The Greek of this verse is much shorter than the Good News Translation rendering, because there are implicit elements in the Greek which must be made explicit for the sake of English readers. Literally this verse may be rendered something like the following: “As far as the Good News is concerned, enemies because of you, but as far as choice is concerned, friends because of the patriarchs.” The Good News Translation takes the phrase “as far as the Good News is concerned” in the sense of because they reject the Good News (New English Bible “in the spreading of the gospel”). In this context “enemies” must be taken in the sense of God’s enemies (see Moffatt, An American Translation*, New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible). “Because of you” is understood to mean “for your sake” (so most translations); and the Good News Translation reflects the demands of English discourse structure in requiring the pronoun “you” to be identified as you, the Gentiles.

There is a potential difficulty in the rendering of the Jews are God’s enemies for the sake of you. This might imply that the Jews purposely became God’s enemies for the sake of the Gentiles, which is obviously not the case. Therefore, one must translate is some languages: “the Jews are God’s enemies, but this turns out to be of help to you, the Gentiles.” However, there is no such contrast in the second sentence of verse 28, since at that place there is no adversative relation between the Jews being God’s friends and this being for the sake of the patriarchs.

In the second clause “choice” refers to God’s choice (see also An American Translation* and New English Bible). The word rendered friends is not the usual Greek word for “friends”; it means something like “persons who are loved.” The Revised Standard Version, Moffatt, and New American Bible used the archaic “beloved,” while An American Translation* translates “they are dear to him,” and Jerusalem Bible “they are still loved by God”; New English Bible has “friends.”

For the sake of the patriarchs has a reference either to the promises that God made to the patriarchs or to the covenants he made with them.

The initial phrase, because of God’s choice, may be transformed into a verbal expression, “because God chose them.”

The final phrase, for the sake of the patriarchs, may need to be somewhat more specific in some languages—for example, “because of the promises God made to the patriarchs” or “because God promised the patriarchs that their descendants would always be his friends.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .