Sherwood Romans

A Structural, Thematic, and Exegetical Commentary
1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68359-402-4
Verlag: Lexham Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 936 Seiten

Paul's majestic letter to the Romans has impacted generations of readers. Christians regularly turn to it as a foundation for doctrine, evangelism, and Christian living. However, individual verses are often pulled from their context or later doctrinal formulations are imported into the text. Are we truly following Paul's meaning? What if we reread Romans on its own terms, with sensitivity to its flow and structure? Aaron Sherwood's Romans commentary keeps Paul's argument central. As we encounter the letter's message and theology, the forest is never lost for the trees. Reading Romans with rhetorical perception results in illuminating and sometimes surprising conclusions. Encounter afresh this majestic letter with Sherwood's insightful commentary.

Aaron Sherwood (PhD, Durham University) is an Instructor for Regent College and the author of Paul and The Restoration of Humanity in Light of Ancient Jewish Traditions.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sherwood, Aaron

Leseproben

VI. GLOSSARY

This section of the introduction offers a limited annotated glossary of some of the more potent terms that Paul uses in Romans. They are included here for convenience of reference, in order to help with accessibility and maximize the lucidity of this volume. Terms may be included here because their meanings in English and Greek are sufficiently different as to potentially cause confusion, or because they are technically challenging, and the commentary on the text relies upon a precise disambiguation.

apostle (+ prophecy) (see “Paul’s profile”; 10:15)—The first-century church’s notion of an apostle draws upon part of the biblical profile of a prophet, within the Jewish background of Romans. Scripture uses a royal metaphor to characterize God. He is a king, and prophets are his royal ambassadors. In antiquity, travel over great distances, and therefore international diplomacy, could take years. Accordingly, an ambassador was the full personal representation of a king (and his kingdom) before a foreign nation. Paul’s position as God’s apostle in Romans is very much the same. As an evangelist and an apostle, he is sent by God as an ambassador of the gospel, to those who are “foreigners” to God’s kingdom.

On a related point, what is meant by “prophecy” in the ancient world also needs to be soundly understood (especially given Paul’s prolific use of Scripture in Romans; see “Paul’s Use of Scripture,” page 67). Prophecy is not future prediction, and the fulfillment (or realization) of a prophecy is not simply an event coming to pass in the present which was predicted in the past. Prophecy is fundamentally the ambassadorial message that prophets in Scripture bring from God, to Israel. The relevance for interpretation of Romans is that when Paul references a scripture in the letter, he is not claiming that it was a prediction that he now is interpreting as “coming true.”102

believe/faith (see 1:16b THEOLOGICAL NOTE)—In conventional translations of Romans, “faith” translates the Greek noun p?st??, and “(to) believe” translates the verb p?ste??. In English, this would seem to indicate an emphasis on thoughts, or even opinions, about the truth of given propositions. For some students of Romans, the English term faith may even connote the kind of belief that defies absent or contrary evidence. However, both first-century Greek usage of p?st??/p?ste?? and the Hebrew terms to which they relate have more to do with relational trust than they do with thoughts. In Romans, it is more often than not best to render these terms using, respectively, “trust” and “to trust” (or “to have trust in”). This is especially germane in those parts of Paul’s discussion where he speaks of people being “believers,” or as having “faith.”

call(ing) (see 1:7a; 9:28)—Within the Jewish background of Romans, “to call” is a technical term that refers to the ancient significance of naming. In Scripture, an individual’s name designates or characterizes the life she is meant to lead, and often how God desires for her to co-mission with him in life. When God calls or names someone, he is inviting her both to a relationship with himself and to an identity that includes a vocation which she may accomplish in partnership with God. Notably (and contrary to some interpretive traditions), “calling” in Romans is unrelated to salvation, and also does not indicate anything in particular regarding God’s effective will for an individual or a group.

diatribe (see 2:1)—Diatribe is a literary (and rhetorical) form used in antiquity. It often adopts an aggressive or confrontational posture for effect. Diatribe commonly emphasizes a more logical (since argumentative) approach and employs techniques like asking and then supplying answers to rhetorical questions. Paul uses this form in various parts of Romans, such as the antithesis (within the apology) of 1:18–3:20, or when responding to a final objection in chapters 9–11.

