Welcome to the Internet Bible Study

with your teacher: Robert A. Sungenis, M.A., Ph.D. (cand)

The study will begin with the book of Romans.

We will spend 3-4 months on this book. Each week, we will focus on one key verse of a certain context, and answer 10 specific questions concerning that verse. This week, we will be focusing on Romans 1:5

If during the course of this week's study you have questions concerning the study material, you may send us up to two questions. Your questions will be answered and sent back to you by e-mail. Please familiarize yourself with the Rules for asking questions by consulting our web site listing (www.catholicintl.com/services/bible.html). You can send your questions to cairomeo@aol.com.

Let's begin our study:

We will first give a number of translations of Romans 1:5. The abbreviation of each Bible will be used to identify it. The parentheses contain whether the translation is Protestant (P) or Catholic (C). The date the translation was made appears alongside.

ASV=American Standard Version (P. 1901)

CASB=Catholic Apologetics Study Bible (C. 2000)

DR=Douay-Rhiems (C. 1899)

JB=Jerusalem Bible (C. 1966)

KJV=King James Bible (P. 1611/1769)

KNX=Knox Bible (C. 1970)

LB=Living Bible-paraphrased (P. 1971)

NAB=New American Bible (C. 1987)

NASB=New American Standard Bible (P. 1971)

NEB=New English Bible (P. 1976)

NIV=New International Version (P. 1984)

NJB=New Jerusalem Bible (C. 1987)

NLT=New Living Translation (P. 1997)

NRSV=New Revised Standard Bible (P. 1986)

RSV=Revised Standard Version (P. 1946)

TEV=Today's English Version (P. 1966)

Except for the CASB and RSV (the Bibles we will be using most in our study), the translations below are given in their order of literalness to the Greek text.

Translations differ from one another, since the various translators have differing philosophies. Some believe that translations should be word-for-word, that is, a corresponding English word is chosen for each Greek word. Others believe translations should be phrase-for-phrase. Still others believe translations should be thought-for-thought.

Sometimes, a translator will use combinations of these three approaches. The more literal the translation the closer one is to the actual Greek text, but not always to the exact Greek meaning, since one Greek word cannot always be translated with one English word. Often the Greek will have a grammatical nuance that is not found in English, and therefore the English translation must add or subtract a few words to convey the same meaning.

Look, for example, at the phrase "obedience of faith" in the RSV and compare it to all the other translations. You will see quite a variety of renderings. The actual Greek wording is "obedience of faith" but this may not sound totally coherent in English. Thus, the translator has to make a decision: (1) does he translate as "obedience of faith," or (2) does he alter the wording to make it closer to what he thinks the Greek is really trying to say.

Option 1 is chosen if the translator feels that it is not his prerogative to interpret the Greek but only to give the closest corresponding English word. As a result, sometimes the English translation will be stilted, or what some call "wooden."

Option 2 is chosen if the translator feels that he must, at times, interpret the Greek words before the proper English word, or words, can be chosen to accurately represent the text. There are many variations between these two approaches, and these variations account for the variety of translations that appear on the market today. In fact, there are over 200 translations of the Greek New Testament.

CASB: "through whom we received grace and the apostolic office to call all nations to the obedience of faith, on behalf of his namesake."

RSV: "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,"

More Literal translations (in descending order):

ASV: "through whom we received grace and apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name's sake;"

NASB: "through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for His name's sake,"

NRSV: "through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name,"

NAB: "Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles,"

KJV: "By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:"

DR: "By whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith, in all nations, for his name:"

Moderate (in descending order):

NJB: "through whom we have received grace and our apostolic mission of winning the obedience of faith among all the nations for the honour of his name."

JB: "Through him we received grace and our apostolic mission to preach the obedience of faith to all pagan nations in honor of his name."

NIV: "Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith."

NEB: "Through him I received the privilege of a commission in his name to lead to faith and obedience men in all nations,"

Translations tending toward paraphrase (in descending order):

KNX: "It is through him we have received the grace of apostleship; all over the world men must be taught to honor his name by paying him the homage of their faith."

TEV: "Through him God gave me the privilege of being an apostle for the sake of Christ, in order to lead people of all nations to believe and obey."

NLT: "Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name."

