Introducing Romans

Critical Issues in Paul’s Most Famous Letter

Richard N. Longenecker

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, U.K.

© 2011 Richard N. Longenecker

All rights reserved

Published 2011 by

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 /

P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Longenecker, Richard N.

Introducing Romans: critical issues in Paul’s most famous letter /Richard N. Longenecker.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8028-6619-6 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Bible. N.T. Romans—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title.

BS2665.52.L66 2011

227′.106–dc22

2010044282

www.eerdmans.com

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Bibliography of Selected Commentaries

Part One: important matters largely uncontested today

I. Author, Amanuensis, and Involvement of Others

1. Author

2. Amanuensis

3. Involvement of Others

II. Integrity

1. Glosses and Interpolations

2. Form of the Original Letter

3. Major Text-Critical Issues Today

III. Occasion and Date

1. Occasion

2. Date

Part Two: Two Pivotal Issues

IV. Addressees

1. Rome in Paul’s Day

2. Jews and Judaism at Rome

3. Christianity at Rome

4. Identity, Character, Circumstances, and Concerns of Paul’s Addressees

V. Purpose

1. Positions Based on Paul’s Own Consciousness and Ministry

2. Positions Based on Conditions Existing Among the Christians at Rome

3. Toward a Proper Method for Determining Paul’s Purpose or Purposes

4. The Impact of Our Proposed Understanding of the Letter’s Addressees

5. Primary and Subsidiary Purposes for the Writing of Romans

6. Summation and Broader Context

Part Three: Conventions, Procedures, and Themes

VI. Greco-Roman Oral, Rhetorical, and Epistolary Conventions

1. Oral Conventions

2. Rhetorical Conventions

3. Epistolary Conventions

VII. Jewish and Jewish Christian Procedures and Themes

1. Biblical Quotations and Allusions

2. Confessional Affirmations and Other Traditional Materials

3. Remnant Theology and Rhetoric

4. Underlying Narrative Features

Part Four: Textual and Interpretive concerns

VIII. Establishing the Text

1. An Overview of the New Testament Textual Tradition

2. The Contemporary Re-evaluation of the Textual Tradition

3. The Impact of This New Approach on New Testament Textual Determinations

4. The Challenge of Establishing the Text of Romans Today

IX. Major Interpretive Approaches Prominent Today

1. “The Righteousness of God” and “Righteousness”

2. “Justification” and “Faith”

3. “In Christ” and “Christ by His Spirit in Us”

4. The Πίστις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ Theme

5. The “New Perspective” on Palestinian Judaism and Paul

6. “Honor” and “Shame”

7. “Reconciliation” and “Peace”

8. A Concluding Remark regarding Patterns of Distribution and Paul’s Use of These Themes and Features in Romans

Part Five: Focus, Structure, and Argument of Romans

X. Focus or Central Thrust of the Letter

1. The Materials of Rom 1:18–3:20

2. The Materials ...