Paul Pavao’s Potentially Prejudiced Personal Paraphrase (PPPPPP) of Romans:
Romans 1:1-17: I am not ashamed of my Good News because it is so powerful that over and over again, the people who believe it practice righteousness. My Good News is that God raised Jesus from the dead by the Spirit of Holiness, and God has empowered us to use this Gospel to bring about the obedience of faith among ALL nations.
Romans 1:18-31: Gentiles who don’t believe in God get more and more wicked.
Romans 2:1-28: If they Jews don’t obey the law, their circumcision won’t do them any good because God judges by deeds, not nationality. Those who are evil get wrath and indignation, and those who do good get eternal life.
Romans 3:1-19: The Scriptures tell us that the Jews don’t obey the law, so “every mouth [Jew and Gentile] is closed and brought under the judgment of God.”
Note: I’m writing “Romans” in front of the chapter and verse so Reftagger lets you hover and read the passages if you want.
Romans 3:20-26: Since no one was obeying God, he offered up his Son as a sacrifice cleansing all the sin and transgressions committed under the old covenant (cf. Heb. 9:15), showing God to be just in overlooking those transgressions and declaring those who believe in Jesus innocent.
Romans 3:28-31: God justified both Jews and Gentiles through or by faith (not sure why this distinction was important to Paul), but this does not nullify the law.
Romans 4:1-25: God is simply doing what he did with Abraham. He declared Abraham righteous because of faith, and now he’s doing the same with those who believe in Jesus.
Key Transition Here: “It is by faith so that it may be by favor” (v. 16). Paul is moving towards a two-chapter theological and then practical description of favor.
Note: I replace grace with “favor” throughout because it is a much better translation. “Grace” is a made-up word that sounds like the Greek charis but does not translate it. There is a short bonus section after my paraphrase that explains the eye-opening, scholar-reviewed, secular use of charis in the first century.
Romans 5:1-2: Faith has brought us peace with God, and now we stand by his favor, so let’s start talking about the favor that faith brought to us.
Romans 5:3-21: Favor is so amazing that we can overcome suffering and be transformed by it into godly character. Jesus reconciled us to God by his death, and he infused us with divine life by his resurrection, so than now everything Adam did to us is nullified by everything Jesus has done for us.
Key Explanation: “… as sin reigned in death, even so FAVOR might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (v. 21).
Romans 6:1-23: Here’s how favor works: We are buried with Christ in baptism, dying to all that we were, and we are raised to new life in Christ. In Christ, we have God’s favor, and this removes sin’s power over us (v. 14). The result is that we are servants of God, which results in growing holiness, if we turn over our body parts to him (v. 19). Holiness results in eternal life (v. 22). The point is, sin brings you death, God’s gift of favor is eternal life.
Key Misunderstanding: “Gift” in Romans 6:23 is charisma, which is charis with –ma at the end, thus “gift of favor,” the same word used for the spiritual gifts in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. No one translates “gifts” in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 as “free gifts.” The gifts are free, as all gifts are, but the point of charismata (plural of charisma), at least when it comes from God, is not that they are free, but that they are transforming. A person with the favor-gift of prophecy is enabled to prophesy. A person with the favor-gift of eternal life can live forever. By charisma in verse 23, Paul is not trying to deny what he just said in verse 22, that eternal life is the end result of serving God with your body and becoming holy, he is describing eternal life as an enabling gift from God, a gift that makes you immortal.
7:1-6: We are freed from the law by death in the same way a widow or widower is freed from his/her marriage by death.
7:7-24: The Law of Moses is holy, good, and perfect, but since we can’t keep it, it does us no good. The problem’s not the Law, it’s us. Doing good is impossible for us as long as we have “sin in our flesh.” The law is good, but we don’t keep it and thus sin, and because we sin we die.
7:25: Thanks be to God, we can be delivered from this law of sin and death by Jesus Christ!
8:1-2: There’s no condemnation to the ones that are in Christ Jesus, as previously explained in Romans 4, because the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the described-in-Romans-7 law of sin and death. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has been described in Romans 5:9-21, but now Paul is going to explain it to us practically.
8:3-4: God “condemned” sin in the flesh by sending his Son in the image of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin. It is living (“walking”) by the Holy Spirit that enables us to do the things that the law was trying to get us to do.
Note: The “righteous requirement of the Law” in Romans 8:4 is nicely summarized in Micah 6:8: “… love justice, do mercy, and walk humbly with your God,” as well as, of course, by Jesus in Matthew 22:36-40, the two greatest commandments.
Romans 8:5-8: Walking in the Spirit happens, if you are in Christ, by thinking spiritual things. (Romans 12:1-2 says something very similar.)
Romans 8:9-11: If everything said in chapters 4-6 has happened to you, then your body is dead because of sin but your spirit is alive because of righteousness, and you have the Holy Spirit in you. If that hasn’t happened, you’re not a Christian.
8:12-14: If you live by your flesh–the desires of your body–you will die. You will live, now and forever, if you put to death the deeds/desires of the body, because only those who are led by the Spirit are the children of God.
