God can prove that what I say is true … God knows that (see New English Bible “God is my witness … God knows how”) translates “God is my witness … that.” Both the Good News Translation and the New English Bible repeat God knows in order to bring the object of the verb closer to the verb itself (in the Greek sentence order a long clause intervenes). Paul appeals to God, as to a witness in court, since God is the one who can testify or prove that Paul always thinks of the Romans when he prays.
The equivalent of prove in some languages is “show clearly” or “convince you.”
The verb translated serve is always used in the New Testament of service rendered to God, and in some passages it may mean “worship” (see Luke 2.37; Acts 7.42; Philippians 3.3; Hebrews 9.9; 10.2).
With all my heart (literally “in my spirit”) is translated in a variety of fashions: see Jerusalem Bible “I worship spiritually” and New English Bible “I offer the humble service of my spirit.” In the present context “spirit” refers to Paul’s inner being (one might say to his total being), and for this reason the Good News Translation translates with all my heart. In some languages the equivalent of with all my heart is “completely,” “without in any way holding back,” or “with all of my self.”
By preaching the Good News about his Son is literally “in the Good News of his Son,” but here Good News refers not to the content of the Good News but to its proclamation (see New English Bible “by preaching the gospel of his Son” and Jerusalem Bible “by preaching the Good News of his Son”).
I always remember you means that Paul always prays to God in behalf of the Romans. In this type of context remember must not be translated in such a way as to suggest that Paul had forgotten about the Romans. A more appropriate equivalent in some languages is “I always keep thinking about you” or “you are always in my mind.”
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 .