Discovery BoxRomans 1:18--15:13
Context1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people 1 who suppress the truth by their 2 unrighteousness, 3 1:19 because what can be known about God is plain to them, 4 because God has made it plain to them. 1:20 For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people 5 are without excuse. 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts 6 were darkened. 1:22 Although they claimed 7 to be wise, they became fools 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings 8 or birds or four-footed animals 9 or reptiles.
1:24 Therefore God gave them over 10 in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor 11 their bodies among themselves. 12 1:25 They 13 exchanged the truth of God for a lie 14 and worshiped and served the creation 15 rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, 16 1:27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women 17 and were inflamed in their passions 18 for one another. Men 19 committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, 20 God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. 21 1:29 They are filled 22 with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with 23 envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 1:31 senseless, covenant-breakers, 24 heartless, ruthless. 1:32 Although they fully know 25 God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, 26 they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them. 27
2:1 28 Therefore 29 you are without excuse, 30 whoever you are, 31 when you judge someone else. 32 For on whatever grounds 33 you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things. 2:2 Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth 34 against those who practice such things. 2:3 And do you think, 35 whoever you are, when you judge 36 those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, 37 that you will escape God’s judgment? 2:4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know 38 that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? 2:5 But because of your stubbornness 39 and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed! 40 2:6 He 41 will reward 42 each one according to his works: 43 2:7 eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality, 2:8 but 44 wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition 45 and do not obey the truth but follow 46 unrighteousness. 2:9 There will be 47 affliction and distress on everyone 48 who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek, 49 2:10 but 50 glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek. 2:11 For there is no partiality with God. 2:12 For all who have sinned apart from the law 51 will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 2:13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous. 52 2:14 For whenever the Gentiles, 53 who do not have the law, do by nature 54 the things required by the law, 55 these who do not have the law are a law to themselves. 2:15 They 56 show that the work of the law is written 57 in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend 58 them, 59 2:16 on the day when God will judge 60 the secrets of human hearts, 61 according to my gospel 62 through Christ Jesus.
2:17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law 63 and boast of your relationship to God 64 2:18 and know his will 65 and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, 66 2:19 and if you are convinced 67 that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 2:20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth – 2:21 therefore 68 you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 2:22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor 69 idols, do you rob temples? 2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 2:24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” 70
2:25 For circumcision 71 has its value if you practice the law, but 72 if you break the law, 73 your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys 74 the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 2:27 And will not the physically uncircumcised man 75 who keeps the law judge you who, despite 76 the written code 77 and circumcision, transgress the law? 2:28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 2:29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart 78 by the Spirit 79 and not by the written code. 80 This person’s 81 praise is not from people but from God.
3:1 Therefore what advantage does the Jew have, or what is the value of circumcision? 3:2 Actually, there are many advantages. 82 First of all, 83 the Jews 84 were entrusted with the oracles of God. 85 3:3 What then? If some did not believe, does their unbelief nullify the faithfulness of God? 3:4 Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being 86 shown up as a liar, 87 just as it is written: “so that you will be justified 88 in your words and will prevail when you are judged.” 89
3:5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates 90 the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he? 91 (I am speaking in human terms.) 92 3:6 Absolutely not! For otherwise how could God judge the world? 3:7 For if by my lie the truth of God enhances 93 his glory, why am I still actually being judged as a sinner? 3:8 And why not say, “Let us do evil so that good may come of it”? – as some who slander us allege that we say. 94 (Their 95 condemnation is deserved!)
3:9 What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin, 3:10 just as it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one,
3:11 there is no one who understands,
there is no one who seeks God.
3:12 All have turned away,
together they have become worthless;
there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.” 96
3:13 “Their throats are open graves, 97
they deceive with their tongues,
the poison of asps is under their lips.” 98
3:14 “Their mouths are 99 full of cursing and bitterness.” 100
3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
3:16 ruin and misery are in their paths,
3:17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 101
3:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 102
3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under 103 the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 3:20 For no one is declared righteous before him 104 by the works of the law, 105 for through the law comes 106 the knowledge of sin. 3:21 But now 107 apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) 108 has been disclosed – 3:22 namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ 109 for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 3:24 But they are justified 110 freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 3:25 God publicly displayed 111 him 112 at his death 113 as the mercy seat 114 accessible through faith. 115 This was to demonstrate 116 his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. 117 3:26 This was 118 also to demonstrate 119 his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just 120 and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness. 121
3:27 Where, then, is boasting? 122 It is excluded! By what principle? 123 Of works? No, but by the principle of faith! 3:28 For we consider that a person 124 is declared righteous by faith apart from the works of the law. 125 3:29 Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles too? Yes, of the Gentiles too! 3:30 Since God is one, 126 he will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 3:31 Do we then nullify 127 the law through faith? Absolutely not! Instead 128 we uphold the law.
4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, 129 has discovered regarding this matter? 130 4:2 For if Abraham was declared righteous 131 by the works of the law, he has something to boast about – but not before God. 4:3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited 132 to him as righteousness.” 133 4:4 Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation. 134 4:5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, 135 his faith is credited as righteousness.
4:6 So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
4:7 “Blessed 136 are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;
4:8 blessed is the one 137 against whom the Lord will never count 138 sin.” 139
4:9 Is this blessedness 140 then for 141 the circumcision 142 or also for 143 the uncircumcision? For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” 144 4:10 How then was it credited to him? Was he circumcised at the time, or not? No, he was not circumcised but uncircumcised! 4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, 145 so that he would become 146 the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, 147 that they too could have righteousness credited to them. 4:12 And he is also the father of the circumcised, 148 who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised. 149
4:13 For the promise 150 to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 4:14 For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. 151 4:15 For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression 152 either. 4:16 For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, 153 with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants – not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, 154 who is the father of us all 4:17 (as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). 155 He is our father 156 in the presence of God whom he believed – the God who 157 makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. 158 4:18 Against hope Abraham 159 believed 160 in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations 161 according to the pronouncement, 162 “so will your descendants be.” 163 4:19 Without being weak in faith, he considered 164 his own body as dead 165 (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 4:20 He 166 did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. 4:21 He was 167 fully convinced that what God 168 promised he was also able to do. 4:22 So indeed it was credited to Abraham 169 as righteousness.
4:23 But the statement it was credited to him 170 was not written only for Abraham’s 171 sake, 4:24 but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 4:25 He 172 was given over 173 because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of 174 our justification. 175
5:1 176 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have 177 peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 5:2 through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice 178 in the hope of God’s glory. 5:3 Not 179 only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 5:4 and endurance, character, and character, hope. 5:5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God 180 has been poured out 181 in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
5:6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 5:7 (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.) 182 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 5:9 Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous 183 by his blood, 184 we will be saved through him from God’s wrath. 185 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? 5:11 Not 186 only this, but we also rejoice 187 in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.
5:12 So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people 188 because 189 all sinned – 5:13 for before the law was given, 190 sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin 191 when there is no law. 5:14 Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type 192 of the coming one) transgressed. 193 5:15 But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. 194 For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, 195 how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many! 5:16 And the gift is not like the one who sinned. 196 For judgment, resulting from the one transgression, 197 led to condemnation, but 198 the gracious gift from the many failures 199 led to justification. 5:17 For if, by the transgression of the one man, 200 death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!
5:18 Consequently, 201 just as condemnation 202 for all people 203 came 204 through one transgression, 205 so too through the one righteous act 206 came righteousness leading to life 207 for all people. 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man 208 many 209 were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man 210 many 211 will be made righteous. 5:20 Now the law came in 212 so that the transgression 213 may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, 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.
6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase? 6:2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 6:3 Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 6:4 Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life. 214
6:5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection. 215 6:6 We know that 216 our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, 217 so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 6:7 (For someone who has died has been freed from sin.) 218
6:8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 6:9 We know 219 that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die 220 again; death no longer has mastery over him. 6:10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. 6:11 So you too consider yourselves 221 dead to sin, but 222 alive to God in Christ Jesus.
6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires, 6:13 and do not present your members to sin as instruments 223 to be used for unrighteousness, 224 but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments 225 to be used for righteousness. 6:14 For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.
6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not! 6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves 226 as obedient slaves, 227 you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? 228 6:17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyed 229 from the heart that pattern 230 of teaching you were entrusted to, 6:18 and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. 6:19 (I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.) 231 For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness.
6:21 So what benefit 232 did you then reap 233 from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. 6:22 But now, freed 234 from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit 235 leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. 6:23 For the payoff 236 of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
7:1 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters 237 (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person 238 as long as he lives? 7:2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her 239 husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage. 240 7:3 So then, 241 if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress. But if her 242 husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she is joined to another man, she is not an adulteress. 7:4 So, my brothers and sisters, 243 you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God. 244 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, 245 the sinful desires, 246 aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body 247 to bear fruit for death. 7:6 But now we have been released from the law, because we have died 248 to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code. 249
7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I 250 would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else 251 if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” 252 7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. 253 For apart from the law, sin is dead. 7:9 And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive 7:10 and I died. So 254 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death! 255 7:11 For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died. 256 7:12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.
7:13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual – but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin. 257 7:15 For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate. 258 7:16 But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good. 259 7:17 But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me. 7:18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it. 260 7:19 For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want! 7:20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.
7:21 So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. 7:22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. 7:23 But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 7:25 Thanks be 261 to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, 262 I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but 263 with my flesh I serve 264 the law of sin.
8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 265 8:2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit 266 in Christ Jesus has set you 267 free from the law of sin and death. 8:3 For God achieved what the law could not do because 268 it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 8:4 so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
8:5 For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by 269 the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit. 8:6 For the outlook 270 of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, 8:7 because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. 8:8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 8:9 You, however, are not in 271 the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him. 8:10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but 272 the Spirit is your life 273 because of righteousness. 8:11 Moreover if the Spirit of the one 274 who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ 275 from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you. 276
8:12 So then, 277 brothers and sisters, 278 we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh 8:13 (for if you live according to the flesh, you will 279 die), 280 but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are 281 the sons of God. 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, 282 but you received the Spirit of adoption, 283 by whom 284 we cry, “Abba, Father.” 8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness to 285 our spirit that we are God’s children. 8:17 And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ) 286 – if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.
