Back when I did the series on Ephesians a few years ago, I developed a habit of pausing at the end of big chunks of text and writing a targum on it. A targum, which is a historical genre of Jewish literature, is essentially a translation but also interpretive paraphrase of a biblical text. I find it a helpful exercise, especially since I do tend to stick pretty closely to the original in my translations. So without further ado, here’s a targum on Romans 1.1-17, which will act to summarize everything we’ve seen so far in the series and set us up for the start of Paul’s arguments in the next section:
[1.1-6] From: Paul, a slave of the messiah Jesus, called to be his ambassador in the world, and set apart for good news of God’s victory. This message, which has its roots in the prophets, is all about God’s Son, biologically descended from King David but declared to be God’s Son in line with the work of the Holy Spirit through the exercise of divine power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus of Nazareth, our messianic king and Lord, who has given us both grace and our divine mission, which is to bring out obedience and faith among all the Gentiles, yourselves included.
[1.7] To: All of God’s beloved holy ones in Rome:
Grace to you, and the fullness of the peace that comes from God our Father and our Lord Jesus the Messiah.
[1.8-15] I know you don’t know me, but I feel like I know you because I, along with the whole world, have heard so much about your faithfulness. And so I thank God for you, through Jesus the Messiah. For the God whose victory message I serve with my whole being is my witness that I remember you constantly in my prayers, and ask that I might somehow finally succeed in coming to visit you. For I long to see you and offer you some spiritual gift that might strengthen you, and that we might be mutually encouraged by one another’s faithfulness — yours and mine both. I want you to know, my beloved siblings, that I have planned on coming to you many times so that my ministry among you might be as fruitful as it’s been among the other Gentile communities, but have so far been hindered from doing so. I feel a keen sense of obligation to all Gentiles, both those plugged into the civilized world and those who aren’t, educated and uneducated alike — hence why I’m so eager to proclaim the good news of God’s victory to you in Rome too.
[1.16-17] For I am not ashamed of this good news: It is nothing less than the power of God for the salvation of everyone who keeps good faith with God and others — first Jews and also Gentiles. For in the face of all the oppression and injustice we see in the world, this message reveals emphatically that, yes, GOD IS JUST. It’s a message that both is rooted in and points towards such good faith. For as the Scriptures tell us: “The just one will live by keeping good faith.”
Matthew Root 