In verse 13 Paul has affirmed that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. For Paul the Lord is Jesus Christ, and it is clear to him that the Jewish nation as a whole has not called upon the name of the Lord. Throughout the remainder of this chapter Paul deals with the question as to why it is that the Jews have not called upon the Lord. He does this by constructing a logical chain with five links in order to see where the failure lies. These five links are expressed in reverse historical order by means of four questions (call to … believed … heard the message … proclaimed … sent out).
In the second of these two sentences the message translates an unusual pronoun construction, a genitive rather than the expected accusative. This genitive construction is the object of the verb heard, and the Good News Translation understands the construction to mean “to hear someone proclaiming” (that is, “to hear the message proclaimed by someone”). Most translations take this to mean “to hear about someone,” and so translate in a manner similar to what the New English Bible has: “and how could they have faith in one they had never heard of?”
The four closely linked questions in these verses may even be acceptable in languages which reject certain rhetorical questions. The reason for this is that questions introduced by “how” may seem more like exclamations. However, these same questions can be transformed into strong statements: “But they certainly cannot call on him if they have not believed! And they surely cannot believe if they have not heard the message!” etc.
In some languages it is impossible to use a verb “believe” without some type of goal—for example, “believed about him” or “believed the words about him.” Similarly, it may be necessary to specify to some extent the content of the message—for example, “the message about him.”
The passive expression, if the message is not proclaimed, may be rendered as active, “if someone does not proclaim the message to them.” Similarly, the passive expression if the messengers are not sent out may be rendered as “if God does not send out the messengers” or “if the churches do not send out the messengers.”
The scripture quotation in verse 15 comes from Isaiah 52.7 and is closer to the Hebrew than to the Septuagint. By rendering this as How wonderful is the coming of those who bring good news! (see An American Translation* and Moffatt), the Good News Translation demetaphorizes the literal rendering of this verse (Revised Standard Version “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!”) In Jewish thought one often spoke of a certain part of the body as representative of the whole person, depending upon what part of the body was in focus at the time, and in the present context “feet” is simply a way of speaking about the coming of someone. It is difficult in some languages to speak of a coming as being wonderful, but one can slightly alter the semantic arrangement and still preserve the same essential meaning—for example, “It is so wonderful that those who bring good news are coming.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .