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy ⁷  of eternal life, we ⁸  are turning to the Gentiles. ⁹  13:47 For this ¹⁰  is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have appointed ¹¹  you to be a light ¹²  for the Gentiles, to bring salvation ¹³  to the ends of the earth.’” ¹⁴  13:48 When the Gentiles heard this, they began to rejoice ¹⁵  and praise ¹⁶  the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed for eternal life ¹⁷  believed.

Acts 18:6

18:6 When they opposed him ¹⁸  and reviled him, ¹⁹  he protested by shaking out his clothes ²⁰  and said to them, “Your blood ²¹  be on your own heads! I am guiltless! ²²  From now on I will go to the Gentiles!”

Acts 28:28

28:28 “Therefore be advised ²³  that this salvation from God ²⁴  has been sent to the Gentiles; ²⁵  they ²⁶  will listen!”

Romans 1:5

1:5 Through him ²⁷  we have received grace and our apostleship ²⁸  to bring about the obedience ²⁹  of faith ³⁰  among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name.

Romans 11:13

11:13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,

Romans 11:1

Israel’s Rejection not Complete nor Final

11:1 So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

Romans 2:4

2:4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know ³¹  that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?

Romans 2:1

The Condemnation of the Moralist

2:1 ³² Therefore ³³  you are without excuse, ³⁴  whoever you are, ³⁵  when you judge someone else. ³⁶  For on whatever grounds ³⁷  you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

Romans 2:7

2:7 eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality,

Romans 2:2

2:2 Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth ³⁸  against those who practice such things.

Romans 1:11

1:11 For I long to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift ³⁹  to strengthen you,

[1:16]  ¹ tn Or “to me”; the Greek preposition ἐν (en) can mean either, depending on the context.

[1:16]  ² tn This pronoun refers to “his Son,” mentioned earlier in the verse.

[1:16]  ³ tn Or “I did not consult with.” For the translation “I did not go to ask advice from” see L&N 33.175.

[1:16]  ⁴ tn Grk “from flesh and blood.”

[13:46]  ⁵ tn Grk “Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out courageously and said.” The redundancy is removed in the translation and the verb “replied” is used in keeping with the logical sequence of events. The theme of boldness reappears: Acts 4:24-30; 9:27-28.

[13:46]  ⁶ tn Grk “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken.” For smoothness and simplicity of English style, the passive construction has been converted to active voice in the translation.

[13:46]  ⁷ tn Or “and consider yourselves unworthy.”

[13:46]  ⁸ tn Grk “behold, we.” In this context ἰδού (idou) is not easily translated into English.

[13:46]  ⁹ sn This turning to the Gentiles would be a shocking rebuke to 1st century Jews who thought they alone were the recipients of the promise.

[13:47]  ¹⁰ tn Here οὕτως (Joutws) is taken to refer to what follows, the content of the quotation, as given for this verse by BDAG 742 s.v. οὕτω/οὕτως 2.

[13:47]  ¹¹ tn BDAG 1004 s.v. τίθημι 3.a has “τιθέναι τινὰ εἴς τι place/appoint someone to or for (to function as) someth….Ac 13:47.” This is a double accusative construction of object (“you”) and complement (“a light”).

[13:47]  ¹² sn Paul alludes here to the language of the Servant in Isaiah, pointing to Isa 42:6; 49:6. He and Barnabas do the work of the Servant in Isaiah.

[13:47]  ¹³ tn Grk “that you should be for salvation,” but more simply “to bring salvation.”

[13:47]  ¹⁴ sn An allusion to Isa 42:6 and 49:6. The expression the ends of the earth recalls Luke 3:6 and Acts 1:8. Paul sees himself and Barnabas as carrying out the commission of Luke 24:27. (See 2 Cor 6:2, where servant imagery also appears concerning Paul’s message.)

[13:48]  ¹⁵ tn The imperfect verb ἔχαιρον (ecairon) and the following ἐδόξαζον (edoxazon) are translated as ingressive imperfects.

[13:48]  ¹⁶ tn Or “glorify.” Although “honor” is given by BDAG 258 s.v. δοξάζω as a translation, it would be misleading here, because the meaning is “to honor in the sense of attributing worth to something,” while in contemporary English usage one speaks of “honoring” a contract in the sense of keeping its stipulations. It is not a synonym for “obey” in this context (“obey the word of the Lord”), but that is how many English readers would understand it.

[13:48]  ¹⁷ sn Note the contrast to v. 46 in regard to eternal life.

[18:6]  ¹⁸ tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[18:6]  ¹⁹ tn The participle βλασφημούντων (blasfhmountwn) has been taken temporally. The direct object (“him”) is implied rather than expressed and could be impersonal (“it,” referring to what Paul was saying rather than Paul himself), but the verb occurs more often in contexts involving defamation or slander against personal beings (not always God). For a very similar context to this one, compare Acts 13:45. The translation “blaspheme” is not used because in contemporary English its meaning is more narrowly defined and normally refers to blasphemy against God (not what Paul’s opponents were doing here). What they were doing was more like slander or defamation of character.