8:18 For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared 287 to the glory that will be revealed to us. 8:19 For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God. 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility – not willingly but because of God 288 who subjected it – in hope 8:21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now. 8:23 Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, 289 groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, 290 the redemption of our bodies. 291 8:24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? 8:25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with endurance. 292
8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, 293 but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. 8:27 And he 294 who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit 295 intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God’s will. 8:28 And we know that all things work together 296 for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, 8:29 because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son 297 would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 298 8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
8:31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 8:32 Indeed, he who 299 did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things? 8:33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? 300 It is God who justifies. 8:34 Who is the one who will condemn? Christ 301 is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us. 8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 302 8:36 As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 303 8:37 No, in all these things we have complete victory 304 through him 305 who loved us! 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, 306 nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
9:1 307 I am telling the truth in Christ (I am not lying!), for my conscience assures me 308 in the Holy Spirit – 9:2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 309 9:3 For I could wish 310 that I myself were accursed – cut off from Christ – for the sake of my people, 311 my fellow countrymen, 312 9:4 who are Israelites. To them belong 313 the adoption as sons, 314 the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, 315 and the promises. 9:5 To them belong the patriarchs, 316 and from them, 317 by human descent, 318 came the Christ, 319 who is God over all, blessed forever! 320 Amen.
9:6 It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel, 321 9:7 nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.” 322 9:8 This means 323 it is not the children of the flesh 324 who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants. 9:9 For this is what the promise declared: 325 “About a year from now 326 I will return and Sarah will have a son.” 327 9:10 Not only that, but when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, 328 our ancestor Isaac – 9:11 even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election 329 would stand, not by works but by 330 his calling) 331 – 9:12 332 it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,” 333 9:13 just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” 334
9:14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! 9:15 For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 335 9:16 So then, 336 it does not depend on human desire or exertion, 337 but on God who shows mercy. 9:17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh: 338 “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” 339 9:18 So then, 340 God 341 has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden. 342
9:19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?” 9:20 But who indeed are you – a mere human being 343 – to talk back to God? 344 Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 345 9:21 Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay 346 one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use? 347 9:22 But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects 348 of wrath 349 prepared for destruction? 350 9:23 And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects 351 of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory – 9:24 even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 9:25 As he also says in Hosea:
“I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved, 352 ‘My beloved.’” 353
9:26 “And in the very place 354 where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” 355
9:27 And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, “Though the number of the children 356 of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved, 9:28 for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth completely and quickly.” 357 9:29 Just 358 as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of armies 359 had not left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have resembled Gomorrah.” 360
9:30 What shall we say then? – that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith, 9:31 but Israel even though pursuing 361 a law of righteousness 362 did not attain it. 363 9:32 Why not? Because they pursued 364 it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. 365 They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 366 9:33 just as it is written,
“Look, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble
and a rock that will make them fall, 367
yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 368
10:1 Brothers and sisters, 369 my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites 370 is for their salvation. 10:2 For I can testify that they are zealous for God, 371 but their zeal is not in line with the truth. 372 10:3 For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who believes.
10:5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is by the law: “The one who does these things will live by them.” 373 10:6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, 374 ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” 375 (that is, to bring Christ down) 10:7 or “Who will descend into the abyss?” 376 (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 10:8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” 377 (that is, the word of faith that we preach), 10:9 because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord 378 and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10:10 For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness 379 and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. 380 10:11 For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 381 10:12 For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. 10:13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. 382
10:14 How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them 383 ? 10:15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely 384 is the arrival 385 of those who proclaim the good news.” 386 10:16 But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 387 10:17 Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word 388 of Christ. 389
10:18 But I ask, have they 390 not heard? 391 Yes, they have: 392 Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. 393 10:19 But again I ask, didn’t Israel understand? 394 First Moses says, “I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; with a senseless nation I will provoke you to anger.” 395 10:20 And Isaiah is even bold enough to say, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me.” 396 10:21 But about Israel he says, “All day long I held out my hands to this disobedient and stubborn people!” 397
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. 11:2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 11:3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!” 398 11:4 But what was the divine response 399 to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand people 400 who have not bent the knee to Baal.” 401
11:5 So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 11:6 And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 11:7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect obtained it. The 402 rest were hardened, 11:8 as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear,
to this very day.” 403
11:9 And David says,
“Let their table become a snare and trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
11:10 let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see,
and make their backs bend continually.” 404
11:11 I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, 405 did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel 406 jealous. 11:12 Now if their transgression means riches for the world and their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration 407 bring?
11:13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 11:14 if somehow I could provoke my people to jealousy and save some of them. 11:15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 11:16 If the first portion 408 of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches. 409
11:17 Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in 410 the richness of the olive root, 11:18 do not boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 11:19 Then you will say, “The branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 11:20 Granted! 411 They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear! 11:21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you. 11:22 Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God – harshness toward those who have fallen, but 412 God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; 413 otherwise you also will be cut off. 11:23 And even they – if they do not continue in their unbelief – will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 11:24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?
11:25 For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, 414 so that you may not be conceited: A partial hardening has happened to Israel 415 until the full number 416 of the Gentiles has come in. 11:26 And so 417 all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
“The Deliverer will come out of Zion;
he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.
11:27 And this is my covenant with them, 418
when I take away their sins.” 419
11:28 In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers. 11:29 For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. 11:30 Just as you were formerly disobedient to God, but have now received mercy due to their disobedience, 11:31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now 420 receive mercy. 11:32 For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all. 421
11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways!
11:34 For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor? 422
11:35 Or who has first given to God, 423
that God 424 needs to repay him? 425
11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.
12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, 426 by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God 427 – which is your reasonable service. 12:2 Do not be conformed 428 to this present world, 429 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve 430 what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.
12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you 431 a measure of faith. 432 12:4 For just as in one body we have many members, and not all the members serve the same function, 12:5 so we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually we are members who belong to one another. 12:6 And we have different gifts 433 according to the grace given to us. If the gift is prophecy, that individual must use it in proportion to his faith. 12:7 If it is service, he must serve; if it is teaching, he must teach; 12:8 if it is exhortation, he must exhort; if it is contributing, he must do so with sincerity; if it is leadership, he must do so with diligence; if it is showing mercy, he must do so with cheerfulness.
12:9 Love must be 434 without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. 12:10 Be devoted to one another with mutual love, showing eagerness in honoring one another. 12:11 Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord. 12:12 Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer. 12:13 Contribute to the needs of the saints, pursue hospitality. 12:14 Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 12:16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. 435 Do not be conceited. 436 12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil; consider what is good before all people. 437 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people. 438 12:19 Do not avenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God’s wrath, 439 for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” 440 says the Lord. 12:20 Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head. 441 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment, 442 and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 13:2 So the person who resists such authority 443 resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will incur judgment 13:3 (for rulers cause no fear for good conduct but for bad). Do you desire not to fear authority? Do good and you will receive its commendation, 13:4 for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be in fear, for it does not bear the sword in vain. It is God’s servant to administer retribution on the wrongdoer. 13:5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath of the authorities 444 but also because of your conscience. 445 13:6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities 446 are God’s servants devoted to governing. 447 13:7 Pay everyone what is owed: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 13:9 For the commandments, 448 “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,” 449 (and if there is any other commandment) are summed up in this, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 450 13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
13:11 And do this 451 because we know 452 the time, that it is already the hour for us to awake from sleep, for our salvation is now nearer than when we became believers. 13:12 The night has advanced toward dawn; the day is near. So then we must lay aside the works of darkness, and put on the weapons of light. 13:13 Let us live decently as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in discord and jealousy. 13:14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to arouse its desires. 453
14:1 Now receive the one who is weak in the faith, and do not have disputes over differing opinions. 454 14:2 One person believes in eating everything, but the weak person eats only vegetables. 14:3 The one who eats everything must not despise the one who does not, and the one who abstains must not judge the one who eats everything, for God has accepted him. 14:4 Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord 455 is able to make him stand.
14:5 One person regards one day holier than other days, and another regards them all alike. 456 Each must be fully convinced in his own mind. 14:6 The one who observes the day does it for the Lord. The 457 one who eats, eats for the Lord because he gives thanks to God, and the one who abstains from eating abstains for the Lord, and he gives thanks to God. 14:7 For none of us lives for himself and none dies for himself. 14:8 If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 14:9 For this reason Christ died and returned to life, so that he may be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
14:10 But you who eat vegetables only – why do you judge your brother or sister? 458 And you who eat everything – why do you despise your brother or sister? 459 For we will all stand before the judgment seat 460 of God. 14:11 For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God.” 461 14:12 Therefore, each of us will give an account of himself to God. 462
14:13 Therefore we must not pass judgment on one another, but rather determine never to place an obstacle or a trap before a brother or sister. 463 14:14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean in itself; still, it is unclean to the one who considers it unclean. 14:15 For if your brother or sister 464 is distressed because of what you eat, 465 you are no longer walking in love. 466 Do not destroy by your food someone for whom Christ died. 14:16 Therefore do not let what you consider good 467 be spoken of as evil. 14:17 For the kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 14:18 For the one who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by people. 468
14:19 So then, let us pursue what makes for peace and for building up one another. 14:20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. For although all things are clean, 469 it is wrong to cause anyone to stumble by what you eat. 14:21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything that causes your brother to stumble. 470 14:22 The faith 471 you have, keep to yourself before God. Blessed is the one who does not judge himself by what he approves. 14:23 But the man who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not do so from faith, and whatever is not from faith is sin. 472
15:1 But we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not just please ourselves. 473 15:2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. 15:3 For even Christ did not please himself, but just as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” 474 15:4 For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope. 15:5 Now may the God of endurance and comfort give you unity with one another 475 in accordance with Christ Jesus, 15:6 so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15:7 Receive one another, then, just as Christ also received you, to God’s glory. 15:8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised 476 on behalf of God’s truth to confirm the promises made to the fathers, 477 15:9 and thus the Gentiles glorify God for his mercy. 478 As it is written, “Because of this I will confess you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praises to your name.” 479 15:10 And again it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” 480 15:11 And again, “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him.” 481 15:12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, and the one who rises to rule over the Gentiles, in him will the Gentiles hope.” 482 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him, 483 so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
[1:18] 1 tn The genitive ἀνθρώπων could be taken as an attributed genitive, in which case the phase should be translated “against all ungodly and unrighteous people” (cf. “the truth of God” in v. 25 which is also probably an attributed genitive). C. E. B. Cranfield takes the section 1:18-32 to refer to all people (not just Gentiles), while 2:1-3:20 points out that the Jew is no exception (Romans [ICC], 1:104-6; 1:137-38).