8:15-39: If you are led by the Spirit, the benefits are almost beyond description. They are so great that every suffering in the world cannot compare to the benefits you will receive. The whole universe is waiting for the day that not only your spirit, but your bodies will be re-created, and until then we are living under incredible power of God’s favor and support so that nothing that has ever been created can stand against or accuse us, not even spiritual principalities, powers, and dominions, and not even death. [This should be received with a “Whoo hoo!” and joyous dancing!]
9 – 11: Paul knows in advance people, especially Jews, are going to complain about what he is about to teach, so he begins with: “God has every right to harden whoever he wants, so don’t complain against the potter, you beings of clay.” God has temporarily and partially hardened the Jews so that the Gentiles can come in. His idea is that the Jews will be jealous of the Gentiles, repent, and then the hardness will be removed and there will be mercy for everyone on earth. This is marvelous wisdom!”
12:1-15:13: Paul always includes general teaching about how to live and to use the super-powers God has given you (favored you with0, so here are some instructions.
Note: Paul explains why he gives instructions like these in Ephesians 4:20-32. If we have been taught as the truth is in Jesus, then we need to take off the old man, the condemned body of sin, and put on the new man that is created in righteousness and true holiness.
15:14-16:24: News and greetings
Bonus Section: The Use of Faith and Favor in First-Century Rome
The following is entirely based on David A. daSilva’s “Patronage and Reciprocity: The Context of Grace in the New Testament,” which is shortened to quotes by “Berean Patriot.”
In first-century Rome, many artisans and tradesmen had patrons. The patrons were wealthy citizens who provide funding and aid for the artisans/tradesmen. Charis, or favor, was the assistance that the patrons gave to their “clients,” the artisans and tradesmen. Pistis, usually translated “faith” in the Bible, is the faithfulness/loyalty that the clients showed to their patron. In return for the favor/favors the patron provided. the clients would faithfully support the goals/purposes of the patron, whether political or social.
Paul co-opted those words for his description of the Gospel. It seems to me that Jesus expresses this favor-faith connection with remarkable similarity in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.”
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Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (PPPPPP version): Paul Pavao’s Potentially Prejudiced Personal Paraphrase
Paul Pavao’s Potentially Prejudiced Personal Paraphrase (PPPPPP) of Romans:
Romans 1:1-17: I am not ashamed of my Good News because it is so powerful that over and over again, the people who believe it practice righteousness. My Good News is that God raised Jesus from the dead by the Spirit of Holiness, and God has empowered us to use this Gospel to bring about the obedience of faith among ALL nations.
Romans 1:18-31: Gentiles who don’t believe in God get more and more wicked.
Romans 2:1-28: If they Jews don’t obey the law, their circumcision won’t do them any good because God judges by deeds, not nationality. Those who are evil get wrath and indignation, and those who do good get eternal life.
Romans 3:1-19: The Scriptures tell us that the Jews don’t obey the law, so “every mouth [Jew and Gentile] is closed and brought under the judgment of God.”
Note: I’m writing “Romans” in front of the chapter and verse so Reftagger lets you hover and read the passages if you want.
Romans 3:20-26: Since no one was obeying God, he offered up his Son as a sacrifice cleansing all the sin and transgressions committed under the old covenant (cf. Heb. 9:15), showing God to be just in overlooking those transgressions and declaring those who believe in Jesus innocent.
Romans 3:28-31: God justified both Jews and Gentiles through or by faith (not sure why this distinction was important to Paul), but this does not nullify the law.
Romans 4:1-25: God is simply doing what he did with Abraham. He declared Abraham righteous because of faith, and now he’s doing the same with those who believe in Jesus.
Key Transition Here: “It is by faith so that it may be by favor” (v. 16). Paul is moving towards a two-chapter theological and then practical description of favor.
Note: I replace grace with “favor” throughout because it is a much better translation. “Grace” is a made-up word that sounds like the Greek charis but does not translate it. There is a short bonus section after my paraphrase that explains the eye-opening, scholar-reviewed, secular use of charis in the first century.
Romans 5:1-2: Faith has brought us peace with God, and now we stand by his favor, so let’s start talking about the favor that faith brought to us.
Romans 5:3-21: Favor is so amazing that we can overcome suffering and be transformed by it into godly character. Jesus reconciled us to God by his death, and he infused us with divine life by his resurrection, so than now everything Adam did to us is nullified by everything Jesus has done for us.
Key Explanation: “… as sin reigned in death, even so FAVOR might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (v. 21).
Romans 6:1-23: Here’s how favor works: We are buried with Christ in baptism, dying to all that we were, and we are raised to new life in Christ. In Christ, we have God’s favor, and this removes sin’s power over us (v. 14). The result is that we are servants of God, which results in growing holiness, if we turn over our body parts to him (v. 19). Holiness results in eternal life (v. 22). The point is, sin brings you death, God’s gift of favor is eternal life.
