ROM. V. 1
“Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ”
(Rom. V. 1, Authorised version).
“Being
therefore justified by faith, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ” (Revised Version)
Why have
the revisers made this change from affirmation to exhortation? It is partly a
question of text, involving what might seem to be a slight variation. Whether
the word is in the affirmative sense or in the mood of exhortation depends upon
whether one Greek letter is short or long. The Greek word is ekhomen. In
the indicative mood, “we have”, the “o” in ekhomen is short; in the
subjunctive mood, “let us have”, the “o” is long.
Two facts
are claimed in support of the Revised rendering: (a) The weight of manuscript
authority favours the subjunctive mood; (b) it is the less obvious reading. The
latter statement is based on a principle of textual criticism: if of two
readings one is less obvious, it is more likely to be correct. The reason for
this is that a copyist would be more likely to slip in making a difficult
reading easy than in making an easy reading difficult. In reply, those who
support the Authorised Version translation point out that in the texts, and
also in the papyri, there was frequent confusion between the short “o” and long
“o”, and they claim that the matter depends on interpretation rather than text.
They are confident that the context supports the indicative mood in this
passage. Paul has been declaring the greatest principle of justification by
faith, and now he states than as a result of that justification believers have
peace with God.
But even
if the argument from textual criticism is not conclusive, in the judgment of
many recent scholars the context decides in favour of the Revised rendering. “The
mood of exhortation is clearly required by the context,” says Parry in the Cambridge
Greek Testament; “Paul is passing from the description of the fundamental
initial act of God in bringing man into this state, to the character and duties
of the state so given”.
IT will
be seen that there is ground for difference of opinion when the meaning must be
decided by an appeal to the scope of Paul’s argument. There is an additional
fact, however, in support of the mood of exhortation in this passage, which the
Revised Version has not made clear. The verb “have” is sometimes used in the
sense of “keep”. In Rom. i. 28, the Authorised Version translation reads, “Even
as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge”; and in I Tim. i. 19, “Holding
faith, and a good conscience”. In both these passages, the word which normally
means “have” is used.
It can be
argued, then, that the sense of Rom. V. 1 is, “let us maintain peace”. The verb
is an instance of what is technically called “durative”. This requires further
activities in man, and continual help of the Lord.” And since “to have” may be “to
possess” and even “to enjoy”, Dr. Moffatt probably has not gone beyond the
evidence in translating, “As we are justified by faith, then, let us enjoy the
peace we have with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”. (Randall T. Pittman, Words
and their Ways in the Greek New Testament [London: Marshall, Morgan and
Scott, LTD., 1942], 65-67)
