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OET (OET-RV) Who will bring charges against those chosen by God? God is the one declaring us guiltless.
In this section, Paul asked a number of rhetorical questions. In asking them he expected the believers in Rome to agree with him in these ways: God is for us and no one has greater power than him when they stand against us. God has made us right with him, so no one can accuse us of wrongdoing that God has not already forgiven. Jesus died for our sins and rose again, so no one can say we are worthy of God punishing us. Nothing of this earth or of the demons and spirits can separate us from God’s love. With God’s power we can overcome all those things.
Here are other possible headings for this section:
God’s love for us because of Jesus Christ
The love of God will not abandon/leave us
Who will bring any charge against God’s elect?
Who will accuse God’s chosen people of breaking his laws?
At the final judgment, will someone blame us,(incl) the people whom God chose, of doing wrong? No.
Who will bring any charge against God’s elect?: This is a rhetorical question. It emphasizes that no one will be able to accuse God’s elect of wrongdoing. The Greek is in the future tense. It implies that at no time will anyone be able to stand before God as judge and accuse believers of wrongdoing.See Lenski (page 567), Kruse (page 361), or Stott (page 255). Translate this clause with that meaning. Here are some ways:
As a rhetorical question. For example:
Who will accuse those whom God has chosen? (GW)
Who can accuse the people God has chosen? (NCV)
As a statement. For example:
No one will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen.
No one can bring any charge against the people God has chosen!
bring any charge against: This phrase refers to accusing someone of wrongdoing before a judge. See the examples above.
God’s elect: The word elect refers to people whom someone has chosen. God chose people to be his children. They are the believers. See the examples above.
It is God who justifies.
God is the justifier of them!
For God himself says that we are right/innocent in his sight.
For God declares us not guilty.
It is God who justifies: The Greek is literally “God (is) the one justifying.” As a response to the rhetorical question of 8:33a, it indicates that God has forgiven believers and declared them right with him and not guilty regarding all their sins. Translate with that meaning. For example:
God is the one who justifies (NASB)
No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself (NLT)
Because God is the one who counts us as righteous.Kankanaey Back Translation on TW.
justifies: Here this word indicates that God decides that a person is not guilty of any wrongdoing and is in a right relationship with him. Here are other ways to translate this word:
declares righteous/innocent
gives the verdict of not guilty to us
See how you translated this word in 2:13 or 8:30.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion
τίς ἐγκαλέσει κατὰ ἐκλεκτῶν Θεοῦ?
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Τίς ἐγκαλέσει κατά ἐκλεκτῶν Θεοῦ Θεός ὁ δικαιῶν)
Paul is not asking for information, but is using the question form here to emphasize the truth of what he is saying. If you would not use a rhetorical question for this purpose in your language, you could translate his words as a statement or an exclamation and communicate the emphasis in another way. Alternate translation: [Surely no one can bring an accusation against God’s elect!]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
τίς ἐγκαλέσει
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Τίς ἐγκαλέσει κατά ἐκλεκτῶν Θεοῦ Θεός ὁ δικαιῶν)
Here, accusation implies an accusation that is based on facts. If it might be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: [a true accusation]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
ἐκλεκτῶν Θεοῦ
˓the˒_chosen_‹ones› ˱of˲_God
If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of elect, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: [those who have been chosen by God] or [those whom God has elected]
Note 4 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result
Θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Τίς ἐγκαλέσει κατά ἐκλεκτῶν Θεοῦ Θεός ὁ δικαιῶν)
This sentences states the reason why the idea in the previous sentence is true. Use a natural way in your language for indicating a reason. Alternate translation: [No on can accuse them, because God is the one who justifies]
OET (OET-RV) Who will bring charges against those chosen by God? God is the one declaring us guiltless.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
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