Romans Book

Welcome to the Teach the Text Commentary Series vii

Introduction to the Teach the Text Commentary Series ix

Preface xi

Abbreviations xii

Introduction to Romans 1

Romans 1:1-7 The Gospel of God in Christ through Paul 16

Romans 1:8-15 The Obedience of Faith of the Gentiles 22

Romans 1:16-17 The Gospel of Deliverance 28

Romans 1:18-32 The Story of Israel and the Story of Gentiles 34

Romans 2:1-11 The Story of Israel Now and Later 40

Romans 2:12-16 The Story of the Gentiles Now and Later 46

Romans 2:17-24 Paul Reinterprets the Story of Israel 52

Romans 2:25-29 The Gentiles and the Restoration of Israel 58

Romans 3:1-8 The Faithfulness of God and the Covenantal Curses on Israel 64

Romans 3:9-20 The Whole World Is under the Curses of the Covenant 70

Romans 3:21-26 God's Saving Righteousness and the Restoration of Israel 76

Additional Insights: Sacrifice | Redemption | Paul's Use of Traditional Material 82

Romans 3:27-31 Boasting in the Law versus Justification by Faith 84

Additional Insights: Faith and Law in Paul 90

Romans 4:1-8 The Story of Abraham versus the Story of Israel 92

Romans 4:9-17a The Abrahamic Covenant versus the Mosaic Covenant 98

Romans 4:17b-25 Faith, Abraham, and the Christian 104

Romans 5:1-4 The New-Covenant Blessings: Peace and Hope 110

Romans 5:5-11 The New-Covenant Blessings: Love 116

Romans 5:12-14 Adam, the Law, and the Curse of the Covenant 122

Romans 5:15-21 The New Humanity as a Blessing of the New Covenant 128

Romans 6:1-7 New Dominion as a Blessing of the New Covenant: Dead to Sin 134

Additional Insights: The Backgrounds of Christian Baptism 140

Romans 6:8-14 New Dominion as a Blessing of the New Covenant: Alive to God 142

Romans 6:15-23 The Christian's New Dominion: Dedicated to Righteousness 148

Romans 7:1-12 Freedom from the Law through Christ, Enslavement to the Law through Adam 154

Romans 7:13-25 "Wretched Man That I Am": Battle of the Two Ages within the Christian 160

Romans 8:1-17 The Holy Spirit and the Blessings of the New Covenant 166

Romans 8:18-30 The Spirit and the Glory of the Age to Come and the New Covenant 172

Romans 8:31-39 Justification before God because of the Love of Christ 178

Romans 9:1-5 Israel and the Present Curses and the Past Blessings of the Covenant 184

Romans 9:6-29 Covenantal Curses on Israel, Covenantal Blessings on Gentiles 190

Romans 9:30-10:5 The Reversal of the Deuteronomic Curses and Blessings: Replacing Law with Faith 196

Additional Insights: Deuteronomic Background | Zealotry | Telos 202

Romans 10:6-21 The Reversal of the Deuteronomic Curses and Blessings: Righteousness by Faith 204

Romans 11:1-10 Exile for National Israel, Restoration for Spiritual Israel 210

Romans 11:11-24 The Kindness and Sternness of God 216

Romans 11:25-32 The Mystery and Mercy of God 222

Romans 11:33-36 The Divine Plan of Salvation 228

Romans 12:1-2 Witnesses of the New Covenant 234

Romans 12:3-8 Service in the New-Covenant Community 240

Additional Insights: The Background of Paul's Body Imagery 246

Romans 12:9-21 The New-Covenant Ethic of Love 248

Romans 13:1-7 God and Government 254

Romans 13:8-14 Ethics and Eschatology 260

Romans 14:1-12 "Weak and Strong" Should Get Along 266

Romans 14:13-23 Strong and Weak Christians: The New and the Old Covenants 272

Romans 15:1-13 The Unity of the Strong and the Weak and the New Covenant 278

Romans 15:14-21 Paul the Apostle of the New Covenant to the Gentiles 284

Romans 15:22-29 Paul's Collection for Jerusalem and Mission to Spain 290

Romans 15:30-33 Curses on Unbelievers, Blessings on Believers 296

Romans 16:1-2 Paul, Phoebe, Patronage, and Spain 302

Romans 16:3-16 Paul's Greetings to the Roman Churches 308

Romans 16:17-20 Curses on the False Teachers, Blessings on the Roman Christians 314

Romans 16:21-23 Greetings to Roman Christians from Paul's Coworkers in Corinth 320

Romans 16:25-27 The Doxology 326

Notes 333

Bibliography 343

Image Credits 348

Contributors 349

Subject Index 350