...A plethora of material including outlines of literary structure, definitions, maps, historical information, history of interpretation, art, music, and photographs. All of these elements combine to make this one of the most user-friendly, stimulating series on the market.

Talbert is recognized as one of the most prominent New Testament scholars on the North American scene over the past three decades. He brings his expertise on Paul and the ancient world to bear in his analysis of the letter, its literary dynamics, and its theological claims. On the other hand, the reader is treated to an array of insights ranging from Luther to Barth, from African-American art to Rembrandt, from Vaughan's Easter Hymn to a John Donne sonnet. The commentary demonstrates on page after page the relevance and resilience Paul's letter has had throughout the centuries.

No commentary on Romans can be regarded as "the" commentary on Romans. There are, however, some commentaries that deserve space on one's desk when studying this landmark Christian document. Because of the intelligent, readable, and accessible analysis on the text of Romans itself, this new commentary deserves such space.

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Did we need another commentary on Romans? Have not scholars exhausted all that can be said about this letter? If such an attitude had any merit, then we probably would not have the insightful works of Cranfield, Dunn, Witherington, and Wright! Thankfully, we can now add to the list of commentaries on Paul's letter to the Romans the erudite work of Charles H. Talbert.

Smyth & Helwys has gifted the Christian Church with this cutting edge commentary series and they could not have chosen a better exegete for Romans. The reason I think Talbert was such a great choice is due simply to the fact that his work is so very unique and insightful. Talbert is the editor for the Reading the New Testament series (also published by Smyth & Helwys). His most noteworthy contributions to the series are Reading John and Reading Corinthians, both of which are outstanding. Talbert has served as President and Vice-President of the Society of Biblical Literature.

So, what is unique about this particular commentary on Romans? Well, first of all Talbert's exegesis of the letter is clearly set in its socio-historical milieu. This sets Talbert's work apart from those of Thomas Schreiner (BECNT) and Douglas Moo (NICNT) which tend to focus on doctrinal theology nearly to the exclusion of the setting of the letter. Secondly, the reader is provided with numerous extremely insightful helps in sidebars marked as Alpha & Omega Language (language and word studies), Culture/Context (Cultural and contextual details), Interpretation (Historical and contemporary interpretive helps), and Additional Resources Study (Lists of resources for further study). There are also numerous copies of fine art throughout the commentary that are helpful in conveying the sense of the commentator's interest. The binding is of fine quality and the dustcover art work is beautifully done.

Many commentators have understood Romans in an individualistic sense of "how God saves a sinner." Talbert emphasizes that we must first see that Romans was written to deal with the particular historical problem of the relations between Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome. He tells us that "the function of Paul's gospel was to unify Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome" and that "The content of his gospel was a theology that placed Jew and Gentile on an equal footing: both in their sin and in their salvation."

Only when we have carefully dealt with the text through this grid can we then deal with contemporary theological debates and draw out practical application of the text for our day. Talbert beautifully accomplishes the latter in his closing of each section entitled, Connections.

Every aspect of Romans is covered in this commentary. The introduction appears thin, but after reading it one senses that it is quite profound. Talbert gives a cogent account of the social context, stated aims, and literary presentation of Romans. Talbert's account of the socio-cultural context is well written and lucid. He is comfortably familiar with the history of the Jews in Rome and this elucidates his exegesis throughout the commentary. As for the rhetorical structure of Romans, Talbert notes that "The precise rhetorical divisions of Romans are as yet un-agreed upon by interpreters." He is not convinced that a wooden application of ancient rhetoric is appropriate in analyzing the Pauline letters, contra Betz and Witherington.

However, Talbert does think that Romans is a "rhetorical act" that contains a long sustained argument running from 1:16 to 15:13. Of course, some scholars see the argument as conforming to the rules of ancient rhetoric, but Talbert points out that there is great diversity of opinion about what parts of Romans belong to what categories of ancient rhetoric. In any case, "Romans' argument is so complex that it cannot be forced into artificial categories."

Talbert prudently resists the temptation to proffer one particular theme of Romans. He agrees that theme is present in 1:16-17, but sees a combination of Paul's thoughts there as making up the general theme: The righteousness of God, the righteous shall live by faith, salvation, and the universality of the gospel. So "Romans is about the gospel of the righteousness of God revealed in the faithfulness of Jesus that issues in salvation for all who believe."

In Talbert's view, the audience of Romans is likely ascertained in light of sectional divisions. "The audience addressed in 1-8 consisted probably of Gentile Christians who thought in Jewish categories." Some will balk at this since some of this section is a debate with non-Christian Judaism. However, Talbert points out that the Gentile Christians in view were almost certainly originally God-fearers who "would have known the law and (e.g. 7:1), and would have understood non-Christian Jewish objections to Paul's gospel." The audience in 9-11 was composed of Gentile Christians. In chapters 12-15 probably both Jewish and Gentile Christians of diverse persuasion were intended. "The purpose pursued in 1-8 is the destruction of Jewish presumption and objections, in 9-11 it is the overturning of Gentile pride, and in 12-15 it is opposition to mutual arrogance.

Many will want to know where Talbert stands on recent paradigm shifts in Pauline Theology. It becomes obvious in the early chapters that Talbert has rejected the proposals of E.P. Sanders and James D.G. Dunn regarding "Works of the Law" and "Covenantal Nomism." He admits that "Middle Judaism was diverse" (pg.11), but still thinks that Paul was arguing against a Jewish legalistic merit theology (though his arguments are more nuanced than this simple statement). This might be the traditional Reformed perspective, but it seems anemic after considering more recent Pauline scholarship. However, Talbert's arguments are penetrating and must be grappled with.

