ROMANS A Commentary by William M. Greathouse with George Lyons
Introduction
We begin today our study of Paul’s letter to the Romans with primary reference to William M. Greathouse’s new two volume commentary on that great book. Romans will be the first of the New Beacon Bible Commentary to reach publication. It was originally scheduled to be one volume, but . . .!
First we briefly sketch the setting of the letter. It was written by Paul the apostle (1:1) to the Church in Rome (1:7), probably from Corinth sometime between 53-59 AD. His purpose in writing, an often debated issue, was “to persuade the Roman Christian community to join him in a cooperative mission to evangelize Spain.” In the process he set forth his understanding of the gospel as “the power of God” and its ethical implications for life and the success of the mission. The precise origins of the church are unknown but there is evidence that Christianity had been introduced to the Jewish community of Rome at least by 49 AD. By Paul’s time it was predominately Gentile.
To complete our introduction we can do no better than take a few paragraphs out of William M. Greathouse’s Preface to his commentary:
Romans has become a familiar friend. In 1968 my first commentary, "Romans," was published as 275-pages of volume eight of the ten-volume Beacon Bible Commentary. In 1975 my devotional commentary in Beacon Bible Expositions was published. This third effort is not a revision of either. It is a fresh commentary, coming after monumental developments in Romans scholarship in the intervening years. . . .
One notable effect of the new perspective is a significant loss of confidence in the objectivity and certainty of Reformed Protestant readings of Romans, emphasizing personal redemption and the Lutheran understanding of justification. This pessimistic understanding of Christian living had prevailed in Western Christianity from the time of the Reformation. In brief, it viewed God's righteousness as simply the gift of justifying faith, understood mainly as a change of relationship and status for believers. In this view, justified believers remain simul justus et peccator ("at once righteous and sinful") until death. Christians, therefore, remain the sin-victimized "wretched human" of Rom 7:24. The gracious gift of justification, however, does relieve the Angst of guilt and the fear of death, producing in the believer a peaceful conscience. Any talk of true ethical righteousness or sanctification in this present life, however, is ruled out by definition. Any "righteousness" or "holiness" ascribed to Christians is only "imputed." This pessimism served to widen the gap between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism.
Ironically, it was Lutheran Ernst Käsemann's 1980 Commentary on Romans that first seriously challenged the Lutheran consensus that God's righteousness was simply the gift of justifying faith. He argues that God's righteousness is
primarily a power rather than a gift . . . . The phrase "the righteousness of God" in Paul . . . speaks of the God who brings back the fallen world into the sphere of his legitimate claim . . . [in] the Son of God . . . as our Kyrios, the one eschatological gift of God to us" (28-29).
God's righteousness is both God's gift and his demand; the Giver always unfailingly accompanies the Gift. Käsemann thereby opens the way for a real doctrine of Christian ethical righteousness and sanctification—precisely Paul's doctrine in Romans 6—8 and 12—15.
It was this understanding of Romans that the Oxford don turned itinerate Anglican evangelist, John Wesley, vigorously defended during the eighteenth century. More recently, it is the view supported by Anglican bishop N. T. Wright's treatments of Paul's theology. All these developments are good news for Wesleyan scholars, whose approach to Romans was regarded with jaded eyes as special pleading motivated by dogmatic considerations. Today, NT scholars of every stripe, many of them highly regarded Romans scholars, espouse an "optimism of grace" much like that Wesley proclaimed. Such grace promises Christians a righteousness and holiness that are genuinely ethical and realizable in the life of the Spirit now.
An Outline of Romans William M. Greathouse
I. Letter Prescript (1:1-15)
A. The Apostolic Greeting (1:1-7) 1Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, . . .7To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. B. Paul's Interest in the Roman Church (1:8-15) 1. Paul's Prayer (1:8-12)
8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. . . . 11For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
2. Paul’s Plans (1:13-15) 13I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. 14I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish 15—hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
II. The Gospel of God's Righteousness (1:16—15:13)
The Thesis of the Letter (1:16-17) 16For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”
A. God's Righteousness Needed (1:18—3:20) 1. The Human Predicament (1:18-32)
18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth.
2. God's Righteous Judgment (2:1-16)
11For God shows no partiality. 12All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
3. The Challenge to Jews (2:17-29) 28For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. 29Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart—it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God. 4. The Advantage of the Jews (3:1-8)
3Then what advantage has the Jew? . . . 2Much, in every way. For in the first place the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.
