Rom 1-4 | TNotes | STEP | Book of Romans — Quick facts: Purpose: To outline the Good News and to address the theological and social divisions that had arisen in a church comprised of both Jews and Gentiles Author: Paul Date: Likely around AD 57, near the end of his third missionary journey Setting: Written—probably in Corinth—toward the end of Paul’s missionary activity, when he was making plans to visit the church in Rome on his way to Spain, after delivering a gift to the Jerusalem church Book of Romans — Overview: Setting We do not know who first brought the Good News to Rome. Perhaps Jews from Rome who were converted when God first poured out his Spirit on the day of Pentecost (see Acts 2:10 ) took the message back to their home city. Several “house churches” quickly grew up, made up primarily of converts from Judaism. In AD 49, the Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome—including Jewish Christians (see Acts 18:2 ). Although Paul had never visited Rome (Rom 1:13 ), in his travels he met some of these Roman Christians, such as Priscilla and Aquila (Rom 16:3-4 ; cp. Acts 18:2 ). Claudius’s decree eventually lapsed, so by the time Paul wrote his letter to the Romans, many Jewish Christians had returned to Rome. However, in their absence, the Gentile Christians had taken the lead in the Christian community in Rome. Therefore, when Paul wrote to the Roman Christians (probably around AD 57), the Roman Christian community was divided into two major factions. The Gentile Christians now comprised the majority group, and they were naturally less concerned about continuity with the Old Testament or with the demands of the law of Moses than their Jewish brothers and sisters. They apparently even looked down on the Jewish Christians (see Rom 11:25 ). The minority Jewish Christians, for their part, reacted to the Gentile-Christian majority by insisting on adherence to certain aspects of the law of Moses. Paul wrote this letter to the Roman Christians to address this theological and social division, a schism that had at its heart the question of continuity and discontinuity between Jewish and Christian faith. Summary In the introduction of the letter (1:1-17 ), Paul identifies himself and his readers (1:1-7 ), expresses thanks for the Roman Christians (1:8-15 ), and introduces the theme of the letter: the “Good News about Christ” (1:16-17 ). Before elaborating on this Good News, Paul sets out the dark backdrop of universal human sinfulness that makes the Good News necessary. Both Gentiles (1:18-32 ) and Jews (2:1–3:8 ) have turned away from God’s revelation of himself. All are “under the power of sinunder sin” and cannot be made right with God by anything they do (3:9-20 ). Into this hopeless situation comes the Good News, which reveals a new “way to be made right” with God. God provided this new way by sending Jesus as a sacrifice for sin, and all human beings can gain the benefits of that sacrifice by faith (3:21-26 ). In 3:27–4:25 , Paul highlights the nature and centrality of faith. He shows that faith excludes boasting and that it enables both Jews and Gentiles to have equal access to God’s grace in Christ (3:27-31 ). He develops these same points through reference to Abraham (4 ). In chs 5–8 , Paul discusses the assurance or security of salvation. The assurance that believers will share God’s glory (5:1-11 ) is based on the way in which Jesus Christ more than reversed the terrible effects of Adam’s sin (5:12-21 ). Neither sin (ch 6 ) nor the law (ch 7 ) can prevent God from accomplishing his purposes for the believer. The Holy Spirit liberates believers from death (8:1-17 ) and assures them that the sufferings of this life will not keep them from the glory to which God has destined them (8:18-39 ). The Good News can only truly be “good news” if the message of Christ stands in continuity with God’s promises in the Old Testament. But the unbelief of so many Jews might seem to show that God’s promises to Israel are not being fulfilled (9:1-5 ). So, in chs 9–11 , Paul demonstrates that God is being faithful to his promises. God had never promised salvation to all Jews, but only to a remnant (9:6-29 ). The Jews themselves are responsible for their predicament because they refuse to recognize the fulfillment of God’s promises in Christ (9:30–10:21 ). Nonetheless, God is faithfully preserving a remnant of Jewish believers (11:1-10 ), and God has still more to accomplish for his people Israel (11:11-36 ). The Good News rescues people from the penalty of sin, and it also transforms a person’s life. In 12:1–15:13 , Paul turns his attention to the transforming power of the Good News. This transformation demands a whole new way of thinking and living (12:1-2 ). The transformed life will be fleshed out in community harmony (12:3-8 ), manifestations of love (12:9-21 ; cp. 13:8-10 ), and submission to the government (13:1-7 ). The transformed life derives its power from the work God has already done and finds its urgency in the work he has yet to do (13:11-14 ). In 14:1–15:13 , Paul tackles a specific issue that was a problem in the church at Rome. Christians were criticizing each other over various practices related to the Old Testament law. Paul exhorts them to accept each other and to look to Christ’s example of self-giving love as the model to emulate. The letter format of Romans emerges again at the end, where Paul touches on his ministry and travel plans (15:14-33 ), greets and commends fellow workers and other Christians (16:1-16 ), and concludes with further references to fellow workers, a final warning, and a doxology (16:17-27 ). Date, Place, and Occasion of Writing Paul probably wrote Romans during a three-month stay in Corinth near the end of his third missionary journey (Acts 20:2-3 ), around AD 57. The reference to Cenchrea in Romans 16:1 —a port city next to Corinth—identifies the geography more precisely. By this time, Paul had completed his missionary work in the eastern Mediterranean, and his visit to Jerusalem was imminent. We can determine the general situation in which Romans was written by reviewing Paul’s references to his prior ministry and his future travel plans (15:14-33 ). Four geographical references provide the framework: (1) Looking back, Paul declared that he had “fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum” (15:19 ). Illyricum was a Roman province that occupied the same general area as modern-day Serbia and Croatia. Paul noted that he had planted churches in major cities from Jerusalem, through Asia Minor, and into Macedonia and Greece. This was the territory