Roma 1:4-5

1:4 who was appointed the Son-of-God-in-power ¹  according to the Holy Spirit ²  by the resurrection ³  from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1:5 Through him ⁴  we have received grace and our apostleship ⁵  to bring about the obedience ⁶  of faith ⁷  among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name.

Roma 1:8

Paul’s Desire to Visit Rome

1:8 First of all, ⁸  I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.

Roma 2:5

2:5 But because of your stubbornness ⁹  and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed! ¹⁰ 

Roma 2:16

2:16 on the day when God will judge ¹¹  the secrets of human hearts, ¹²  according to my gospel ¹³  through Christ Jesus.

Roma 4:18

4:18 Against hope Abraham ¹⁴  believed ¹⁵  in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations ¹⁶  according to the pronouncement, ¹⁷  “so will your descendants be.” ¹⁸ 

Roma 5:5

5:5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God ¹⁹  has been poured out ²⁰  in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Roma 5:8

5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Roma 5:16

5:16 And the gift is not like the one who sinned. ²¹  For judgment, resulting from the one transgression, ²²  led to condemnation, but ²³  the gracious gift from the many failures ²⁴  led to justification.

Roma 9:1

Israel’s Rejection Considered

9:1 ²⁵ I am telling the truth in Christ (I am not lying!), for my conscience assures me ²⁶  in the Holy Spirit –

Roma 9:23

9:23 And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects ²⁷  of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory –

Roma 9:32-33

9:32 Why not? Because they pursued ²⁸  it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. ²⁹  They stumbled over the stumbling stone, ³⁰  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, ³¹ 

yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ³² 

Roma 15:19

15:19 in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem even as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

[1:4]  ¹ sn Appointed the Son-of-God-in-power. Most translations render the Greek participle ὁρισθέντος (Jorisqentos, from ὁρίζω, Jorizw) “declared” or “designated” in order to avoid the possible interpretation that Jesus was appointed the Son of God by the resurrection. However, the Greek term ὁρίζω is used eight times in the NT, and it always has the meaning “to determine, appoint.” Paul is not saying that Jesus was appointed the “Son of God by the resurrection” but “Son-of-God-in-power by the resurrection,” as indicated by the hyphenation. He was born in weakness in human flesh (with respect to the flesh, v. 3) and he was raised with power. This is similar to Matt 28:18 where Jesus told his disciples after the resurrection, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

[1:4]  ² tn Grk “spirit of holiness.” Some interpreters take the phrase to refer to Christ’s own inner spirit, which was characterized by holiness.

[1:4]  ³ tn Or “by his resurrection.” Most interpreters see this as a reference to Jesus’ own resurrection, although some take it to refer to the general resurrection at the end of the age, of which Jesus’ resurrection is the first installment (cf. 1 Cor 15:23).

[1:5]  ⁴ tn Grk “through whom.”

[1:5]  ⁵ tn Some interpreters understand the phrase “grace and apostleship” as a hendiadys, translating “grace [i.e., gift] of apostleship.” The pronoun “our” is supplied in the translation to clarify the sense of the statement.

[1:5]  ⁶ tn Grk “and apostleship for obedience.”

[1:5]  ⁷ tn The phrase ὑπακοὴν πίστεως has been variously understood as (1) an objective genitive (a reference to the Christian faith, “obedience to [the] faith”); (2) a subjective genitive (“the obedience faith produces [or requires]”); (3) an attributive genitive (“believing obedience”); or (4) as a genitive of apposition (“obedience, [namely] faith”) in which “faith” further defines “obedience.” These options are discussed by C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), 1:66. Others take the phrase as deliberately ambiguous; see D. B. Garlington, “The Obedience of Faith in the Letter to the Romans: Part I: The Meaning of ὑπακοὴ πίστεως (Rom 1:5; 16:26),” WTJ 52 (1990): 201-24.

[1:8]  ⁸ tn Grk “First.” Paul never mentions a second point, so J. B. Phillips translated “I must begin by telling you….”

[2:5]  ⁹ tn Grk “hardness.” Concerning this imagery, see Jer 4:4; Ezek 3:7; 1 En. 16:3.

[2:5]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”

[2:16]  ¹¹ tn The form of the Greek word is either present or future, but it is best to translate in future because of the context of future judgment.

[2:16]  ¹² tn Grk “of people.”

[2:16]  ¹³ sn On my gospel cf. Rom 16:25; 2 Tim 2:8.

[4:18]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:18]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “who against hope believed,” referring to Abraham. The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:18]  ¹⁶ sn A quotation from Gen 17:5.

[4:18]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “according to that which had been spoken.”

[4:18]  ¹⁸ sn A quotation from Gen 15:5.

[5:5]  ¹⁹ tn The phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ (Jh agaph tou qeou, “the love of God”) could be interpreted as either an objective genitive (“our love for God”), subjective genitive (“God’s love for us”), or both (M. Zerwick’s “general” genitive [Biblical Greek, §§36-39]; D. B. Wallace’s “plenary” genitive [ExSyn 119-21]). The immediate context, which discusses what God has done for believers, favors a subjective genitive, but the fact that this love is poured out within the hearts of believers implies that it may be the source for believers’ love for God; consequently an objective genitive cannot be ruled out. It is possible that both these ideas are meant in the text and that this is a plenary genitive: “The love that comes from God and that produces our love for God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (ExSyn 121).

[5:5]  ²⁰ sn On the OT background of the Spirit being poured out, see Isa 32:15; Joel 2:28-29.

[5:16]  ²¹ tn Grk “and not as through the one who sinned [is] the gift.”

[5:16]  ²² tn The word “transgression” is not in the Greek text at this point, but has been supplied for clarity.

[5:16]  ²³ tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.

[5:16]  ²⁴ tn Or “falls, trespasses,” the same word used in vv. 15, 17, 18, 20.

[9:1]  ²⁵ sn Rom 9:1–11:36. These three chapters are among the most difficult and disputed in Paul’s Letter to the Romans. One area of difficulty is the relationship between Israel and the church, especially concerning the nature and extent of Israel’s election. Many different models have been constructed to express this relationship. For a representative survey, see M. Barth, The People of God (JSNTSup), 22-27. The literary genre of these three chapters has been frequently identified as a diatribe, a philosophical discussion or conversation evolved by the Cynic and Stoic schools of philosophy as a means of popularizing their ideas (E. Käsemann, Romans, 261 and 267). But other recent scholars have challenged the idea that Rom 9–11 is characterized by diatribe. Scholars like R. Scroggs and E. E. Ellis have instead identified the material in question as midrash. For a summary and discussion of the rabbinic connections, see W. R. Stegner, “Romans 9.6-29 – A Midrash,” JSNT 22 (1984): 37-52.

[9:1]  ²⁶ tn Or “my conscience bears witness to me.”

[9:23]  ²⁷ tn Grk “vessels.” This is the same Greek word used in v. 21.

[9:32]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ tc Most mss, especially the later ones (א² D Ψ 33 Ï sy), read νόμου (nomou, “of the law”) here, echoing Paul’s usage in Rom 3:20, 28 and elsewhere. The qualifying phrase is lacking in א* A B F G 6 629 630 1739 1881 pc lat co. The longer reading thus is weaker externally and internally, being motivated apparently by a need to clarify.

[9:32]  tn Grk “but as by works.”

[9:32]  ³⁰ tn Grk “the stone of stumbling.”

[9:33]  ³¹ tn Grk “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”

[9:33]  ³² sn A quotation from Isa 28:16; 8:14.