Section I Paul’s Introduction

¹John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans, I (“New International Commentary”; Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1959), 1.

²Anders Nygren, op. cit., p. 43.

³Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans (London: Oxford University Press, 1933), p. 27.

⁴W. Sanday and A. C. Headlam, The Epistle to the Romans (“The International Critical Commentary” New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1929), p. 3. Hereafter cited as ICC.

⁵St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1883), p. 74.

⁶F. F. Bruce, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans (“The Tyndale Bible Commentaries” Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1963), p. 71.

⁷Nygren, op. cit., p. 46.

⁸The Epistle to the Romans, p. 37.

⁹G. T. Thomson and F. Davidson, “The Epistle to the Romans” (New Bible Commentary; Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1953), p. 942.

¹⁰Bruce, loc. tit., p. 71.

¹¹Barth, The Epistle to the Romans, p. 28. Cf. II Cor. 3:14-16.

¹²Nygren, op. cit., p. 47.

¹³The Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans(“Harper’s New Testament Commentaries” New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1957), pp. 18-19.

¹⁴The Epistle to the Romans (Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Co., 1957), p. 36.

¹⁵Barrett, op. cit., p. 19.

¹⁶ICC, p. 6.

¹⁷Op. cit., p. 9.

¹⁸The Epistle to the Hebrews (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1959), pp. 52-53 (italics mine). Wiley quotes Rom. 1:3-4 as a passage parallel to Heb. 1:5.

¹⁹Op. cit., p. 48.

²⁰Op. cit., p. 50.

²¹lbid., p. 51.

²²In the Greek this phrase comes at the conclusion of v. 4.

²³Elabomen, translated we have received in the KJV, is in the aorist tense and should be rendered “we received.” The categorical plural refers to Paul, and does not include the other apostles, since the succeeding phrase, among all nations, points to himself alone as the apostle to the Gentiles (Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament [New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1905], III, 4).

²⁴A Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1885), p. 33. On this verse Leenhardt says: “The question of faith will be taken up again in Ch. 4 where it will be seen that faith is always obedience … The expression here used by Paul defines admirably the goal at which Christian apostleship aims; to bring men back into a state of obedience, since the present state is essentially one of disobedience (5:19)” (op. cit., pp. 39-40). F. F. Bruce paraphrases the expression, “The obedience that is based on faith in Christ” (op. cit., p. 74).

²⁵ICC, p. 4.

²⁶Nygren, op. cit., p. 57.

²⁷Op. cit., p. 74.

²⁸Beet, op. cit., p. 34.

²⁹Ibid., p. 39.

³⁰Sermon XIII, “Sin in Believers,” The Works of John Wesley (Kansas City: Nazarene Publishing House, n.d.), V, 150.

³¹ John Knox, “The Epistle to the Romans” (Exegesis), The Interpreter’s Bible, ed. George A. Buttrick et al, IX (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1954), 385.

³²William Barclay, The Letter to the Romans (“The Daily Study Bible” Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1957), p. 5.

³³Emil Brunner, The Letter to the Romans (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1959), p. 15.

³⁴Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament(London: The Epworth Press, 1950 [reprint]), p. 517.

³⁵St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, I (London: John Murray, 1902), 54.

³⁶Albert E. Barnett, The New Testament, Its Making and Meaning (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1946), p. 63.

³⁷A Shorter Commentary on Romans (Richmond: John Knox Press, 1959),p. 18.

³⁸Cf. 11:13, 25-28; 15:15-16. These passages certainly indicate the Gentile character of the Roman church.

³⁹Barrett, op. cit., p. 26.

⁴⁰C. H. Dodd, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans (“The Moffatt New Testament Commentary” New York: Harper and Brothers, 1932), p. 8.

⁴¹In 1:3-4, Paul employs an earlier credal formula of the gospel known to the Romans, as an entree to the minds and hearts of his readers.

⁴²The phrase of Christ is not attested by the most ancient MSS, but since the person of Christ is the content of the gospel the interpolation is no real alteration.

⁴³Barth, A Shorter Commentary on Romans, p. 20.

⁴⁴ICC, p. 23.

⁴⁵Murray, op. cit., p. 27.

⁴⁶ICC, p. 24. The roots of the Pauline doctrine of salvation are in the OT. There the word has at least three meanings. (1) It signifies deliverance from physical peril (Judg. 15:18; I Sam. 11:9, 13). In this sense Paul himself speaks of salvation in Phil. 1:19. (2) Salvation also describes the deliverance of the people of God (a) at the Red Sea (Exod. 14:13; 15:2) and (b) from the Captivity (Isa. 45:17; 46:13; 52:10; etc.). (3) The OT also prophesies Messianic salvation (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:25-27; Joel 2:28-32). It is this view of salvation which becomes the basis of the NT doctrine (Matt. 1:21; Luke 1:69, 71, 77; 7:50; etc.)

⁴⁷Barrett, op. cit., p. 28.

⁴⁸W. H. Griffith Thomas, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1947 [reprint]), p. 61.

⁴⁹0p. cit., p. 92.

⁵⁰Nygren, op. cit., pp. 73-74. Cf. 3:28-30.

⁵¹Quoted by Brunner, op. tit., p. 16.

⁵²D. Martin Luther’s Werke (Weimar, 1883 ff.), 54, 183 f. Cited by Hans J. Hillerbrand, The Reformation (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1964), p. 27.

⁵³ICC, p. 24.

⁵⁴G. Martin has thus defined the righteousness of God in the OT: “Righteousness is attributed to the holy God who commits no iniquity; it is attributed to the holy God who cannot leave wickedness unpunished nor the good unrecognized; it is attributed to the God who is merciful and slow to anger who, according to Ezekiel’s phrase, does not desire the death of the sinner but that he should repent and live. It is attributed to the God of love who communicates his righteousness to the sinner and justifies him.” Cited by Edmond Jacob, Theology of the Old Testament (New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1958), p. 96.

⁵⁵ICC, p. 25.

⁵⁶The preceding treatment follows rather closely the analysis of Sanday and Headlam, ICC, pp. 24-25.

⁵⁷Lectures on Romans, translated and edited by Wilhelm Pauck (“The Library of Christian Classics” Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1961), XV, 4.

⁵⁸NEB, marginal reading.

⁵⁹So Dodd, Nygren, Knox, and others.

⁶⁰Nygren, op. cit., pp. 78-79.

⁶¹John Knox (Exegesis), IB, X, 392.

⁶²L. E. H. Stephens-Hodge, NBC, p. 734.

⁶³Ibid. (quoted).

⁶⁴Quoted by John Murray, op. cit., p. 33.

⁶⁵Adam Clarke, The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, n.d.), VI, 42. Cf. Nygren, pp. 84-90, for a vigorous defense of this position. He shows how the first phrase, “The righteous by faith,” summarizes cc. 1—4, while the verb “shall live” epitomizes cc. 5—8. “Faith” occurs 25 times in cc. 1—4 and only twice in cc. 5—8. It is just the opposite with “live” and its correlatives, which are found 25 times in cc. 5—8, but not counting 1:17, only twice in cc. 1—4.

⁶⁶Nygren, op. cit., p. 83. Cf. I Pet. 1:10-11.