Roma 9:8

9:8 This means ¹  it is not the children of the flesh ²  who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants.

Roma 10:7

10:7 or “Who will descend into the abyss?” ³  (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

Roma 1:12

1:12 that is, that we may be mutually comforted by one another’s faith, ⁴  both yours and mine.

Roma 10:6

10:6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ⁵  ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” ⁶  (that is, to bring Christ down)

Roma 4:14

4:14 For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. ⁷ 

Roma 8:24

8:24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees?

Roma 15:21

15:21 but as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.” ⁸ 

Roma 3:11

3:11 there is no one who understands,

there is no one who seeks God.

Roma 10:19

10:19 But again I ask, didn’t Israel understand? ⁹  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.” ¹⁰ 

Roma 3:27

3:27 Where, then, is boasting? ¹¹  It is excluded! By what principle? ¹²  Of works? No, but by the principle of faith!

Roma 7:1

The Believer’s Relationship to the Law

7:1 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters ¹³  (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person ¹⁴  as long as he lives?

Roma 1:20

1:20 For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people ¹⁵  are without excuse.

Roma 3:31

3:31 Do we then nullify ¹⁶  the law through faith? Absolutely not! Instead ¹⁷  we uphold the law.

Roma 7:16

7:16 But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁸ 

Roma 11:15-16

11:15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 11:16 If the first portion ¹⁹  of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches. ²⁰ 

Roma 2:13

2:13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous. ²¹ 

Roma 3:3

3:3 What then? If some did not believe, does their unbelief nullify the faithfulness of God?

Roma 6:3

6:3 Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Roma 8:18

8:18 For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared ²²  to the glory that will be revealed to us.

Roma 7:7

7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I ²³  would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else ²⁴  if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” ²⁵ 

Roma 7:13

7:13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

Roma 2:25

2:25 For circumcision ²⁶  has its value if you practice the law, but ²⁷  if you break the law, ²⁸  your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

Roma 3:30

3:30 Since God is one, ²⁹  he will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

Roma 6:15

The Believer’s Enslavement to God’s Righteousness

6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not!

Roma 7:20

7:20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.

Roma 9:6-7

9:6 It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel, ³⁰  9:7 nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.” ³¹ 

Roma 11:12

11:12 Now if their transgression means riches for the world and their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration ³²  bring?

Roma 12:20

12:20 Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head. ³³ 

Roma 13:2

13:2 So the person who resists such authority ³⁴  resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will incur judgment

Roma 13:8

Exhortation to Love Neighbors

13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

Roma 2:1

The Condemnation of the Moralist

2:1 ³⁵ Therefore ³⁶  you are without excuse, ³⁷  whoever you are, ³⁸  when you judge someone else. ³⁹  For on whatever grounds ⁴⁰  you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

Roma 11:11

11:11 I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, ⁴¹  did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel ⁴²  jealous.

[9:8]  ¹ tn Grk “That is,” or “That is to say.”

[9:8]  ² tn Because it forms the counterpoint to “the children of promise” the expression “children of the flesh” has been retained in the translation.

[9:8]  sn The expression the children of the flesh refers to the natural offspring.

[10:7]  ³ sn A quotation from Deut 30:13.

[1:12]  ⁴ tn Grk “that is, to be comforted together with you through the faith in one another.”

[10:6]  ⁵ sn A quotation from Deut 9:4.

[10:6]  ⁶ sn A quotation from Deut 30:12.

[4:14]  ⁷ tn Grk “rendered inoperative.”

[15:21]  ⁸ sn A quotation from Isa 52:15.

[10:19]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ sn A quotation from Deut 32:21.

[3:27]  ¹¹ tn Although a number of interpreters understand the “boasting” here to refer to Jewish boasting, others (e.g. C. E. B. Cranfield, “‘The Works of the Law’ in the Epistle to the Romans,” JSNT 43 [1991]: 96) take the phrase to refer to all human boasting before God.

[3:27]  ¹² tn Grk “By what sort of law?”

[7:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[7:1]  ¹⁴ sn Here person refers to a human being.

[1:20]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:31]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “render inoperative.”

[3:31]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “but” (Greek ἀλλά, alla).

[7:16]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “I agree with the law that it is good.”

[11:16]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “firstfruits,” a term for the first part of something that has been set aside and offered to God before the remainder can be used.

[11:16]  ²⁰ sn Most interpreters see Paul as making use of a long-standing metaphor of the olive tree (the root…the branches) as a symbol for Israel. See, in this regard, Jer 11:16, 19. A. T. Hanson, Studies in Paul’s Technique and Theology, 121-24, cites rabbinic use of the figure of the olive tree, and goes so far as to argue that Rom 11:17-24 is a midrash on Jer 11:16-19.

