SIL Translator’s Notes on Romans 5:9

Paragraph 5:9–11

5:9a–b

Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!: The word since introduces the basis for the comparison (introduced by much more). Some languages may need to translate in a different way to make that clear. For example:

It is true that we have now been justified by his blood. Therefore it is true indeed that we will be saved by him from the wrath of God.
-or-
Therefore, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God, since/because we have now been justified by his blood.

5:9a

we have now been justified: The word now indicates that being justified is still true at the present time. For example:

now that we have been justified (New Jerusalem Bible)

In some languages being justified in the past implies still being justified at the present time. So, those languages can omit the word now if it is not natural here. For example:

we have been made right in God’s sight (New Living Translation (2004))

we have…been justified: See how you translated this clause in 5:1.

by His blood: Here the phrase His blood refers figuratively to Jesus’ death. The phrase by His blood indicates that Jesus’ death was the way that God made believers righteous. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

by shedding his blood
-or-
by his sacrificial death
-or-
when he died for us
-or-
because of Jesus’ blood who died to pay for our sins

5:9b

how much more: This phrase emphasizes what follows. Just like it is true that God justifies us by the blood of Christ, it is also true that Jesus will save us from God’s wrath. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

if God has already counted us as righteous because of Cristo’s blood which flowed-out at his death, we expect yet even-more that Cristo will save-us from God’s judging of people.
-or-
So [having-said] that, we have become straight in God’s sight because of Yesus’ blood who died to pay-for our sins. That’s why we know even more clearly that we will be set-free from the anger of God

These two things are true. In some languages a comparison with much more is not natural or meaningful. If that is true in your language, make the emphasis clear. For example:

So through Christ we will surely be saved from God’s anger, because we have been made right with God (New Century Version)
-or-
Christ has now died in order to clear our sins. Therefore now we greatly are assured that now he has saved us

shall we be saved from wrath through Him: This clause in Greek is future tense. For example:

we will be saved through him (NET Bible)

This clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause. For example:

he will save us

saved: This word refers to being rescued from something harmful or dangerous. Here it refers to God rescuing people from his wrath.

Some languages must say what someone is saved from to make clear what kind of saving is meant. For example:

save us from the punishment
-or-
be freed from punishment
-or-
saved from death

wrath: This phrase refers to God’s anger against sin. See how you translated this phrase in 1:18.

© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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