[1:18] 2 tn “Their” is implied in the Greek, but is supplied because of English style.
[1:18] 3 tn Or “by means of unrighteousness.” Grk “in (by) unrighteousness.”
[1:19] 4 tn Grk “is manifest to/in them.”
[1:20] 5 tn Grk “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[1:22] 7 tn The participle φάσκοντες (faskonte") is used concessively here.
[1:23] 8 tn Grk “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God in likeness of an image of corruptible man.” Here there is a wordplay on the Greek terms ἄφθαρτος (afqarto", “immortal, imperishable, incorruptible”) and φθαρτός (fqarto", “mortal, corruptible, subject to decay”).
[1:23] 9 sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 106:19-20.
[1:24] 10 sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 81:12.
[1:24] 11 tn The genitive articular infinitive τοῦ ἀτιμάζεσθαι (tou atimazesqai, “to dishonor”) has been taken as (1) an infinitive of purpose; (2) an infinitive of result; or (3) an epexegetical (i.e., explanatory) infinitive, expanding the previous clause.
[1:24] 12 tn Grk “among them.”
[1:25] 13 tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[1:25] 15 tn Or “creature, created things.”
[1:26] 16 tn Grk “for their females exchanged the natural function for that which is contrary to nature.” The term χρῆσις (crhsi") has the force of “sexual relations” here (L&N 23.65).
[1:27] 17 tn Grk “likewise so also the males abandoning the natural function of the female.”
[1:27] 18 tn Grk “burned with intense desire” (L&N 25.16).
[1:27] 19 tn Grk “another, men committing…and receiving,” continuing the description of their deeds. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[1:28] 20 tn Grk “and just as they did not approve to have God in knowledge.”
[1:28] 21 tn Grk “the things that are improper.”
[1:29] 22 tn Grk “being filled” or “having been filled,” referring to those described in v. 28. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[1:29] 23 tn Grk “malice, full of,” continuing the description. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[1:31] 24 tn Or “promise-breakers.”
[1:32] 25 tn Grk “who, knowing…, not only do them but also approve…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[1:32] 26 tn Grk “are worthy of death.”
[1:32] 27 sn “Vice lists” like vv. 28-32 can be found elsewhere in the NT in Matt 15:19; Gal 5:19-21; 1 Tim 1:9-10; and 1 Pet 4:3. An example from the intertestamental period can be found in Wis 14:25-26.
[2:1] 28 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] 29 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] 30 tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).
[2:1] 32 tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”
[2:1] 33 tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”
[2:2] 34 tn Or “based on truth.”
[2:3] 35 tn Grk “do you think this,” referring to the clause in v. 3b.
[2:3] 36 tn Grk “O man, the one who judges.”
[2:3] 37 tn Grk “and do them.” The other words are supplied to bring out the contrast implied in this clause.
[2:4] 38 tn Grk “being unaware.”
[2:5] 39 tn Grk “hardness.” Concerning this imagery, see Jer 4:4; Ezek 3:7; 1 En. 16:3.
[2:5] 40 tn Grk “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”
[2:6] 41 tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[2:6] 42 tn Or “will render,” “will recompense.” In this context Paul is setting up a hypothetical situation, not stating that salvation is by works.
[2:6] 43 sn A quotation from Ps 62:12; Prov 24:12; a close approximation to Matt 16:27.
[2:8] 44 tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.
[2:8] 45 tn Grk “those who [are] from selfish ambition.”
[2:8] 46 tn Grk “are persuaded by, obey.”
[2:9] 47 tn No verb is expressed in this verse, but the verb “to be” is implied by the Greek construction. Literally “suffering and distress on everyone…”
[2:9] 48 tn Grk “every soul of man.”
[2:9] 49 sn Paul uses the term Greek here and in v. 10 to refer to non-Jews, i.e., Gentiles.
[2:10] 50 tn Grk “but even,” to emphasize the contrast. The second word has been omitted since it is somewhat redundant in English idiom.
[2:12] 51 sn This is the first occurrence of law (nomos) in Romans. Exactly what Paul means by the term has been the subject of much scholarly debate. According to J. A. Fitzmyer (Romans [AB], 131-35; 305-6) there are at least four different senses: (1) figurative, as a “principle”; (2) generic, meaning “a law”; (3) as a reference to the OT or some part of the OT; and (4) as a reference to the Mosaic law. This last usage constitutes the majority of Paul’s references to “law” in Romans.
[2:13] 52 tn The Greek sentence expresses this contrast more succinctly than is possible in English. Grk “For not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be declared righteous.”
[2:14] 53 sn Gentile is a NT term for a non-Jew.
[2:14] 54 tn Some (e.g. C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:135-37) take the phrase φύσει (fusei, “by nature”) to go with the preceding “do not have the law,” thus: “the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature,” that is, by virtue of not being born Jewish.
[2:14] 55 tn Grk “do by nature the things of the law.”
[2:15] 56 tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[2:15] 57 tn Grk “show the work of the law [to be] written,” with the words in brackets implied by the Greek construction.
[2:15] 59 tn Grk “their conscience bearing witness and between the thoughts accusing or also defending one another.”
[2:16] 60 tn The form of the Greek word is either present or future, but it is best to translate in future because of the context of future judgment.
[2:16] 62 sn On my gospel cf. Rom 16:25; 2 Tim 2:8.
[2:17] 63 sn The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
[2:17] 64 tn Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.
[2:18] 66 tn Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”
[2:19] 67 tn This verb is parallel to the verbs in vv. 17-18a, so it shares the conditional meaning even though the word “if” is not repeated.
[2:21] 68 tn The structure of vv. 21-24 is difficult. Some take these verses as the apodosis of the conditional clauses (protases) in vv. 17-20; others see vv. 17-20 as an instance of anacoluthon (a broken off or incomplete construction).
[2:24] 70 sn A quotation from Isa 52:5.
[2:25] 71 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] 72 tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.
[2:25] 73 tn Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”
[2:26] 74 tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (fulassw, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.
[2:27] 75 tn Grk “the uncircumcision by nature.” The word “man” is supplied here to make clear that male circumcision (or uncircumcision) is in view.
[2:27] 76 tn Grk “through,” but here the preposition seems to mean “(along) with,” “though provided with,” as BDAG 224 s.v. διά A.3.c indicates.
[2:29] 78 sn On circumcision is of the heart see Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Ezek 44:9.
[2:29] 79 tn Some have taken the phrase ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati, “by/in [the] S/spirit”) not as a reference to the Holy Spirit, but referring to circumcision as “spiritual and not literal” (RSV).
[2:29] 81 tn Grk “whose.” The relative pronoun has been replaced by the phrase “this person’s” and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started in the translation.
[3:2] 82 tn Grk “much in every way.”
[3:2] 83 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
[3:2] 85 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.
[3:4] 86 tn Grk “every man”; but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to stress humanity rather than masculinity.
[3:4] 87 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] 88 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] 89 tn Or “prevail when you judge.” A quotation from Ps 51:4.
[3:5] 90 tn Or “shows clearly.”
[3:5] 91 tn Grk “That God is not unjust to inflict wrath, is he?”
[3:5] 92 sn The same expression occurs in Gal 3:15, and similar phrases in Rom 6:19 and 1 Cor 9:8.
[3:7] 93 tn Grk “abounded unto.”
[3:8] 94 tn Grk “(as we are slandered and some affirm that we say…).”
[3:8] 95 tn Grk “whose.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, this relative clause was rendered as a new sentence in the translation.
[3:12] 96 sn Verses 10-12 are a quotation from Ps 14:1-3.
[3:13] 97 tn Grk “their throat is an opened grave.”
[3:13] 98 sn A quotation from Pss 5:9; 140:3.
[3:14] 99 tn Grk “whose mouth is.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[3:14] 100 sn A quotation from Ps 10:7.
[3:17] 101 sn Rom 3:15-17 is a quotation from Isa 59:7-8.
[3:18] 102 sn A quotation from Ps 36:1.
[3:19] 103 tn Grk “in,” “in connection with.”
[3:20] 104 sn An allusion to Ps 143:2.
[3:20] 105 tn Grk “because by the works of the law no flesh is justified before him.” Some recent scholars have understood the phrase ἒργα νόμου (erga nomou, “works of the law”) to refer not to obedience to the Mosaic law generally, but specifically to portions of the law that pertain to things like circumcision and dietary laws which set the Jewish people apart from the other nations (e.g., J. D. G. Dunn, Romans [WBC], 1:155). Other interpreters, like C. E. B. Cranfield (“‘The Works of the Law’ in the Epistle to the Romans,” JSNT 43 [1991]: 89-101) reject this narrow interpretation for a number of reasons, among which the most important are: (1) The second half of v. 20, “for through the law comes the knowledge of sin,” is hard to explain if the phrase “works of the law” is understood in a restricted sense; (2) the plural phrase “works of the law” would have to be understood in a different sense from the singular phrase “the work of the law” in 2:15; (3) similar phrases involving the law in Romans (2:13, 14; 2:25, 26, 27; 7:25; 8:4; and 13:8) which are naturally related to the phrase “works of the law” cannot be taken to refer to circumcision (in fact, in 2:25 circumcision is explicitly contrasted with keeping the law). Those interpreters who reject the “narrow” interpretation of “works of the law” understand the phrase to refer to obedience to the Mosaic law in general.
