Please see my rant at the end of this study to understand how I approached the text in this study
Paul didn't waste time getting to the core of the gospel message. He put it right in his long opening sentence. I will reflect below on the individual components of his opening lines with careful attention to being faithful to the original Greek text:
vv. 1-2
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle,set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures
- Paul is a servant
- His master is Jesus, the liberator
[NOTE: "Christ" is Greek for "Messiah, and "Messiah" literally means "Liberator"] - Jesus appointed Paul and segregated him to be a courier who delivers positive news from God
[NOTE: "Someone appointed to deliver a message - a courier - is the literal meaning of "apostle"
[NOTE: "Positive news" is the literal meaning of "gospel]
- Both Prophets and holy writings previously promised that this positive news would come.
vv.3-43 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ our Lord
- That positive news is regarding God's son.
- God's son's human nature descended from David.
- The Holy Spirit powerfully declared him to be God's son through his coming back to life after he died.
- This son of God is Jesus, who is our liberator and our Lord.
vv.5-6a
5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations- We received a privilege that we didn't earn for the sake of his authority.
- That privilege is this: Being commissioned to deliver the message "Be obedient in your faith!" to all non-Jewish people.
- You Romans are among the people who are appointed to belong to Christ.
Vv. 6b-7 6b including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. - I'm writing (this letter) to everyone God loves in Rome who are commissioned to be saints:
- This is the message to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: "Receive God's grace and peace."
You might be surprised at the way I worded this study. My choice of words was very intentional, and it is very literal in translation. I worked directly from the Greek text. So why does it look so different?
Therein lies my rant...
RANT
Please indulge me here. I need to get this off my chest. To do so, I need to get into the Greek and comments about Bible Translation in general just a little bit.
Here's the thing: William Tyndale began translating the first complete English Bible 526 years ago. Since that time, there have been numerous English translations. Most of us, and most modern Bible translators, have moved way past thinking Elizabethan (King James) English is appropriate for modern translations. That's a very good thing.
Yet modern translators still like to hang onto some "ecclesiastical" language - words that have little or no meaning in current everyday English.
To me this is a disservice to Christian readers, but it is even more of a disservice to unbelievers and new believers. It has always bothered me ... a whole lot.
For example in this week's text, right off the bat, verse 1 says "
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, CALLED to be an APOSTLE."
- What does "CALLED" mean to a new reader of the Bible? People don't use the word "called" in this way outside of the church.
- What does "APOSTLE" mean to a new reader of the Bible? It means Nothing at all.
Why use those terms, and others like them, when translating rather than choosing alternative but still
literally accurate words that normal, everyday English speakers use?
The fact is, doing that actually makes the translation more accurate. Accuracy depends as much upon understandability as it does upon word choice. If a translation can't be correctly understood by its target audience then the translator has done a poor job. If someone can't fully understand what is written, the meaning isn't accurately communicated. We want readers to understand the text accurately, and accurate understanding requires words that are understandable.
Bible translators have a responsibility to help readers understand the text more readily.
Using words that aren't in common English doesn't fulfill that requirement.
Here's an example…
In Romans 1:1, the original Greek-speaking recipients of Paul's letter were familiar with the words "kletos" (κλητός) and Apostolos (ἀπόστολος), which are usually translated as "called" and "Apostle." Those Greek words were part of normal, everyday conversational Greek language. They were used in everyday non-religious conversation.
The original readers would have read the first line of Paul's letter this way: "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, "appointed" to be a "courier."
Isn't "appointed to be a courier" much clearer and more meaningful than "called to be an apostle?"
"Appointed" and "courier" are literal, accurate ways to translate the text into everyday English language.
The same is true for words like "GOSPEL" which in Greek is "euaggelion" (εὐαγγέλιον). The word "Gospel" is not used outside the church except to refer to a style of music which often is secular. But the Greek-speaking original readers used that word in regular, non-religious conversation. It simply meant "happy news." So why isn't it translated that way? "When the original recipients read Verse 1, they would have heard "happy news" in their own language. It was a regular, every day word. So why not translate it "Happy News" rather than "Gospel" in English?
Hopefully you've stayed with me and get the point I'm trying (and struggling) to make clear.
I wish a literal English Bible translation existed that translated "churchy" words into regular English. It would help us all, but especially new Bible readers.
Finally, I would like that same Bible translation to use line breaks and punctuation that reflect modern English usage just as the original readers had the text in their way of communicating with each other.
The Bible's original Greek text had no punctuation at all because punctuation wasn't invented until several centuries later. Those readers were used to not having punctuation, but modern English readers would go nuts trying to read a long text without punctuation.
For that reason, translators add punctuation to the text for readability, as they should. But they often don't take care to ensure maximum readability.
Everyday-but-accurate English words, sentence structure, and punctuation need to be used in a literal Bible translation. Literal and plain language can coexist.
For now, in my own study above, I've literally translated our 7 verses in plain, accurate English language.
END RANT (Thanks for putting up with me)
