Romans 1:32--2:1

1:32 Although they fully know ¹  God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, ²  they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them. ³ 

The Condemnation of the Moralist

2:1 ⁴ Therefore ⁵  you are without excuse, ⁶  whoever you are, ⁷  when you judge someone else. ⁸  For on whatever grounds ⁹  you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

Romans 4:17

4:17 (as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). ¹⁰  He is our father ¹¹  in the presence of God whom he believed – the God who ¹²  makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. ¹³ 

Romans 8:11

8:11 Moreover if the Spirit of the one ¹⁴  who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ ¹⁵  from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you. ¹⁶ 

Romans 12:1

Consecration of the Believer’s Life

12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, ¹⁷  by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God ¹⁸  – which is your reasonable service.

Romans 15:16

15:16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. I serve ¹⁹  the gospel of God ²⁰  like a priest, so that the Gentiles may become an acceptable offering, ²¹  sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

[1:32]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Grk “are worthy of death.”

[1:32]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).

[2:1]  ⁷ tn Grk “O man.”

[2:1]  ⁸ tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”

[2:1]  ⁹ tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”

[4:17]  ⁷ tn Verses 16-17 comprise one sentence in Greek, but this has been divided into two sentences due to English requirements.

[4:17]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn “The God” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

[4:17]  ¹⁰ 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]).

[8:11]  ¹⁰ sn The one who raised Jesus from the dead refers to God (also in the following clause).

[8:11]  ¹¹ tc Several mss read ᾿Ιησοῦν (Ihsoun, “Jesus”) after Χριστόν (Criston, “Christ”; א* A D* 630 1506 1739 1881 pc bo); C 81 104 lat have ᾿Ιησοῦν Χριστόν. The shorter reading is more likely to be original, though, both because of external evidence (א² B D² F G Ψ 33 Ï sa) and internal evidence (scribes were much more likely to add the name “Jesus” if it were lacking than to remove it if it were already present in the text, especially to harmonize with the earlier mention of Jesus in the verse).

[8:11]  ¹² tc Most mss (B D F G Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï lat) have διά (dia) followed by the accusative: “because of his Spirit who lives in you.” The genitive “through his Spirit” is supported by א A C⁽*⁾ 81 104 1505 1506 al, and is slightly preferred.

[12:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[12:1]  ¹⁴ 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.

[15:16]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “serving.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text, but in keeping with contemporary English style, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[15:16]  ¹⁷ tn The genitive in the phrase τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ (to euangelion tou qeou, “the gospel of God”) could be translated as either a subjective genitive (“the gospel which God brings”) or an objective genitive (“the gospel about God”). Either is grammatically possible. This is possibly an instance of a plenary genitive (see ExSyn 119-21; M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek, §§36-39). If so, an interplay between the two concepts is intended: The gospel which God brings is in fact the gospel about himself.

[15:16]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “so that the offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable.” This could be understood to refer to an offering belonging to the Gentiles (a possessive genitive) or made by the Gentiles (subjective genitive), but more likely the phrase should be understood as an appositive genitive, with the Gentiles themselves consisting of the offering (so J. D. G. Dunn, Romans [WBC 38], 2:860). The latter view is reflected in the translation “so that the Gentiles may become an acceptable offering.”