[3:21] 107 tn Νυνὶ δέ (Nuni de, “But now”) could be understood as either (1) logical or (2) temporal in force, but most recent interpreters take it as temporal, referring to a new phase in salvation history.
[3:21] 108 tn Grk “being witnessed by the law and the prophets,” a remark which is virtually parenthetical to Paul’s argument.
[3:22] 109 tn Or “faith in Christ.” A decision is difficult here. Though traditionally translated “faith in Jesus Christ,” an increasing number of NT scholars are arguing that πίστις Χριστοῦ (pisti" Cristou) and similar phrases in Paul (here and in v. 26; Gal 2:16, 20; 3:22; Eph 3:12; Phil 3:9) involve a subjective genitive and mean “Christ’s faith” or “Christ’s faithfulness” (cf., e.g., G. Howard, “The ‘Faith of Christ’,” ExpTim 85 [1974]: 212-15; R. B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ [SBLDS]; Morna D. Hooker, “Πίστις Χριστοῦ,” NTS 35 [1989]: 321-42). Noteworthy among the arguments for the subjective genitive view is that when πίστις takes a personal genitive it is almost never an objective genitive (cf. Matt 9:2, 22, 29; Mark 2:5; 5:34; 10:52; Luke 5:20; 7:50; 8:25, 48; 17:19; 18:42; 22:32; Rom 1:8; 12; 3:3; 4:5, 12, 16; 1 Cor 2:5; 15:14, 17; 2 Cor 10:15; Phil 2:17; Col 1:4; 2:5; 1 Thess 1:8; 3:2, 5, 10; 2 Thess 1:3; Titus 1:1; Phlm 6; 1 Pet 1:9, 21; 2 Pet 1:5). On the other hand, the objective genitive view has its adherents: A. Hultgren, “The Pistis Christou Formulations in Paul,” NovT 22 (1980): 248-63; J. D. G. Dunn, “Once More, ΠΙΣΤΙΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ,” SBL Seminar Papers, 1991, 730-44. Most commentaries on Romans and Galatians usually side with the objective view.
[3:24] 110 tn Or “declared righteous.” Grk “being justified,” as a continuation of the preceding clause. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[3:25] 111 tn Or “purposed, intended.”
[3:25] 112 tn Grk “whom God publicly displayed.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[3:25] 113 tn Grk “in his blood.” The prepositional phrase ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ αἵματι (ejn tw aujtou {aimati) is difficult to interpret. It is traditionally understood to refer to the atoning sacrifice Jesus made when he shed his blood on the cross, and as a modifier of ἱλαστήριον (Jilasthrion). This interpretation fits if ἱλαστήριον is taken to refer to a sacrifice. But if ἱλαστήριον is taken to refer to the place where atonement is made as this translation has done (see note on the phrase “mercy seat”), this interpretation of ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ αἵματι creates a violent mixed metaphor. Within a few words Paul would switch from referring to Jesus as the place where atonement was made to referring to Jesus as the atoning sacrifice itself. A viable option which resolves this problem is to see ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ αἵματι as modifying the verb προέθετο (proeqeto). If it modifies the verb, it would explain the time or place in which God publicly displayed Jesus as the mercy seat; the reference to blood would be a metaphorical way of speaking of Jesus’ death. This is supported by the placement of ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ αἵματι in the Greek text (it follows the noun, separated from it by another prepositional phrase) and by stylistic parallels with Rom 1:4. This is the interpretation the translation has followed, although it is recognized that many interpreters favor different options and translations. The prepositional phrase has been moved forward in the sentence to emphasize its connection with the verb, and the referent of the metaphorical language has been specified in the translation. For a detailed discussion of this interpretation, see D. P. Bailey, “Jesus As the Mercy Seat: The Semantics and Theology of Paul’s Use of Hilasterion in Romans 3:25” (Ph.D. diss., University of Cambridge, 1999).
[3:25] 114 tn The word ἱλαστήριον (Jilasthrion) may carry the general sense “place of satisfaction,” referring to the place where God’s wrath toward sin is satisfied. More likely, though, it refers specifically to the “mercy seat,” i.e., the covering of the ark where the blood was sprinkled in the OT ritual on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). This term is used only one other time in the NT: Heb 9:5, where it is rendered “mercy seat.” There it describes the altar in the most holy place (holy of holies). Thus Paul is saying that God displayed Jesus as the “mercy seat,” the place where propitiation was accomplished. See N. S. L. Fryer, “The Meaning and Translation of Hilasterion in Romans 3:25,” EvQ 59 (1987): 99-116, who concludes the term is a neuter accusative substantive best translated “mercy seat” or “propitiatory covering,” and D. P. Bailey, “Jesus As the Mercy Seat: The Semantics and Theology of Paul’s Use of Hilasterion in Romans 3:25” (Ph.D. diss., University of Cambridge, 1999), who argues that this is a direct reference to the mercy seat which covered the ark of the covenant.
[3:25] 115 tn The prepositional phrase διὰ πίστεως (dia pistew") here modifies the noun ἱλαστήριον (Jilasthrion). As such it forms a complete noun phrase and could be written as “mercy-seat-accessible-through-faith” to emphasize the singular idea. See Rom 1:4 for a similar construction. The word “accessible” is not in the Greek text but has been supplied to clarify the idea expressed by the prepositional phrase (cf. NRSV: “effective through faith”).
[3:25] 116 tn Grk “for a demonstration,” giving the purpose of God’s action in v. 25a. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[3:25] 117 tn Grk “because of the passing over of sins previously committed in the forbearance of God.”
[3:26] 118 tn The words “This was” have been repeated from the previous verse to clarify that this is a continuation of that thought. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[3:26] 119 tn Grk “toward a demonstration,” repeating and expanding the purpose of God’s action in v. 25a.
[3:26] 121 tn Or “of the one who has faith in Jesus.” See note on “faithfulness of Jesus Christ” in v. 22 for the rationale behind the translation “Jesus’ faithfulness.”
[3:27] 122 tn Although a number of interpreters understand the “boasting” here to refer to Jewish boasting, others (e.g. C. E. B. Cranfield, “‘The Works of the Law’ in the Epistle to the Romans,” JSNT 43 [1991]: 96) take the phrase to refer to all human boasting before God.
[3:27] 123 tn Grk “By what sort of law?”
[3:28] 124 tn Here ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon) is used in an indefinite and general sense (BDAG 81 s.v. ἄνθρωπος 4.a.γ).
[3:28] 125 tn See the note on the phrase “works of the law” in Rom 3:20.
[3:30] 126 tn Grk “but if indeed God is one.”
[3:31] 127 tn Grk “render inoperative.”
[3:31] 128 tn Grk “but” (Greek ἀλλά, alla).
[4:1] 129 tn Or “according to natural descent” (BDAG 916 s.v. σάρξ 4).
[4:2] 131 tn Or “was justified.”
[4:3] 132 tn The term λογίζομαι (logizomai) occurs 11 times in this chapter (vv. 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 22, 23, 24). In secular usage it could (a) refer to deliberations of some sort, or (b) in commercial dealings (as virtually a technical term) to “reckoning” or “charging up a debt.” See H. W. Heidland, TDNT 4:284, 290-92.
[4:3] 133 sn A quotation from Gen 15:6.
[4:4] 134 tn Grk “not according to grace but according to obligation.”
[4:5] 135 tn Or “who justifies the ungodly.”
[4:8] 137 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] 138 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] 139 sn A quotation from Ps 32:1-2.
[4:9] 142 sn See the note on “circumcision” in 2:25.
[4:9] 144 sn A quotation from Gen 15:6.
[4:11] 145 tn Grk “of the faith, the one [existing] in uncircumcision.”
[4:11] 146 tn Grk “that he might be,” giving the purpose of v. 11a.
[4:11] 147 tn Grk “through uncircumcision.”
[4:12] 148 tn Grk “the father of circumcision.”
[4:12] 149 tn Grk “the ‘in-uncircumcision faith’ of our father Abraham.”
[4:13] 150 sn Although a singular noun, the promise is collective and does not refer only to Gen 12:7, but as D. Moo (Romans 1-8 [WEC], 279) points out, refers to multiple aspects of the promise to Abraham: multiplied descendants (Gen 12:2), possession of the land (Gen 13:15-17), and his becoming the vehicle of blessing to all people (Gen 12:13).
[4:14] 151 tn Grk “rendered inoperative.”
[4:16] 153 tn Grk “that it might be according to grace.”
[4:16] 154 tn Grk “those who are of the faith of Abraham.”
[4:17] 155 tn Verses 16-17 comprise one sentence in Greek, but this has been divided into two sentences due to English requirements.
[4:17] 156 tn The words “He is our father” are not in the Greek text but are supplied to show that they resume Paul’s argument from 16b. (It is also possible to supply “Abraham had faith” here [so REB], taking the relative clause [“who is the father of us all”] as part of the parenthesis, and making the connection back to “the faith of Abraham,” but such an option is not as likely [C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:243].)
[4:17] 157 tn “The God” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.
[4:17] 158 tn Or “calls into existence the things that do not exist.” The translation of ὡς ὄντα (Jw" onta) allows for two different interpretations. If it has the force of result, then creatio ex nihilo is in view and the variant rendering is to be accepted (so C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:244). A problem with this view is the scarcity of ὡς plus participle to indicate result (though for the telic idea with ὡς plus participle, cf. Rom 15:15; 1 Thess 2:4). If it has a comparative force, then the translation given in the text is to be accepted: “this interpretation fits the immediate context better than a reference to God’s creative power, for it explains the assurance with which God can speak of the ‘many nations’ that will be descended from Abraham” (D. Moo, Romans [NICNT], 282; so also W. Sanday and A. C. Headlam, Romans [ICC], 113). Further, this view is in line with a Pauline idiom, viz., verb followed by ὡς plus participle (of the same verb or, in certain contexts, its antonym) to compare present reality with what is not a present reality (cf. 1 Cor 4:7; 5:3; 7:29, 30 (three times), 31; Col 2:20 [similarly, 2 Cor 6:9, 10]).
