Discovery BoxRomans 1:20 
Context1:20 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 1 are without excuse.
Romans 2:1
Context2:1 2 Therefore 3 you are without excuse, 4 whoever you are, 5 when you judge someone else. 6 For on whatever grounds 7 you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.
Romans 2:5
Context2:5 But because of your stubbornness 8 and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed! 9
Romans 3:25-26
Context3:25 God publicly displayed 10 him 11 at his death 12 as the mercy seat 13 accessible through faith. 14 This was to demonstrate 15 his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. 16 3:26 This was 17 also to demonstrate 18 his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just 19 and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness. 20
Romans 7:6
Context7:6 But now we have been released from the law, because we have died 21 to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code. 22
Romans 8:3
Context8:3 For God achieved what the law could not do because 23 it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
Romans 8:29
Context8:29 because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son 24 would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 25
Romans 13:11
Context13:11 And do this 26 because we know 27 the time, that it is already the hour for us to awake from sleep, for our salvation is now nearer than when we became believers.
Romans 14:15
Context14:15 For if your brother or sister 28 is distressed because of what you eat, 29 you are no longer walking in love. 30 Do not destroy by your food someone for whom Christ died.
Romans 15:9
Context15:9 and thus the Gentiles glorify God for his mercy. 31 As it is written, “Because of this I will confess you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praises to your name.” 32
1 tn Grk “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 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).
3 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.
4 tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).
5 tn Grk “O man.”
6 tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”
7 tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”
8 tn Grk “hardness.” Concerning this imagery, see Jer 4:4; Ezek 3:7; 1 En. 16:3.
9 tn Grk “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”
10 tn Or “purposed, intended.”
11 tn Grk “whom God publicly displayed.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
12 tn Grk “in his blood.” The prepositional phrase ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ αἵματι (ejn tw aujtou {aimati) is difficult to interpret. It is traditionally understood to refer to the atoning sacrifice Jesus made when he shed his blood on the cross, and as a modifier of ἱλαστήριον (Jilasthrion). This interpretation fits if ἱλαστήριον is taken to refer to a sacrifice. But if ἱλαστήριον is taken to refer to the place where atonement is made as this translation has done (see note on the phrase “mercy seat”), this interpretation of ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ αἵματι creates a violent mixed metaphor. Within a few words Paul would switch from referring to Jesus as the place where atonement was made to referring to Jesus as the atoning sacrifice itself. A viable option which resolves this problem is to see ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ αἵματι as modifying the verb προέθετο (proeqeto). If it modifies the verb, it would explain the time or place in which God publicly displayed Jesus as the mercy seat; the reference to blood would be a metaphorical way of speaking of Jesus’ death. This is supported by the placement of ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ αἵματι in the Greek text (it follows the noun, separated from it by another prepositional phrase) and by stylistic parallels with Rom 1:4. This is the interpretation the translation has followed, although it is recognized that many interpreters favor different options and translations. The prepositional phrase has been moved forward in the sentence to emphasize its connection with the verb, and the referent of the metaphorical language has been specified in the translation. For a detailed discussion of this interpretation, see D. P. Bailey, “Jesus As the Mercy Seat: The Semantics and Theology of Paul’s Use of Hilasterion in Romans 3:25” (Ph.D. diss., University of Cambridge, 1999).
13 tn The word ἱλαστήριον (Jilasthrion) may carry the general sense “place of satisfaction,” referring to the place where God’s wrath toward sin is satisfied. More likely, though, it refers specifically to the “mercy seat,” i.e., the covering of the ark where the blood was sprinkled in the OT ritual on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). This term is used only one other time in the NT: Heb 9:5, where it is rendered “mercy seat.” There it describes the altar in the most holy place (holy of holies). Thus Paul is saying that God displayed Jesus as the “mercy seat,” the place where propitiation was accomplished. See N. S. L. Fryer, “The Meaning and Translation of Hilasterion in Romans 3:25,” EvQ 59 (1987): 99-116, who concludes the term is a neuter accusative substantive best translated “mercy seat” or “propitiatory covering,” and D. P. Bailey, “Jesus As the Mercy Seat: The Semantics and Theology of Paul’s Use of Hilasterion in Romans 3:25” (Ph.D. diss., University of Cambridge, 1999), who argues that this is a direct reference to the mercy seat which covered the ark of the covenant.
14 tn The prepositional phrase διὰ πίστεως (dia pistew") here modifies the noun ἱλαστήριον (Jilasthrion). As such it forms a complete noun phrase and could be written as “mercy-seat-accessible-through-faith” to emphasize the singular idea. See Rom 1:4 for a similar construction. The word “accessible” is not in the Greek text but has been supplied to clarify the idea expressed by the prepositional phrase (cf. NRSV: “effective through faith”).
15 tn Grk “for a demonstration,” giving the purpose of God’s action in v. 25a. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
16 tn Grk “because of the passing over of sins previously committed in the forbearance of God.”
17 tn The words “This was” have been repeated from the previous verse to clarify that this is a continuation of that thought. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
18 tn Grk “toward a demonstration,” repeating and expanding the purpose of God’s action in v. 25a.
19 tn Or “righteous.”
20 tn Or “of the one who has faith in Jesus.” See note on “faithfulness of Jesus Christ” in v. 22 for the rationale behind the translation “Jesus’ faithfulness.”
21 tn Grk “having died.” The participle ἀποθανόντες (apoqanonte") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.
22 tn Grk “in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”
23 tn Grk “in that.”
24 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God’s Son) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
25 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
26 tn Grk “and this,” probably referring to the command to love (13:8-10); hence, “do” is implied from the previous verses.
27 tn The participle εἰδότες (eidotes) has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.
28 tn Grk “brother.”
29 tn Grk “on account of food.”
30 tn Grk “according to love.”
31 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.
