Romans: Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary Hardcover – November, 2002

by Charles H. Talbert

Romans was written to deal with the particular historical problem of the relations between Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome. The function of Paul's gospel was to unify these two, while its content was a theology that placed Jew and Gentile on an equal footing, both in their sin and in their salvation. Sometimes a modern situation corresponds to Paul's original one. In such a case, Romans speaks directly. Most of the time, modern situations are different from those in Paul's time. Romans still speaks. Although the content of Romans was elaborated in a particular cultural context, its applicability goes far beyond the original milieu, as Christian history has amply demonstrated. Distinguished biblical scholar Charles Talbert's Romans leads readers into the biblical world of Paul's Letter to the Romans, while at the same time it seeks to open our ears to the lasting truth of God's word for today.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Benedict · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is rough; the author has a certain amount of historical data that’s more or less well organized in the side panels, but the text itself is about what you’d get in a freshman seminar, and it editorializes pretty frequently against contemporary society in a way that makes it seem like even its exegesis (learning from original contexts and providing more meaning from that) is in fact eisegesis (identifying an existing current issue or opinion with things that were not present originally). I feel like it presented enough material that I could read between the lines, but I was discouraged because other volumes in this series have been much stronger, and I wish I’d spent my time with something that presented more facts and scholarship and fewer opinions and modern doctrinal stances.

[Victoria Gaile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This is an excellent commentary. Talbert draws *heavily* on intertestamental and extra-canonical materials, including relatively recent discoveries such as the Qumran documents, and presents ample historical and cultural material, to give the reader a feel for the kind of context that Paul's audience would have had. The word studies are also excellent and accessible to those with no background in Greek. The approach to the text is contextual, structural, and topical: rather than proceeding strictly verse by verse, questions and issues are dealt with as they arise. The result is remarkably readable and accessible, considering how comprehensive it also is.

When there are differences of opinion among scholars, the various positions are presented and discussed before concluding that one of them is correct. Modern and contemporary as well as ancient sources are consulted, including respected writers from Christian traditions other than his own. Supplementary material is presented in sidebars, and includes art, illustrations, and poetry as well as historical background and quotations from patristic and Reformation writers. (This arrangement of the material is characteristic of the series of which this commentary is a part.)

Doctrinal and catechetical discussions, when they arise from the text, are generally collected in the sections marked "Connections", which is helpful both to the baptist reader who is looking for guidance and the non-baptist reader who wishes to read such material with a certain care.

I'm working with a dozen commentaries on Romans this summer, and this one is hands-down the best in terms of both in-depth background material and accessibility. (And I didn't even look at the CD it comes with!) If you're looking to understand Paul's letter to the Romans in the world of the text, get this commentary.