What "Mercies of God"? Oiktirmos in Romans 12:1 against Its Septuagintal Background

Abstract

Abstract In what is considered to be a climactic point in Romans, in 12:1–2 Paul makes a firm appeal in view of "the mercies of God." It is the conclusion of many scholars that Paul is using the language of mercy (oiktirmos) either to refer to the argument of Rom 9–11 or, perhaps, to summarize chapters 1–11 as a whole. Though the term is undoubtedly acting to refer back to Paul's argument in the preceding material, there is a pattern of the usage of oiktirmos (and its cognates) in the LXX that has not been introduced into the scholarly discussion. We will examine the patterned use of oiktirmos in the LXX with a view toward how and why it appears as well as what other concepts are frequently and naturally correlated. Then we will demonstrate how suitable this specific term was for Paul in relating the mercy of God to the injunctions in 12:1–2. In particular, we will observe how oiktirmos appears in the discussion of God's covenant faithfulness with a view toward revelation, forgiveness, and deliverance.