Up to Date (Romans)

Catching Up on the Latest Biblical Commentaries (2019-2024)

This is a series called “Up to Date,” where I do a sweeping survey of the latest and greatest biblical commentaries. In 2020, I published a little book called The New Testament Commentary Guide: A Brief Handbook for Students and Pastors (Lexham Press, 2020). I’m proud of my “little orange book,” but a resource like this gets outdated. If you are looking for commentary classics and “best picks” I suggest picking up my book. In this Substack series though, I will be looking at what has been published in the last five years (2019-2024).

Important Recent Romans Commentaries (2019-2024)

**Click images to purchase or learn more

2018

In this series, we are focusing on 2019-2024, but some important works came out in 2018, so just worth mentioning the publications of the updated Romans commentary from Douglas Moo (NICNT), another update from Thomas Schreiner (BECNT), and a new commentary from Frank Thielman (ZECNT).

2019-2024

F. Dale Bruner (Eerdmans)

Dale Bruner has distinguished himself as a very thoughtful and inspiring commentary writer. I have appreciated his work on the Gospels of Matthew and John. There are some insights in this work on Romans, but the major downside is simply the short length, it’s hard to get into much depth at only 220 pages.

David E. Garland (TNTC)

Recently, David Garland produced a short volume on Romans for the Tyndale New Testament Commentary Series. The original Romans volume in this series was written by F.F. Bruce and published in 1985. Garland’s volume is double the size of Bruce’s original! Garland offers a concise exposition, great for a church group or to use with students.

Michael J. Gorman (Eerdmans)

This is my favorite new commentary on Romans. Gorman is a trusted interpreter and theologian who has produced a well-rounded study of Romans, building on his textbook The Apostle of the Crucified Lord. This is a must-have!

COMING SOON

Beverly Gaventa (NTL)

Mark your calendars, because Gaventa’s long-anticipated New Testament Library volume on Romans is finally coming out (July 15, 2024).

Here is the official description:

In this new contribution to the New Testament Library, renowned New Testament scholar Beverly Roberts Gaventa offers a fresh account of Paul's Letter to the Romans as an event, both in the sense that it reflects a particular historical moment in Paul's labors and in the sense that it reflects the event God brings about in the gospel Paul represents. Attention to that dual sense of event means that Gaventa attends to the literary, historical, and theological features of the letter.

Throughout the commentary, Gaventa keeps in view central questions of what Paul hoped the letter might accomplish among its listeners in Rome and how his auditors might have heard it when read by Phoebe. In posing potential answers to these questions, Gaventa touches on vital themes such as the intrusion of the gospel of Jesus Christ that prompts Paul to write in the first place, what that event reveals about the situation of all creation, how it relates to both Israel and the Gentiles, and what its implications are for life in faith.

Up next: stay tuned for new commentaries on 1 Corinthians next week!

---