Romans

06

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. 1: This gospel he promised before-hand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 1:3 concerning his Son who was a descendant of David with reference to the flesh, 1:4 who

tnGrk Paul. The word from is not in the Greek text, but hasbeensuppliedtoindicatethesenderoftheletter.

tnTraditionally,servant.Though(doulos)isnor-mallytranslatedservant,theworddoesnotbearthecon-notationofafreeindividualservinganother.BDAGnotesthatservant for slave is largely confined to Biblical transl. and earlyAmericantimesinnormalusageatthepresenttimethetwowordsarecarefullydistinguished(BDAG260s.v.).Themostaccuratetranslationisbondservant(sometimesfound in the ASV for ), in that itoften indicatesonewhosellshimselfintoslaverytoanother.Butasthisisarcha-ic,fewtodayunderstanditsforce.

sn Undoubtedly the background for the concept of being the Lords slave or servant is to be found in the Old Testa-ment scriptures. For someone who was Jewish this concept didnotconnotedrudgery,buthonorandprivilege.ItwasusedofnationalIsraelattimes(Isa43:10),butwasespeciallyas-sociatedwithfamousOTpersonalities,includingsuchgreatmen as Moses (Josh 14:7), David (Ps 89:3; cf. 2 Sam 7:5, 8) andElijah(2Kgs10:10);all thesemenwereservants(orslaves) of the Lord.

tcManyimportantmss,aswellasseveralothers(26AG 33 1739 1881 ),haveareversedorderofthesewordsand read Jesus Christ rather than Christ Jesus (10B81pc).Themeaningisnotaffectedineithercase,buttheread-ing Christ Jesus is preferred as slightly more difficult and thusmorelikelytheoriginal(ascribewhofounditwouldbeprone to change it to the more common expression). At the same time, Paul is fond of the order Christ Jesus, especially incertainletterssuchasRomans,Galatians,andPhilippians.Aswell,thelaterPaulinelettersalmostuniformlyusethisor-der in the salutations. A decision is difficult, but Christ Jesus isslightlypreferred.

tnGrkacalledapostle.tnThegenitiveinthephrase (euange-

lion qeou,thegospelofGod)couldbetranslatedas(1)asubjectivegenitive(thegospelwhichGodbrings)or(2)anobjectivegenitive(thegospelaboutGod).Eitherisgram-maticallypossible.Thisispossiblyaninstanceofaplenarygenitive(seeExSyn119-21;M.Zerwick,Biblical Greek,36-39).Ifso,aninterplaybetweenthetwoconceptsisintended:ThegospelwhichGodbringsisinfactthegospelabouthim-self.However,inviewofGodsactioninv.2concerningthisgospel,asubjectivegenitivenotion(thegospelwhichGodbrings)isslightlypreferred.

tnGrkthegospelofGod,whichhepromised.Becauseof the length and complexity of this sentence in Greek, it was dividedintoshorterEnglishsentencesinkeepingwithcon-temporaryEnglishstyle.Toindicatethereferentoftherela-tivepronoun(which),thewordgospelwasrepeatedatthebeginningofv.2.

tnGrkbornoftheseed(anidiom).tnGrk according to the flesh, indicating Jesus earthly

life,areferencetoitsweakness.ThisphraseimpliesthatJe-suswasmorethanhuman;otherwiseitwouldhavebeensuf-ficient to say that he was a descendant of David, cf. L. Morris, Romans,44.

was appointed the Son-of-God-in-power accord-ing to the Holy Spirit0 by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1:5 Through him we have received grace and our apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gen-tiles on behalf of his name. 1:6 You also are among them, called to belong to Jesus Christ. 1:7 To all those loved by God in Rome, called to be saints:

snAppointed the Son-of-God-in-power. MosttranslationsrendertheGreekparticiple(Jorisqentos,from,Jorizw)declaredordesignatedinordertoavoidthe possible interpretation that Jesus was appointed the Son ofGodbytheresurrection.However,theGreektermisusedeighttimesintheNT,anditalwayshasthemeaningtodetermine,appoint.PaulisnotsayingthatJesuswasap-pointed the Son of God by the resurrection but Son-of-God-in-power by the resurrection, as indicated by the hyphen-ation. He was born in weakness in human flesh (with respect to the flesh,v.3)andhewasraisedwithpower.ThisissimilartoMatt28:18whereJesustoldhisdisciplesaftertheresur-rection,Allauthorityinheavenandonearthhasbeengiventome.

