Romans: A Theological and Pastoral Commentary
Overview
“Above all, Romans is a letter about Spirit-enabled participation and transformation in Christ and his story, and thus in the mission of God in the world.”
This commentary engages the letter to the Romans as Christian scripture and highlights the Pauline themes for which Michael Gorman is best known—participation and transformation, cruciformity and new life, peace and justice, community and mission. With extensive introductions both to the apostle Paul and to the letter itself, Gorman provides the needed background on Paul’s first-century context before proceeding into the rich theological landscape of the biblical text.
In line with Paul’s focus on Christian living, Gorman interprets Romans at a consistently practical level, highlighting the letter’s significance for Christian theology, for daily life, and for pastoral ministry. Questions for reflection and sidebars on important concepts make this especially useful for those preparing to preach or teach from Romans—the “epistle of life,” as Gorman calls it, for its extraordinary promise that, through faith, we “might walk in newness of life” with Christ.
- Focuses on themes of participation and transformation, cruciformity and new life, peace and justice, community and mission
- Includes reflection questions and sidebars on important concepts
- Highlights the letter’s significance for Christian theology, for daily life, and for pastoral ministry
Top Highlights
“When the gospel is proclaimed, the appropriate human response, enabled by God’s grace, is twofold: faith and baptism. When faith and baptism occur, a person is brought from being outside Christ to being in Christ. Being ‘in Christ,’ Paul’s basic term for what we would call being a Christian, means to be located within the resurrected Messiah by being in his body, the community or assembly of Christ-followers, and therefore under his lordship.” (Page 14)
“Being under the power of Sin is like having an addiction that manifests itself in concrete acts. Without an intervention, the result is death, both a living death in the present and a future, permanent separation from God. Death itself, then, is also a power.” (Page 11)
“Fundamentally, then, although Paul speaks in broad biblical, theological terms about the authority of authorities, practically speaking he portrays the Roman authorities as tax collectors.” (Page 255)
“In fact, Paul uses a form of the verb ‘justify’ in 6:7—literally ‘justified from Sin’—that is variously translated as ‘freed’ (NRSV, CEB, NET), ‘set free’ (NIV, ESV), or ‘absolved’ (NAB).” (Page 172)
“forgiveness for sins and liberation (redemption) from Sin—both an act of atonement and a new exodus” (Page 11)
- Title: Romans: A Theological and Pastoral Commentary
- Author: Michael J. Gorman
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Print Publication Date: 2022
- Logos Release Date: 2021
- Pages: 325
- Era: era:contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Bible. N.T. Romans › Commentaries
- ISBNs: 9780802877628, 0802877621
- Resource ID: LLS:RMNSTHLGCLPSCMM
- Resource Type: Bible Commentary
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T02:45:06Z
Reviews
1 rating
Steven Chapman
12/14/2023
Gorman is a phenomenal Bible teacher and exegete. If you have a shelf full of commentaries on Romans but lack this one, you need one more. This commentary is rich in technical exegesis, theological reflection and preaching insights. This was the go to for a recent preaching series through Romans. What makes this commentary so great is that Gorman is not so beholden to a theological ideology that he must force the text to speak words it never intends.