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Commentary on Romans (Commentary on the New Testament Book #6)
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Commentary on Romans (Commentary on the New Testament Book #6)
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Delve Deeper into God's Word In this verse-by-verse commentary, Robert Gundry offers a fresh, literal translation and a reliable exposition of Scripture for today's readers. Paul's letter to the Romans has been appropriately termed the cathedral of the Christian faith. Gundry's commentary on this profound book will help readers grasp one of the most valued parts of Scripture. Pastors, Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, and laypeople will welcome Gundry's nontechnical explanations and clarifications. And Bible students at all levels will appreciate his sparkling interpretations. This selection is from Gundry's Commentary on the New Testament.
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Biblischer KommentarRomans
Paul wrote this letter in Corinth, Greece, during his third missionary journey (15:25â26; 16:23; 1 Corinthians 1:14). There being no public postal service, the commendation of Phoebe, a woman who lived in Cenchrea right next door to Corinth, probably indicates that she carried the letter to Christians in Rome (16:1â2). They were predominantly Gentile (1:5â6; 13, 11:13, 22â31; 15:15â16). Paul hadnât founded a church in Rome, but he planned to visit the Christians there and gain their support for a mission to Spain farther west (15:24, 28). So the letter takes the form of a self-introduction in terms of the gospel he proclaims.
INTRODUCTION
Romans 1:1â17
The introduction to Romans divides into a greeting (1:1â7), Paulâs plan to visit Rome (1:8â15), and a statement of the letterâs theme (1:16â17).
1:1â7: Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called [to be] an apostle, having been set apart for the gospel of God 2that was promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3concerning his Son, who in accordance with flesh came on the scene out of Davidâs seed, 4who in accordance with the Spirit of Holiness was designated Godâs Son with power by resurrection from the deadâ[namely,] Jesus Christ, our Lord, 5through whom weâve received grace and apostleship for the purpose of bringing about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, 6among whom [referring to âall the Gentilesâ] also are you [as] Jesus Christâs called onesâ7to all Godâs beloved who are in Rome, called [to be] saints: Grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Paul identifies himself by name, by a self-designation (âa slave of Christ Jesusâ), and by a designation placed on him (âan apostleâ). To be the slave of an important personage gave one prestige, and the placement of âChristâ as a title (the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew âMessiahâ) before âJesusâ highlights Jesusâ importance. So Paulâs self-designation sounds a note of derived authority. Since most of the Roman Christians didnât know him, he needed to establish his bona fides right from the start. The note of authority carries over into the designation placed on him, for an apostle was someone sent to speak and act with the full authority of the sender. The mention of Christ Jesus makes clear that heâs the one who called Paul to be his apostle. As elsewhere, Paul uses âcalledâ for an effective initiative on the part of the caller (compare Isaiah 49:1â6; Jeremiah 1:4â5). âHaving been set apartâ distinguishes Paul from Christians who arenât apostles and thus underlines his authority yet again. âFor the gospelâ identifies proclamation of the gospel as the purpose of his call to apostleship. For the gospel as âpromised,â compare Galatians 3:13â29. âBeforehandâ indicates that the gospel was promised prior to the coming of Christ, whose death and resurrection made the gospel possible. âThrough his prophetsâ casts the prophets in the role of Godâs mouthpieces, so that the gospel originated from Godâhence, âthe gospel of God.â âIn the Holy Scripturesâ points to the written records of the prophetic promise and therefore assures the Roman Christians that Paul doesnât proclaim a gospel disagreeable with the Old Testament. âHolyâ describes those scriptures as sacred, that is, as different from other writings because of divine inspiration.