Paul and his companions covered on the three great missionary journeys recorded in Acts. (2) Paul’s intermediate destination was Jerusalem, where he planned to deliver a “gift to the believers” (15:25 ). This gift was money that Paul had been collecting from the Gentile churches he had founded to assist the church in Jerusalem (15:26 ; see also 1 Cor 16:1-4 ; 2 Cor 8:1–9:15 ). (3) After visiting Jerusalem to deliver the collection, Paul planned to go to Rome (Rom 15:24 ). (4) A long stay with the Roman Christians was not Paul’s final goal, as the language of 15:24 (“stop off”) makes clear. His ultimate goal was Spain, where he could pursue his calling to plant churches in places “where the name of Christ has never been heard” (15:20 , 24 ). This information points to a date near the end of the third missionary journey. Paul’s Purpose in Writing Romans combines three specific purposes: to summarize Paul’s theology, to solicit support for a future mission to Spain, and to bring unity to the church in Rome. Paul was at a critical juncture in his ministry (15:20 ). He had “fully presented” the Good News to the eastern Mediterranean basin (15:19 ). He now stood ready to preach the Good News in new territory. It is quite natural, then, that Paul took the occasion of his letter to the Romans to summarize his theology as he had hammered it out in the midst of controversy and trial for the previous twenty-five years. Even so, summarizing theology is not Paul’s whole purpose in writing—Paul says little about certain key theological ideas (e.g., the person of Christ, the church, the last days). Nor does this purpose explain why Paul would have sent such a summary to the church in Rome specifically. Another purpose then emerges: Paul wanted to gather support from the Roman Christians for his new mission in Spain. Paul’s “sending church,” Antioch, was thousands of miles from Spain. As the apostle sought a new church to partner with him, his attention naturally turned to the church in Rome (15:24 ). Therefore, it is likely that Paul sent this dense theological treatise to Rome because he wanted to explain who he was and what he believed. Because Paul’s message had been frequently misunderstood, he became a controversial figure in the early church. He was undoubtedly aware that some Christians in Rome were suspicious of him and that he therefore must provide a careful and reasoned defense of his position on some of the most debated issues of the faith. Paul also wrote for a third reason: to heal a rift in the Christian community in Rome, which was divided over the degree to which the Old Testament law should continue to guide believers (see 14:1–15:13 ). Meaning and Message In Romans, Paul presented the Good News as he had come to understand it. The heart of that Good News is the offer of salvation in Christ for all who believe. Paul explores the problem of human sin, the solution provided in the cross of Christ, and the assurance of glory that a living relationship with Christ provides. The message of the cross of Christ stands both in continuity with the Old Testament (because its promises are truly fulfilled in Christ) and in discontinuity with it (as God in Christ inaugurates a new covenant that transcends the Old Testament law). Interpretation Since the time of the Reformation, Romans has been read as a letter about the salvation of the individual. Following the lead of Martin Luther, whose own spiritual pilgrimage was closely tied to Romans, the Reformers (such as John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli) saw in this letter the classic biblical expression of the truth that human beings are made right with God by their faith in Christ and not by their own effort. The Reformers viewed Paul as fighting against a legalistic Judaism that insisted that people had to obey the law to be saved. Jewish preoccupation with the law had led many Jews to presume that faithfulness to the law was sufficient for salvation (e.g., 10:1-4 ). Many contemporary interpreters insist that this Reformation perspective left out important elements in understanding both the letter itself and first-century Judaism. Jews in Paul’s day, it is argued, did not believe that they had to obey the law to be saved. They were already saved, through God’s choosing them to be his people. Obeying the law was the way they maintained their status as God’s people. These interpreters say that Paul was not fighting against legalism but against exclusivism—against the Jewish claim that salvation was confined to Israel and was not to be shared with Gentiles. Accordingly, Paul shows how the Good News relates salvation through faith to the continuity of God’s people from the Old Testament to the New Testament and to the relationship of Jews and Gentiles in his own day. This new approach to understanding Romans has much to commend it. Christian interpreters have sometimes missed the notes of grace and faith that are part of Jewish teaching. And Romans does have a lot to say about including Gentiles in God’s people and the relationship between Jews and Gentiles in the church. Ultimately, however, neither the Reformation view nor the contemporary view alone explains everything in Romans. These views need to be combined if we are to appreciate the letter as a whole. At its most foundational level, Romans is about the Good News—and the Good News, first and foremost, is a message about how everyone can have a right relationship with God. Summary for Rom 1:1-17: 1:1-17 These verses contain the normal features of New Testament letter introductions: an identification of the writer (1:1-6 ) and readers (1:7 ), a thanksgiving (1:8-15 ), and the theme of the letter (1:16-17 ). 1:1 slave of Christ Jesus: The word slave is used of important Old Testament leaders of God’s people, such as Moses (2 Kgs 18:12 ), Joshua (Josh 24:29 ), Elijah (2 Kgs 10:10 ), and David (2 Sam 7:8 ). The title underscores Paul’s complete subservience to Christ as Lord. • sent out (literally set apart ): Paul may be alluding to being set apart by God for his mission before he was born, as the prophet Jeremiah was (Jer 1:5 ). He may also be referring to God’s call at the time of his Damascus Road conversion (Acts 9:15-16 ; cp. Acts 13:2 ), to preach the Good News to Jews and especially to Gentiles. • The Good News, or “gospel,” is a recurrent topic in the opening of the letter (Rom 1:1 , 9 , 15 , 16 ). Paul takes the word from the Old Testament, where the Hebrew equivalent refers to the victory that God wins for his people (Isa 40:9 ; 41:27 ; 60:6 ; 61:1 ; Nah 1:15 ; see Joel 2:32 ).

