2 Great in every way. Firstly, indeed, in that they were committe the sayings of the Almĩghty.

 

(MISB: Rom 3:2) : http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/romans.html#3:2

(http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html)

 

 1. This statement is often used to argue that we should refer to Jewish sources, commentaries, and traditions for our keys to interpret Scripture, and that we should take the Rabbis as authorities. It is to be granted that in the first century indigenous Jews were the experts on Messianic Prophecy, and that burdensome traditions were not so mixed up with Torah as they are now. However, things have changed. Firstly, the house of Judah has rebelled against Messiah, and so they have accordingly rejected and changed their interpretations of formerly acknowledged messianic prophecy. Secondly, the Jewish community no longer has an exclusive access to the Scripture. The house of Israel (the Church), for all its faults in rejecting Torah, has developed vast grammatical, lexical, and linguistic resources to aid in the understanding of Scripture. So if a non-Jew wants to learn Hebrew or interpret Messianic Prophecy correctly, he or she does not have to rely on the Rabbis. For the Scripture is also committed to the house of Israel even if most have been unfaithful with it.

 

2 For I testify to them, because they are holding onto a zeal for the Almĩghty, nevertheless not according to complet knowledge,

 

(MISB: Rom 10:2) : http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/romans.html#10:2

(http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html)

 

 1. The Greek ἐπίγνωσιν means “full knowledge” or “complete knowledge”. Notice the preposition on the front ἐπί. That’s why this word is different than just plain “knowledge”. The mistranslation misleads the Church into thinking Jews are completely without knowledge. This is not true. It also could mislead those who know the Jews have knowledge into rejecting Paul. So the NAS is here corrected.

 

3 because they are not acknowledging the Almĩghty’s justic, and while seeking to establish their own justice², they are not subjected to the justice³ of the Almĩghty.

 

(MISB: Rom 10:3) : http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/romans.html#10:3

(http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html)

 

 1. If someone told you that a Sabbath observing, neighbor loving Jewish person did not recognize what it meant to be righteous, then one would be right to question the veracity of the statement. That is why the translations that have “righteousness” are faulty. What Paul used here is the Greek word δικαιοσύνην, which means “justice” (cf. BDAG, def. 1). The same is expressed by the Hebrew word צְדָקָה or צֶדֶק. So the Greek and Hebrew words covered more ground than the English righteousness, and that is important to know. Because the lacuna (gap) in the knowledge of Rabbinic Jews has to do with divine “justice”, and not knowledge of basic “righteousness” itself. Here is the gap: Messiah is required to forgive any transgressions committed—to individually renew the covenant, and His life is also required to make a complete cleansing of our sin nature at the end of the age. So while the typical Rabbinic Jew knows what righteousness is, such righteousness is bound to be incomplete without a provision for serious sin, and without a provision for final cleansing.

 

 2. Paul does not mean “own righteousness” here. That would be nonsense. Of course we want to be righteousness, and we want it to become our own righteousness! Doubtless, it comes from the Almighty, and belongs to him also. What Paul really means is our “own justice”, a justice of our own making. And this is where all Israel has failed to understand His justice. And I mean both houses of Israel, which are fallen into the pit. His justice is not satisfied by charity, worship, baptism, saying the sacred name, or G-d donning rose colored glasses that do not see sin. For the repentant, such justice as He requires is satisfied by Messiah Yeshua paying your penalty for sin.

 

 3. Anyone who understands that it is righteous to observe Torah is going to have difficulty with the usual English translation, “righteousness”. It is not really suitable. In Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, the equivalent term very often meant “justice”, and one had to pay attention to the context to know what kind of justice. Here, what Paul is leading up to, is not an anti-Torah justice, but a pro-Torah justice. The spirit of prophecy is that Messiah had to receive the penalty we deserved (Isa. 53; Gen. 22:8-14; Hab. 1:12). So he has become our “justice”, and since human righteousness is incomplete also, he will become the source of our righteousness too—in the eschaton. Therefore, he is called, יהוה צִדְקֵנוּ (Jer. 23:6) = Yahweh our justice, Yahweh our righteousness.

 

4 For Mẽssiah is the end¹ of the norm² for justice³ to everyone placing his supportª on him.

 

(MISB: Rom 10:4) : http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/BasicBooks/romans.html#10:4

(http://www.torahtimes.org/NewTranslation/bibleframe.html)

 

 1. David Stern and Cranfield suggested that end should be goal. One could argue that the goal of the normal justice of Torah is to send people to Messiah where they can obtain an unusual justice by grace. The “goal” translation, however, depends on making something explicit in English that is not distinguished in Greek. Indeed, “end” can mean “goal” in such phrases as, “the end justifies the means”. If the Greek has the sense of “goal” then we should be able to recognize it in the context without using the word “goal”. We should be able to use the word “end”. The word “goal” also closes off Paul’s primary meaning here. Messiah really is the end—termination of the norm for justice for those entering into trust with Messiah.

 

 2. The norm at this point is the status quo for justice. There are two kinds of justice administered by the Torah, one is the normal justice in which the sinner pays the penalty, and the other is abnormal justice. This unusual justice applies to those who repent of their sins and for which justice is administered with an acceptable substitutionary sacrifice. So Messiah is the end of the normal justice for the sinner who gives his support to Messiah.

 

 3. Unlike Romance Languages such as Latin, French, or Spanish, Modern English has the tendancy to separate justice and righteousness into separate categories. The word justice pertains to judicial and social matters, while the word righteousness pertains to morality and personal piety. Justice is what someone does to correct the incorrect, or equalize the unequal. It is a noun describing an action. Righteousness is what someone is morally. It is a noun describing an almost passive state or quality in English. However, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew contained the whole range of meaning in one word. We can only translate the best sense in English. However, the other sense also often applies.

 

 a. In the Greek the idea is entering into trust. The trust is mutual and covenantal. We trust Messiah to support us in deliverance, and he trusts us to support him with repentance, loyalty, faithfulness. This is having a trust with someone. The English verb “entrust” expresses the Greek idea. It originally comes from the idea of being “in trust” with someone. From the Hebrew standpoint, the hiphil verb conveys the idea of giving one’s support to Messiah, or of making one’s support on Messiah. The Hebrew strongly implies more than belief or assent to facts because the object of the verb is not facts, but a person in whom we place our support. The Hebrew sense implies mutual support due to a wider range of meaning in the prepositions used before the object than in English.