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Martin Luther called Romans the clearest gospel of all. But centuries of interpretive tradition and dogma have muddied the waters. Edwards's careful exposition pays attention to literary detail and historical context to clarify the Epistle's significance for its original readers and for the church today. The NIBC format (section-by-section exposition of the NIV, all Greek transliterated, and separate textual and technical notes) make this commentary ideal for laypeople and pastors.
541 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 26, 2024
Probably to the great frustration of their authors, most commentaries on parts of the Bible are seldom read cover-to-cover; the majority of readers, myself included, are more apt to treat them as reference books in which we look up comments on particular passages when our curiosity about those is piqued. Personally, I've read only a few in their entirety, and those usually because I was tasked with reviewing them. This 1992 commentary on the Apostle Paul's letter to the Christians in Rome falls into that category; I reviewed it for the August 1993 issue of The Christian Librarian (and that review serves as a starting point for this one). But since then, my acquaintance with it has recently been refreshed by using it as an ongoing resource, first for a lengthy discussion of the Roman letter in a Goodreads group, and now for a series of Sunday school lessons I'm currently teaching on the epistle.
This solid volume (363 pages of actual text) is part of the New International Biblical Commentary series, so named because the translation it's based on is the New International Version. The publisher, Hendrickson Publishers, is a Christian press founded in 1980 to cater to the academic and scholarly community (although this commentary is accessible to educated laypersons). Author Edwards (b. 1945) had received his PhD. from Fuller Theological Seminary, and when he wrote this book was Professor of Religion at Jamestown College in North Dakota. (He would subsequently join the faculty at Whitworth Univ. in Washington State, ultimately teaching for 45 years until his retirement.) This was apparently the first entire book he wrote, though he had previously contributed to others, but he would go on to write five more commentaries on New Testament books.
The series format consists of introductory chapter, section-by-section interpretation, each section followed by a few short "Additional Notes" dealing with more technical matters of grammar, background material, etc., and finally a select bibliography ("For Further Reading") and two indexes, one of subjects treated and the other of Scripture references. (In this volume, the former runs about 20 pages; the latter is a bit over eight pages, and includes references to the Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, and other ancient sources as well as the biblical ones.) 28 sources, four of them in German, are listed in the bibliography; all but five date from the 20th century, though three of them (written by Luther or Calvin) date from the 1500s. These include most of the earlier commentaries recognized as particularly authoritative, though F. F. Bruce's commentary in the Tyndale series is omitted. However, his Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free is included; that's the only book of the 28 that I've actually read, but I recognize a good many of the other authors' names.
A few popular level works appear in the bibliography along with the academic ones; Greek words referred to in the commentary itself are transliterated into the English alphabet, and the author refrains from using footnotes/endnotes as such (though the notes at the end of each chapter have documentary citations). These features make the volume more laity-friendly. Edwards does use the standard scholarly abbreviations found in academic writings, and a list of these is provided in the introductory matter. His exposition of Paul's basic themes of Divine judgment and grace is eloquent, and thoroughly in sympathy with the apostolic message. A distinctive insight here is his recognition that an important shaping purpose of the letter is Paul's pastoral desire to reconcile Jewish-Gentile tensions in first-century Rome's Christian community. On a few controverted points, Edwards takes stands, although with an irenic and balanced approach. For instance, he sees Romans 7 as a description of Paul's struggle against sin after, rather than before, his conversion (personally, I don't believe it's an either/or question, but refers to both time periods) and views Romans 11:26 as a prediction of future conversion of ethnic Israel, but not of every ethnic Israelite.
However, despite the Goodreads description's reference to "centuries of interpretive tradition and dogma [that] have muddied the waters" of Romans interpretation, and the assertion that Edwards "refuses to duck the tough theological questions that keep popping up in Romans," he does tend to sidestep modern theological controversies, and particularly to avoid any direct discussion of the whole Calvinist vs. Arminian debate (although both institutions where the author taught were Presbyterian-affiliated). The suspicion is almost inevitable that this might have been mandated by the publisher to avoid offending potential customers in either branch of the evangelical community; but in any case, bland avoidance of controversy is less helpful than direct discussion tempered by Christian love would be. (A passing reference to an Old Testament quotation as coming from "Second Isaiah" is also eye-rolling.) And overall, I was less impressed with the usefulness of the text as a resource for practical interpretation than I was with it when I only read it for the original review, much as a car may look impressive in the dealer's lot but have some bugs when it's driven. Nevertheless, I think it's basically a serviceable commentary that has its positives.