Book of Romans — Quick facts:

Purpose: To outline the Good News and to address the theological and social divisions that had arisen in a church comprised of both Jews and Gentiles

Author: Paul

Date: Likely around AD 57, near the end of his third missionary journey

Setting: Written—probably in Corinth—toward the end of Paul’s missionary activity, when he was making plans to visit the church in Rome on his way to Spain, after delivering a gift to the Jerusalem church

Book of Romans — Overview:

Setting
We do not know who first brought the Good News to Rome. Perhaps Jews from Rome who were converted when God first poured out his Spirit on the day of Pentecost (see Acts 2:10 ^a) took the message back to their home city. Several “house churches” quickly grew up, made up primarily of converts from Judaism.
In AD 49, the Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome—including Jewish Christians (see Acts 18:2 ^b). Although Paul had never visited Rome (Rom 1:13 ^c), in his travels he met some of these Roman Christians, such as Priscilla and Aquila (Rom 16:3-4 ^d; cp. Acts 18:2 ^e).
Claudius’s decree eventually lapsed, so by the time Paul wrote his letter to the Romans, many Jewish Christians had returned to Rome. However, in their absence, the Gentile Christians had taken the lead in the Christian community in Rome. Therefore, when Paul wrote to the Roman Christians (probably around AD 57), the Roman Christian community was divided into two major factions. The Gentile Christians now comprised the majority group, and they were naturally less concerned about continuity with the Old Testament or with the demands of the law of Moses than their Jewish brothers and sisters. They apparently even looked down on the Jewish Christians (see Rom 11:25 ^f). The minority Jewish Christians, for their part, reacted to the Gentile-Christian majority by insisting on adherence to certain aspects of the law of Moses. Paul wrote this letter to the Roman Christians to address this theological and social division, a schism that had at its heart the question of continuity and discontinuity between Jewish and Christian faith.

Summary
In the introduction of the letter (1:1-17 ^g), Paul identifies himself and his readers (1:1-7 ^h), expresses thanks for the Roman Christians (1:8-15 ⁱ), and introduces the theme of the letter: the “Good News about Christ” (1:16-17 ^j).
Before elaborating on this Good News, Paul sets out the dark backdrop of universal human sinfulness that makes the Good News necessary. Both Gentiles (1:18-32 ^k) and Jews (2:1–3:8 ^l) have turned away from God’s revelation of himself. All are “under the power of sinunder sin” and cannot be made right with God by anything they do (3:9-20 ^m).
Into this hopeless situation comes the Good News, which reveals a new “way to be made right” with God. God provided this new way by sending Jesus as a sacrifice for sin, and all human beings can gain the benefits of that sacrifice by faith (3:21-26 ⁿ). In 3:27–4:25 ^o, Paul highlights the nature and centrality of faith. He shows that faith excludes boasting and that it enables both Jews and Gentiles to have equal access to God’s grace in Christ (3:27-31 ^p). He develops these same points through reference to Abraham (4 ^q).
In chs 5–8 ^r, Paul discusses the assurance or security of salvation. The assurance that believers will share God’s glory (5:1-11 ^s) is based on the way in which Jesus Christ more than reversed the terrible effects of Adam’s sin (5:12-21 ^t). Neither sin (ch 6 ^u) nor the law (ch 7 ^v) can prevent God from accomplishing his purposes for the believer. The Holy Spirit liberates believers from death (8:1-17 ^w) and assures them that the sufferings of this life will not keep them from the glory to which God has destined them (8:18-39 ^x).
The Good News can only truly be “good news” if the message of Christ stands in continuity with God’s promises in the Old Testament. But the unbelief of so many Jews might seem to show that God’s promises to Israel are not being fulfilled (9:1-5 ^y). So, in chs 9–11 ^z, Paul demonstrates that God is being faithful to his promises. God had never promised salvation to all Jews, but only to a remnant (9:6-29 ^aa). The Jews themselves are responsible for their predicament because they refuse to recognize the fulfillment of God’s promises in Christ (9:30–10:21 ^ab). Nonetheless, God is faithfully preserving a remnant of Jewish believers (11:1-10 ^ac), and God has still more to accomplish for his people Israel (11:11-36 ^ad).
The Good News rescues people from the penalty of sin, and it also transforms a person’s life. In 12:1–15:13 ^ae, Paul turns his attention to the transforming power of the Good News. This transformation demands a whole new way of thinking and living (12:1-2 ^af). The transformed life will be fleshed out in community harmony (12:3-8 ^ag), manifestations of love (12:9-21 ^ah; cp. 13:8-10 ^ai), and submission to the government (13:1-7 ^aj). The transformed life derives its power from the work God has already done and finds its urgency in the work he has yet to do (13:11-14 ^ak).
In 14:1–15:13 ^al, Paul tackles a specific issue that was a problem in the church at Rome. Christians were criticizing each other over various practices related to the Old Testament law. Paul exhorts them to accept each other and to look to Christ’s example of self-giving love as the model to emulate.
The letter format of Romans emerges again at the end, where Paul touches on his ministry and travel plans (15:14-33 ^am), greets and commends fellow workers and other Christians (16:1-16 ^an), and concludes with further references to fellow workers, a final warning, and a doxology (16:17-27 ^ao).

Date, Place, and Occasion of Writing
Paul probably wrote Romans during a three-month stay in Corinth near the end of his third missionary journey (Acts 20:2-3 ^ap), around AD 57. The reference to Cenchrea in Romans 16:1 ^aq—a port city next to Corinth—identifies the geography more precisely. By this time, Paul had completed his missionary work in the eastern Mediterranean, and his visit to Jerusalem was imminent.
We can determine the general situation in which Romans was written by reviewing Paul’s references to his prior ministry and his future travel plans (15:14-33 ^ar). Four geographical references provide the framework: (1) Looking back, Paul declared that he had “fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum” (15:19 ^as). Illyricum was a Roman province that occupied the same general area as modern-day Serbia and Croatia. Paul noted that he had planted churches in major cities from Jerusalem, through Asia Minor, and into Macedonia and Greece. This was the territory Paul and his companions covered on the three great missionary journeys recorded in Acts. (2) Paul’s intermediate destination was Jerusalem, where he planned to deliver a “gift to the believers” (15:25 ^at). This gift was money that Paul had been collecting from the Gentile churches he had founded to assist the church in Jerusalem (15:26 ^au; see also 1 Cor 16:1-4 ^av; 2 Cor 8:1–9:15 ^aw). (3) After visiting Jerusalem to deliver the collection, Paul planned to go to Rome (Rom 15:24 ^ax). (4) A long stay with the Roman Christians was not Paul’s final goal, as the language of 15:24 ^ay (“stop off”) makes clear. His ultimate goal was Spain, where he could pursue his calling to plant churches in places “where the name of Christ has never been heard” (15:20 ^az, 24 ^ba). This information points to a date near the end of the third missionary journey.

