Psalms 16:11

16:11 You lead me in ¹  the path of life; ² 

I experience absolute joy in your presence; ³ 

you always give me sheer delight. ⁴ 

Psalms 21:4

21:4 He asked you to sustain his life, ⁵ 

and you have granted him long life and an enduring dynasty. ⁶ 

Psalms 73:24

73:24 You guide ⁷  me by your wise advice,

and then you will lead me to a position of honor. ⁸ 

Psalms 103:17

103:17 But the Lord continually shows loyal love to his faithful followers, ⁹ 

and is faithful to their descendants, ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 60:21

60:21 All of your people will be godly; ¹¹ 

they will possess the land permanently.

I will plant them like a shoot;

they will be the product of my labor,

through whom I reveal my splendor. ¹² 

Romans 5:21

5:21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:23

6:23 For the payoff ¹³  of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:1

The Believer’s Freedom from Sin’s Domination

6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase?

Romans 1:4-5

1:4 who was appointed the Son-of-God-in-power ¹⁴  according to the Holy Spirit ¹⁵  by the resurrection ¹⁶  from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1:5 Through him ¹⁷  we have received grace and our apostleship ¹⁸  to bring about the obedience ¹⁹  of faith ²⁰  among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name.

Romans 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²¹  a slave ²²  of Christ Jesus, ²³  called to be an apostle, ²⁴  set apart for the gospel of God. ²⁵ 

Romans 2:25

2:25 For circumcision ²⁶  has its value if you practice the law, but ²⁷  if you break the law, ²⁸  your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

[16:11]  ¹ tn Heb “cause me to know”; or “cause me to experience.”

[16:11]  ² tn This is a metaphorical way of saying, “you preserve my life.” The phrase “path of life” stands in contrast to death/Sheol in Prov 2:18-19; 5:5-6; 15:24.

[16:11]  ³ tn Heb “abundance of joy [is] with your face.” The plural form of the noun שִׂמְחָה (simkhah, “joy”) occurs only here and in Ps 45:15. It may emphasize the degree of joy experienced.

[16:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “delight [is] in your right hand forever.” The plural form of the adjective נָעִים (na’im, “pleasant, delightful”) may here emphasize the degree of delight experienced (see Job 36:11).

[21:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “life he asked from you.” Another option is to translate the perfect verbal forms in v. 4 with the present tense, “he asks…you grant.”

[21:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “you have granted him length of days forever and ever.” The phrase “length of days,” when used of human beings, usually refers to a lengthy period of time (such as one’s lifetime). See, for example, Deut 30:20; Job 12:12; Ps 91:16; Prov 3:2, 16; Lam 5:20. The additional phrase “forever and ever” is hyperbolic. While it seems to attribute eternal life to the king (see Pss 61:6-7; 72:5 as well), the underlying reality is the king’s enduring dynasty. He will live on, as it were, through his descendants, who will continue to rule over his kingdom long after he has passed off the scene.

[73:24]  ⁷ tn The imperfect verbal form here suggests this is the psalmist’s ongoing experience.

[73:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “and afterward [to] glory you will take me.” Some interpreters view this as the psalmist’s confidence in an afterlife in God’s presence and understand כָּבוֹד (cavod) as a metonymic reference to God’s presence in heaven. But this seems unlikely in the present context. The psalmist anticipates a time of vindication, when the wicked are destroyed and he is honored by God for his godly life style. The verb לָקַח (laqakh, “take”) here carries the nuance “lead, guide, conduct,” as in Num 23:14, 27-28; Josh 24:3 and Prov 24:11.

[103:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “but the loyal love of the Lord [is] from everlasting to everlasting over those who fear him.”

[103:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and his righteousness to sons of sons.”

[60:21]  ¹¹ tn Or “righteous” (NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “just.”

[60:21]  ¹² tn Heb “a shoot of his planting, the work of my hands, to reveal splendor.”

[6:23]  ¹³ tn A figurative extension of ὀψώνιον (oywnion), which refers to a soldier’s pay or wages. Here it refers to the end result of an activity, seen as something one receives back in return. In this case the activity is sin, and the translation “payoff” captures this thought. See also L&N 89.42.

[1:4]  ¹⁴ sn Appointed the Son-of-God-in-power. Most translations render the Greek participle ὁρισθέντος (Jorisqentos, from ὁρίζω, Jorizw) “declared” or “designated” in order to avoid the possible interpretation that Jesus was appointed the Son of God by the resurrection. However, the Greek term ὁρίζω is used eight times in the NT, and it always has the meaning “to determine, appoint.” Paul is not saying that Jesus was appointed the “Son of God by the resurrection” but “Son-of-God-in-power by the resurrection,” as indicated by the hyphenation. He was born in weakness in human flesh (with respect to the flesh, v. 3) and he was raised with power. This is similar to Matt 28:18 where Jesus told his disciples after the resurrection, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

[1:4]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “spirit of holiness.” Some interpreters take the phrase to refer to Christ’s own inner spirit, which was characterized by holiness.

[1:4]  ¹⁶ tn Or “by his resurrection.” Most interpreters see this as a reference to Jesus’ own resurrection, although some take it to refer to the general resurrection at the end of the age, of which Jesus’ resurrection is the first installment (cf. 1 Cor 15:23).

[1:5]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “through whom.”

[1:5]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and apostleship for obedience.”

[1:5]  ²⁰ 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.

[1:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ²² tn Traditionally, “servant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ²³ tc Many important mss, as well as several others (̲⁶ א A G Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï), have a reversed order of these words and read “Jesus Christ” rather than “Christ Jesus” (̹⁰ B 81 pc). The meaning is not affected in either case, but the reading “Christ Jesus” is preferred as slightly more difficult and thus more likely the original (a scribe who found it would be prone to change it to the more common expression). At the same time, Paul is fond of the order “Christ Jesus,” especially in certain letters such as Romans, Galatians, and Philippians. As well, the later Pauline letters almost uniformly use this order in the salutations. A decision is difficult, but “Christ Jesus” is slightly preferred.

[1:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “a called apostle.”

[1:1]  ²⁵ tn The genitive in the phrase εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ (euangelion qeou, “the gospel of God”) could be translated as (1) a subjective genitive (“the gospel which God brings”) or (2) an objective genitive (“the gospel about God”). Either is grammatically possible. This is possibly an instance of a plenary genitive (see ExSyn 119-21; M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek, §§36-39). If so, an interplay between the two concepts is intended: The gospel which God brings is in fact the gospel about himself. However, in view of God’s action in v. 2 concerning this gospel, a subjective genitive notion (“the gospel which God brings”) is slightly preferred.

[2:25]  ²⁶ sn Circumcision refers to male circumcision as prescribed in the OT, which was given as a covenant to Abraham in Gen 17:10-14. Its importance for Judaism can hardly be overstated: According to J. D. G. Dunn (Romans [WBC], 1:120) it was the “single clearest distinguishing feature of the covenant people.” J. Marcus has suggested that the terms used for circumcision (περιτομή, peritomh) and uncircumcision (ἀκροβυστία, akrobustia) were probably derogatory slogans used by Jews and Gentiles to describe their opponents (“The Circumcision and the Uncircumcision in Rome,” NTS 35 [1989]: 77-80).

[2:25]  ²⁷ tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

[2:25]  ²⁸ tn Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”