[4:18] 159 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[4:18] 160 tn Grk “who against hope believed,” referring to Abraham. The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[4:18] 161 sn A quotation from Gen 17:5.
[4:18] 162 tn Grk “according to that which had been spoken.”
[4:18] 163 sn A quotation from Gen 15:5.
[4:19] 164 tc Most
[4:19] 165 tc ‡ Most witnesses (א A C D Ψ 33 Ï bo) have ἤδη (hdh, “already”) at this point in v. 19. But B F G 630 1739 1881 pc lat sa lack it. Since it appears to heighten the style of the narrative and since there is no easy accounting for an accidental omission, it is best to regard the shorter text as original. NA27 includes the word in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.
[4:20] 166 tn Grk “And he.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, δέ (de) has not been translated here.
[4:21] 167 tn Grk “and being.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[4:21] 168 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[4:22] 169 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[4:23] 170 tn A quotation from Gen 15:6.
[4:23] 171 tn Grk “his”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[4:25] 172 tn Grk “who,” referring to Jesus. The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[4:25] 173 tn Or “handed over.”
[4:25] 174 tn Grk “because of.” However, in light of the unsatisfactory sense that a causal nuance would here suggest, it has been argued that the second διά (dia) is prospective rather than retrospective (D. Moo, Romans [NICNT], 288-89). The difficulty of this interpretation is the structural balance that both διά phrases provide (“given over because of our transgressions…raised because of our justification”). However the poetic structure of this verse strengthens the likelihood that the clauses each have a different force.
[4:25] 175 sn Many scholars regard Rom 4:25 to be poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage.
[5:1] 176 sn Many interpreters see Rom 5:1 as beginning the second major division of the letter.
[5:1] 177 tc A number of important witnesses have the subjunctive ἔχωμεν (ecwmen, “let us have”) instead of ἔχομεν (ecomen, “we have”) in v. 1. Included in the subjunctive’s support are א* A B* C D K L 33 81 630 1175 1739* pm lat bo. But the indicative is not without its supporters: א1 B2 F G P Ψ 0220vid 104 365 1241 1505 1506 1739c 1881 2464 pm. If the problem were to be solved on an external basis only, the subjunctive would be preferred. Because of this, the “A” rating on behalf of the indicative in the UBS4 appears overly confident. Nevertheless, the indicative is probably correct. First, the earliest witness to Rom 5:1 has the indicative (0220vid, third century). Second, the first set of correctors is sometimes, if not often, of equal importance with the original hand. Hence, א1 might be given equal value with א*. Third, there is a good cross-section of witnesses for the indicative: Alexandrian (in 0220vid, probably א1 1241 1506 1881 al), Western (in F G), and Byzantine (noted in NA27 as pm). Thus, although the external evidence is strongly in favor of the subjunctive, the indicative is represented well enough that its ancestry could easily go back to the original. Turning to the internal evidence, the indicative gains much ground. (1) The variant may have been produced via an error of hearing (since omicron and omega were pronounced alike in ancient Greek). This, of course, does not indicate which reading was original – just that an error of hearing may have produced one of them. In light of the indecisiveness of the transcriptional evidence, intrinsic evidence could play a much larger role. This is indeed the case here. (2) The indicative fits well with the overall argument of the book to this point. Up until now, Paul has been establishing the “indicatives of the faith.” There is only one imperative (used rhetorically) and only one hortatory subjunctive (and this in a quotation within a diatribe) up till this point, while from ch. 6 on there are sixty-one imperatives and seven hortatory subjunctives. Clearly, an exhortation would be out of place in ch. 5. (3) Paul presupposes that the audience has peace with God (via reconciliation) in 5:10. This seems to assume the indicative in v. 1. (4) As C. E. B. Cranfield notes, “it would surely be strange for Paul, in such a carefully argued writing as this, to exhort his readers to enjoy or to guard a peace which he has not yet explicitly shown to be possessed by them” (Romans [ICC], 1:257). (5) The notion that εἰρήνην ἔχωμεν (eirhnhn ecwmen) can even naturally mean “enjoy peace” is problematic (ExSyn 464), yet those who embrace the subjunctive have to give the verb some such force. Thus, although the external evidence is stronger in support of the subjunctive, the internal evidence points to the indicative. Although a decision is difficult, ἔχομεν appears to be the authentic reading.
[5:2] 178 tn Or “exult, boast.”
[5:3] 179 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
[5:5] 180 tn The phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ (Jh agaph tou qeou, “the love of God”) could be interpreted as either an objective genitive (“our love for God”), subjective genitive (“God’s love for us”), or both (M. Zerwick’s “general” genitive [Biblical Greek, §§36-39]; D. B. Wallace’s “plenary” genitive [ExSyn 119-21]). The immediate context, which discusses what God has done for believers, favors a subjective genitive, but the fact that this love is poured out within the hearts of believers implies that it may be the source for believers’ love for God; consequently an objective genitive cannot be ruled out. It is possible that both these ideas are meant in the text and that this is a plenary genitive: “The love that comes from God and that produces our love for God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (ExSyn 121).
[5:5] 181 sn On the OT background of the Spirit being poured out, see Isa 32:15; Joel 2:28-29.
[5:7] 182 sn Verse 7 forms something of a parenthetical comment in Paul’s argument.
[5:9] 183 tn Grk “having now been declared righteous.” The participle δικαιωθέντες (dikaiwqente") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.
[5:9] 184 tn Or, according to BDF §219.3, “at the price of his blood.”
[5:9] 185 tn Grk “the wrath,” referring to God’s wrath as v. 10 shows.
[5:11] 186 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
[5:11] 187 tn Or “exult, boast.”
[5:12] 188 tn Here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpou") has been translated as a generic (“people”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.
[5:12] 189 tn The translation of the phrase ἐφ᾿ ᾧ (ef Jw) has been heavily debated. For a discussion of all the possibilities, see C. E. B. Cranfield, “On Some of the Problems in the Interpretation of Romans 5.12,” SJT 22 (1969): 324-41. Only a few of the major options can be mentioned here: (1) the phrase can be taken as a relative clause in which the pronoun refers to Adam, “death spread to all people in whom [Adam] all sinned.” (2) The phrase can be taken with consecutive (resultative) force, meaning “death spread to all people with the result that all sinned.” (3) Others take the phrase as causal in force: “death spread to all people because all sinned.”
[5:13] 190 tn Grk “for before the law.”
[5:13] 191 tn Or “sin is not reckoned.”
[5:14] 193 tn Or “disobeyed”; Grk “in the likeness of Adam’s transgression.”
[5:15] 194 tn Grk “but not as the transgression, so also [is] the gracious gift.”
[5:15] 195 sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).
[5:16] 196 tn Grk “and not as through the one who sinned [is] the gift.”
[5:16] 197 tn The word “transgression” is not in the Greek text at this point, but has been supplied for clarity.
[5:16] 198 tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.
[5:16] 199 tn Or “falls, trespasses,” the same word used in vv. 15, 17, 18, 20.
[5:17] 200 sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).
[5:18] 201 tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.
[5:18] 202 tn Grk “[it is] unto condemnation for all people.”
[5:18] 203 tn Here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpou") has been translated as a generic (“people”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.
[5:18] 204 tn There are no verbs in the Greek text of v. 18, forcing translators to supply phrases like “came through one transgression,” “resulted from one transgression,” etc.
[5:18] 205 sn One transgression refers to the sin of Adam in Gen 3:1-24.
[5:18] 206 sn The one righteous act refers to Jesus’ death on the cross.
[5:18] 207 tn Grk “righteousness of life.”
[5:19] 208 sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).
[5:19] 210 sn One man refers here to Jesus Christ.
[5:20] 212 tn Grk “slipped in.”
[6:4] 214 tn Grk “may walk in newness of life,” in which ζωῆς (zwhs) functions as an attributed genitive (see ExSyn 89-90, where this verse is given as a prime example).
[6:5] 215 tn Grk “we will certainly also of his resurrection.”
[6:6] 216 tn Grk “knowing this, that.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[6:6] 217 tn Grk “may be rendered ineffective, inoperative,” or possibly “may be destroyed.” The term καταργέω (katargew) has various nuances. In Rom 7:2 the wife whose husband has died is freed from the law (i.e., the law of marriage no longer has any power over her, in spite of what she may feel). A similar point seems to be made here (note v. 7).
[6:7] 218 sn Verse 7 forms something of a parenthetical comment in Paul’s argument.
[6:9] 219 tn Grk “knowing.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[6:9] 220 tn The present tense here has been translated as a futuristic present (see ExSyn 536, where this verse is listed as an example).
[6:11] 221 tc ‡ Some Alexandrian and Byzantine
[6:11] 222 tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.
[6:13] 223 tn Or “weapons, tools.”
[6:13] 224 tn Or “wickedness, injustice.”
[6:13] 225 tn Or “weapons, tools.”
[6:16] 226 tn Grk “to whom you present yourselves.”
[6:16] 227 tn Grk “as slaves for obedience.” See the note on the word “slave” in 1:1.
[6:16] 228 tn Grk “either of sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness.”
[6:17] 229 tn Grk “you were slaves of sin but you obeyed.”
[6:17] 230 tn Or “type, form.”
[6:19] 231 tn Or “because of your natural limitations” (NRSV).
[6:21] 233 tn Grk “have,” in a tense emphasizing their customary condition in the past.
[6:22] 234 tn The two aorist participles translated “freed” and “enslaved” are causal in force; their full force is something like “But now, since you have become freed from sin and since you have become enslaved to God….”
[6:23] 236 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.
[7:1] 237 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
[7:1] 238 sn Here person refers to a human being.
[7:2] 239 tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
[7:3] 241 tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.
[7:3] 242 tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
[7:4] 243 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
[7:4] 244 tn Grk “that we might bear fruit to God.”
