Romans

Fitzmyer’s Anchor Bible volume is one of the great reference commentaries on Romans and deserves to be read alongside Cranfield and Moo rather than merely as a Roman Catholic alternative to them. He combines exceptional command of Greek, textual criticism, Second Temple Judaism, early Christian literature and the history of interpretation with substantial independent exegetical judgment. His treatment of Romans 3:21–31 is especially strong, presenting the passage as a concentrated statement of Paul’s gospel while carefully distinguishing justification, redemption, expiation, grace and faith. Particularly striking is his insistence that, although Jewish texts such as Qumran could speak strongly of divine grace, Paul’s distinctive claim is that justification is solo Christo and sola fide, grounded in Christ’s death and received apart from observance of the Mosaic law. His discussions can be dense and his conclusions will not always persuade evangelical readers, but the breadth of evidence, philological precision and freedom from narrow confessional special pleading make this an outstanding commentary.

Simply outstanding.

 

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