âConcerning his Sonâ tells who Christ Jesus is in relation to God and thus implies Jesusâ deity. As to humanity, Paul references Jesusâ physical descent from David, because the prophetic scriptures promised that the Messiah, the Christ, would stem from Davidâs royal line (2 Samuel 7:12â17; Isaiah 11:1â5, 10; Jeremiah 23:5â6; 33:14â17; Ezekiel 34:23â24; 37:24â25; Acts 13:22â23, 32â34; 2 Timothy 2:8). Since Paul has paired Jesusâ divine sonship and humanly physical descent, the designation of Jesus as âGodâs Son with powerâ puts emphasis on his investment with the power of his messianic office. âBy resurrection from the deadâ identifies the occasion of this investment (compare Acts 2:29â36). âIn accordance with the Spirit of Holinessâ attributes Jesusâ resurrection to the action of Godâs Spirit and indicates that itâs characteristic of the Spirit to give life through resurrection just as âin accordance with fleshâ indicated that itâs characteristic of flesh to give life through procreation (8:11; 1 Corinthians 15:45). And just as âHolyâ described the Scriptures as belonging to a different category from other writings because of divine inspiration, âof Holinessâ describes the Spirit as belonging to a different category from human, angelic, and demonic spirits because of divinity. (âThe Spirit of Holinessâ differs from Paulâs usual phrase, âthe Holy Spirit,â and thereby supports a hypothesis that heâs quoting an early Christian confession.)
âJesus Christâ identifies âGodâs Son,â and âour Lordâ identifies âJesus Christâ in terms of his designation as âGodâs Son with power.â âOurâ would seem at first to include the Roman Christians along with Paul. But he immediately uses âweâ for the recipients of âgrace and apostleshipâ in distinction from âyouâ who are âamong all the Gentiles.â So who are the âourâ and âweâ? Because Paul hasnât mentioned any cosenders of the letter (whereas in his other letters he usually does) and because his apostleship concentrates distinctively on the evangelizing of Gentiles (see, for example, Galatians 2:2, 7â9), most commentators think that Paul is using an editorial âourâ and âweâ that excludes any others. Nevertheless, he will send the Roman Christians greetings from Timothy as his âfellow workerâ (16:21); and elsewhere he regularly uses âwe,â âour,â and âusâ in close connection with his fellow workers, his traveling companions, and then switches to âI,â âmy,â and âmeâ for himself alone. It seems likely, then, that here Paul includes Timothy, anonymously for the time being, not as an apostle but as a sharer in Paulâs apostolic ministry to Gentiles. âGrace and apostleshipâ describes Paulâs apostleship as a gracious gift, ill-deserved because prior to his call he persecuted the church (see especially Galatians 1:13â16, 22â24). âThrough whomâ portrays Jesus Christ as the agent of this gracious apostleship and alludes to his calling and commissioning Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 26:12â18).
âThe obedience of faithâ makes believing the gospel an act of obedience in that the word translated âfaithâ can equally well be translated âbeliefâ (10:16; 15:18); and âthe obedience of faithâ puts this obedience in the category of belief/faith rather than of works (see 4:4â5 for Paulâs distinguishing between these categories). âAmong all the Gentilesâ establishes Paulâs apostolic prerogative to proclaim the gospel in Rome. âFor the sake of his nameâ means to bring Jesus Christ honor by getting Gentiles to confess him as Lord and to call on him as such for their salvation (10:9â10, 13). As âcalled ones,â the Roman Christians donât simply belong to Jesus Christ. He himself called them to salvation just as he called Paul to apostleship. As usual, the call proved effective. God loves the Roman Christians because his Son, Jesus Christ, called them. âTo all Godâs beloved who are in Romeâ finally locates the addressees and includes a minority of Jewish Christians (see, for example, 4:1; 16:3 [with Acts 18:3], 7) in addition to the majority of Gentile Christians (âall the Gentiles . . . among whom also are youâ), though there may be an allusion to groups of Christians scattered around the big city of Rome, in which case Paul is indicating that this letter should be circulated among them all (compare 16:4â5, 14â15). âCalled [to be] saintsâ doesnât mean that theyâre urged to become godly in their behavior (though of course they should)ârather, that their call has already consecrated them to God and in this respect made them unlike the other Gentiles, pagans, among whom they live. For the greeting âGrace . . . and peace,â see the comments on 1 Peter 1:2; 2 John 3. âFrom God, our Father, and the Lord, Jesus Christâ transforms an expected greeting from Paul into a greeting from God and Jesus Christ the Lord, so that once more the authority of this letter is underscored. Yet balancing the element of authority is the designation of God as âour Father,â for it establishes a familial framework for Paulâs coming explanation of the gospel. Since Jesus Christ is the divine Lord as well as a human being, Paul pairs him with God, so that the two become objects of one and the same preposition, âfrom.â
