¹ tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

² tn Grk “show the work of the law [to be] written,” with the words in brackets implied by the Greek construction.

³ tn Or “excuse.”

⁴ tn Grk “their conscience bearing witness and between the thoughts accusing or also defending one another.”

⁵ tn 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).

⁶ sn On the OT background of the Spirit being poured out, see Isa 32:15; Joel 2:28-29.

⁷ sn He refers to God here; Paul has not specifically identified him for the sake of rhetorical power (for by leaving the subject slightly ambiguous, he draws his audience into seeing God’s hand in places where he is not explicitly mentioned).

⁸ tn Grk “he,” or “it”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

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

¹⁰ tn Grk “on behalf of them”; the referent (Paul’s fellow Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.