Wednesday, July 23, 2025

H. A. G. Houghton Favoring the Reading of "Let us have" (εχωμεν) instead of "we have" (εχομεν) in Romans 5:1

  

The indicative was preferred in UBS4 (and SBLGNT) on internal grounds: Paul is making a statement about the result of righteousness through faith rather than urging his audience to make peace with God. In addition, there is only one secure instance of εχωμεν elsewhere in the epistles (Rom. 15:4). Nevertheless, it may be noted that this verb is co-ordinated with the subjunctive καυχωμεθα (‘let us boast’) in the following verse, and there is a further subjunctive at the beginning of the next sentence. A case can therefore also be made for εχωμεν, which is adopted in the THGNT. Other instances of the same type of variation can be seen at Rom. 6:1, 14:19, and 1 Cor. 15:49. (H. A. G. Houghton, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament: A Companion to the Sixth Edition of the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament [Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2025], 388-89)