1: Paul, a servant (doulos=slave) of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle,
set apart for the gospel of God
2: which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,
[Per Esler, this is a unique modification of gospel in Paul]
3: concerning his Son,
who was descended from David according to the flesh
4: and designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead,
Jesus Christ our Lord,
5: through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith [this phrase repeats in 16:26 acting as a closing of the circle but it is an inexact repeat and 16:26 is absent from some manuscripts - Barth considers 16:25 ff as not Pauline (though he is happy to cite it in his argument) - Barrett demurs.] for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6: including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ;
7: To all God's beloved [gray indicates an encompassing unity reflecting Paul's striving for this as the major theme of the letter within the context of a fracturing Judaism] in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Comment: the colors are very loud. Is Romans loud? I think it reflects the noisiness of its reader! It is so easy to impose on the Apostle what we think he ought to be saying. If we read the inclusivity of the repeated all rather than what we think is judgment, I think we will be closer to the Apostle's mind and to the mind of Christ.
This series on Romans begins here
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