5. No One Is Righteous (3:9-20) 10as it is written: “There is no one who is righteous, not even one; B. God's Righteousness Provided (3:21—8:39) 1. The Gospel of Justification (3:21—4:25)
21But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. . . . 4What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? 2For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” . . . 23Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, 24but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification. 2. The Hope of the Gospel (5:1—8:39)
a. Justification (5:1-21) 5Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . 5and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. . . . 20But law came in, with the result that the trespass multiplied; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. b. Sanctification and Glory (6:1—8:39)
Sanctification Through Death to Sin (6:1-23)
11So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. . . . 22But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life.
(2) Sanctification Through Death to the Law (7:1-25) 6But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are slaves not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit. (3)Sanctification Through Christ (8:1-39) 8There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. . . . 4so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. . . . 16it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, . . . 28We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. . . . 31What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?
C. God's Righteousness in History (9:1—11:36)
1. The Problem of Israel's Unbelief (9:1-5)
9I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit— 2I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh.
2. The First Answer: God's Promises Are Only to Believers (9:6-29)
11Even before they had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose of election might continue, . . . 18So then he has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses.
3. The Second Answer: Israel Rejected for Unbelief (9:30—10:21)
Israel's "Stumbling" over Christ (9:30—10:4)
30What then are we to say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith; 31but Israel, who did strive for the righteousness that is based on the law, did not succeed in fulfilling that law. 32Why not? Because they did not strive for it on the basis of faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,
b. Scripture's Witness to Righteousness by Faith (10:5-13) 8But what does it say? “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” c. Israel's Unbelief Is Inexcusable (10:14-21) 16But not all have obeyed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ. . . . . 21But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” 4. The Third Answer: Israel's Rejection Not Final (11:1-32)
a. A Remnant of Israel Is Already in the Church (11:1-10)
5So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
Israel's Fall and the Gentiles' Salvation (11:11-24)
11So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their stumbling salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.
c. The Mystery of Salvation (11:25-27)
25So that you may not claim to be wiser than you are, brothers and sisters, I want you to understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26And so all Israel will be saved; as it is written, “Out of Zion will come the Deliverer; he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.” 27“And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”
d. Mercy for All (11:28-32)
32For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.
5. Concluding Doxology (11:33-36) 33O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
D. God's Righteousness in Practice (12:1—15:13) 1. The Basis of Christian Ethics (12:1-2)
12I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
2. Love Expresses the Righteousness of God (12:3—13:10)
a. Humility and Mutual Service (12:3-8)
4For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.
b. Christian Love in Practice (12:9—13:10)
8Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
3. An Ethic of the Dawn (13:11-14) 11Besides this, you know what time it is, . . . 12the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. . . . 14put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. 4. Love Expresses the Acceptance of Christ in Community Life (14:1—15:13)
The Strong and the Weak (14:1-12)
7We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves.
b. Walking in Love Despite Community Differences (14:13-23)
19Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
Accepting One Another as Christ Accepted Us (15:1-13)
7Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
III. Conclusion: Romans 15:14—16:27 A. Paul's Travel Plans (15:14-33) 1. To Rome and to Spain (15:14-22)
20Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the good news, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else’s foundation,
2. But First to Jerusalem (15:23-33) 23But now, with no further place for me in these regions, I desire, as I have for many years, to come to you 24when I go to Spain. For I do hope to see you on my journey and to be sent on by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a little while. 25At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem in a ministry to the saints;
B. Paul's Recommendation of Phoebe (16:1-2) 16I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae, 2so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well.
C. Paul's Greetings to Acquaintances 16:3-16)
16Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.
D. Paul's Warnings About False Teachers (16:17-20)
17I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them. 18For such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded.
E. Greeting from Paul's Companions (16:21-24)
21Timothy, my co-worker, greets you; . . .
F. Doxology (16:25-27) 25Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 27to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen. Conclusion
For our conclusion we quote from Greathouse’s Introduction on “The Importance of Romans”:
Of Romans, Martin Luther wrote: "This letter is the principal part of the new Testament and the purest gospel, which surely deserves the honor that a Christian man should not merely know it by heart word for word, but that he should be occupied with it daily as the daily bread of his soul. For it can never be read too often or too well. And the more it is used the more delicious it becomes and the better it tastes."