[2:13]  ²¹ tn The Greek sentence expresses this contrast more succinctly than is possible in English. Grk “For not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be declared righteous.”

[8:18]  ²² tn Grk “are not worthy [to be compared].”

[7:7]  ²³ sn Romans 7:7-25. There has been an enormous debate over the significance of the first person singular pronouns (“I”) in this passage and how to understand their referent. Did Paul intend (1) a reference to himself and other Christians too; (2) a reference to his own pre-Christian experience as a Jew, struggling with the law and sin (and thus addressing his fellow countrymen as Jews); or (3) a reference to himself as a child of Adam, reflecting the experience of Adam that is shared by both Jews and Gentiles alike (i.e., all people everywhere)? Good arguments can be assembled for each of these views, and each has problems dealing with specific statements in the passage. The classic argument against an autobiographical interpretation was made by W. G. Kümmel, Römer 7 und die Bekehrung des Paulus. A good case for seeing at least an autobiographical element in the chapter has been made by G. Theissen, Psychologische Aspekte paulinischer Theologie [FRLANT], 181-268. One major point that seems to favor some sort of an autobiographical reading of these verses is the lack of any mention of the Holy Spirit for empowerment in the struggle described in Rom 7:7-25. The Spirit is mentioned beginning in 8:1 as the solution to the problem of the struggle with sin (8:4-6, 9).

[7:7]  ²⁴ tn Grk “I would not have known covetousness.”

[7:7]  ²⁵ sn A quotation from Exod 20:17 and Deut 5:21.

[2:25]  ²⁶ sn Circumcision refers to male circumcision as prescribed in the OT, which was given as a covenant to Abraham in Gen 17:10-14. Its importance for Judaism can hardly be overstated: According to J. D. G. Dunn (Romans [WBC], 1:120) it was the “single clearest distinguishing feature of the covenant people.” J. Marcus has suggested that the terms used for circumcision (περιτομή, peritomh) and uncircumcision (ἀκροβυστία, akrobustia) were probably derogatory slogans used by Jews and Gentiles to describe their opponents (“The Circumcision and the Uncircumcision in Rome,” NTS 35 [1989]: 77-80).

[2:25]  ²⁷ tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

[2:25]  ²⁸ tn Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”

[3:30]  ²⁹ tn Grk “but if indeed God is one.”

[9:6]  ³⁰ tn Grk “For not all those who are from Israel are Israel.”

[9:7]  ³¹ tn Grk “be called.” The emphasis here is upon God’s divine sovereignty in choosing Isaac as the child through whom Abraham’s lineage would be counted as opposed to Ishmael.

[9:7]  sn A quotation from Gen 21:12.

[11:12]  ³² tn Or “full inclusion”; Grk “their fullness.”

[12:20]  ³³ sn A quotation from Prov 25:21-22.

[13:2]  ³⁴ tn Grk “the authority,” referring to the authority just described.

[2:1]  ³⁵ sn Rom 2:1-29 presents unusual difficulties for the interpreter. There have been several major approaches to the chapter and the group(s) it refers to: (1) Rom 2:14 refers to Gentile Christians, not Gentiles who obey the Jewish law. (2) Paul in Rom 2 is presenting a hypothetical viewpoint: If anyone could obey the law, that person would be justified, but no one can. (3) The reference to “the ones who do the law” in 2:13 are those who “do” the law in the right way, on the basis of faith, not according to Jewish legalism. (4) Rom 2:13 only speaks about Christians being judged in the future, along with such texts as Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10. (5) Paul’s material in Rom 2 is drawn heavily from Diaspora Judaism, so that the treatment of the law presented here cannot be harmonized with other things Paul says about the law elsewhere (E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, 123); another who sees Rom 2 as an example of Paul’s inconsistency in his treatment of the law is H. Räisänen, Paul and the Law [WUNT], 101-9. (6) The list of blessings and curses in Deut 27–30 provide the background for Rom 2; the Gentiles of 2:14 are Gentile Christians, but the condemnation of Jews in 2:17-24 addresses the failure of Jews as a nation to keep the law as a whole (A. Ito, “Romans 2: A Deuteronomistic Reading,” JSNT 59 [1995]: 21-37).

[2:1]  ³⁶ tn Some interpreters (e.g., C. K. Barrett, Romans [HNTC], 43) connect the inferential Διό (dio, “therefore”) with 1:32a, treating 1:32b as a parenthetical comment by Paul.

[2:1]  ³⁷ tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).

[2:1]  ³⁸ tn Grk “O man.”

[2:1]  ³⁹ tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”

[2:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”

[11:11]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “that they might fall.”

[11:11]  ⁴² tn Grk “them”; the referent (Israel, cf. 11:7) has been specified in the translation for clarity.