Romans 1:8

Paul’s Desire to Visit Rome

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

Romans 11:16

11:16 If the first portion 2  of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches. 3 

Romans 16:23

16:23 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus the city treasurer and our brother Quartus greet you.

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

2 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.

3 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.