Romans 15:8-16

15:8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised 1  on behalf of God’s truth to confirm the promises made to the fathers, 2  15:9 and thus the Gentiles glorify God for his mercy. 3  As it is written, “Because of this I will confess you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praises to your name.” 4  15:10 And again it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” 5  15:11 And again, “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him.” 6  15:12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, and the one who rises to rule over the Gentiles, in him will the Gentiles hope.” 7  15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him, 8  so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul’s Motivation for Writing the Letter

15:14 But I myself am fully convinced about you, my brothers and sisters, 9  that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. 15:15 But I have written more boldly to you on some points so as to remind you, because of the grace given to me by God 15:16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. I serve 10  the gospel of God 11  like a priest, so that the Gentiles may become an acceptable offering, 12  sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

1 tn Grk “of the circumcision”; that is, the Jews.

2 tn Or “to the patriarchs.”

3 tn There are two major syntactical alternatives which are both awkward: (1) One could make “glorify” dependent on “Christ has become a minister” and coordinate with “to confirm” and the result would be rendered “Christ has become a minister of circumcision to confirm the promises…and so that the Gentiles might glorify God.” (2) One could make “glorify” dependent on “I tell you” and coordinate with “Christ has become a minister” and the result would be rendered “I tell you that Christ has become a minister of circumcision…and that the Gentiles glorify God.” The second rendering is preferred.

4 sn A quotation from Ps 18:49.

5 sn A quotation from Deut 32:43.

6 sn A quotation from Ps 117:1.

7 sn A quotation from Isa 11:10.

8 tn Grk “in the believing” or “as [you] believe,” with the object “him” supplied from the context. The referent could be God (15:13a) or Christ (15:12).

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

10 tn Grk “serving.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text, but in keeping with contemporary English style, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

11 tn The genitive in the phrase τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ (to euangelion tou qeou, “the gospel of God”) could be translated as either a subjective genitive (“the gospel which God brings”) or an objective genitive (“the gospel about God”). Either is grammatically possible. This is possibly an instance of a plenary genitive (see ExSyn 119-21; M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek, §§36-39). If so, an interplay between the two concepts is intended: The gospel which God brings is in fact the gospel about himself.

12 tn Grk “so that the offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable.” This could be understood to refer to an offering belonging to the Gentiles (a possessive genitive) or made by the Gentiles (subjective genitive), but more likely the phrase should be understood as an appositive genitive, with the Gentiles themselves consisting of the offering (so J. D. G. Dunn, Romans [WBC 38], 2:860). The latter view is reflected in the translation “so that the Gentiles may become an acceptable offering.”