Paraphrase:

LB: "And now, through Christ, all the kindness of God has been poured out upon us undeserving sinners; and now he is sending us out around the world to tell all people everywhere the great things God has done for them, so that they, too, will believe and obey him."

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Now we are going to apply 10 questions to Romans 1:5

Question 1: What are the significant words or phrases in Romans 1:5, and what is their meaning?

Answer:

Hint: A "significant" word is usually one in which the verse centers its meaning. This is sometimes hard to tell, but usually a few words will stick out. One rule of thumb is: the more frequently a word is used in the Bible, the less important it will be to look up the meaning of that word (e.g., love, believe, God, etc). Of course, the less frequently a word is used, the more necessary it will be to look up the meaning. Sometimes, Greek words are only used once in the NT. We call this hapaxlegomena. It will be necessary to look up these words in a Greek lexicon. I will do this for you.

Here is our verse again:

RSV: "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,"

The significant words or phrases are:

1) "obedience of faith": (Greek: hupakoeen pisteoos). In Greek, this is a special phrase called a genitival phrase. It usually shows possession, source or origin, which is why the word "of" is used in the translation. In other words, the obedience has its source in the faith, or is possessed by the faith.

2) "nations": (Greek: ethnesin). If you look up the word "nations" in your concordance, you will see that in each translation it is rendered by different English words. Some have "nations," others "Gentiles," others "pagans." For now, let's just say that this refers to any group of people who are non-Jews. In NT language, you will see "Jews and Gentiles" or "Jews and Greeks" quite often, e.g., Romans 1:16; 2:9-10. 3)

3) "apostleship": (Greek: apostoleen). Used four times in the NT. (Ac 1:25; Rm 1:5; 1Co 9:2; Gl 2:8). In these four instances it refers to the mission of one of the 13 apostles (St. Paul included). A similar word, apostelloo, which is used much more frequently, can refer to anyone or anything which is sent forth (e.g., Romans 10:15).

Question 2: Are there any grammatical difficulties in the verse?

Answer:

Various renderings of the phrase "obedience of faith" appear in the above translations, since in Greek, the genitive can be: (a) attributive: "obedience marked by faith"; (b) objective: "obedience to faith"; (c) definitional or appositional: "obedience which is faith"; or (d) subjective: "faith produces obedience."

Protestant translations usually claim that Paul is using a subjective genitive, since this usage will support the Protestant claim that faith produces obedience as a tree produces fruit, as Martin Luther held. This sees the phrase as a causative one, that is, faith causes obedience. Catholic translations, at least the older ones, are more inclined to see this phrase as an objective genitive, since in Catholicism one's faith is usually associated with the set of doctrines one believes which the Church has taught. This puts a more doctrinal underpinning to faith.

You can see this meaning in the Douay-Rheims translation, which says, "By whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith, in all nations, for his name:" If the verse had meant "to the faith" it would have used a Greek dative case (which means "to" or "for") instead of a genitive case (which means "of"). We also see this type of interpretation in one of the older Catholic commentaries. The Haydock commentary of 1859, which uses the Douay-Rheims as its base, states the following on Romans 1:5: "For obedience to the faith in all nations; that is, to bring all nations to the obedience and profession of his new law and doctrine" (p. 1478).

Conversely, the Catholic NAB, JB and NJB, which are more modern translations, have avoided the dative meaning, leaving the phrase as "obedience of faith." A more modern Catholic commentary, The Jerome Biblical Commentary, whose Romans section is written by Joseph Fitzmyer, S.J. of Catholic University, states the following on Romans 1:5: "...in view of the commitment of faith: the genitive is appositional. Paul conceives of faith as a something that begins with ‘hearing' (Rm 10:17), and ends with a personal commitment or submission..." (p. 833).

Generally speaking, the Jerome Biblical Commentary (JBC) will be on the more liberal end of the spectrum in its interpretations of the text, whereas the Haydock commentary will be more conservative and traditional. The JBC will sometimes be closer to the Protestant interpretation of the text, whereas the Haydock will be closer to the traditional Catholic interpretation. The reason for the JBC's slant has more to do with theology and philosophy than it does with exegetical prowess, however. More on this later.