Paul’s Purpose in Writing
Romans combines three specific purposes: to summarize Paul’s theology, to solicit support for a future mission to Spain, and to bring unity to the church in Rome.
Paul was at a critical juncture in his ministry (15:20 ^bb). He had “fully presented” the Good News to the eastern Mediterranean basin (15:19 ^bc). He now stood ready to preach the Good News in new territory. It is quite natural, then, that Paul took the occasion of his letter to the Romans to summarize his theology as he had hammered it out in the midst of controversy and trial for the previous twenty-five years.
Even so, summarizing theology is not Paul’s whole purpose in writing—Paul says little about certain key theological ideas (e.g., the person of Christ, the church, the last days). Nor does this purpose explain why Paul would have sent such a summary to the church in Rome specifically.
Another purpose then emerges: Paul wanted to gather support from the Roman Christians for his new mission in Spain. Paul’s “sending church,” Antioch, was thousands of miles from Spain. As the apostle sought a new church to partner with him, his attention naturally turned to the church in Rome (15:24 ^bd). Therefore, it is likely that Paul sent this dense theological treatise to Rome because he wanted to explain who he was and what he believed. Because Paul’s message had been frequently misunderstood, he became a controversial figure in the early church. He was undoubtedly aware that some Christians in Rome were suspicious of him and that he therefore must provide a careful and reasoned defense of his position on some of the most debated issues of the faith.
Paul also wrote for a third reason: to heal a rift in the Christian community in Rome, which was divided over the degree to which the Old Testament law should continue to guide believers (see 14:1–15:13 ^be).

Meaning and Message
In Romans, Paul presented the Good News as he had come to understand it. The heart of that Good News is the offer of salvation in Christ for all who believe. Paul explores the problem of human sin, the solution provided in the cross of Christ, and the assurance of glory that a living relationship with Christ provides. The message of the cross of Christ stands both in continuity with the Old Testament (because its promises are truly fulfilled in Christ) and in discontinuity with it (as God in Christ inaugurates a new covenant that transcends the Old Testament law).

Interpretation
Since the time of the Reformation, Romans has been read as a letter about the salvation of the individual. Following the lead of Martin Luther, whose own spiritual pilgrimage was closely tied to Romans, the Reformers (such as John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli) saw in this letter the classic biblical expression of the truth that human beings are made right with God by their faith in Christ and not by their own effort. The Reformers viewed Paul as fighting against a legalistic Judaism that insisted that people had to obey the law to be saved. Jewish preoccupation with the law had led many Jews to presume that faithfulness to the law was sufficient for salvation (e.g., 10:1-4 ^bf).
Many contemporary interpreters insist that this Reformation perspective left out important elements in understanding both the letter itself and first-century Judaism. Jews in Paul’s day, it is argued, did not believe that they had to obey the law to be saved. They were already saved, through God’s choosing them to be his people. Obeying the law was the way they maintained their status as God’s people. These interpreters say that Paul was not fighting against legalism but against exclusivism—against the Jewish claim that salvation was confined to Israel and was not to be shared with Gentiles. Accordingly, Paul shows how the Good News relates salvation through faith to the continuity of God’s people from the Old Testament to the New Testament and to the relationship of Jews and Gentiles in his own day.
This new approach to understanding Romans has much to commend it. Christian interpreters have sometimes missed the notes of grace and faith that are part of Jewish teaching. And Romans does have a lot to say about including Gentiles in God’s people and the relationship between Jews and Gentiles in the church.
Ultimately, however, neither the Reformation view nor the contemporary view alone explains everything in Romans. These views need to be combined if we are to appreciate the letter as a whole. At its most foundational level, Romans is about the Good News—and the Good News, first and foremost, is a message about how everyone can have a right relationship with God.

Summary for Rom 1:1-17: 1:1-17 ^bg These verses contain the normal features of New Testament letter introductions: an identification of the writer (1:1-6 ^bh) and readers (1:7 ^bi), a thanksgiving (1:8-15 ^bj), and the theme of the letter (1:16-17 ^bk). 1:1 ^bl slave of Christ Jesus: The word slave is used of important Old Testament leaders of God’s people, such as Moses (2 Kgs 18:12 ^bm), Joshua (Josh 24:29 ^bn), Elijah (2 Kgs 10:10 ^bo), and David (2 Sam 7:8 ^bp). The title underscores Paul’s complete subservience to Christ as Lord.

• sent out (literally set apart): Paul may be alluding to being set apart by God for his mission before he was born, as the prophet Jeremiah was (Jer 1:5 ^bq). He may also be referring to God’s call at the time of his Damascus Road conversion (Acts 9:15-16 ^br; cp. Acts 13:2 ^bs), to preach the Good News to Jews and especially to Gentiles.

• The Good News, or “gospel,” is a recurrent topic in the opening of the letter (Rom 1:1 ^bt, 9 ^bu, 15 ^bv, 16 ^bw). Paul takes the word from the Old Testament, where the Hebrew equivalent refers to the victory that God wins for his people (Isa 40:9 ^bx; 41:27 ^by; 60:6 ^bz; 61:1 ^ca; Nah 1:15 ^cb; see Joel 2:32 ^cc).
Summary for Rom 1:3-4: 1:3-4 ^cd In the Greek, these verses are in carefully structured parallel form; Paul might be quoting an early Christian creed or hymn about Jesus Christ as God’s Son in order to establish common ground with the Roman Christians, whom he had never visited. 1:3 ^ce In his earthly life (literally As regards the flesh): Paul often uses “flesh” (Greek sarx) to refer to bodily existence in this world (e.g., 4:1 ^cf; 8:3 ^cg).

• Paul refers to King David’s family line because God promised that a descendant of David would be the Messiah and would be given an eternal kingdom (2 Sam 7:13-16 ^ch; see Isa 9:7 ^ci; Jer 33:15 ^cj). Jesus was born into David’s line (Matt 1:6 ^ck; Luke 1:27 ^cl, 32 ^cm), so he was qualified to fulfill God’s promise.
1:4 ^cn he was shown to be: Although Jesus eternally existed as the Son of God (1:3 ^co), his resurrection demonstrated him to be God’s Son, revealing him in all his power and glory.
1:5 ^cp given us ... apostles: Here Paul might have been thinking both of himself and of the other apostles, or he might be using an editorial plural to refer only to himself.