Throughout the centuries this Epistle has in a peculiar way been able to furnish an impulse for spiritual renewal. When the Church had drifted away from the gospel, a deep study of Romans has repeatedly been the means by which the loss has been recovered. Who can estimate the far-reaching effects upon the Church and the world of the conversion of Augustine through the prayers of his godly mother Monica, Bishop Ambrose of Milan, and his reading of Rom 13:11-14.
In November, 1515, Martin Luther, Augustinian monk and doctor of sacred theology at the University of Wittenberg, began his expositions of Romans. As he prepared his lectures he came to see more clearly the meaning of Paul's gospel of justification by faith. The phrase the "righteousness of God," he had once hated as demanding what he could not deliver. Now in his study he came to see righteousness as a gift of God by which a person came to live, by faith. And he felt himself reborn. The consequence of this new insight the world knows. The Protestant Reformation had been born.
Under the date of May 24, 1738, John Wesley noted in his Journal:
In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation: And an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death (1979, 1:103).
In that moment the Evangelical Revival of the eighteenth century was born.
In August, 1918, Karl Barth, pastor of Safenwil in Canton Aargau, Switzerland, published an exposition of the Epistle to the Romans. "The reader," he said in the preface,
will detect for himself that it has been written with a joyful sense of discovery. The mighty voice of Paul was new to me: and if to me, no doubt to many others also. And yet, now that my work is finished, I perceive that much remains which I have not yet heard. (1933, 2).
But what Barth heard he wrote down—and that first edition of his Romerbrief fell "like a bombshell on the theologians' playground." That "bombshell" exploded the liberal humanistic theology that prevailed in the early twentieth century and gave birth to the Evangelical movement that has subsequently revolutionized Protestantism (Collins 2005).
What happened to Augustine, Luther, Wesley, and Barth has turned the tide of Western civilization and culture. On a smaller scale similar things happen to us as we let the words of this Epistle come alive to our minds and hearts in the power of the Holy Spirit. Edited by George Lyons, New Beacon Bible Commentary, general editors Alex Aarughese and Roger Hahn (Kansas City, Missouri: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, © 2008). William M. Greathouse: Outline I. Letter Prescript (1:1-15) A. The Apostolic Greeting (1:1-7) B. Paul's Interest in the Roman Church (1:8-15) II. The Gospel of God's Righteousness (1:16—15:13) The Thesis of the Letter (1:16-17) A. God's Righteousness Needed (1:18—3:20) B. God's Righteousness Provided (3:21—8:39) C. God's Righteousness in History (9:1—11:36) D. God's Righteousness in Practice (12:1—15:13) III. Conclusion: Romans 15:14—16:27
See, e.g., his 1993 Climax of the Covenant. Greathouse’s full outline often goes into greater detail than reproduced here. a. The Meaning of Justification (3:21-26) b. Three Conclusions from God's Justifying Act (3:27-31) c. Scriptural Witness to Righteousness by Faith (4:1-25)
(1) Sincere Love (12:9-13) (2) Love Under Pressure (12:14-16) (3) Love Expressed in the World (12:17-21) (4) Love Applied to Government (13:1-7) (5) Love Fulfills the Law (13:8-10) One summer day in the year AD 386 the brilliant but licentious Augustine of Hippo in North Africa, professor of rhetoric at Milan, sat weeping in the garden of his friend Alypius. Having fled the prayers of his godly mother, Monica, he had, in answer to those prayers, come under the influence of Bishop Ambrose' preaching in Milan. As he sat that day in the garden, almost persuaded to break with his old life of sin, he heard the voice of a child chanting in an adjoining garden. He thought he caught the Latin words, Tolle lege! Tolle lege!—"Pick it up, read it; pick it up, read it." Receiving this as a voice from God, he took up a Bible, and his eyes first lit on the words of Rom 13:13-14: ". . . not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh." "I wanted to read no further, nor did I need to. For instantly, as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty and all the gloom of doubt vanished away" (1955, 8.13). Who can estimate the far-reaching effects upon the Church and the world of this illumination of Augustine's heart and mind?
Catholic theologian Karl Adam, in Das Hochland, June 1926, as quoted in J. McConnachie. 1926-27. "The Teaching of Karl Barth." Hibbert Journal 25:385.
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