Saturday, October 11, 2014

Paul's Letter to the Romans, Chapter 1, An Overview


... in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.  Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.  Amen.  Glory to You, our God, Glory to You.

O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things, Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it is now, was in the beginning, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

Overview

Because of the sensitivity of this material for our generation, I have been forced to struggle with this material, as Paul was forced to struggle with this material in his generation.  On several occasions, Paul thought he was ready to make the trip to Rome to address bleeding edge issues.  Paul was not ready, so God delayed Paul’s trip, in order to have more effective preparation time with Paul.  Similarly, I thought this paper was ready for publication over a month ago.  God has used this time to make me more sensitive to the issues at hand.  Now, at last, I hope that He is satisfied with my readiness.  I have attempted to be as meticulous as possible within the severe limits of my ability.  I hope that readers will be able to forgive my many errors and oversights.  What matters most is that God speaks freely to the hearts of all men from His Word, both yours and mine.

Still, the message is not mine, neither is it Paul’s; the message belongs exclusively to God.  So neither Paul, nor I as a foot-soldier following Paul, can add or subtract anything from this message.  I regret that this will cause some people pain, but the pain is shared in love, and in every hope of the healing of souls.  In this endeavor, truth is the only medicine that really works.

Normally, we would have limited our attention to the English text of some acceptable translation, perhaps editing a word or two.  Nevertheless, this subject matter is so sensitive that we were unwilling to leave any readers with the impression that we took any shortcuts whatsoever.  The paper trail is as complete as possible.  No stone is left unturned.  Readers are exposed to the complete thought process: we hope they find this beneficial.

In spite of such careful investigation it has become more and more clear that Paul leaves no room for misunderstanding in this text.  If readers are offended they will be offended at what God has to say.

Because blogs are limited in the quantity and nature of material that they can handle in a single post, this document is published as several separate posts.  Here is a brief outline of the overall subject matter

Outline

Bibliography (separate)

Procedure (separate)

This is a discussion of the steps used for the study, should readers desire to check the means by which conclusions were drawn.  Some readers may wish to adopt such a method, or a similar method for their own study.  We hope that sufficient material is left to satisfy the needs of the most inquisitive inquirer.  The Devil is in the details.  This is a paper for those who love details.

Text (separate)

This is an essay about our approach to text criticism.  This should show readers why a particular word order or spelling was selected.  It applies to any New Testament txt.

Translation (separate)

This is an essay about our approach to translation work in general.

The Greek Text with notes (separate)

This is published separately because the notes are integrated with the text, which may be lost when the chapter is divided by subjects.  This is the subject of our intense investigation, which should be consulted whenever some technical matter is unclear.

The Translation with notes (separate)

This is an effort to capture the overall picture before the chapter is divided into paragraphs.

Paragraph Homilies (separate)

Each paragraph is addressed in a separate homily, including these features:

Introductory Prayers

The Gospel

John 3:13-17, we begin with this text from John to establish a stabilizing horizon, and to constantly remind ourselves that God’s purpose in Romans 1 is to express His unfailing and unswerving love for all mankind, indeed His love for the Cosmos.

The Epistle

Romans 1:1-7, etc.

The Epistle Translation

The Homily




[1] If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations, please repost, share, or use any of them as you wish.  No rights are reserved.  They are designed and intended for your free participation.  They were freely received, and are freely given.  No other permission is required for their use.

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