• Privilege and authority could specify two separate things, but one might explain the other, as in the privilege of having apostolic authority. Paul always makes it clear that his distinctive authority is a gift from God (see also 15:15-16 ^cq).

• so that they will believe and obey him: This summary of Paul’s purpose in preaching to Gentiles brackets the book of Romans, as he repeats the same idea in slightly different language at the end of the letter (16:26 ^cr). Paul wanted Gentiles to believe in Jesus Christ; he underscored that believing in Jesus Christ as the Lord entails a commitment to obey him. Faith and obedience are not identical, but one does not occur without the other.
1:7 ^cs To be holy means to be set apart for God. This expression is used throughout the Old Testament to describe Israel, God’s chosen people (cp. Exod 19:6 ^ct), whom God called from among all other nations to be his own. By calling the Gentile Christians his own holy people, Paul makes it clear that Gentiles are now fully included among God’s people.
1:9 ^cu When Paul uses the phrase with all my heart (or in my spirit), he might be describing the influence of God’s Holy Spirit on his own inner person. The word spirit also refers to the deepest part of a person, which the phrase all my heart expresses well.
1:11 ^cv some spiritual gift: Paul is probably referring to the spiritual benefit that he hopes his ministry will bring to the Roman Christians.
1:13 ^cw brothers and sisters: This Greek word (adelphoi) describes people who are in a familial relationship. Paul and other New Testament writers use this word to indicate that Christians are so intimately tied to one another in Christ that they are family. The word refers to both male and female Christians.

• I was prevented until now: Paul wrote this letter when he was in Corinth toward the end of his third missionary journey (see Acts 20:2-4 ^cx; cp. Rom 16:21-23 ^cy). The need to plant and nourish churches in the eastern Mediterranean had occupied Paul up to this point. Before he could visit the Roman Christians, he first needed to return to Jerusalem to deliver a gift of money collected from the Gentile churches for the impoverished Jewish Christians (15:23-29 ^cz).
1:14 ^da to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world (literally to Greeks and barbarians): The Greeks prided themselves on being sophisticated and cultured, while regarding people from other cultures as inferior. They mocked other peoples’ poorly spoken Greek, claiming that they could only say “bar bar,” a nonsense phrase from which our word barbarian comes. Paul uses this cultural divide to emphasize his intention to preach the Good News to all kinds of people.
1:16 ^db Paul consistently emphasizes that the Good News is for everyone. He also insists that God first chose the Jews to be his people, made promises to them, and gave them a unique place in the continuing plan of God (3:1-8 ^dc; 9:1-5 ^dd). They have a special responsibility to respond to the Good News and will be judged first if they turn away (2:9-10 ^de).
1:17 ^df how God makes us right in his sight (literally the righteousness of God): This key phrase appears eight times in Romans (see also 3:5 ^dg, 21 ^dh, 22 ^di, 25 ^dj, 26 ^dk; 10:3 ^dl; the only other occurrence in Paul’s writings is 2 Cor 5:21 ^dm). The expression has Old Testament roots, where God’s righteousness refers to his character (as holy or faithful) or to an act of declaring his people sinless and perfect in his eyes (see especially Isa 46:13 ^dn; 51:5-8 ^do). Paul uses the second meaning in this verse. The Good News has the power to save because it is the fulfillment of God’s promise to vindicate his people.

• The phrase makes us right comes from the law court. It does not mean “makes us good people”; it means “puts us in right standing before God.”

• “It is through faith that a righteous person has life”: The prophet Habakkuk had struggled to understand how God could use pagan nations to judge his own people Israel. God reminded Habakkuk that his true people—the righteous—need to live by faith (Hab 2:4 ^dp). In Rom 1–4 ^dq, Paul repeatedly insists that only through faith can human beings be made right in God’s sight.
Summary for Rom 1:18-3:20: 1:18–3:20 ^dr Paul delays exploring the theme of righteousness through faith (see 3:21 ^ds) until after he first teaches about universal sinfulness. Gentiles (1:18-32 ^dt) and Jews (2:1–3:8 ^du) are equally under sin’s power and cannot find favor with God by any action of their own (3:9-20 ^dv). 1:18 ^dw God’s anger is not a spontaneous emotional outburst, but the holy God’s necessary response to sin. The Old Testament often depicts God’s anger (Exod 32:10-12 ^dx; Num 11:1 ^dy; Jer 21:3-7 ^dz) and predicts a decisive outpouring of God’s wrath on human sin at the end of history. While Paul usually depicts God’s anger as occurring in the end times (Rom 2:5 ^ea, 8 ^eb; 5:9 ^ec; Col 3:6 ^ed; 1 Thes 1:10 ^ee), the present tense of shows refers to God’s expressions of anger throughout human history.
1:21 ^ef To know God in Scripture usually means to have an intimate, saving relationship with him (see 2 Cor 5:16 ^eg; Gal 4:9 ^eh; Phil 3:8 ^ei, 10 ^ej). Here, however, they knew God means that people knew about God. All people have some understanding of God through creation, yet they do not do what is right based on that knowledge. Rather than learn more about God, they worship gods of their own making.
1:24 ^ek When human beings exchanged the living God for idols, God abandoned them, a point Paul makes twice more in this paragraph (1:26 ^el, 28 ^em). The word abandon includes a sense of “handing over,” suggesting that God actively consigns people to the consequences of their sin.
1:26 ^en women turned against the natural way: In this context, natural way refers to the nature of the world as God made it. As in the Old Testament, Paul singles out homosexuality as a key illustration of how people have fallen away from worship of the true God (see Gen 19:1-28 ^eo; Lev 18:22 ^ep; 20:13 ^eq; Deut 23:17-18 ^er). God created human beings as male and female, and engaging in homosexual activity is a violation of God’s creative intention.
1:27 ^es suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved: When people abandon the Creator’s intentions, they are judged for their actions. This judgment can take many different forms, but the ultimate consequence is spiritual death (see 1:32 ^et).
1:28 ^eu thought it foolish: Sin affects our actions and even our thoughts. One of the serious consequences of turning away from God is an unsound mind; people can no longer use their minds as God intended.
Summary for Rom 1:29-31: 1:29-31 ^ev This list of sins follows a popular Hellenistic literary form called a vice list. While not exhaustive, it reminds readers of various forms that evil might take.
1:32 ^ew To encourage others to sin is worse than sinning oneself (Jas 3:1 ^ex; cp. Testament of Asher 6:2: “The two-faced are doubly punished because they both practice evil and approve of others who practice it; they imitate the spirits of error and join in the struggle against mankind”).

