Romans 1:2

(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
Which	ὃ ho	G3739	the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun · relative pronoun — accusative singular neuter
afore	προεπηγγείλατο proepēngeilato	G4279	to promise of old · verb — aorist middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
by	διὰ dia	G1223	through (in very wide applications · preposition
his	αὐτοῦ autou	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
prophets	προφητῶν prophētōn	G4396	a foreteller ("prophet") · noun — genitive plural masculine
in	ἐν en	G1722	"in · preposition
holy	ἁγίαις hagiais	G40	sacred (physically · adjective — dative plural feminine
scriptures	γραφαῖς graphais	G1124	a document · noun — dative plural feminine

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Luke 1:70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Romans 16:26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nati…
Acts 10:43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
Romans 3:2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
Luke 24:26-27 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
Acts 26:6 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers:

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Romans 1:1-7

In this paragraph we have, I. The person who writes the epistle described (Rom 1:1): Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ; this is his title of honour, which he glories in, not as the Jewish teachers, Rabbi, Rabbi; but a servant, a more immediate attendant, a steward in the house. Called to be an apostle. Some think he alludes to his old name Saul, which signifies one called for, or enquired after: Christ sought him to make an apostle of him, Act 9:15. He here builds his authority upon his call; he did not run without sending, as the false apostles did; klētos apostolos - called an apostle, as if this were the name he would be called by, though he acknowledged himself not meet to be called so, C…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Romans 1:2

Which he had promised afore . . . in the holy scriptures--Though the Roman Church was Gentile by nation (see on Rom 1:13), yet as it consisted mostly of proselytes to the Jewish faith (see on Introduction to this Epistle), they are here reminded that in embracing Christ they had not cast off, but only the more profoundly yielded themselves to, Moses and the prophets (Act 13:32-33).

Adam Clarke on Romans 1:2

Which he had promised afore - Both in the law and in the prophets God showed his purpose to introduce into the world a more perfect and glorious state of things; which state was to take place by and under the influence of the Messiah, who should bring life and immortality to light by his Gospel.

John Gill on Romans 1:2

Which he had promised afore,.... The Gospel is here further commended from the antiquity it: it was no novel doctrine, an upstart notion, but what God had conceived in his own breast from eternity. This mystery was hid in him from the beginning of the world, and was ordained before the world was; in time God was pleased to make it known to the sons of men; he "promised" it, he spoke of it, and declared it by his prophets, Isaiah and others, "afore" the Apostle Paul was called forth to be a preacher of it; which promise, or promises of it, lie in the Holy Scriptures; the books of the Old Testament, so called from the author, matter, and usefulness of them. The apostle speaks in the language…

The Church Fathers

The Old Testament is full of predictions of Christ's coming. Paul did not call them "holy" by accident but, first of all, in order to teach that he recognized that the Old Testament was divinely inspired, and secondly, in order to exclude all other writings. For only the divinely inspired Scriptures are of any use. Indeed, Paul says that they are the image of the promise which was to come.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

Paul says "his prophets" because there are also prophets of idols, and by the word his he distinguishes one type of prophet from another and one gospel from another. For there are many gospels, but they are moral and temporary, whereas that of Christ proclaims in the holy Scriptures the enjoyment of eternal blessedness. These prophets are his because they are not of another god but of the Father of Christ.
— Severian of Gabala, PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Paul preaches no other Christ than the Christ whose gospel the prophets promised would go forth from Jerusalem. He declares that they are prophets of God and that the Scriptures which prophesied about Christ are holy. This entire passage contradicts the Manichaeans, for it says that the gospel was promised beforehand through God's prophets and in the Holy Scriptures and that according to the flesh Christ came from the lineage of David, i.e., from the Virgin Mary, just as Isaiah had foretold.
— Pelagius, PELAGIUS'S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Bible — Bible, the English form of the Greek name Biblia, meaning “books,” the name which in the fifth century began to be given to the entire collection of sacred books, the “Library of Divine Revelation.”…
Fall of man — An expression probably borrowed from the Apocryphal Book of Wisdom, to express the fact of the revolt of our first parents from God, and the consequent sin and misery in which they and all their…
Catholicity · INCUL — INCUL
Promises Of God, The · Contained in the Scriptures — Contained in the Scriptures
Scriptures, The · Are called the: Holy Scriptures — Are called the: Holy Scriptures
Word Of God · .HOLY SCRIPTURES — .HOLY SCRIPTURES

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Romans 1:2

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Romans 1:1-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Romans 1:2

Adam Clarke on Romans 1:2

John Gill on Romans 1:2

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Romans 1:2

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Romans 1:1-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Romans 1:2

Adam Clarke on Romans 1:2

John Gill on Romans 1:2

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Romans 1:1-7

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Romans 1:1-17