Paul often gets a bad rap for seeming to be too caustic and judgmental. It’s too bad that this opinion is not more often balanced by Paul’s other statements of love and concern for his churches. But I think a proper translation of Romans 9:3 might help a little.

Because Greek is an inflected language, words that go together don't have to be next to each other. It can make translation a little challenging, though, when you start reordering words and phrases to make sense in English.

Because Greek is an inflected language, words that go together don't have to be next to each other. It can make translation a little challenging, though, when you start reordering words and phrases to make sense in English.

In English, if we have Phrase A, Phrase B, and Phrase C, normal rules of grammar mean that Phrase C is related to Phrase B, and Phrase B is related to Phrase A. But that's not the way it is with Greek; Phrase C can go back to Phrase A. Romans 8:20 is a good example.

When we construct a parallel sentence in English, we can leave out words in the second half, assuming them from the first half. We do it so naturally in English that we may not notice what we are doing. Greek does the same, but sometimes it can be difficult for an English speaker to see what is going on. (You can also watch this blog on YouTube.)