translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: ROM

label: NET translator note

text: 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. on there are sixty-one imperatives and seven hortatory subjunctives. Clearly, an exhortation would be out of place in ch. . (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.


text: Or “exult, boast.”


text: Here δέ ( de ) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.


text: 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).


text: Grk “having now been declared righteous.” The participle δικαιωθέντες ( dikaiwqente" ) has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.


text: Or, according to BDF §219.3, “at the price of his blood.”


text: Grk “the wrath,” referring to God’s wrath as v. 10 shows.


text: Here ἀνθρώπους ( anqrwpou" ) has been translated as a generic (“people”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.


text: The translation of the phrase ἐφ᾿ ᾧ ( ef Jw ) has been heavily debated. For a discussion of all the possibilities, see C. E. B. Cranfield, “On Some of the Problems in the Interpretation of Romans 5.12 ,” SJT 22 (1969): 324-41. Only a few of the major options can be mentioned here: (1) the phrase can be taken as a relative clause in which the pronoun refers to Adam, “death spread to all people in whom [Adam] all sinned.” (2) The phrase can be taken with consecutive (resultative) force, meaning “death spread to all people with the result that all sinned.” (3) Others take the phrase as causal in force: “death spread to all people because all sinned.”


text: Grk “for before the law.”


text: Or “sin is not reckoned.”


text: Or “pattern.”


text: Or “disobeyed”; Grk “in the likeness of Adam’s transgression.”


text: Grk “but not as the transgression, so also [is] the gracious gift.”


text: Grk “and not as through the one who sinned [is] the gift.”


text: The word “transgression” is not in the Greek text at this point, but has been supplied for clarity.


text: Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.


text: Or “falls, trespasses,” the same word used in vv. 15, 17, 18, 20 .


text: There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.


text: Grk “[it is] unto condemnation for all people.”


text: There are no verbs in the Greek text of v. 18 , forcing translators to supply phrases like “ came through one transgression,” “ resulted from one transgression,” etc.


text: Grk “righteousness of life.”


text: Grk “the many.”


text: Grk “slipped in.”


text: Or “trespass.”