The JBC relies more on the Greek grammar to arrive at its interpretation, whereas the Haydock commentary relies more on the Latin Vulgate from which the Douay-Rheims is translated. But this does not mean that the JBC is more accurate than then the Haydock commentary, for sometimes the Greek is sufficiently ambiguous that the interpreter can pick and choose which meaning he desires. We saw this already with the four possibilities from Greek grammar of interpreting the phrase "obedience of faith." This is a problem in all languages.

Question 3: Are there any textual variants in the verse which may effect the interpretation?

Answer:

A "textual variant" is a variation of the Greek words from one Greek manuscript to another Greek manuscript. For your information, there are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts, some containing most of the books of the NT and some containing only fragments of sentences within one chapter of a book. These manuscripts were copied over and over again. In the copying process, errors crept in, which accounts for the variations. Sometimes these variations will be so significant that they will effect the interpretation of the verse. Fortunately, that is not the case in Romans 1:5.

There are no known textual variants in this verse.

Question 4: How do these significant words or phrase relate to the verse as a whole?

Answer:

Since the main verb of the sentence is in the past tense (Greek aorist tense), this means that the "we" of the verse have already received "grace" and "apostleship." In other words, "we" has been previously given the power and the office to do the task at hand. The task at hand is to bring about the obedience of faith to all the nations.

Some would argue that the "we" is a literary plural, as if someone were to speak of himself as a group. I sometimes do this myself. If someone asks me about our IBS, I say "We are putting the study together now and it will be ready by November 4," but I am the only one putting the study together, thus I am speaking of myself in the plural. On the other hand, St. Paul may be referring to all the apostles in general, who were all given the commission to preach the gospel (Matt 28:19-20). We cannot be sure.

Question 5: How does Romans 1:5 relate to the context of the passage?

Answer:

Now we are at the stage of Synchronic Analysis. In Greek, "syn" means "same" and "chronic" means "time," thus we are analyzing what happened at the "same time" as the verse in question. This is one of the most important features of biblical interpretation. It usually comes under the name "context." Most misinterpretations of biblical passages occur right at this point -- one fails to examine the context of the passage in question, and thus is prone to make false conclusions. As we go on in our studies, you will see, more and more, how important context is to interpretation.

In this passage, the immediate context begins at verse 1 and transpires till verse 17. Most bible translations will have a new section beginning at verse 18.

Verses 1-4 tell us who the "through whom" is of verse 5. It is Jesus Christ. In verses 1-4 Paul says that he is a "servant" and "apostle" of Jesus Christ; that Jesus Christ was prophesied in the OT; was a direct descendant of King David; and was designated the Son of God in power by His resurrection.

For the Jew of Paul's day, all this information was very important, because it showed the pedigree of Christ. He was not just some old Joe off the street who had a good idea for mankind. Rather, His origin stems way back in the OT and thus gives him authenticity. This authenticity was confirmed when Jesus rose from the dead, for no normal man could ever do such a thing by himself, and thus is the reason Paul says "designated the Son of God in power by His resurrection."

Thus, when Paul says in verse 5 that he "received grace and apostleship...for his name's sake" he seeks to tell the Romans that his authority to teach them is not some human lust for power and domination, but an actual commission he personally received from Jesus Christ. In other words, Paul must give the Romans his and his master's credentials before he even begins speaking about the serious truths of the gospel.

In verse 14, Paul says that because of his commission from Jesus Christ, he is "under obligation...to preach the gospel," which includes preaching to those in Rome. The main objective of this gospel is to bring about the "obedience of faith to all the nations," one of those nations being Rome itself.

Question 6: How does Romans 1:5 relate to other passages in Romans or other books in the NT?

Answer:

Now we are at the stage of Diachronic Analysis. In Greek, "dia" means "through" and "chronic" means "time," thus we are analyzing what relates "through time" to the verse in question. Here we must see how the significant words or phrases we have isolated appear in or are elaborated on in other parts of Romans or the NT. This is a big job, but you usually don't have to go too far for your answers.

One way to get started is to use your concordance. It will show you all the places in the Bible a particular word is used.

Let's see if the phrase "obedience of faith" is used elsewhere in the NT. Look up the noun "obedience" in your concordance. You will see that it is the Greek word "hupakoee" and that it is used 15 times in the NT.