[7:5] 245 tn That is, before we were in Christ.
[7:5] 246 tn Or “sinful passions.”
[7:5] 247 tn Grk “our members”; the words “of our body” have been supplied to clarify the meaning.
[7:6] 248 tn Grk “having died.” The participle ἀποθανόντες (apoqanonte") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.
[7:6] 249 tn Grk “in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”
[7:7] 250 sn Romans 7:7-25. There has been an enormous debate over the significance of the first person singular pronouns (“I”) in this passage and how to understand their referent. Did Paul intend (1) a reference to himself and other Christians too; (2) a reference to his own pre-Christian experience as a Jew, struggling with the law and sin (and thus addressing his fellow countrymen as Jews); or (3) a reference to himself as a child of Adam, reflecting the experience of Adam that is shared by both Jews and Gentiles alike (i.e., all people everywhere)? Good arguments can be assembled for each of these views, and each has problems dealing with specific statements in the passage. The classic argument against an autobiographical interpretation was made by W. G. Kümmel, Römer 7 und die Bekehrung des Paulus. A good case for seeing at least an autobiographical element in the chapter has been made by G. Theissen, Psychologische Aspekte paulinischer Theologie [FRLANT], 181-268. One major point that seems to favor some sort of an autobiographical reading of these verses is the lack of any mention of the Holy Spirit for empowerment in the struggle described in Rom 7:7-25. The Spirit is mentioned beginning in 8:1 as the solution to the problem of the struggle with sin (8:4-6, 9).
[7:7] 251 tn Grk “I would not have known covetousness.”
[7:7] 252 sn A quotation from Exod 20:17 and Deut 5:21.
[7:8] 253 tn Or “covetousness.”
[7:10] 254 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “So” to indicate the result of the statement in the previous verse. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.
[7:10] 255 tn Grk “and there was found in/for me the commandment which was for life – this was for death.”
[7:11] 256 tn Or “and through it killed me.”
[7:14] 257 tn Grk “under sin.”
[7:15] 258 tn Grk “but what I hate, this I do.”
[7:16] 259 tn Grk “I agree with the law that it is good.”
[7:18] 260 tn Grk “For to wish is present in/with me, but not to do it.”
[7:25] 261 tc ‡ Most
[7:25] 262 tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.
[7:25] 263 tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.
[7:25] 264 tn The words “I serve” have been repeated here for clarity.
[8:1] 265 tc The earliest and best witnesses of the Alexandrian and Western texts, as well as a few others (א* B D* F G 6 1506 1739 1881 pc co), have no additional words for v. 1. Later scribes (A D1 Ψ 81 365 629 pc vg) added the words μὴ κατὰ σάρκα περιπατοῦσιν (mh kata sarka peripatousin, “who do not walk according to the flesh”), while even later ones (א2 D2 33vid Ï) added ἀλλὰ κατὰ πνεῦμα (alla kata pneuma, “but [who do walk] according to the Spirit”). Both the external evidence and the internal evidence are compelling for the shortest reading. The scribes were evidently motivated to add such qualifications (interpolated from v. 4) to insulate Paul’s gospel from charges that it was characterized too much by grace. The KJV follows the longest reading found in Ï.
[8:2] 266 tn Grk “for the law of the Spirit of life.”
[8:2] 267 tc Most
[8:5] 269 tn Grk “think on” or “are intent on” (twice in this verse). What is in view here is not primarily preoccupation, however, but worldview. Translations like “set their mind on” could be misunderstood by the typical English reader to refer exclusively to preoccupation.
[8:6] 270 tn Or “mindset,” “way of thinking” (twice in this verse and once in v. 7). The Greek term φρόνημα does not refer to one’s mind, but to one’s outlook or mindset.
[8:9] 271 tn Or “are not controlled by the flesh but by the Spirit.”
[8:10] 272 tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.
[8:10] 273 tn Or “life-giving.” Grk “the Spirit is life.”
[8:11] 274 sn The one who raised Jesus from the dead refers to God (also in the following clause).
[8:11] 275 tc Several
[8:11] 276 tc Most
[8:12] 277 tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.
[8:12] 278 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
[8:13] 279 tn Grk “are about to, are certainly going to.”
[8:13] 280 sn This remark is parenthetical to Paul’s argument.
[8:14] 281 tn Grk “For as many as are being led by the Spirit of God, these are.”
[8:15] 282 tn Grk “slavery again to fear.”
[8:15] 283 tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).”
[8:16] 285 tn Or possibly “with.” ExSyn 160-61, however, notes the following: “At issue, grammatically, is whether the Spirit testifies alongside of our spirit (dat. of association), or whether he testifies to our spirit (indirect object) that we are God’s children. If the former, the one receiving this testimony is unstated (is it God? or believers?). If the latter, the believer receives the testimony and hence is assured of salvation via the inner witness of the Spirit. The first view has the advantage of a σύν- (sun-) prefixed verb, which might be expected to take an accompanying dat. of association (and is supported by NEB, JB, etc.). But there are three reasons why πνεύματι (pneumati) should not be taken as association: (1) Grammatically, a dat. with a σύν- prefixed verb does not necessarily indicate association. This, of course, does not preclude such here, but this fact at least opens up the alternatives in this text. (2) Lexically, though συμμαρτυρέω (summarturew) originally bore an associative idea, it developed in the direction of merely intensifying μαρτυρέω (marturew). This is surely the case in the only other NT text with a dat. (Rom 9:1). (3) Contextually, a dat. of association does not seem to support Paul’s argument: ‘What standing has our spirit in this matter? Of itself it surely has no right at all to testify to our being sons of God’ [C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:403]. In sum, Rom 8:16 seems to be secure as a text in which the believer’s assurance of salvation is based on the inner witness of the Spirit. The implications of this for one’s soteriology are profound: The objective data, as helpful as they are, cannot by themselves provide assurance of salvation; the believer also needs (and receives) an existential, ongoing encounter with God’s Spirit in order to gain that familial comfort.”
[8:17] 286 tn Grk “on the one hand, heirs of God; on the other hand, fellow heirs with Christ.” Some prefer to render v. 17 as follows: “And if children, then heirs – that is, heirs of God. Also fellow heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.” Such a translation suggests two distinct inheritances, one coming to all of God’s children, the other coming only to those who suffer with Christ. The difficulty of this view, however, is that it ignores the correlative conjunctions μέν…δέ (men…de, “on the one hand…on the other hand”): The construction strongly suggests that the inheritances cannot be separated since both explain “then heirs.” For this reason, the preferred translation puts this explanation in parentheses.
[8:18] 287 tn Grk “are not worthy [to be compared].”
[8:20] 288 tn Grk “because of the one”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[8:23] 289 tn Or “who have the Spirit as firstfruits.” The genitive πνεύματος (pneumatos) can be understood here as possessive (“the firstfruits belonging to the Spirit”) although it is much more likely that this is a genitive of apposition (“the firstfruits, namely, the Spirit”); cf. TEV, NLT.
[8:23] 290 tn See the note on “adoption” in v. 15.
[8:25] 292 tn Or “perseverance.”
[8:26] 293 tn Or “for we do not know what we ought to pray for.”
[8:27] 294 sn He refers to God here; Paul has not specifically identified him for the sake of rhetorical power (for by leaving the subject slightly ambiguous, he draws his audience into seeing God’s hand in places where he is not explicitly mentioned).
[8:27] 295 tn Grk “he,” or “it”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[8:28] 296 tc ὁ θεός (Jo qeos, “God”) is found after the verb συνεργεῖ (sunergei, “work”) in v. 28 by Ì46 A B 81 sa; the shorter reading is found in א C D F G Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï latt sy bo. Although the inclusion is supported by a significant early papyrus, the alliance of significant Alexandrian and Western witnesses favors the shorter reading. As well, the longer reading is evidently motivated by a need for clarification. Since ὁ θεός is textually suspect, it is better to read the text without it. This leaves two good translational options: either “he works all things together for good” or “all things work together for good.” In the first instance the subject is embedded in the verb and “God” is clearly implied (as in v. 29). In the second instance, πάντα (panta) becomes the subject of an intransitive verb. In either case, “What is expressed is a truly biblical confidence in the sovereignty of God” (C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:427).
[8:29] 297 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God’s Son) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[8:29] 298 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
[8:32] 299 tn Grk “[he] who.” The relative clause continues the question of v. 31 in a way that is awkward in English. The force of v. 32 is thus: “who indeed did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – How will he not also with him give us all things?”
[8:33] 300 sn An allusion to Isa 50:8 where the reference is singular; Paul applies this to all believers (“God’s elect” is plural here).
[8:34] 301 tc ‡ A number of significant and early witnesses, along with several others (Ì46vid א A C F G L Ψ 6 33 81 104 365 1505 al lat bo), read ᾿Ιησοῦς (Ihsous, “Jesus”) after Χριστός (Cristos, “Christ”) in v. 34. But the shorter reading is not unrepresented (B D 0289 1739 1881 Ï sa). Once ᾿Ιησοῦς got into the text, what scribe would omit it? Although the external evidence is on the side of the longer reading, internally such an expansion seems suspect. The shorter reading is thus preferred. NA27 has the word in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.
[8:35] 302 tn Here “sword” is a metonymy that includes both threats of violence and acts of violence, even including death (although death is not necessarily the only thing in view here).
[8:36] 303 sn A quotation from Ps 44:22.
[8:37] 304 tn BDAG 1034 s.v. ὑπερνικάω states, “as a heightened form of νικᾶν prevail completely ὑπερνικῶμεν we are winning a most glorious victory Ro 8:37.”
[8:37] 305 tn Here the referent could be either God or Christ, but in v. 39 it is God’s love that is mentioned.
[8:38] 306 tn BDAG 138 s.v. ἀρχή 6 takes this term as a reference to angelic or transcendent powers (as opposed to merely human rulers). To clarify this, the adjective “heavenly” has been supplied in the translation. Some interpreters see this as a reference to fallen angels or demonic powers, and this view is reflected in some recent translations (NIV, NLT).