[18:6]  ²⁰ tn Grk “shaking out his clothes, he said to them.” L&N 16:8 translates Acts 18:6 “when they opposed him and said evil things about him, he protested by shaking the dust from his clothes.” The addition of the verb “protested by” in the translation is necessary to clarify for the modern reader that this is a symbolic action. It is similar but not identical to the phrase in Acts 13:51, where the dust from the feet is shaken off. The participle ἐκτιναξάμενος (ektinaxameno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[18:6]  ²¹ sn Your blood be on your own heads! By invoking this epithet Paul declared himself not responsible for their actions in rejecting Jesus whom Paul preached (cf. Ezek 33:4; 3:6-21; Matt 23:35; 27:25).

[18:6]  ²² tn Or “innocent.” BDAG 489 s.v. καθαρός 3.a has “guiltless Ac 18:6.”

[28:28]  ²³ tn Grk “Therefore let it be known to you.”

[28:28]  ²⁴ tn Or “of God.”

[28:28]  ²⁵ sn The term Gentiles is in emphatic position in the Greek text of this clause. Once again there is the pattern: Jewish rejection of the gospel leads to an emphasis on Gentile inclusion (Acts 13:44-47).

[28:28]  ²⁶ tn Grk “they also.”

[1:5]  ²⁷ tn Grk “through whom.”

[1:5]  ²⁸ tn Some interpreters understand the phrase “grace and apostleship” as a hendiadys, translating “grace [i.e., gift] of apostleship.” The pronoun “our” is supplied in the translation to clarify the sense of the statement.

[1:5]  ²⁹ tn Grk “and apostleship for obedience.”

[1:5]  ³⁰ tn The phrase ὑπακοὴν πίστεως has been variously understood as (1) an objective genitive (a reference to the Christian faith, “obedience to [the] faith”); (2) a subjective genitive (“the obedience faith produces [or requires]”); (3) an attributive genitive (“believing obedience”); or (4) as a genitive of apposition (“obedience, [namely] faith”) in which “faith” further defines “obedience.” These options are discussed by C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), 1:66. Others take the phrase as deliberately ambiguous; see D. B. Garlington, “The Obedience of Faith in the Letter to the Romans: Part I: The Meaning of ὑπακοὴ πίστεως (Rom 1:5; 16:26),” WTJ 52 (1990): 201-24.

[2:4]  ³¹ tn Grk “being unaware.”

[2:1]  ³² sn Rom 2:1-29 presents unusual difficulties for the interpreter. There have been several major approaches to the chapter and the group(s) it refers to: (1) Rom 2:14 refers to Gentile Christians, not Gentiles who obey the Jewish law. (2) Paul in Rom 2 is presenting a hypothetical viewpoint: If anyone could obey the law, that person would be justified, but no one can. (3) The reference to “the ones who do the law” in 2:13 are those who “do” the law in the right way, on the basis of faith, not according to Jewish legalism. (4) Rom 2:13 only speaks about Christians being judged in the future, along with such texts as Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10. (5) Paul’s material in Rom 2 is drawn heavily from Diaspora Judaism, so that the treatment of the law presented here cannot be harmonized with other things Paul says about the law elsewhere (E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, 123); another who sees Rom 2 as an example of Paul’s inconsistency in his treatment of the law is H. Räisänen, Paul and the Law [WUNT], 101-9. (6) The list of blessings and curses in Deut 27–30 provide the background for Rom 2; the Gentiles of 2:14 are Gentile Christians, but the condemnation of Jews in 2:17-24 addresses the failure of Jews as a nation to keep the law as a whole (A. Ito, “Romans 2: A Deuteronomistic Reading,” JSNT 59 [1995]: 21-37).

[2:1]  ³³ tn Some interpreters (e.g., C. K. Barrett, Romans [HNTC], 43) connect the inferential Διό (dio, “therefore”) with 1:32a, treating 1:32b as a parenthetical comment by Paul.

[2:1]  ³⁴ tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).

[2:1]  ³⁵ tn Grk “O man.”

[2:1]  ³⁶ tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”

[2:1]  ³⁷ tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”

[2:2]  ³⁸ tn Or “based on truth.”

[1:11]  ³⁹ sn Paul does not mean here that he is going to bestow upon the Roman believers what is commonly known as a “spiritual gift,” that is, a special enabling for service given to believers by the Holy Spirit. Instead, this is either a metonymy of cause for effect (Paul will use his own spiritual gifts to edify the Romans), or it simply means something akin to a blessing or benefit in the spiritual realm. It is possible that Paul uses this phrase to connote specifically the broader purpose of his letter, which is for the Romans to understand his gospel, but this seems less likely.