Report of January 22 Meeting

In our first Skype conference of this year we began to tackle Paul’s letter to the Romans. We’ve managed to make it through the first three chapters so far and will be picking up with chapter 4 in our February meeting.

We discussed at some length what to include for a footnote to 1:26,27 and agreed to a format for displaying the rhetorical devices in chapter 3. Additionally, after much discusion, we decided to use either the word “fury” or “punishment” for orgē, depending on the context. This impacted several verses in Romans but also required some minor tweaks to the work we’ve already completed in Matthew, Mark, and Colossians.

We spent considerable time wrestling with how to render hilastērion in 3:25 given the theologically-charged issue of the atonement and the relative obscurity of Paul’s cultic metaphor (for many contemporary readers anyway). We decided on “Godde offered him as the place of reconciliation through trust in his blood.”

Finally, we couldn’t help but jump ahead to 16:7 regarding Junia the apostle.

All in all, a very productive discussion!