Discovery BoxRomans 9:19--10:21
Context9:19 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 1 – to talk back to God? 2 Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 3 9:21 Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay 4 one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use? 5 9:22 But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects 6 of wrath 7 prepared for destruction? 8 9:23 And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects 9 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, 10 ‘My beloved.’” 11
9:26 “And in the very place 12 where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” 13
9:27 And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, “Though the number of the children 14 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.” 15 9:29 Just 16 as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of armies 17 had not left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have resembled Gomorrah.” 18
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 19 a law of righteousness 20 did not attain it. 21 9:32 Why not? Because they pursued 22 it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. 23 They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 24 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, 25
yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 26
10:1 Brothers and sisters, 27 my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites 28 is for their salvation. 10:2 For I can testify that they are zealous for God, 29 but their zeal is not in line with the truth. 30 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.” 31 10:6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, 32 ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” 33 (that is, to bring Christ down) 10:7 or “Who will descend into the abyss?” 34 (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” 35 (that is, the word of faith that we preach), 10:9 because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord 36 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 37 and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. 38 10:11 For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 39 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. 40
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 41 ? 10:15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely 42 is the arrival 43 of those who proclaim the good news.” 44 10:16 But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 45 10:17 Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word 46 of Christ. 47
10:18 But I ask, have they 48 not heard? 49 Yes, they have: 50 Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. 51 10:19 But again I ask, didn’t Israel understand? 52 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.” 53 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.” 54 10:21 But about Israel he says, “All day long I held out my hands to this disobedient and stubborn people!” 55
[9:20] 2 tn Grk “On the contrary, O man, who are you to talk back to God?”
[9:20] 3 sn A quotation from Isa 29:16; 45:9.
[9:21] 1 tn Grk “Or does not the potter have authority over the clay to make from the same lump.”
[9:21] 2 tn Grk “one vessel for honor and another for dishonor.”
[9:22] 1 tn Grk “vessels.” This is the same Greek word used in v. 21.
[9:22] 2 tn Or “vessels destined for wrath.” The genitive ὀργῆς (orghs) could be taken as a genitive of destination.
[9:22] 3 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] 1 tn Grk “vessels.” This is the same Greek word used in v. 21.
[9:25] 1 tn Grk “and her who was not beloved, ‘Beloved.’”
[9:25] 2 sn A quotation from Hos 2:23.
[9:26] 1 tn Grk “And it will be in the very place.”
[9:26] 2 sn A quotation from Hos 1:10.
[9:28] 1 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] 1 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
[9:29] 2 tn Traditionally, “Lord of hosts”; Grk “Lord Sabaoth,” which means “Lord of the [heavenly] armies,” sometimes translated more generally as “Lord Almighty.”
[9:29] 3 sn A quotation from Isa 1:9.
[9:31] 1 tn Or “who pursued.” The participle could be taken adverbially or adjectivally.
[9:31] 2 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] 3 tn Grk “has not attained unto the law.”
[9:32] 1 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] 2 tc Most
[9:32] 3 tn Grk “the stone of stumbling.”
[9:33] 1 tn Grk “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”
[9:33] 2 sn A quotation from Isa 28:16; 8:14.
[10:1] 1 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
[10:1] 2 tn Grk “on behalf of them”; the referent (Paul’s fellow Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[10:2] 1 tn Grk “they have a zeal for God.”
[10:2] 2 tn Grk “in accord with knowledge.”
[10:5] 1 sn A quotation from Lev 18:5.
[10:6] 1 sn A quotation from Deut 9:4.
[10:6] 2 sn A quotation from Deut 30:12.
[10:7] 1 sn A quotation from Deut 30:13.
[10:8] 1 sn A quotation from Deut 30:14.
[10:9] 1 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] 1 tn Grk “believes to righteousness.”
[10:10] 2 tn Grk “confesses to salvation.”
[10:11] 1 sn A quotation from Isa 28:16.
[10:13] 1 sn A quotation from Joel 2:32.
[10:14] 1 tn Grk “preaching”; the words “to them” are supplied for clarification.
[10:15] 1 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] 2 tn Grk “the feet.” The metaphorical nuance of “beautiful feet” is that such represent timely news.
[10:15] 3 sn A quotation from Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15.
[10:16] 1 sn A quotation from Isa 53:1.
[10:17] 1 tn The Greek term here is ῥῆμα (rJhma), which often (but not exclusively) focuses on the spoken word.
[10:17] 2 tc Most
[10:18] 1 tn That is, Israel (see the following verse).
[10:18] 2 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] 3 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] 4 sn A quotation from Ps 19:4.
[10:19] 1 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] 2 sn A quotation from Deut 32:21.