‏ Romans 2

Summary for Rom 2:1-5: 2:1-5 ^ey You is singular in the Greek. Here, the you is a hypothetical complacent Jew, who feels superior to Gentiles and in no danger of judgment. Paul adopts a popular Hellenistic style called a diatribe, in which a writer tries to win over an audience to his views by portraying a debate between himself and a hypothetical opponent.

• these very same things: Paul’s point is that Jews, like Gentiles, turn from God’s revelation to go their own way.
2:4 ^ez Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? Behind Paul’s question are Jewish passages (e.g., Wisdom of Solomon 12–15; cp. Jer 7:1-5 ^fa; Amos 5:18-27 ^fb) that portray a prevalent Jewish complacency toward judgment. Many Jews thought that because they were God’s people, they did not need to worry about judgment, for their sins would not be punished as the sins of Gentiles would be. Paul emphasizes that God’s grace was intended to turn the Jews from their sin, not to condone a sinful lifestyle.
Summary for Rom 2:6-11: 2:6-11 ^fc Paul uses a chiasm (“X” arrangement) to make his point:

A God judges everyone the same (2:6 ^fd)

B Life is the reward for doing good (2:7 ^fe)

C Wrath is the penalty for evil (2:8 ^ff)

C^′ Wrath for doing evil (2:9 ^fg)

B^′ Life for doing good (2:10 ^fh)

A^′ God shows no favoritism (2:11 ^fi)

2:7 ^fj He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good: Paul makes it clear elsewhere that no one can receive eternal life except as God’s gift through faith (3:20 ^fk, 28 ^fl; 4:1-8 ^fm). Here, Paul is either referring to Christians whose good deeds (that result from faith) will be taken into account in God’s judgment, or he is reminding readers of the absolute standard that God’s own holiness establishes, since only by perfection can sinners hope to find acceptance before God. As the argument of the letter unfolds, Paul will show that no one is capable of meeting that standard.
2:8 ^fn Live for themselves translates a rare Greek word (eritheia) that seems to convey the idea of selfish ambition or strife. Using this word, Aristotle scolded the politicians of his day for seeking public office for selfish gain rather than from a desire to serve the people (Aristotle, Politics 5.3; see also 2 Cor 12:20 ^fo; Gal 5:20 ^fp; Phil 1:17 ^fq; 2:3 ^fr; Jas 3:14 ^fs, 16 ^ft).
2:12 ^fu destroyed: This common New Testament word describes the fate of the wicked after death (see also 9:22 ^fv; 14:15 ^fw; 1 Cor 1:18 ^fx; 15:18 ^fy; 2 Cor 2:15 ^fz; 4:3 ^ga; Phil 1:28 ^gb; 3:19 ^gc; 2 Thes 2:10 ^gd; 1 Tim 6:9 ^ge). Condemned sinners do not cease to exist, but they suffer eternal punishment, which includes the everlasting destruction of all good in their identity and experience.

• the Jews, who do have God’s law: The Jews were given the law of Moses, while the Gentiles never had God’s written law. In the New Testament period, Jews emphasized their possession of the law as a mark of God’s favor and even as a guarantee of salvation.
2:13 ^gf obeying the law ... makes us right in his sight: Regarding the promise of righteousness through obedience, see 2:7 ^gg; see also Jas 1:22 ^gh.
Summary for Rom 2:14-15: 2:14-15 ^gi The Gentiles who know his law when they instinctively obey it may be Gentile Christians, especially since written in their hearts (2:15 ^gj) alludes to the prophecy of the new covenant (Jer 31:31-34 ^gk). Or they could be non-Christian Gentiles who know God’s general moral law through their consciences. In this case, Paul would be using the notion of natural law to show how all people could be held accountable for certain basic moral requirements.
2:16 ^gl secret life (literally the hidden things): Scripture frequently stresses that God will judge people according to their thoughts and intentions (see 1 Sam 16:7 ^gm; Ps 139:1-2 ^gn; Jer 17:10 ^go).
Summary for Rom 2:17-20: 2:17-20 ^gp The boasting of the Jews reflects Old Testament and Jewish teaching about the privileges and responsibilities God gave to Israel. God gave his law to Israel, entered into a special relationship with them, and commissioned them to be a light to the Gentiles (see Isa 42:6-7 ^gq). Jews were not wrong to enjoy these blessings; their error was in failing to live up to their privileged position.
Summary for Rom 2:21-22: 2:21-22 ^gr Paul again uses the diatribe style to expose the inconsistency of Jewish claims (see study note on 2:1-5).
2:22 ^gs do you use items stolen from pagan temples? Old Testament law prohibited Jews from having anything to do with pagan idols (see Deut 7:26 ^gt), but first-century Jews did not strictly follow this law. Sometimes they stole idols and used or sold the precious metals.
2:24 ^gu Paul quotes Isa 52:5 ^gv, where God’s name is blasphemed because Israel is oppressed by pagan nations. Here, Paul uses that passage to demonstrate the failure of the Jews to live up to their responsibilities.
2:25 ^gw God instituted the Jewish ceremony of circumcision as a sign of his covenant with Abraham; it was to be performed on every male Israelite child (Gen 17:9-13 ^gx; see Rom 4:11 ^gy). Circumcision therefore represents God’s covenant with his people Israel. The rite took on greater significance during the intertestamental period when the pagan king Antiochus IV Epiphanes tried to stamp out the Jewish faith by forbidding circumcision and other Jewish practices. The Jews resisted in the famous Maccabean Revolt (166–160 BC). After they restored the worship of the Lord in Israel, the Jews regarded circumcision as a highly prized mark of Jewish loyalty in the midst of a pagan culture.
2:26 ^gz won’t God declare them to be his own people? Paul might be speaking of Gentile Christians who are God’s people because they obey God’s law, or he could be speaking hypothetically about what would happen if a Gentile perfectly obeyed God’s law.
2:29 ^ha The letter of the law refers to the law of God written on tablets of stone (see 2 Cor 3:3 ^hb), while the Spirit now writes his law on people’s hearts (Jer 31:33-34 ^hc). Outward conformity is thus contrasted with obedience motivated by a change of heart.

