Reviewing Gaventa's Romans (Rom 16)
Engaging Scripture Book Club
Engaging Scripture Book Club
If you want to follow along, I am reviewing Dr. Beverly Gaventa’s new Romans commentary (New Testament Library, Westminster John Knox).
If you want to learn about the book and the club details, click HERE.
Reminder: I will give general thoughts and summary of the week’s reading for free; I will also add my own critical thoughts and reflections for paid subscribers. So, feel free to follow along and hopefully you’ll enjoy the book club. There is no formal sign up, just check your email inbox for each week’s review, and if you haven’t subscribed yet to Engaging Scripture, you can do so now.
Romans 16 (NRSV)
Personal Greetings
Rom. 16:1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacona of the church at Cenchreae, 2 so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well.
Rom. 16:3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, who work with me in Christ Jesus, 4 and who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. 5 Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first converta in Asia for Christ. 6 Greet Mary, who has worked very hard among you. 7 Greet Andronicus and Junia,a my relativesb who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. 8 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. 10 Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus. 11 Greet my relativea Herodion. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. 12 Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. 13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; and greet his mother—a mother to me also. 14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sistersa who are with them. 15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.
Final Instructions
Rom. 16:17 I urge you, brothers and sisters,a to keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them. 18 For such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites,a and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded. 19 For while your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, I want you to be wise in what is good and guileless in what is evil. 20 The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.a
Rom. 16:21 Timothy, my co-worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my relatives.a
Rom. 16:22 I Tertius, the writer of this letter, greet you in the Lord.a
Rom. 16:23 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you.a
Final Doxology
Rom. 16:25 Now to Goda who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whoma be the glory forever! Amen.b
Gaventa on Romans 16
I have been eagerly looking forward to getting to this chapter of Gaventa’s commentary, for two reasons. First, I am interested in Gaventa’s comments on the named women in this chapter, and second, she makes much of Phoebe being the letter reader throughout the commentary. I counted about 40 times in the commentary that Gaventa refers to “Phoebe’s auditors” or a similar formulation, as a nod to her as letter courier and lector/reader.
Here I will list some insights from Gaventa on this chapter, and in my “Critical Reflections” below I will present my response and thoughts about her work here.
16:1-2: Gaventa makes this astounding claim (but she is correct): “For the first time since the prescript at 1:1, Paul introduces an individual other than Jesus or a figure from Israel’s Scriptures” (426). When it comes to Phoebe in particular, Gaventa is correct that “he provides her with the most elaborate introduction found in any NT epistles” (428). That’s remarkable given that Paul commends people like Timothy, Titus, Onesimus, Epaphroditus, and others (see Phil 2:20-30).
When it comes to Phoebe’s role in the delivery and interpretation of Roman, Gaventa was the first person to call my attention to the possibility that she may have actually helped Paul craft the letter, especially if Paul was staying with her in Cenchrae (see 431).
I highly recommend you watch this excellent lecture on this subject.
16:7 Andronicus and Junia: Gaventa also weighs in on the Junia issue. She doesn’t spend much time on the sex of Junia, that is mostly a settled issue. The bigger matter is whether or not she was considered an “apostle” by Paul. Gaventa makes the helpful point that the inclusive/exclusive argument about the Greek wording is misleading. She urges: “there are numerous occasions when the someone might be ‘well known’ to a group while also being a part of the group, such as ‘Emily Dickinson is well known to American poets.’ Andronicus and Junia might well be apostles who were also well known to the (remaining) apostles” (435).
Here is another excellent lecture resource from Gaventa on this.
Due to the limited space in the commentary, Gaventa’s comments on the rest of the women were brief, but she points to more in-depth scholarship in the footnotes.
Nijay’s Critical Reflections
I think because of my high expectations for Gaventa’s potential contributions in this chapter (esp related to early Christian women), I found myself disappointed by the brevity of this section—only about ten pages. However, I have to keep reminding myself most commentaries (which are written by men) give almost no attention to this section. Still, I have several items I want to discuss here where I wanted better information or better explanation from Gaventa.