This solid volume (363 pages of actual text) is part of the New International Biblical Commentary series, so named because the translation it's based on is the New International Version. The publisher, Hendrickson Publishers, is a Christian press founded in 1980 to cater to the academic and scholarly community (although this commentary is accessible to educated laypersons). Author Edwards (b. 1945) had received his PhD. from Fuller Theological Seminary, and when he wrote this book was Professor of Religion at Jamestown College in North Dakota. (He would subsequently join the faculty at Whitworth Univ. in Washington State, ultimately teaching for 45 years until his retirement.) This was apparently the first entire book he wrote, though he had previously contributed to others, but he would go on to write five more commentaries on New Testament books.
The series format consists of introductory chapter, section-by-section interpretation, each section followed by a few short "Additional Notes" dealing with more technical matters of grammar, background material, etc., and finally a select bibliography ("For Further Reading") and two indexes, one of subjects treated and the other of Scripture references. (In this volume, the former runs about 20 pages; the latter is a bit over eight pages, and includes references to the Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, and other ancient sources as well as the biblical ones.) 28 sources, four of them in German, are listed in the bibliography; all but five date from the 20th century, though three of them (written by Luther or Calvin) date from the 1500s. These include most of the earlier commentaries recognized as particularly authoritative, though F. F. Bruce's commentary in the Tyndale series is omitted. However, his Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free is included; that's the only book of the 28 that I've actually read, but I recognize a good many of the other authors' names.
A few popular level works appear in the bibliography along with the academic ones; Greek words referred to in the commentary itself are transliterated into the English alphabet, and the author refrains from using footnotes/endnotes as such (though the notes at the end of each chapter have documentary citations). These features make the volume more laity-friendly. Edwards does use the standard scholarly abbreviations found in academic writings, and a list of these is provided in the introductory matter. His exposition of Paul's basic themes of Divine judgment and grace is eloquent, and thoroughly in sympathy with the apostolic message. A distinctive insight here is his recognition that an important shaping purpose of the letter is Paul's pastoral desire to reconcile Jewish-Gentile tensions in first-century Rome's Christian community. On a few controverted points, Edwards takes stands, although with an irenic and balanced approach. For instance, he sees Romans 7 as a description of Paul's struggle against sin after, rather than before, his conversion (personally, I don't believe it's an either/or question, but refers to both time periods) and views Romans 11:26 as a prediction of future conversion of ethnic Israel, but not of every ethnic Israelite.
However, despite the Goodreads description's reference to "centuries of interpretive tradition and dogma [that] have muddied the waters" of Romans interpretation, and the assertion that Edwards "refuses to duck the tough theological questions that keep popping up in Romans," he does tend to sidestep modern theological controversies, and particularly to avoid any direct discussion of the whole Calvinist vs. Arminian debate (although both institutions where the author taught were Presbyterian-affiliated). The suspicion is almost inevitable that this might have been mandated by the publisher to avoid offending potential customers in either branch of the evangelical community; but in any case, bland avoidance of controversy is less helpful than direct discussion tempered by Christian love would be. (A passing reference to an Old Testament quotation as coming from "Second Isaiah" is also eye-rolling.) And overall, I was less impressed with the usefulness of the text as a resource for practical interpretation than I was with it when I only read it for the original review, much as a car may look impressive in the dealer's lot but have some bugs when it's driven. Nevertheless, I think it's basically a serviceable commentary that has its positives.
December 8, 2012
I have always found Romans troubling. For the people I know who read it, for me, for how it is preached. This principle book of the Reformation from which principally all of reformed and Lutherian theology is derived, while sensibly being eclipsed by a turn towards the Gospels in a post apologetical/preaching
world (thank goodness), is with Hebrews still the Theological tome of Christian Canon. As an epistle it represents the largest "letter like" piece of prose ever found from this period of the Roman world. But was it really about the law/Law? I now have my doubts, increasingly I feel it was about unity. Now having "elected" and been forced/disciplined to process Romans in Seminary, I truly felt that this commentary was the most approachable of the ones I studied. Moo, Jewett's, and Barth's commentaries are difficult, technical and Seminarian, but Edward's is very very good but also readable and understandable but everyone.
world (thank goodness), is with Hebrews still the Theological tome of Christian Canon. As an epistle it represents the largest "letter like" piece of prose ever found from this period of the Roman world. But was it really about the law/Law? I now have my doubts, increasingly I feel it was about unity. Now having "elected" and been forced/disciplined to process Romans in Seminary, I truly felt that this commentary was the most approachable of the ones I studied. Moo, Jewett's, and Barth's commentaries are difficult, technical and Seminarian, but Edward's is very very good but also readable and understandable but everyone.
December 20, 2009
Dr. Edwards has written a very understandable commentary. He doesn't bury you with overly academic language, instead he uses many clear and precise images from everyday life that will make sense to everyone. Edwards is academic without being overbearing and hard to understand. Great commentary!
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