Abstract
This commentary on Romans is a revision of Moo’s 1996 first edition. In terms of scale, the commentary at first may not appear much larger, with the final page number in the first edition being p. 1012. However, there in great expansion in the pages numbered with Roman numerals—the first edition xxv, the second clvi, or 131 extra pages. This expansion is due almost exclusively to an enlarged and extensive bibliography in the new edition.
In terms of the introduction, little has been added. In the section on Text and Translation, in the first edition Moo mentions P46 as the major papyrus witness to Romans, but also lists the other papyri as P10, 26, 27, 31, 40, 61, 94 (p. 31). This list remains the same in the second edition (p. 29). In fact several new papyri of Romans have been published, including P99, 113, 118, 131. Similarly several new majuscule manuscripts have been published in the last twenty years, which are not mentioned in Moo’s updated edition. The differences in the body of the commentary are more difficult to spot without a close comparison. Moo states that he has ‘worked through the entire text, rearranging material and (I hope!) improving the English style.’ However, he notes that despite much new debate, he changed his mind ‘on relatively few points of exegesis or theology’ (p. xv).
This remains a major and highly valuable treatment of the text of Romans. For those who do not already possess the first edition, then it is worth purchasing the second edition. However, for those who already have the first edition on their book shelves, apart from the extended bibliography, purchase of this second edition might be more difficult to justify. Nonetheless, despite the passage of two decades, this remains a first–rate treatment of a letter which most consider to be the fullest flowering of Paul’s theological thought.