12 So then, just as sin entered into the cosmos through one person, and consequently, by means of this sin, death, even so death came to all people—because all sinned. 13 For up to the time when the Torah was given to Moses, sin was in the world.

Objection: But in the absence of the Torah we can’t recognize sin.

Response:  14Well, against this, it is clear that death nevertheless ruled from Adam until the time of Moses, even over all those who did not sin in the precise manner of Adam, who transgressed a command.

At any rate, Adam was an imprint from the template that is the one who is coming—15although the gift of the coming one is very unlike the transgression of Adam in certain key ways.

Everyone dies ultimately as a result of the transgression of that single figure, but the gift of God is vastly superior, namely, the gift of the one person, Jesus the Messiah, that overflows to everyone who dies.

5

1 Having been released then “through faith,” through the Messiah, Jesus, our divine ruler, we also have peace with God, 2 through whom we also have access, by means of that same “faith,” into this favor in which we currently stand. And here we boast in the hope of the shining glory that will ultimately be gifted to us by God. 3 Not only this though. We also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering crafts endurance,

27 Speaker 1: “Where then is the figure who takes pride in his piety and boasts about it?”

Speaker 2: “He has been shut out.”

Speaker 1: “Through what kind of teaching?”

Speaker 2: “A teaching about deeds.”

Speaker 1: “No. He is excluded by a teaching about ‘faith.’ 28 For we consider that a person is delivered ‘through faith’ independently of doing the deeds prescribed by the Teachings of Moses.”

Speaker 2:  29 “But tell me, isn’t God the God of the Judeans only?”

Speaker 1: “Well, isn’t he also the God of the pagan nations?”

Speaker 2: “Yes, I admit it: he’s also the God of the pagans.”

[Phoebe indicates now with a gesture that three points are to be made:]

[1] 21 But now, independently of the Teachings of Moses, although attested to by Moses’s Writings, as well as by the Teachings of the Prophets, God’s deliverance has been set forth. 22 This great deliverance by God has been disclosed ‘through the faith’ of our Messiah, Jesus [see Habakkuk 2:4], and is understood by everyone who believes in him.

3

1 Speaker 1: “What then is the actual advantage of the Judean, and what do Judeans gain from removing their foreskins?”

2 Speaker 2: “Many things in many respects, but first of all that they have been entrusted with the deity’s very utterances.”

3 Speaker 1: “But so what? If some don’t actually trust in them, then won’t their distrust nullify the trust the deity has placed in them?”

4 Speaker 2: “Absolutely not. Let the deity be true to himself even if every single human being is false, as it is written in those Scriptures: ‘That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest be vindicated when thou art judged.’”

5 Speaker 1: “But if my injustice thereby actually highlights the justice of the deity then we can say something more, correct? Doesn’t it seem rather unfair of the deity to still pour out his judgmental anger? (Note I’m only suggesting this for the sake of the argument).”

2

1 [Normal voice and delivery are to resume.] It follows from this directly, however, that all of you who judge others in this way lack any excuse as well. For by means of the very judgment by which you condemn others you condemn yourself, because you who judge others practice the same things. 2 Now we know that the deity’s judgment on those doing these acts is an unwavering judgment, consistent and true. 3 So are you seriously thinking that you, the one judging those practicing these things and yet also doing them yourself, will escape the divine judgment? 4 “Or despiseth thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”

[Stage directions given by Paul to Phoebe in Corinth, suitably updated: "To be performed with the voice and posture of a pious, highly educated, and extremely wealthy aristocrat—perhaps an Oxford-educated peer or bishop, or some similar high-ranking person. The delivery should be pompous, intellectual, and entitled.”]

18 Now [someone says]:

‘The Deity’s anger will most certainly be unleashed from the heavens

on all the rank godlessness and criminality of people

who are suppressing the truth through their criminality.’

16 I am not ashamed of that declaration

[despite what you say about it]

because it is the actual power of the

divine saving everyone who understands,

“the Jew first” as well as pagans.

1 [A letter from] Paul

[known to his pagan friends as “Tiny”]:

who is in devoted lifelong service to the Messiah, Jesus,

and has been called to be his diplomatic envoy,

appointed to make a declaration—the declaration—

that comes ultimately from the Divine One; 2

this declaration was promised beforehand through the Divine One’s prophets,

whose words are preserved in the holy Scriptures, 3

and concerns his son,

the one who was born as a human being like us, from the seed of David, 4

but who was appointed the son of the Divine in power

by his resurrection from the dead,

 and who is now a cleansing spirit:

Jesus, the Messiah and divine ruler.

5 It was from him that I received the gift of being an envoy on his behalf

to the pagan nations,

 seeking the obedience that springs from a mind with a new, transformed, understanding; 

6 and you are numbered among them as those who have been called

by the long-awaited King of Israel who now rules on high, Jesus the Messiah.   

I’ve been offline for a while for one reason and another. But I’m back now, at least for a bit. My plan for the next several months is to publish here the Romans translation I prepared for a commentary that I subsequently withdrew from writing. (It wasn’t the right season for me to be attempting a Romans commentary, and I also discovered, while translating and working up the introduction, that I didn’t like the genre at all; it eliminates the most exciting part of the entire process of composition for me which is the discovery and articulation of the book’s internal argumentative structure.) Perhaps I will, Deus vult, write a book one day on Romans, and I certainly have enough material stored up to offer some suggestions about its interpretation, but I’m pretty sure that those won’t appear in a classical commentary form. I was left, however, after this difficult decision, with a Romans translation, attempted in very particular terms, moldering on my computer, along with 170 pages or so of introductory and architectonic material. What to do? And the answer in the digital age is, clearly, “to publish them bit by bit on the currently moribund website.” So here we go. I will be honored by any feedback offered here although, with my current energy pressures, I am unable to promise to respond. I do nevertheless hope you enjoy my “Romans for Pagans,” and find there what might turn out to be a rather different road through Romans…