Abstract
Romans: A Commentary
This is not to say that this is a theological commentary detached from careful exegesis and historical research. Professor Gaventa is an accomplished exegete who provides us with an insightful translation of the text and skillfully addresses its many challenges. She is familiar with, and in dialogue with, the discussion on Romans, past and present, and her work is on a par with the magisterial commentaries of Cranfield, Fitzmyer, and others. The distinguishing aspect of this commentary for me, however, is its unrelenting focus on God’s eschatological victory in Christ over the cosmic powers of Sin and Death. It is a commentary that does what a commentary should do: it tells us what the text wants us to know about God. The focus is on God rather than on us.
Like other commentaries in the New Testament Library series, this work begins with an introduction that orients readers to what will follow. Gaventa tells us that her work will be theological as well as literary and historical in approach, and that it will employ a hermeneutic of generosity, by which she means that she will read the text as she would like her work to be read. In her introduction, she announces the theme that controls all that follows, namely that the gospel is the apocalyptic intrusion of God into the world in Jesus Christ. She then provides us with a helpful overview of the letter, which Paul writes to the Romans because there is, in his view, some deficit in their understanding of the gospel, especially in regard to the future of Israel. The commentary proper consists of a translation of the text, a series of brief notes that explain the translation, and an exegesis that proceeds according to how Gaventa structures the letter, thereby enabling us to follow the movement and argument of the letter more easily.
Gaventa makes many important translation decisions, and so it is important to pay attention to her translation, which I found illuminating. For example, she translates Rom 3:22 in this way: “that is, God’s righteousness through Jesus Christ-faith (dia pisteōs Iēsou Christou) for all who believe.” Although this may not be the most elegant translation, it goes beyond the current debate of whether Paul has in view faith in Christ or the faith of Christ. Instead, she argues that when Paul speaks of faith he has in view of what comes forth “from God’s action in Jesus Christ and returns to God in the form of human trust in that action in Jesus Christ. It is both generated by God’s action in Christ and oriented toward Jesus Christ” (p. 118).
Gaventa structures Romans in the following way: 1:1–12 (Opening the Letter); 1:13–4:25 (God acts to Reveal and Redeem); 5:1–8:39 (Christ, Cosmos, and Consequences); 9:1–11:36 (“All Israel”); 12.1–15:13 (Grasped by the Lordship of Christ); 15:14–16:23 [27] (Closing the Letter). Apart from her decision that the letter body begins at 1:13 rather than 1:16, this is a rather agreed-upon structure among most exegetes. What I find interesting, however, are the insightful ways that Gaventa relates each part to the rest of the letter, thereby interpreting the whole in terms of its theme: namely, the apocalyptic revelation of God in Jesus Christ to reclaim the world from the cosmic powers of Sin and Death, which she describes as “cosmic bullies” (p. 161). Thus, what Paul says about Sin, the Law, and Israel in the early parts of the letter are further explained as the letter unfolds in the story of Adam and Christ (ch. 5), the account of how Sin frustrates the Law (ch. 7), and the role of gentile and Jew in God’s plan (chs. 9–11). Gaventa does what every good exegete should do: she shows us how the letter coheres.
Her unrelenting focus on the cosmic battle between Sin and Death on the one hand, and God and Jesus Christ on the other, means that she does not see ch. 6 or chs. 12–15 as the ethical sections of the letter as many commentators do. There is, to be sure, exhortation for Christian living in these chapters, but the issue is more complex than that. Given the cosmic struggle between the powers of Sin and Death and God and Jesus Christ, the resolution of the human predicament is not just a matter of human repentance and conversion. Before any conversion and repentance can take place, the cosmic powers of Sin and Death must be defeated. And when they are defeated, our new life in Christ is more than a matter of living ethically; it is a matter of living in a way God makes possible through God’s apocalyptic victory in Jesus Christ.
Gaventa’s repeated insistence on the cosmic struggle that lies in the background of Romans may sound strange to contemporary ears, accustomed as they are to human progress. Is the situation so dire? Isn’t Paul exaggerating? Aren’t we better than that? If we are better than that, and if Paul is wrong about our predicament, there is no need for the gospel that he proclaims in this powerful letter. But here, Gaventa stands with Barth, and so do I.
Two final points. First, throughout this commentary, Gaventa frequently refers to Phoebe and her listeners, as when she writes, “Phoebe’s auditors may have relished Paul’s dramatic presentation of the rebellion and subsequent captivity of humanity” (p. 72). The presupposition here and throughout is that Phoebe is not just the letter-bearer, but also the one who proclaims the letter in the house churches of Rome to which Paul writes. While Gaventa acknowledges that the text does not explicitly say this, I found her frequent references to Phoebe compelling. After all, someone carried the letter to Rome, and someone read it. Why not “Phoebe our sister, who is also emissary of the church in Cenchreae” (Rom 16:1; Gaventa’s translation)? Phoebe may well have been present when Paul was composing parts of this letter in or near Corinth. If she was, and if Paul entrusted the letter to her, she would have been in a position to answer questions the Roman Christians had about Paul’s letter when she read it.
Second, throughout her commentary, Gaventa is sensitive to what Paul has to say about the future of Israel. How does the gospel understand the relationship between Jew and gentile? If God’s cosmic victory in Jesus Christ has brought salvation to the gentiles, what are we to say about Israel? Paul’s answer comes in Romans 9–11. He is aware that Israel failed to recognize God’s righteousness revealed in Jesus Christ and that some gentile believers have become arrogant in their view of Israel. He is insistent, however, that God has not rejected Israel. God’s apocalyptic victory in Jesus Christ encompasses Israel as well as the gentiles, both of whom have played their role in the great mystery of God revealed in Christ.
It should be clear by now that I am enthusiastic about this commentary. In addition to being an outstanding exposition of Romans, it allowed me to hear the word of God as I once heard it when I read Barth’s great commentary in Louvain. May it help those who are charged with preaching and teaching the gospel to do the same.