An aspect of recent Pauline Theology that Talbert has wisely adopted (in my view), is a proper understanding of Paul's phrase, "the righteousness of God." Talbert rightly points out that "Any hope of understanding Romans' argument depends on one's ability to grasp what Paul meant by the righteousness of God." His treatment of this phrase is too detailed to explicate in this review, but suffice to say that along with Richard Hays and many other scholars Talbert understands the "righteousness of God" as God's covenant faithfulness. Along with this, he renders the Greek pistis Iesou Christou as subjective genitive (the faithfulness of Jesus Christ), rather than as objective (our faith in Jesus Christ). This has not yet become a majority view of scholars, but the tables seem to be turning.

So much more could be said, but I will conclude by saying that this commentary should be considered a must have. Dr. Talbert is fully abreast of the vast field of Pauline scholarship and has contributed to it himself with numerous articles and now with this great work. Smyth & Helwys are to be congratulated once again for another first-rate commentary in this series.

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The intention of this commentary is to bring the insights of a reputable biblical scholar to lifelong students of God's Word. A multimedia approach is used, bringing together art, photographs, maps, and drawings, all of which are helpful for a visually oriented generation of believers. The commentary seeks to avoid the problem of being so technical on the one hand that the general reader cannot grasp the meaning or on the other hand being so on the surface that the reader is not helped. The basic focus is the biblical text itself and on the wording and structure of texts. The cultural context is considered along with other information from archaeology, ancient history, geography, comparative literature, history of religions, politics, and sociology. A CD-ROM is included with the commentary and provides a very helpful tool for searching the text. This feature could be utilized in preparing a class or in personal research.

An introduction to Romans provides information about the historical setting, literary design of the epistle, and theological emphases. Each chapter follows the logical divisions of the book, without relying on chapter and verse headings. The different divisions reflect the literary structure of each chapter, while discussion of each chapter in Romans centers around two basic sections: Commentary and Connections. Sidebars are a valuable feature of the commentary, providing additional insights on history, literary structure, definitions of technical words, notes on the history of interpretation, and other helpful information. The commentary is user-friendly with a basic bibliography, an index of the sidebars, a Scripture index, an index of topics, and an index of modern authors. The pictures, maps, and drawings are in black and white, while the sidebars are red, which sets them off from the regular font.

Talbert follows the generally accepted view that after the expulsion of the Jewish Christians in 49 CE by the edict of Claudius the church became primarily Gentile in orientation and make-up. After those who had been expelled returned early in the reign of Nero they found a dominant Gentile Christianity in place. This new situation helped create some of the tensions within the church that Paul hoped to diffuse by writing his epistle. In the forefront of Romans, therefore, is the unity of Christian Jews and Gentiles in Rome. No discussion, however, is given in the introduction as to how the general situation of the letter connects with Paul's proposed trip to Spain.

The author agrees that Romans displays rhetorical features. Although describing Romans as "a rhetorical act," he is, however, cautious about forcing Romans into one or the other rhetorical approaches. It is hard, he suggest, to figure out how various sections of Romans fit into the ancient rhetorical categories, and in taking this position he finds good company with Stanly Porter and others who advise caution in trying to fit Paul's epistles into certain species of ancient rhetoric.

Talbert follows the general consensus that Rom 1:16-17 furnishes the theme of the epistle. He, however, deviates from many commentaries on Romans in his messianic interpretation of the phrase "but the righteous will live by faith." This phrase is usually taken to be the believer in general who is made righteous by his own faith. Tied in with Talbert's interpretation here is the translation in Rom 3:22 and 26 of pistis Christou (or related phrase) as a subjective genitive, "faith of Christ." Although this understanding is debated by many scholars, Talbert's analysis makes sense in that the believer's faith is made possible by the "faith" or "faithfulness" of Christ. In line with this argument, believers participate in the faith that Jesus not only makes possible but also models I his own life.

Talbert's discussion of baptism differs from the North American mainline Baptist interpretive tradition of which he is a part. He, much like British Baptists, connects baptism, at least in some ways, with conversion saying in Romans 6 that it is "synonymous with conversion." Talbert understands baptism as something having a manifold effect on the Christian and not as merely a symbol of conversion or simply an act that puts one into the church without connection to Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.

This commentary has many obvious strengths including a helpful layout, fair treatment of most subjects, sections relating to contemporary application, and the accompanying CD-ROM. As excellent as it is, however, it has a few weaknesses. Since the commentary revolves around a discussion format rather than a verse-by-verse detailing of Romans, it is difficult to find the comments on a particular verse. A listing of the verses covered could perhaps be added to the side of the page or in a subheading at the top to make scriptural searches more user-friendly.

Another strength of the commentary is also one of its potential weaknesses. Talbert has masterfully marshaled reams of extra-biblical material and background details into his analysis. While this is very helpful and informative, I wonder if the target audience will not become lost in some of the longer discussions. Many will, however, appreciate the rigor of his discussion. At several points Talbert's work would be helped by interaction with current discussion of the Paul's anti-imperial rhetoric such as Richard Horsley highlights in Paul and Empire (Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1997).

Talbert's commentary favorably compares with other recent commentaries on Romans (e.g. Thomas R. Schreiner's) in terms of scholarly acuity and obvious knowledge of the text. Visually, however, this work far outstrips most commentaries, and the publishers are to be congratulated on a production that gives so much insightful and helpful information but at the same time touches the eye. The mature student will appreciate the detail of this work and the attempt to make Romans relevant to the contemporary age. This is a commentary that I enthusiastically recommend for anyone interested in learning more about Romans. Overall, the goal of providing solid scholarly insights in a well-written format has been achieved.