Now, do any of these usages have the word "faith" attached to them? Yes, Romans 16:26. Here is what it says, "but [the gospel] is now disclosed and through the prophetic writings is made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith..."

This is remarkable similar to the phraseology of Romans 1:5. In fact, the same Greek phrase is used "hupakoeen pisteoos" (obedience of faith). It is the only other place this particular phrase appears in the NT.

So now we see that Paul opens and closes the Roman epistle with this phrase. It must be very important to serve as bookends to this epistle. Our common sense tells us that "obedience" is the operative word, regardless whether it relates to "faith" objectively or subjectively (see our previous analysis in Question 1 for the difference between these two).

This lead us to ask the question: Does Paul speak of "obedience" in other parts of Romans? Yes.

In the next section of Romans, verses 18-32, Paul says that men have continually disobeyed God. He lists 21 sins in verses 1:29-32.

In Romans 2:1-16, Paul says that God will judge men according to how they have obeyed what God has said. In verse 7, those who been in "well-doing" he will give eternal life. In verse 9, those who have done "good" will receive "glory and honor." Conversely, in verse 8, those who have done "wickedness" will receive "wrath and fury."

In Romans 3:9-18, by quoting a series of Psalms, Paul again lists the sins of disobedience men have committed against God. In Romans 3:25, Paul says that God, in His forbearance, passed over these former sins.

So we see, by reading the extended context, that Paul has good reason to speak of bringing the nation to the "obedience of faith" in Romans 1:5, for they have all disobeyed God in times past.

The only remaining task is to figure out what the "faith" component of "obedience of faith" adds to the formula.

Using our logic, we can safely say that if Paul merely wanted to command obedience, he could have simply said in Romans 1:5: "through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience for the sake of his name among all the nations," but he didn't.

So let's ask the question: Where does Paul speak about "faith" in this extended context? Look up the noun "faith" in your concordance. It is the Greek word "pistis" and it is used over 200 times in the NT.

The first appearances in Romans are 1:8, 12, 17 and then in 3:3, 22, 25-28, 30-31 and again in 4:5, 9, 11-14, 16, 19-20. Read all the verses. What common theme can you see running through them, and how would this theme relate to "obedience"? After you eliminate the verses which don't elaborate on faith, you will see that the answer lies mainly in Romans 4:18-22, where Paul describes the faith of Abraham as that which prompted him to trust and obey God.

Now, go to your concordance again and look up more places where "faith" and "obedience" occur together. One place is Hebrews 11:8-9, which says, "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise..."

Thus, we begin to see why Paul used the phrase "obedience of faith" in Romans 1:5. He is not referring to a blind obedience to a set of rules, but to obedience, like Abraham's, that stems from having faith in God for who God is and what God said will happen, no matter how hard the circumstances around us make it difficult to believe in Him. Once we believe in God for who He really is, we will stop sinning against Him, knowing how much sin offends Him.

Question 7: What are the non-Catholic interpretations of Romans 1:5?

Answer:

This is an important area of study for no other reason than that one learns his own religion best when he contrasts it with others. When you put a white dot on a black piece of paper, the white dot really stands out. The same is true in theology. Often you will not truly appreciate what your Catholic faith is trying to teach you until you begin to investigate the differing interpretations given to the same passage of Scripture from non-catholic sources. Unfortunately, some Catholic sources also have differing interpretations, which we will discover as time goes on.

The best way to find out the non-Catholic interpretations is to obtain a few Protestant commentaries.

We covered at least one of these interpretations in Question 2, where we saw the differing translations and meanings offered for the phrase "obedience of faith." Generally speaking, non-Catholic interpretations will try to interpret Paul as saying that obedience will naturally flow from a true faith, as fruit comes from a well-gardened tree. In other studies, we will examine whether this premise is indeed true.

Another interpretation is also popular. In the Commentary on the Whole Bible by Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, which is one of the more trusted and time-honored Protestant commentaries on the market (Zondervan, 1961, 1976), the authors state the following regarding Romans 1:5 "...for obedience to the faith - - rather, ‘for the obedience of faith' - - i.e., in order to men's yielding themselves to the belief of God's saving message, which is the highest of all obedience" (p. 1140).

