These verses are best taken together, since in them Paul uses a passage from the Septuagint of Deuteronomy 30.11-14. He does not quote the entire passage, and he makes some changes in the form of what he does use. Moreover, as one would expect, Paul changes the context of these verses and makes specific application of the words to Christ. These words originally applied to the Law. Moses was telling the people of Israel that the Law was not too difficult for them—they did not have to climb up to heaven to get it or cross the sea to find it—but rather it was to be found in their hearts and confessed with their mouths. It is difficult to know why Paul chose this particular passage from Deuteronomy, but his use of it is clear. He is emphasizing the fact that God’s salvation is immediately available in Jesus Christ, and that salvation cannot be and need not be sought after by human efforts. Fortunately, even though the theological implications of Paul’s words are very profound, the translation of what he says here is not difficult. Some Jews of Paul’s day believed that if enough people in the nation obeyed completely the Law, then God would send his Savior to them. Paul argues that God in his grace has already sent Christ down.

But this is what is said about being put right with God through faith is literally “But the righteousness (which comes) from faith speaks as follows.” The New English Bible renders “but the righteousness that comes by faith says.” However, the idea of righteousness saying something is a rather difficult concept for the average reader to grasp, and what Paul actually means is that “here is a passage of Scripture that has something to say about righteousness that comes from faith.” Because of the relatively awkward introduction to direct discourse contained in the words this is what is said about, it may be necessary to employ the more common formulation, “this is what the Scriptures say about.”

Do not say to yourself (literally, “Do not say in your heart”) must often be translated as “do not ask yourself,” since what follows is a question.

In rendering the phrase to bring Christ down one must not suggest that this is a reference to “demoting Christ” or “removing Christ from his rightful position in heaven.” An appropriate translation in some languages may be “(that is to say, to go up into heaven in order to ask Christ to come down to us).”

In verse 7 Paul continues the analogy, but he refers to the world below (“abyss” in most translations) in place of “the sea” which occurs in the Deuteronomy passage. It is easy to see how Paul would use this analogy; his reference is to the resurrection of Christ, as he makes clear. The phrase world below may be rendered as “world of the dead.”

The introductory expression in verse 8, what it says is this, may need to be somewhat more explicit in some languages: “this is what the scripture says,” “the scripture says the following,” or “the scripture contains these words.”

In verse 8 God’s message … that is, the message of faith that we preach is literally “the word of faith which we preach.” In such a context “word” has the extended meaning of “message,” and so the Good News Translation makes this explicit as a reference to God’s message (so also An American Translation*). God’s message is “what God has said” or “the message which God has spoken.” Message of faith means “the message which calls for faith.” This meaning may be rendered as “the message which says that you should trust God.”

It may not be possible to translate literally on your lips (Greek, “in your mouth”) and in your heart. The implication is “you have already spoken it, and it exists in your heart” or “you have already spoken the words, and you have them on your mind.” On the other hand, one may interpret on your lips and in your heart as potentiality—for example, “you can acknowledge this message with your lips and accept it in your heart.”

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 .