Key Misunderstanding: “Gift” in Romans 6:23 is charisma, which is charis with –ma at the end, thus “gift of favor,” the same word used for the spiritual gifts in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. No one translates “gifts” in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 as “free gifts.” The gifts are free, as all gifts are, but the point of charismata (plural of charisma), at least when it comes from God, is not that they are free, but that they are transforming. A person with the favor-gift of prophecy is enabled to prophesy. A person with the favor-gift of eternal life can live forever. By charisma in verse 23, Paul is not trying to deny what he just said in verse 22, that eternal life is the end result of serving God with your body and becoming holy, he is describing eternal life as an enabling gift from God, a gift that makes you immortal.
7:1-6: We are freed from the law by death in the same way a widow or widower is freed from his/her marriage by death.
7:7-24: The Law of Moses is holy, good, and perfect, but since we can’t keep it, it does us no good. The problem’s not the Law, it’s us. Doing good is impossible for us as long as we have “sin in our flesh.” The law is good, but we don’t keep it and thus sin, and because we sin we die.
7:25: Thanks be to God, we can be delivered from this law of sin and death by Jesus Christ!
8:1-2: There’s no condemnation to the ones that are in Christ Jesus, as previously explained in Romans 4, because the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the described-in-Romans-7 law of sin and death. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has been described in Romans 5:9-21, but now Paul is going to explain it to us practically.
8:3-4: God “condemned” sin in the flesh by sending his Son in the image of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin. It is living (“walking”) by the Holy Spirit that enables us to do the things that the law was trying to get us to do.
Note: The “righteous requirement of the Law” in Romans 8:4 is nicely summarized in Micah 6:8: “… love justice, do mercy, and walk humbly with your God,” as well as, of course, by Jesus in Matthew 22:36-40, the two greatest commandments.
Romans 8:5-8: Walking in the Spirit happens, if you are in Christ, by thinking spiritual things. (Romans 12:1-2 says something very similar.)
Romans 8:9-11: If everything said in chapters 4-6 has happened to you, then your body is dead because of sin but your spirit is alive because of righteousness, and you have the Holy Spirit in you. If that hasn’t happened, you’re not a Christian.
8:12-14: If you live by your flesh–the desires of your body–you will die. You will live, now and forever, if you put to death the deeds/desires of the body, because only those who are led by the Spirit are the children of God.
8:15-39: If you are led by the Spirit, the benefits are almost beyond description. They are so great that every suffering in the world cannot compare to the benefits you will receive. The whole universe is waiting for the day that not only your spirit, but your bodies will be re-created, and until then we are living under incredible power of God’s favor and support so that nothing that has ever been created can stand against or accuse us, not even spiritual principalities, powers, and dominions, and not even death. [This should be received with a “Whoo hoo!” and joyous dancing!]
9 – 11: Paul knows in advance people, especially Jews, are going to complain about what he is about to teach, so he begins with: “God has every right to harden whoever he wants, so don’t complain against the potter, you beings of clay.” God has temporarily and partially hardened the Jews so that the Gentiles can come in. His idea is that the Jews will be jealous of the Gentiles, repent, and then the hardness will be removed and there will be mercy for everyone on earth. This is marvelous wisdom!”
12:1-15:13: Paul always includes general teaching about how to live and to use the super-powers God has given you (favored you with0, so here are some instructions.
Note: Paul explains why he gives instructions like these in Ephesians 4:20-32. If we have been taught as the truth is in Jesus, then we need to take off the old man, the condemned body of sin, and put on the new man that is created in righteousness and true holiness.
15:14-16:24: News and greetings
Bonus Section: The Use of Faith and Favor in First-Century Rome
The following is entirely based on David A. daSilva’s “Patronage and Reciprocity: The Context of Grace in the New Testament,” which is shortened to quotes by “Berean Patriot.”
In first-century Rome, many artisans and tradesmen had patrons. The patrons were wealthy citizens who provide funding and aid for the artisans/tradesmen. Charis, or favor, was the assistance that the patrons gave to their “clients,” the artisans and tradesmen. Pistis, usually translated “faith” in the Bible, is the faithfulness/loyalty that the clients showed to their patron. In return for the favor/favors the patron provided. the clients would faithfully support the goals/purposes of the patron, whether political or social.
Paul co-opted those words for his description of the Gospel. It seems to me that Jesus expresses this favor-faith connection with remarkable similarity in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.”
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About Paul Pavao
I am married, the father of six, and currently the grandfather of five. I teach, and I am always trying to learn to disciple others better than I have before. I believe God has gifted me to restore proper theological foundations to the Christian faith. In order to ensure that I do not become a heretic, I read the early church fathers from the second and third centuries. They were around when all the churches founded by the apostles were in unity. My philosophy for Bible reading is to understand each verse for exactly what it says in its local context. Only after accepting the verse for what it says do I compare it with other verses to develop my theology. If other verses seem to contradict a verse I just read, I will wait to say anything about those verses until I have an explanation that allows me to accept all the verses for what they say. This takes time, sometimes years, but eventually I have always been able to find something that does not require explaining verses away. The early church fathers have helped a lot with this. I argue and discuss these foundational doctrines with others to make sure my teaching really lines up with Scripture. I am encouraged by the fact that the several missionaries and pastors that I know well and admire as holy men love the things I teach. I hope you will be encouraged too. I am indeed tearing up old foundations created by tradition in order to re-establish the foundations found in Scripture and lived on by the churches during their 300 years of unity.