The authors have sided with "option c" from our analysis in Question 2, which is the "definitional" or "appositional" application of the Greek genitival phrase. In other words, they wish to see that Paul is saying, "obedience which is faith." Their Protestant emphasis on faith as being the pinnacle of the Christian religion leans them to conclude that genuine obedience is obeying the command to believe in God.

As Catholics, although we would agree that we are commanded to have faith in God, it remains to be seen whether this is the chief teaching of Paul, and whether this type of interpretation is the meaning behind Romans 1:5. The evidence we have gathered so far from the immediate and extended context of Romans 1-4, does not lean us in the author's direction. Obedience is more than just obeying the command to believe.

Question 8: What is the historic Catholic interpretation of Romans 1:5?

Answer:

There is no "official" Catholic interpretation of Romans 1:5, but the Catholic Catechism sums up the Church's consensus. Look up Romans 1:5 in the index of the Catechism. This is what you will find:

Para 143: "By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. With his whole being man gives assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, ‘obedience of faith.'"

This is very similar to our exegetical conclusion that "obedience of faith" refers to obedience that stems from a sincere belief in the person of God and what He has given as propositional truth.

Para 494: "At the announcement that she would give birth to ‘the Son of the Most High' without knowing man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded with the obedience of faith, certain that ‘with God nothing will be impossible.'"

Once again, this is very similar to our exegetical conclusion, since we stated that "obedience of faith" was exemplified by Abraham's belief in what seemed to be an impossible feat for God (Romans 4:18-22). Mary and Abraham believed in the integrity of God to do what He said, and therefore obeyed Him at every turn.

Para 2087: "Our moral life has its source in faith in God who reveals his love to us. St. Paul speaks of the ‘obedience of faith' as our first obligation. He shows that ‘ignorance of God' is the principle and explanation of all moral deviations. Our duty toward God is to believe in him and to bear witness to him."

Here again we see that the genitival aspect of "source" is highlighted. One must believe in God and His revelation of love in order to live a moral life. The two are inseparably connected.

For more analysis on the Catholic verses the Protestant interpretation, see our answer to Question 2 regarding the phrase "obedience of faith."

Question 9: What is the symbolic or spiritual interpretation of Romans 1:5, if any?

Answer:

According the Catechism (paras 115-117), which reflects traditional Catholic interpretation of Scripture, there are two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual. Thus far, we have concentrated on the literal, and that is usually what the Church does in its exegesis. But there is also the spiritual interpretation.

The spiritual interpretation is further broken down into:

a) allegorical: this interpretation will take an historical fact or event, usually one in the OT, and apply a NT truth to it. For example, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in the OT is a picture of Hell in the NT (See 2 Peter 2:4-6; Jude 7). This is where interpretation can be a lot of fun and a great learning tool. We will cover more of this in later sessions.

For our purposes, there is no allegorical meaning to Romans 1:5.

b) anagogical: this interpretation is similar to the allegorical, except that the historical fact or event comes from either the OT or NT, and that fact or event is telescoped into the eternal state of heaven. For example, Israel's sojourn in the desert is a an allegorical picture of the NT Church (cf., 1 Corinthians 10:1-6; Revelation 12:13-17), but the land of Canaan is an anagogical picture of heaven (cf., Hebrews 11:10,16, 39-40).

For our purposes, there is no anagogical meaning to Romans 1:5.

c) moral: (this will be covered in our last question. See below.)

Question 10: What is the practical teaching of this verse for everyday life?

Answer:

We have seen in our exegesis that God is interested in obedience. Romans 1:18-32; 2:4-16; 3:9-18 listed all the sins mankind has perpetrated on God. The gospel is designed to stop this sinning against God, and to offer a remedy for the judgment that accompanies such sinning. This message is to be carried to all people in all nations, for God wants all men to repent and come to the knowledge of the truth, which is embodied in Jesus Christ.

Further, we have seen that God does not merely want blind obedience to set of laws or beliefs. He wants obedience that stems from a sincere belief in who God is and what He proposes. This "obedience of faith" or "faith-obedience" is exemplified in the life of Abraham, as Paul points out in Romans 4:18-22. This is the message we are to bring to all the nations of the world.

End of Lesson 1

Next Lesson: Romans 1:16-17

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