‏ Romans 3

3:1 ^hd what’s the advantage of being a Jew? Paul moves his argument along by raising questions. After preaching the Good News for over twenty years, he knew what questions people would ask when they heard a particular teaching. His emphasis on the equality of Jews and Gentiles before God (ch 2 ^he) inevitably led people to ask whether he was eliminating all Jewish privileges. The question-and-answer style follows the pattern of the diatribe (see study note on 2:1-5).
3:2 ^hf The advantage that Jews possessed was in having received God’s word.

• First of all: Paul never adds a second or a third point to the list he begins here. He might have forgotten to continue the list, or first of all might mean “most importantly.” However, 9:4-5 ^hg provides a good indication of what a list of Jewish privileges would have included.

• By using the word revelation (Greek logia, “oracles, messages”), Paul highlights God’s personal communication with his people (see Deut 33:9 ^hh; Ps 105:19 ^hi) through which he gives them special privileges and responsibilities.
3:4 ^hj Of course not! The Greek mē genoito is an emphatic negation, popular in the diatribe style that Paul uses here and in several other passages in Romans (see 3:6 ^hk, 31 ^hl; 6:2 ^hm, 15 ^hn; 7:7 ^ho, 13 ^hp; 9:14 ^hq; 11:1 ^hr, 11 ^hs).

• As the Scriptures say: Paul quotes Ps 51:4 ^ht, where David confessed his sin in having an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba (see 2 Sam 11:1-27 ^hu). God punished David, and David admitted that God was proved right and would win his case in court—his punishment was entirely just. God is faithful to what he has said in the past—his entire revelation—and his words warn of punishment for sin even as they promise reward for obedience.
Summary for Rom 3:5-7: 3:5-7 ^hv how would he be qualified to judge the world? Abraham asked a similar question: “Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” (Gen 18:25 ^hw). God punishes all sin, and he retains absolute righteousness as he does so. Even when God makes use of human sin for his own ends, that sin still deserves to be, and will be, punished (see Rom 9:10-24 ^hx).
3:8 ^hy some people even slander us: Paul is referring to misrepresentations about his teaching on justification by faith. If a person is made right with God by faith alone, through God’s grace and apart from works, it could seem as if the Good News allows believers to sin because their sin is forgiven when confessed (see 6:1 ^hz). One of Paul’s purposes is to help the Roman Christians understand that such misunderstandings are without basis.
3:9 ^ia No, not at all: Paul’s emphatic answer does not contradict his claim in 3:1-2 ^ib that Jews have an advantage. But that advantage has not done them any good because they have disobeyed God’s word and incurred God’s punishment. Jews, like Gentiles, have sinned against the revelation of God and stand condemned.

• under the power of sin (literally under sin): Being “under” something carries the sense of being under its power. The ultimate problem of human beings is not the fact of sin, but the situation of being slaves to sin. The solution to this problem requires the liberation provided in Christ Jesus, who frees us from both the penalty and the power of sin.
Summary for Rom 3:10-18: 3:10-18 ^ic The six quotations in these verses, drawn from various parts of the Old Testament, all address human sinfulness. Paul follows the practice of rabbis who gathered together Old Testament texts on similar themes in a practice called pearl-stringing.
Summary for Rom 3:10-12: 3:10-12 ^id This quotation from Pss 14:1-3 ^ie; 53:1-3 ^if directly supports the argument that all people are under the power of sin.
Summary for Rom 3:13-14: 3:13-14 ^ig Paul here refers to sins of speech, mentioning a different organ of speech in each of the four lines (talk in 3:13 ^ih is literally throat).
Summary for Rom 3:15-17: 3:15-17 ⁱⁱ In this quotation from Isa 59:7-8 ^ij, Paul addresses sins against others.
3:18 ^ik They have no ... : This concluding quotation from Ps 36:1 ^il neatly ties up the whole series (Rom 3:10-18 ^im) by referring to the same Greek words that introduced the first quotation (ouk estin, translated in 3:10 ⁱⁿ, “No one is”).
3:19 ^io Paul speaks of the entire Old Testament as the law (see also 1 Cor 9:8 ^ip, 9 ^iq; 14:21 ^ir, 34 ^is; Gal 4:21 ^it).

• Those to whom it was given (literally those in the law) were the Jews, who were given the Scriptures.

• How can Paul conclude that the entire world is guilty before God on the basis of evidence from the Old Testament that Jews are sinful? He argues from the greater to the lesser, a standard Jewish rhetorical technique: If the law shows that the Jews, God’s own people, are guilty, then how much more are the Gentiles, who have not had the benefit of God’s instruction, also guilty.
3:20 ^iu By doing what the law commands refers to obeying the requirements of the law of Moses. While this phrase refers to Jews, the principle extends to all people. If Jews cannot be put in right relationship with God by obeying the law God gave them, certainly other people cannot establish such a relationship through good deeds.
Summary for Rom 3:21-22: 3:21–4:25 ^iv Paul returns to the central theme of the righteousness of God that is revealed in Christ and is available to anyone who believes. The fundamental statement of this theology is in 3:21-26 ^iw; Paul elaborates on it in 3:27-31 ^ix and illustrates it with the experience of Abraham in ch 4 ^iy.
Summary for Rom 3:21-22: 3:21-22 ^iz After a lengthy reminder of the power of sin (1:18–3:20 ^ja), Paul returns to the theme presented in 1:17 ^jb, the way to be made right with God (literally the righteousness of God). As in that verse, “the righteousness of God” is the way that God puts people in right relationship with himself.

