¹ Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? ² For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living.

This pericope (to borrow a term theologians use in referring to a selected portion of Scripture) extends to verses 2-6. The apostle Paul, writing under divine inspiration, uses an analogy for explaining the relationship that one who is justified by the grace of Christ has with the Law of Moses.

We note that while previously it was clear that Paul was responding to Jewish objections to his teachings—using that as a rhetorical device (a foil, if you will) to lay out the doctrine of justification—here Paul is clear about his intended audience, namely Christians. While the term “brethren” could be used to refer to his Jewish compatriots, in addressing his readers he made it clear that he is writing “to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints.”

On a further sub-note, the term “brethren,” as rendered in the NASB and NKJV, is translated as “brothers and sisters” in the NIV, ESV, NET and NLT. The actual Greek word rendered here is “adelphoi,” which is in reality a gender-neutral term. The singular can refer to a male sibling or relative, but it can also refer to those of like belief. Jesus Himself used the word in this way many times: “And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, ‘Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother’” (Matt 12:49–50, emphasis added). His first use of “brothers” includes the expanded sense of “brother and sister,” where “sister” is explicitly included (“adelphos” and “adelphe”). So, in our passage today, either translation is good: “brethren” is a more precise, literalistic translation, but “brothers and sisters” carries what is called the “dynamic equivalence.” We must understand that Paul is not writing only to men, but to all believers, both men and women (and children), those who share saving faith.

We belabor this issue advisedly, because Paul later in verse 1 refers to a “person” (Greek “anthropos”) and then the analogy of the married woman. He is not making a gender-issue statement here, but simply giving an illustration of a person under law who has been freed by grace. With passages like this, we must be careful that we do not read into them gender distinctions that God does not intend and thereby discredit those portions of Scripture where God does indeed make a distinction in male and female roles.

Lord, help me not fall into the acrimonious debates over gender issues, but to see clearly the truth presented in Your Word through the apostle’s illustration.