Romans reading

I've had a couple of recent requests for info on what's recent and worth reading on Romans.

Here's an email reply...

Hi Philip,

Lovely to hear from you and apologies for a slow response!

depends what you're after of course. Tom Schreiner and Doug Moo are both about to publish the second editions of their commentaries which will substantially update those very strong works. Both due end of this year I think which may come too late for you.

Will Timmins has published his PhD on Romans 7 - it'll be a key part of the debate for decades I suspect -  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Romans-Christian-Identity-Testament-Monograph/dp/1107197090

John Barclay's Paul and the Gift has some very stimulating material on Romans and is well worth engaging with.

On the Greek text, John Harvey's volume in the EGGNT series is very helpful for keeping Greek fresh ;)

David Peterson's commentary (Holman - Biblical Theology for Christian Proclamation series) looks good though I've not dug deep yet.

David Starling has a super article in Themelios - 'For Your Sake We Are Being Killed All Day Long': Romans 8:36 and the Hermeneutics of Unexplained Suffering.

Sigurd Grindheim is also a writer I've always enjoyed and I notice he's written a couple of journal articles on Romans lately:

 “A Theology of Glory: Paul’s Use of Δόξα Terminology in Romans,” Journal of Biblical Literature 136.2 (2017): 451–65;

 “The Kingdom of God in Romans,” Biblica 98.1 (2017): 72–90.  If they are of interest it's always worth seeking an author out on Academia.edu /social media and asking for a PDF...

Trust things are well at your end,

Yours in Christ,

David.

delegalising the gospel

Three helpful paragraphs from an essay on ‘Forensic Metaphors in Romans’:

"As far as his dealings with believers are concerned, this judge [God] shocks all expectations. He sides with the guilty; he takes painful measures to vouchsafe their acquittal; he shows mercy where he should have punished severely; he acquits unconditionally. Instead of judicial objectivity and equity, mercy is now the norm. The only requirement is that they should accept his offer. Instances of pardon were well-known in Romans legal practice, but these were spasmodic, eclectic, frequently qualified and conditional, and very often politically motivated. A timeless, universal and absolutely unconditional pardon like the one here in Romans, was totally unheard of."

"Metaphors have their strengths and weakness. Paul’s forensic imagery also has its limitations. As such, it can only depict sin as guilt before God. Other metaphors are necessary to portray, for example, its enslaving, estranging or defiling aspects. It also cannot describe the specific effect of Christ’s salvific work. For that purpose Paul had to resort to other metaphors like deliverance (Rom 3:24), atonement (3:25) and reconciliation (5:10-11). An additional weakness is that, apart from their new status as righteous and the imperative resulting from it, the forensic imagery focusses pre-eminently on believers’ entry into the new community. It reveals very little about the nature of their new life in Christ."

"On the other hand, Paul’s forensic metaphors are pre-eminently suited to highlight the sovereign activity of God, the radicality of sin and the even greater radicality of grace. In order to highlight the surprising otherness and the joy-bringing “goodness” of the good news to his Romans addressees, the apostle could scarcely have made a better choice. This was the language they would understand Ironical as it may seem, exactly by using forensic imagery, Paul completely delegalized the Christian message. In God’s gospel court room grace reigns supreme (Rom 5:20-21)."

Andrie B. du Toit ‘Forensic Metaphors in Romans and their Soteriological Significance,’ Salvation in the New Testament: Perspectives on Soteriology, ed. Jan. G. van der Watt (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 213-246 (this quote on 242-243, emphasis original).