1:8â12: First, on the one hand, Iâm thanking my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being heralded in the whole world. 9For God, for whom Iâm doing religious service in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, is my witness [as to] how incessantly I mention you 10when begging [God] always on [the occasion of] my prayers if somehow now Iâll sometime have my way paved in Godâs will to come to you. 11For I long to see you in order that I may share with you some Spiritual gift so that you may be stabilizedâ12that is, on the other hand, so that [I] may be mutually encouraged among you through the faith [that we share] among one another, both your [faith] and mine. Letter-writers customarily followed the introductory address with a thanksgiving or prayer for the addressees. Here Paul follows the custom and includes both a thanksgiving and a prayer to establish rapport with the Roman Christians, because most of them are personally unacquainted with him. Such rapport will dispose them to accept his explanation of the gospel in the rest of his letter. Thanking God for them both compliments them and gives God the glory for their Christian faith, that is, their belief in Jesus Christ his Son. For âall of youâ see the comments on âall Godâs beloved who are in Romeâ (1:7). âIâm thanking my Godâ reflects Paulâs feeling of closeness to God. âThrough Jesus Christâ portrays him as the way to God for Paulâs giving of thanks to God. Rome was a big city and capital of a far-flung empire. It was natural, then, for the faith of Christian residents of that city to be heralded abroad: The gospel has reached Rome and prospered there! Since Paul aspires to proclaim the gospel where Christ hasnât yet been named (15:20) and since he plans to go to Spain (15:23â24), âin the whole worldâ means either that the Roman Christiansâ faith but not the substance of the gospel has been heralded in the whole world, or that Paul is using hyperbole. In either case, âthe whole worldâ probably means for him and his audience the civilized world consisting of the Roman Empire.
Paul calls his apostolic work a religious service for God. âIn my spiritâ describes this service as taking place within Paul himself, and therefore sincerely, rather than in a temple, where other religious service is normally done. âIn the gospel of [= about] his Sonâ describes this service as taking place also outwardly through Paulâs proclamation of this gospel (15:15â16). âGod . . . is my witnessâ emphasizes the truth of what Paul is about to say. Given Godâs witnessing how well Paulâs words agree or disagree with the truth, Paul wouldnât dare lie to the Romans. The truth is that as shown in his prayers, he wants to visit the Christians in Rome. âBeggingâ intensifies his praying that his way be paved for such a visit. âIncessantlyâ adds persistence to intensity. A redundant and therefore emphatic âalwaysâ fortifies the persistence. âSomehowâ indicates that Paul wants to visit the Roman Christians by any means possible, and âsometimeâ indicates he wants to visit them at any time possible. But ânowâ indicates his preference for a visit in the very near future. Nonetheless, âin Godâs willâ subordinates Paulâs desire and preference to the will of him âfor whom [heâs] doing religious service.â So how does Paulâs thanking God for the Roman Christians show itself? Answer: by the incessant mention of them in Paulâs prayers. Why does he mention them incessantly in his prayers? Answer: because of âlong[ing]â to see them. And what is the purpose of the desired seeing of them? Answer: the sharing with them of âsome Spiritual giftâ for their stabilization.
A Spiritual gift is a gift given to Christians by the Holy Spiritâhence the capitalization in âSpiritual.â Thereâs a multiplicity of such gifts (for listings, see 1 Corinthians 12:8â11, 28â30), and Paul has more than one of them (including apostleship, teaching, miracle-working, and speaking in tongues [see, for example, 1 Corinthians 14:18; 2 Corinthians 12:12]). Depending on what he sees the Roman Christians need, heâll share one of those gifts with them in the sense that heâll exercise it to their benefit. âSo that you may be stabilized [in your faith]â defines the benefit in view of the pressure on them to apostatize (16:17â19). âOn the other handâ balances mutual encouragement in a future visit over against Paulâs thanking God for them during present absence (1:8: âon the one handâ). By being among them Paul would both give and get encouragement. âThrough the faith [that we share] among one anotherâ would provide the means of mutual encouragement. âBoth your [faith] and mineâ underlines the sharing of faith in Jesus as that means.
1:13â15: And I donât want you to be ignorant, brothers, [of the fact] that Iâve often planned to come to you (and heretofore have been curbed [from doing so]) in order that I may have some fruit also among you, just as also among the rest of the Gentiles. 14To both Greeks and barbarians, to both wise people and mindless peop...