[9:1] 307 sn Rom 9:1–11:36. These three chapters are among the most difficult and disputed in Paul’s Letter to the Romans. One area of difficulty is the relationship between Israel and the church, especially concerning the nature and extent of Israel’s election. Many different models have been constructed to express this relationship. For a representative survey, see M. Barth, The People of God (JSNTSup), 22-27. The literary genre of these three chapters has been frequently identified as a diatribe, a philosophical discussion or conversation evolved by the Cynic and Stoic schools of philosophy as a means of popularizing their ideas (E. Käsemann, Romans, 261 and 267). But other recent scholars have challenged the idea that Rom 9–11 is characterized by diatribe. Scholars like R. Scroggs and E. E. Ellis have instead identified the material in question as midrash. For a summary and discussion of the rabbinic connections, see W. R. Stegner, “Romans 9.6-29 – A Midrash,” JSNT 22 (1984): 37-52.
[9:1] 308 tn Or “my conscience bears witness to me.”
[9:2] 309 tn Grk “my sorrow is great and the anguish in my heart is unceasing.”
[9:3] 310 tn Or “For I would pray.” The implied condition is “if this could save my fellow Jews.”
[9:3] 311 tn Grk “brothers.” See BDAG 18-19 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.b.
[9:3] 312 tn Grk “my kinsmen according to the flesh.”
[9:4] 313 tn Grk “of whom.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[9:4] 314 tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).” Although some modern translations remove the filial sense completely and render the term merely “adoption” (cf. NAB, ESV), the retention of this component of meaning was accomplished in the present translation by the phrase “as sons.”
[9:4] 315 tn Or “cultic service.”
[9:5] 316 tn Grk “of whom are the fathers.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
[9:5] 317 tn Grk “from whom.” Here the relative pronoun has been replaced by a personal pronoun.
[9:5] 318 tn Grk “according to the flesh.”
[9:5] 319 tn Or “Messiah.” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed.”)
[9:5] 320 tn Or “the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever,” or “the Messiah. God who is over all be blessed forever!” or “the Messiah who is over all. God be blessed forever!” The translational difficulty here is not text-critical in nature, but is a problem of punctuation. Since the genre of these opening verses of Romans 9 is a lament, it is probably best to take this as an affirmation of Christ’s deity (as the text renders it). Although the other renderings are possible, to see a note of praise to God at the end of this section seems strangely out of place. But for Paul to bring his lament to a crescendo (that is to say, his kinsmen had rejected God come in the flesh), thereby deepening his anguish, is wholly appropriate. This is also supported grammatically and stylistically: The phrase ὁ ὢν (Jo wn, “the one who is”) is most naturally taken as a phrase which modifies something in the preceding context, and Paul’s doxologies are always closely tied to the preceding context. For a detailed examination of this verse, see B. M. Metzger, “The Punctuation of Rom. 9:5,” Christ and the Spirit in the New Testament, 95-112; and M. J. Harris, Jesus as God, 144-72.
[9:6] 321 tn Grk “For not all those who are from Israel are Israel.”
[9:7] 322 tn Grk “be called.” The emphasis here is upon God’s divine sovereignty in choosing Isaac as the child through whom Abraham’s lineage would be counted as opposed to Ishmael.
[9:8] 323 tn Grk “That is,” or “That is to say.”
[9:8] 324 tn Because it forms the counterpoint to “the children of promise” the expression “children of the flesh” has been retained in the translation.
[9:9] 325 tn Grk “For this is the word of promise.”
[9:9] 326 tn Grk “About this time I will return.” Since this refers to the time when the promised child would be born, it would be approximately a year later.
[9:9] 327 sn A quotation from Gen 18:10, 14.
[9:10] 328 tn Or possibly “by one act of sexual intercourse.” See D. Moo, Romans (NICNT), 579.
[9:11] 329 tn Grk “God’s purpose according to election.”
[9:11] 330 tn Or “not based on works but based on…”
[9:11] 331 tn Grk “by the one who calls.”
[9:12] 332 sn Many translations place this verse division before the phrase “not by works but by his calling” (NA27/UBS4, NIV, NRSV, NLT, NAB). Other translations place this verse division in the same place that the translation above does (NASB, KJV, NKJV, ASV, RSV). The translation has followed the latter to avoid breaking the parenthetical statement.
[9:12] 333 sn A quotation from Gen 25:23.
[9:13] 334 sn A quotation from Mal 1:2-3.
[9:15] 335 sn A quotation from Exod 33:19.
[9:16] 336 sn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.
[9:16] 337 tn Grk “So then, [it does] not [depend] on the one who desires nor on the one who runs.”
[9:17] 338 sn Paul uses a typical rabbinic formula here in which the OT scriptures are figuratively portrayed as speaking to Pharaoh. What he means is that the scripture he cites refers (or can be applied) to Pharaoh.
[9:17] 339 sn A quotation from Exod 9:16.
[9:18] 340 sn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.
[9:18] 341 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[9:18] 342 tn Grk “So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.”
[9:20] 344 tn Grk “On the contrary, O man, who are you to talk back to God?”
[9:20] 345 sn A quotation from Isa 29:16; 45:9.
[9:21] 346 tn Grk “Or does not the potter have authority over the clay to make from the same lump.”
[9:21] 347 tn Grk “one vessel for honor and another for dishonor.”
[9:22] 348 tn Grk “vessels.” This is the same Greek word used in v. 21.
[9:22] 349 tn Or “vessels destined for wrath.” The genitive ὀργῆς (orghs) could be taken as a genitive of destination.
[9:22] 350 tn Or possibly “objects of wrath that have fit themselves for destruction.” The form of the participle could be taken either as a passive or middle (reflexive). ExSyn 417-18 argues strongly for the passive sense (which is followed in the translation), stating that “the middle view has little to commend it.” First, καταρτίζω (katartizw) is nowhere else used in the NT as a direct or reflexive middle (a usage which, in any event, is quite rare in the NT). Second, the lexical force of this verb, coupled with the perfect tense, suggests something of a “done deal” (against some commentaries that see these vessels as ready for destruction yet still able to avert disaster). Third, the potter-clay motif seems to have one point: The potter prepares the clay.
[9:23] 351 tn Grk “vessels.” This is the same Greek word used in v. 21.
[9:25] 352 tn Grk “and her who was not beloved, ‘Beloved.’”
[9:25] 353 sn A quotation from Hos 2:23.
[9:26] 354 tn Grk “And it will be in the very place.”
[9:26] 355 sn A quotation from Hos 1:10.
[9:28] 357 tc In light of the interpretive difficulty of this verse, a longer reading seems to have been added to clarify the meaning. The addition, in the middle of the sentence, makes the whole verse read as follows: “For he will execute his sentence completely and quickly in righteousness, because the Lord will do it quickly on the earth.” The shorter reading is found largely in Alexandrian
[9:29] 358 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
[9:29] 359 tn Traditionally, “Lord of hosts”; Grk “Lord Sabaoth,” which means “Lord of the [heavenly] armies,” sometimes translated more generally as “Lord Almighty.”
[9:29] 360 sn A quotation from Isa 1:9.
[9:31] 361 tn Or “who pursued.” The participle could be taken adverbially or adjectivally.
[9:31] 362 tn Or “a legal righteousness,” that is, a righteousness based on law. This translation would treat the genitive δικαιοσύνης (dikaiosunh") as an attributed genitive (see ExSyn 89-91).
[9:31] 363 tn Grk “has not attained unto the law.”
[9:32] 364 tn Grk “Why? Because not by faith but as though by works.” The verb (“they pursued [it]”) is to be supplied from the preceding verse for the sake of English style; yet a certain literary power is seen in Paul’s laconic style.
[9:32] 365 tc Most
[9:32] 366 tn Grk “the stone of stumbling.”
[9:33] 367 tn Grk “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”
[9:33] 368 sn A quotation from Isa 28:16; 8:14.
[10:1] 369 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
[10:1] 370 tn Grk “on behalf of them”; the referent (Paul’s fellow Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[10:2] 371 tn Grk “they have a zeal for God.”
[10:2] 372 tn Grk “in accord with knowledge.”
[10:5] 373 sn A quotation from Lev 18:5.
[10:6] 374 sn A quotation from Deut 9:4.
[10:6] 375 sn A quotation from Deut 30:12.
[10:7] 376 sn A quotation from Deut 30:13.
[10:8] 377 sn A quotation from Deut 30:14.
[10:9] 378 tn Or “the Lord.” The Greek construction, along with the quotation from Joel 2:32 in v. 13 (in which the same “Lord” seems to be in view) suggests that κύριον (kurion) is to be taken as “the Lord,” that is, Yahweh. Cf. D. B. Wallace, “The Semantics and Exegetical Significance of the Object-Complement Construction in the New Testament,” GTJ 6 (1985): 91-112.
[10:10] 379 tn Grk “believes to righteousness.”
[10:10] 380 tn Grk “confesses to salvation.”
[10:11] 381 sn A quotation from Isa 28:16.
[10:13] 382 sn A quotation from Joel 2:32.
[10:14] 383 tn Grk “preaching”; the words “to them” are supplied for clarification.
[10:15] 384 tn The word in this context seems to mean “coming at the right or opportune time” (see BDAG 1103 s.v. ὡραῖος 1); it may also mean “beautiful, attractive, welcome.”
[10:15] 385 tn Grk “the feet.” The metaphorical nuance of “beautiful feet” is that such represent timely news.
[10:15] 386 sn A quotation from Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15.
[10:16] 387 sn A quotation from Isa 53:1.
[10:17] 388 tn The Greek term here is ῥῆμα (rJhma), which often (but not exclusively) focuses on the spoken word.
[10:17] 389 tc Most
[10:18] 390 tn That is, Israel (see the following verse).
