Romans 4:16-17

4:16 For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, ¹  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, ²  who is the father of us all 4:17 (as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). ³  He is our father ⁴  in the presence of God whom he believed – the God who ⁵  makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. ⁶ 

Romans 7:3

7:3 So then, ⁷  if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress. But if her ⁸  husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she is joined to another man, she is not an adulteress.

Romans 8:9

8:9 You, however, are not in ⁹  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.

Romans 10:8

10:8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” ¹⁰  (that is, the word of faith that we preach),

Romans 13:4

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.

[4:16]  ¹ tn Grk “that it might be according to grace.”

[4:16]  ² tn Grk “those who are of the faith of Abraham.”

[4:17]  ³ tn Verses 16-17 comprise one sentence in Greek, but this has been divided into two sentences due to English requirements.

[4:17]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn “The God” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

[4:17]  ⁶ 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]).

[7:3]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[8:9]  ⁷ tn Or “are not controlled by the flesh but by the Spirit.”

[10:8]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Deut 30:14.