flesh (see 7:5, 14; 8:3–9)—Paul uses language of “the flesh,” especially in chapters 7–8, speaking in connection with sinners’ sinfulness (cf. sin). First, it is important to recognize what Paul is not referring to. His use of “the flesh” does not refer to what is material or physical (and so does not indicate a metaphysical dualism of, for example, mind or spirit versus material); nor is it a euphemism for improper sexual gratification. Second and equally important is what “the flesh” is referring to. “The flesh” in Romans is human nature in its “native” environment of the post-Genesis 3 creation, which has been corrupted by sin and chaos. So in principle, “the flesh” is a neutral construct for Paul. But the occurrences in Romans frequently have to do with how sinners are not righteousized, and how their circumstance contrasts with that of righteousized believers. So in practice, “the flesh” in Romans refers to the version of a person’s self that is infected by sin, which is, as a result, under the authority and control of the power of sin. A person who is characterized by “the flesh” is not yet righteousized, and so continues to live a lifestyle that is characterized by sin and unrighteousness—even if she may no longer want to (cf. 7:13–20).

“Gentile”/non-Jew(s) (+ national Israel) (see 1:5 HISTORICAL NOTE; cf. 1:16 n. 13)—“Gentile” is an exclusively Jewish designation that refers to non-Jews. Given how much of the population in the first-century Empire was not Jewish, this label would not have seen frequent everyday usage; first-century non-Jews certainly labeled themselves by whatever they were (Scythian, Roman, etc.), and not relative to Jews’ perception of them. The English “gentile” is actually a loanword from Latin, which translates the Greek term ????. And finally, the Jewish perspective and biblical background of Romans means that among early Judaisms, the term ???? translates the Hebrew term (goyim) in Scripture. That is, early Judaisms retained the convention of Scripture of dividing humanity into the two classes of Israel and the nations (i.e., “not-Israel”). Given this frame of reference in Romans, it is most beneficial to speak in terms of “non-Jews” and “the nations,” rather than resorting to the opaque and potentially distracting language of “Gentile(s).”

Similarly, it is challenging to speak of Paul’s references in Romans to first-century unbelieving Jews in a manner that is not anachronistic. Jews in the empire of late antiquity were not an independent people, but did still consider themselves to be God’s covenant people. As well, neither modern nation states nor modern conceptions of ethnic groups existed at the time. Even the modern religion of Judaism had not yet emerged, and in any case, being Jewish inseparably included aspects of religion, ethnicity, and social identity. Partly for lack of a better term, then, unbelieving first-century Jews are referred to as “national Israel” in this volume.103

(God’s) glory (see 3:23)—Paul refers in various parts of Romans to how God is, of course, glorious, and deserving of praise and glory. But Paul uses especially the expression “God’s glory” in a technical sense, as a reference to God’s immortality. In particular, God is the living God in the Jewish background of Romans. His life is therefore incorruptible, entirely holy, and unending. As such, “God’s glory” in Romans means God’s perfect and immortal life.

grace (see 3:24a second THEOLOGICAL NOTE)—Conventionally, the English word “grace” translates the Greek word ????? (cf. Hebrew ). If it would not too greatly impede accessibility to the text and its analysis, then for the sake of precision it would be best to leave the term untranslated as ????? throughout this volume. On one traditional understanding, “grace” in both Romans and Christian(/Pauline) theology is God’s free gift of salvation, which cannot be earned and which comes without any conditions attached. However, this is only partly accurate for ????? in Romans; there are even places where Paul makes a distinction using the related terms d??e?? and ????sµa.

Instead, ????? brings forward both the Jewish background connotation of the royal metaphor used for describing God in Scripture, and the Greco-Roman concept of the kind of conditional gift that is integral to the vital social institution of patron/client relationships. In Romans, “grace” refers to God’s free gift (not necessarily of salvation) that is unmerited and unconditioned, but which forms a relationship that generates the condition (or obligation) of faithful devotion and trust toward God.

idolatry and image (see 9:15, 17, 20b; also 1:23)—In Romans Paul refers to the motif of idolatry at multiple critical junctures, as for example his account of human wickedness (1:18–32), and his discussion of national Israel’s response to his gospel (chs. 9–11). At such moments, Paul presuppositionally references the notion that God created humanity in his image and to be in a...