0tn Grk spirit of holiness. Some interpreters take the phrase to refer to Christs own inner spirit, which was charac-terizedbyholiness.

tnOrbyhisresurrection.MostinterpretersseethisasareferencetoJesusownresurrection,althoughsometakeittorefertothegeneralresurrectionattheendoftheage,of which Jesus resurrection is the first installment (cf. 1 Cor 15:23).

tnGrkthroughwhom.tn Some interpreters understand the phrase grace and

apostleshipasahendiadys,translatinggrace[i.e.,gift]ofapostleship.Thepronounourissuppliedinthetranslationtoclarifythesenseofthestatement.

tnGrkandapostleshipforobedience.tnThephrase hasbeenvariouslyun-

derstood as (1) an objective genitive (a reference to the Chris-tianfaith,obedienceto[the]faith);(2)asubjectivegenitive(theobediencefaithproduces[orrequires]);(3)anattribu-tivegenitive(believingobedience);or(4)asagenitiveofap-position(obedience,[namely]faith)inwhichfaithfurtherdefines obedience. These options are discussed by C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), 1:66. Others take the phrase as de-liberatelyambiguous;seeD.B.Garlington,TheObedienceof Faith in the Letter to the Romans: Part I: The Meaning of (Rom1:5;16:26),WTJ52(1990):201-24.

tnGrkamongwhomyoualsoarecalled.Becauseofthe length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sen-tencewasstartedhere in the translation.TheNIV,with itstranslationAndyoualsoareamongthosewhoarecalled,takesthephrase torefertothefollowingclauseratherthanthepreceding,sothattheaddresseesofthelet-ter(youalso)arenotconnectedwithalltheGentilesmen-tionedattheendofv.5.Itismorelikely,however,thattherelativepronoun has as itsantecedent,whichwouldindicatethatthechurchatRomewaspredomi-nantlyGentile.

tnGrk called of Jesus Christ.map For location see JP4-A1.tn Although the first part of v. 7 is not a complete Eng-

lish sentence, it maintains the Fromto pattern used in all thePaulineletterstoindicatethesenderandtherecipients.Here,however,thereareseveralinterveningverses(vv.2-6),

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Pauls Desire to Visit Rome

1:8 First of all, I thank my God through Je-sus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. 1:9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit by preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness that I continu-ally remember you 1:10 and I always ask in my prayers, if perhaps now at last I may succeed in visiting you according to the will of God. 1:11 For I long to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, 1:1 that is, that we may be mutually comforted by one anothers faith, both yours and mine. 1:13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,0 that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles. 1:14 I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 1:15 Thus I am eager also to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.

which makes the first half of v. 7 appear as an isolated sen-tencefragment.

tnGrkGracetoyouandpeace.tnGrk First. Paul never mentions a second point, so J. B.

PhillipstranslatedImustbeginbytellingyou.tnGrkwhomIserveinmyspiritinthegospel.tnGrkas.tnGrkrememberyou,alwaysasking.tnGrksucceedincomingtoyouinthewillofGod.snPauldoesnotmeanherethatheisgoingtobestow

upon the Roman believers what is commonly known as aspiritualgift,thatis,aspecialenablingforservicegiventobelievers by the Holy Spirit. Instead, this is either a metonymy ofcauseforeffect(PaulwillusehisownspiritualgiftstoedifytheRomans),oritsimplymeanssomethingakintoablessingor benefit in the spiritual realm. It is possible that Paul uses this phrase to connote specifically the broader purpose of his letter,whichisfortheRomanstounderstandhisgospel,butthisseemslesslikely.

tnGrkthatis,tobecomfortedtogetherwithyouthroughthefaithinoneanother.

sn The expression I do not want you to be unaware [Grkignorant] also occurs in 1 Cor 10:1; 12:1; 1 Thess 4:13. Paul usesthephrasetosignalthatheisabouttosaysomethingveryimportant.

0tnGrkbrothers,buttheGreekwordmaybeusedforbrothers and sisters or fellow Christians as here (cf. BDAG 18s.v.1,whereconsiderablenonbiblicalevidencefortheplural[adelfoi]meaningbrothersandsis-tersiscited).

tnGrkinorderthatImighthavesomefruitalsoamongyoujustasalsoamongtherestoftheGentiles.

tnOrobligated.tn Or willing, ready; Grk so my eagerness [is] to

preachTheword(proqumos,eager,willing)isusedonlyelsewhereintheNTinMatt26:41=Mark14:38:thespiritindeediswilling(), but the flesh is weak.

map For location see JP4-A1.

The Power of the Gospel

1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is Gods power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 1:17 For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is writ-ten, The righteous by faith will live.

The Condemnation of the Unrighteous

1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteous-ness of people0 who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness, 1:19 because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 1:0 For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes his eternal pow-er and divine nature have been clearly seen, be-cause they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse. 1:1 For al-though 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 were darkened. 1: Although they claimed to be wise, they became fool