• without keeping the requirements of the law (literally apart from the law): The old covenant looked forward to the climactic revelation of God’s righteousness in his Son. Because of what God has accomplished for us in Christ by completely fulfilling the requirements of the law, we are now able to come to him by faith, apart from the covenant structure set up by the law of Moses (cp. Heb 8:13 ^jc).
3:24 ^jd God, in his grace: God makes us right in his sight, not because he has to, but because he has freely chosen to give us his favor through Christ Jesus. Because we are helpless slaves of sin (3:9 ^je), our righteous status before God can never be earned (see 4:4-5 ^jf).

• through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins (literally through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus): In Paul’s day, redemption referred to the price paid to free a slave. God paid our redemption price with the blood of his own Son to rescue us from our slavery to sin (see 3:9 ^jg). This language was used in the Old Testament to refer to the Exodus, the first redemption of God’s people from bondage (see 2 Sam 7:23 ^jh). God promised that he would again redeem his people (Hos 13:14 ^ji; Mic 4:10 ^jj).
3:25 ^jk the sacrifice for sin (Greek hilastērion): This Greek word is used in the Greek Old Testament to refer to the “atonement cover,” the cover that rested on the Ark of the Covenant in the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle. The atonement cover was prominent in the Day of Atonement ritual (Lev 16 ^jl) and came to stand for the atonement ceremony itself. Paul characterizes Jesus Christ as God’s provision of final atonement for his people. Jesus himself satisfies, or absorbs in himself, the anger of God against all sinful people (see Rom 1:18 ^jm).

• those who sinned in times past: Paul refers to righteous Old Testament people who were not punished for their sins as strict justice would require. Hebrews reminds us, “it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb 10:4 ^jn). How, then, could God forgive people in the Old Testament? Paul answers that Jesus’ sacrifice works backward in history as well as forward—through Christ, God provided for the full satisfaction of his righteous anger against human sin.
Summary for Rom 3:29-30: 3:29-30 ^jo Paul uses the foundational Jewish commitment to monotheism to argue for universal access to God’s forgiveness. If there is only one God, then he is equally the God of both Jews and Gentiles. All people must be able to come to God on the same terms, through faith.
3:31 ^jp we truly fulfill the law: Paul knows that some people will object to his insistence on faith apart from the law because it seems to dismiss the demands of the law. However, faith actually enables people to fulfill the law. The Holy Spirit is given to those who have faith, and he makes it possible for people to do as they should.

‏ Romans 4

4:1 ^jq Jews in Paul’s day revered Abraham as Israel’s founder. Some Jewish texts claim that Abraham never sinned (Prayer of Manasseh 8; Jubilees 23:10). Others emphasize his obedience to the law of Moses as the basis for his relationship with God (1 Maccabees 2:52; Sirach 44:19-20). However, Paul demonstrates that Abraham’s faith, not his obedience, established his status with God. Abraham’s position as the founder of God’s people demonstrates that justification by faith is central in God’s plan.
4:3 ^jr Paul quotes Gen 15:6 ^js. In response to God’s promise that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, Abraham believed God. It was faith that established Abraham’s relationship with God—not works (Rom 4:3-8 ^jt), circumcision (4:9-12 ^ju), the law (4:13-17 ^jv), or the number of his descendants (4:18-21 ^jw).
Summary for Rom 4:4-5: 4:4-5 ^jx The logic of these verses is as follows: (1) The stated premise is that when people work, their pay is what they have earned, not a gift. (2) The unstated premise is that God is never indebted to his creatures (because they owe him everything), so anything he gives them is a gift (see also 9:14-16 ^jy). (3) The conclusion is that therefore, people cannot be declared righteous before God because of their works.
Summary for Rom 4:7-8: 4:7-8 ^jz This quotation from Ps 32:1-2 ^ka follows the Jewish custom of supporting a reference to the Law with a reference in the Prophets or the Writings. Paul also uses a Jewish exegetical technique of linking unrelated quotations with a key word. Here, record . . . has cleared translates the same Greek word as “counted” in Rom 4:3 ^kb.
4:10 ^kc God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised! Paul’s point is simple: God’s declaration of Abraham’s righteousness in Gen 15:6 ^kd could not have been based on his circumcision, which happened later (Gen 17 ^ke). This point further demonstrates that God’s acceptance and blessing is a free gift and not earned by works.
Summary for Rom 4:11-12: 4:11-12 ^kf When God instituted circumcision, he called it “a sign of the covenant” between himself and Abraham (Gen 17:11 ^kg). The covenant was already in place (Gen 12:1-3 ^kh; 15:1-21 ^ki; 17:1-8 ^kj) even before Abraham was circumcised (Gen 17:9-14 ^kk). This shows that the covenant was based on faith, not circumcision. So Abraham is the spiritual father of all people, whether circumcised (Jews) or uncircumcised (Gentiles), who have the same kind of faith Abraham had—that is, faith in God’s promises (Rom 4:13-25 ^kl).
4:13 ^km the whole earth: God told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations (4:17 ^kn; Gen 12:2 ^ko; 13:16 ^kp; 15:5 ^kq; 17:4-6 ^kr, 16-20 ^ks; 22:17 ^kt) and that he would be the means of blessing to all people (Gen 12:3 ^ku; 18:18 ^kv; 22:18 ^kw; cp. Isa 55:3-5 ^kx).
4:14 ^ky then faith is not necessary (literally faith is emptied): If works of obedience can be substituted for faith, then “faith is emptied” of its importance. Believing in God means acknowledging our unworthiness and depending entirely on God’s mercy.
4:15 ^kz The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break! (literally where there is no law, neither is there transgression): Paul always uses the word “transgression” to denote disobedience of a clear commandment of God (see also 2:23 ^la; 5:14 ^lb; Gal 3:19 ^lc; 1 Tim 2:14 ^ld). Transgression only exists where the law exists, which is why the law always brings punishment. The law that God gave to the Israelites specified requirements in great detail, which made the people more accountable for sin than before. So when they inevitably disobeyed the law, God brought more severe punishment upon them.
4:16 ^le whether or not we live according to the law of Moses (literally not only those who are of the law): The Jews were of the law in that their covenant with God included the law of Moses and they were to live according to it.
4:24 ^lf raised ... from the dead: Abraham experienced the life-giving power of God in the birth of his son Isaac. Christians witness it in the resurrection of Jesus. Throughout history, salvation has been available only through faith in God, who makes and keeps his promises.