Discovery BoxRomans 5:1
Context5:1 1 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have 2 peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Romans 13:1-14
Context13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment, 3 and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 13:2 So the person who resists such authority 4 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 5 but also because of your conscience. 6 13:6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities 7 are God’s servants devoted to governing. 8 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, 9 “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,” 10 (and if there is any other commandment) are summed up in this, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 11 13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
13:11 And do this 12 because we know 13 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. 14
[5:1] 1 sn Many interpreters see Rom 5:1 as beginning the second major division of the letter.
[5:1] 2 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.
[13:2] 5 tn Grk “the authority,” referring to the authority just described.
[13:5] 7 tn Grk “its wrath”; the referent (the governing authorities) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[13:5] 8 tn Grk “because of (the) conscience,” but the English possessive “your” helps to show whose conscience the context implies.
[13:6] 9 tn Grk “they”; the referent (the governing authorities) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[13:6] 10 tn Grk “devoted to this very thing.”
[13:9] 11 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] 12 sn A quotation from Exod 20:13-15, 17; Deut 5:17-19, 21.
[13:9] 13 sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.
[13:11] 13 tn Grk “and this,” probably referring to the command to love (13:8-10); hence, “do” is implied from the previous verses.
[13:11] 14 tn The participle εἰδότες (eidotes) has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.
[13:14] 15 tn Grk “make no provision for the flesh unto desires.”