[10:18] 391 tn Grk “they have not ‘not heard,’ have they?” This question is difficult to render in English. The basic question is a negative sentence (“Have they not heard?”), but it is preceded by the particle μή (mh) which expects a negative response. The end result in English is a double negative (“They have not ‘not heard,’ have they?”). This has been changed to a positive question in the translation for clarity. See BDAG 646 s.v. μή 3.a.; D. Moo, Romans (NICNT), 666, fn. 32; and C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), 537, for discussion.
[10:18] 392 tn Here the particle μενοῦνγε (menounge) is correcting the negative response expected by the particle μή (mh) in the preceding question. Since the question has been translated positively, the translation was changed here to reflect that rendering.
[10:18] 393 sn A quotation from Ps 19:4.
[10:19] 394 tn Grk “Israel did not ‘not know,’ did he?” The double negative in Greek has been translated as a positive affirmation for clarity (see v. 18 above for a similar situation).
[10:19] 395 sn A quotation from Deut 32:21.
[10:20] 396 sn A quotation from Isa 65:1.
[10:21] 397 sn A quotation from Isa 65:2.
[11:3] 398 sn A quotation from 1 Kgs 19:10, 14.
[11:4] 399 tn Grk “the revelation,” “the oracle.”
[11:4] 400 tn The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only exceptionally is used in a generic sense of both males and females. In this context, it appears to be a generic usage (“people”) since when Paul speaks of a remnant of faithful Israelites (“the elect,” v. 7), he is not referring to males only. It can also be argued, however, that it refers only to adult males here (“men”), perhaps as representative of all the faithful left in Israel.
[11:4] 401 sn A quotation from 1 Kgs 19:18.
[11:7] 402 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
[11:8] 403 sn A quotation from Deut 29:4; Isa 29:10.
[11:10] 404 sn A quotation from Ps 69:22-23.
[11:11] 405 tn Grk “that they might fall.”
[11:11] 406 tn Grk “them”; the referent (Israel, cf. 11:7) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[11:12] 407 tn Or “full inclusion”; Grk “their fullness.”
[11:16] 408 tn Grk “firstfruits,” a term for the first part of something that has been set aside and offered to God before the remainder can be used.
[11:16] 409 sn Most interpreters see Paul as making use of a long-standing metaphor of the olive tree (the root…the branches) as a symbol for Israel. See, in this regard, Jer 11:16, 19. A. T. Hanson, Studies in Paul’s Technique and Theology, 121-24, cites rabbinic use of the figure of the olive tree, and goes so far as to argue that Rom 11:17-24 is a midrash on Jer 11:16-19.
[11:17] 410 tn Grk “became a participant of.”
[11:20] 411 tn Grk “well!”, an adverb used to affirm a statement. It means “very well,” “you are correct.”
[11:22] 412 tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.
[11:22] 413 tn Grk “if you continue in (the) kindness.”
[11:25] 414 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
[11:25] 415 tn Or “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.”
[11:25] 416 tn Grk “fullness.”
[11:26] 417 tn It is not clear whether the phrase καὶ οὕτως (kai Joutws, “and so”) is to be understood in a modal sense (“and in this way”) or in a temporal sense (“and in the end”). Neither interpretation is conclusive from a grammatical standpoint, and in fact the two may not be mutually exclusive. Some, like H. Hübner, who argue strongly against the temporal reading, nevertheless continue to give the phrase a temporal significance, saying that God will save all Israel in the end (Gottes Ich und Israel [FRLANT], 118).
[11:27] 418 sn A quotation from Isa 59:20-21.
[11:27] 419 sn A quotation from Isa 27:9; Jer 31:33-34.
[11:31] 420 tc Some important Alexandrian and Western
[11:32] 421 tn Grk “to all”; “them” has been supplied for stylistic reasons.
[11:34] 422 sn A quotation from Isa 40:13.
[11:35] 423 tn Grk “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[11:35] 424 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[11:35] 425 sn A quotation from Job 41:11.
[12:1] 426 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
[12:1] 427 tn The participle and two adjectives “alive, holy, and pleasing to God” are taken as predicates in relation to “sacrifice,” making the exhortation more emphatic. See ExSyn 618-19.
[12:2] 428 tn Although συσχηματίζεσθε (suschmatizesqe) could be either a passive or middle, the passive is more likely since it would otherwise have to be a direct middle (“conform yourselves”) and, as such, would be quite rare for NT Greek. It is very telling that being “conformed” to the present world is viewed as a passive notion, for it may suggest that it happens, in part, subconsciously. At the same time, the passive could well be a “permissive passive,” suggesting that there may be some consciousness of the conformity taking place. Most likely, it is a combination of both.
[12:2] 429 tn Grk “to this age.”
[12:2] 430 sn The verb translated test and approve (δοκιμάζω, dokimazw) carries the sense of “test with a positive outcome,” “test so as to approve.”
[12:3] 431 tn The words “of you” have been supplied for clarity.
[12:3] 432 tn Or “to each as God has distributed a measure of faith.”
[12:6] 433 tn This word comes from the same root as “grace” in the following clause; it means “things graciously given,” “grace-gifts.”
[12:9] 434 tn The verb “must be” is understood in the Greek text.
[12:16] 435 tn Or “but give yourselves to menial tasks.” The translation depends on whether one takes the adjective “lowly” as masculine or neuter.
[12:16] 436 tn Grk “Do not be wise in your thinking.”
[12:17] 437 tn Here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic and refers to both men and women.
[12:18] 438 tn Here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic and refers to both men and women.
[12:19] 439 tn Grk “the wrath,” referring to God’s wrath as the remainder of the verse shows.
[12:19] 440 sn A quotation from Deut 32:35.
[12:20] 441 sn A quotation from Prov 25:21-22.
[13:2] 443 tn Grk “the authority,” referring to the authority just described.
[13:5] 444 tn Grk “its wrath”; the referent (the governing authorities) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[13:5] 445 tn Grk “because of (the) conscience,” but the English possessive “your” helps to show whose conscience the context implies.
[13:6] 446 tn Grk “they”; the referent (the governing authorities) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[13:6] 447 tn Grk “devoted to this very thing.”
[13:9] 448 tn Grk “For the…” (with the word “commandments” supplied for clarity). The Greek article (“the”) is used here as a substantiver to introduce the commands that are quoted from the second half of the Decalogue (ExSyn 238).
[13:9] 449 sn A quotation from Exod 20:13-15, 17; Deut 5:17-19, 21.
[13:9] 450 sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.
[13:11] 451 tn Grk “and this,” probably referring to the command to love (13:8-10); hence, “do” is implied from the previous verses.
[13:11] 452 tn The participle εἰδότες (eidotes) has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.
[13:14] 453 tn Grk “make no provision for the flesh unto desires.”
[14:1] 454 tn Grk “over opinions.” The qualifier “differing” has been supplied to clarify the meaning.
[14:4] 455 tc Most
[14:5] 456 tn Grk “For one judges day from day, and one judges all days.”
[14:6] 457 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
[14:10] 458 tn Grk “But why do you judge your brother?” The introductory phrase has been supplied in the translation to clarify whom Paul is addressing, i.e., the “weak” Christian who eats only vegetables (see vv. 2-3). The author uses the singular pronoun here to rhetorically address one person, but the plural has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[14:10] 459 tn Grk “Or again, why do you despise your brother?” The introductory phrase has been supplied in the translation to clarify whom Paul is addressing, i.e., the “strong” Christian who eats everything (see vv. 2-3). The author uses the singular pronoun here to rhetorically address one person, but the plural has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[14:10] 460 sn The judgment seat (βῆμα, bhma) was a raised platform mounted by steps and sometimes furnished with a seat, used by officials in addressing an assembly or making pronouncements, often on judicial matters. The judgment seat was a familiar item in Greco-Roman culture, often located in the agora, the public square or marketplace in the center of a city.
[14:11] 461 sn A quotation from Isa 45:23.
[14:12] 462 tc ‡ The words “to God” are absent from some
[14:15] 465 tn Grk “on account of food.”
[14:15] 466 tn Grk “according to love.”
[14:16] 467 tn Grk “do not let your good.”
[14:18] 468 tn Grk “by men”; but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is generic here (“people”) since the contrast in context is between God and humanity.
[14:20] 469 sn Here clean refers to food being ceremonially clean.
[14:21] 470 tc A large number of
[14:22] 471 tc ‡ Several important Alexandrian witnesses (א A B C 048) have the relative pronoun ἥν ({hn, “the faith that you have”) at this juncture, but D F G Ψ 1739 1881 Ï lat co lack it. Without the pronoun, the clause is more ambiguous (either “Keep the faith [that] you have between yourself and God” or “Do you have faith? Keep it between yourself and God”). The pronoun thus looks to be a motivated reading, created to clarify the meaning of the text. Even though it is found in the better witnesses, in this instance internal evidence should be given preference. NA27 places the word in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.
[14:23] 472 tc Some
[15:1] 473 tn Grk “and not please ourselves.” NT Greek negatives used in contrast like this are often not absolute, but relative: “not so much one as the other.”
[15:3] 474 sn A quotation from Ps 69:9.
[15:5] 475 tn Grk “grant you to think the same among one another.”
[15:8] 476 tn Grk “of the circumcision”; that is, the Jews.
[15:8] 477 tn Or “to the patriarchs.”
[15:9] 478 tn There are two major syntactical alternatives which are both awkward: (1) One could make “glorify” dependent on “Christ has become a minister” and coordinate with “to confirm” and the result would be rendered “Christ has become a minister of circumcision to confirm the promises…and so that the Gentiles might glorify God.” (2) One could make “glorify” dependent on “I tell you” and coordinate with “Christ has become a minister” and the result would be rendered “I tell you that Christ has become a minister of circumcision…and that the Gentiles glorify God.” The second rendering is preferred.
[15:9] 479 sn A quotation from Ps 18:49.
[15:10] 480 sn A quotation from Deut 32:43.
[15:11] 481 sn A quotation from Ps 117:1.
[15:12] 482 sn A quotation from Isa 11:10.
[15:13] 483 tn Grk “in the believing” or “as [you] believe,” with the object “him” supplied from the context. The referent could be God (15:13a) or Christ (15:12).
