Commentary on Romans [Paperback]

Martin Luther (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1982

Classic commentaries on a variety of themes by one of the world's greatest expositors.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

In the fall of 1515 a professor began to teach the book of Romans to his university students. As he painstakingly prepared his lectures, he gradually realized, and then embraced, the book’s central theme—salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. That spark of truth ignited Martin Luther’s own spiritual life and the fires of reformation that would follow.

Luther’s Commentary on Romans presents the very earliest developments of Luther’s evangelical theology, which he described as “the theology of the Cross.” This popular edition, translated by Theodore Mueller, organizes Luther’s notes for modern readers, using explanatory subheadings and parenthetical comments to clarify the great Reformer’s thoughts. Some views, which Luther later modified or discarded, have been omitted in order to avoid confusion with his later works. The result is a text that is concise, practical, and devotional.

Martin Luther (1483–1546) left his comfortable upbringing to become a Roman Catholic monk and later a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg in Saxony. His study and teaching of the Greek text of the New Testament represent the beginnings of modern textual study, and his widely disseminated writings sparked the Protestant Reformation in Europe. Other works by Luther include Commentary on Galatians and Commentary on First and Second Peter and Jude.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was born in Germany and is famous for his protest, The Ninety-five Theses, which he nailed to the door of the castle church of Wittenberg. The son of middle-class parents, Luther left his comfortable life to become a monk. Luther's own spiritual awakening was sparked by his study of the Greek text of Paul's letter to the Romans, which challenged him with the statement, "The just shall live by faith." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Kregel Pubns (July 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0825431190
• ISBN-13: 978-0825431197
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,926,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars worthy commentary, but find a better edition, May 8, 2003

By 

Robert Huffstedtler (Cary, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Commentary on Romans (Paperback)

I really wanted to give a higher rating to this little book, but the further I read, the more frustrated I got. The translator and editor adopted a rather annoying convention of including parenthesised explanatory notes in italics. 90% of the time these notes are redundant and serve only to interrupt the flow of the text (for instance, indicating the antecedent of a preposition when it is perfectly obvious). In a few cases, these notes actually distort the sense of what Luther is saying.

Beyond that, it's difficult to know exactly how to rate Luther's writing itself. Being from the Reformed tradition rather than the Lutheran, I would obviously take issue with Luther on some minor points, and perhaps suggest Calvin's or Murray's commentary instead. Luther does have the rather annoying habit of arguing against works and reason in extremely strong terms and then later coming back to explain that he is not rejecting works but only the reliance upon them or reason, but only the wrong use of it. This is understandable in the context of the original writing, but a more careful use of terms that avoids the problem entirely would have been preferable.

The book has considerable historical merit. Most of the content comes directly from his lectures in the second decade of the 16th century and was not significantly revised when it was published later. The preface on the other hand, written in 1557 gives a clearer indication of Luther's mature theology and is frequently quoted in works about Luther. If you are looking for essential Luther, Bondage of the Will or his Commentary on Galatians would be a better fit for that purpose.

Finally, we must note that the book is what I call a pastoral commentary. That is, the interest of the author is primarily in assisting the reader in applying God's Word in his or her life. As such, it devotes no time to questions of the date and circumstance of Romans, and very little to matters of translation or text criticism. If you are looking for what I would call a "scholarly" commentary to assist you in preparing lessons, sermons, or what not, this is not what you are after.

If it weren't for the awful italic insertions, I probably would have given it a 4.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Luther In Progress, March 23, 2005

By 

Andy Kaylor (Beaverton, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Commentary on Romans (Paperback)

This book is a bit of an enigma. It includes Luther's early thoughts on justification by faith alone, but it was probably written before his so-called "tower experience." That is, he is starting to teach justification by faith alone, but he doesn't really seem to have it quite worked out yet. The result makes for a spotty work.

The comments on Romans 7 show Luther's characteristic boldness and fire, but in many other places he seems to be rather tentative. In several places you can see the spiritual demons that Luther wrestled with showing in the text, accompanied by the pastoral advice he was getting from Staupitz.

On the positive side, this being a pre-1517 work, we are spared the anti-Catholic invective that mars Luther's later works (such as his commentary on Galatians), though he does occaisionally jab at the scholastics. Although at one point in commenting on Romans 11, Luther says that one shouldn't speak harshly against the Jews, he himself doesn't approach even modest modern standards in this regard in this work (but again it's not nearly as bad as his later writings in that respect).

Unfortunately, this edition isn't even quite appropriate for evaluating the historical progress of Luther's theology because the editor has omitted passages that reflect ideas that Luther later abandoned, and frequently inserts his own parenthetical glosses, which I suspect sometimes nudge the commentary further in the direction of confessional Lutheranism than it should.

Calvinists will like his strong stance on predestination, though Lutherans will probably be dismayed by the way he approaches it.

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Classic, December 21, 1999

By 

James Doerfel - See all my reviews

This review is from: Commentary on Romans (Paperback)

Martin Luther's Romans is a classic--even moreso than Calvin's. For a man who himself found liberation from sin in the text of Romans, Luther's treatment of the epistle is full of zeal and freshness--even 500 years after his groundbreaking discovery turned into the most important event in Protestantism. Luther's German is homy and heartfelt, and this particular translation is commendable.

Luther's exposition of Romans gave rise to one of the rallying cries of the Reformation, sola fide, 'justification by faith alone!' While this doctrine is truly central to the book of Romans, and while its 'discovery' was tantamount to the reformation of the church; it seems as though, for Luther, the gospel can be simplified down to this singular doctrine. While without question a fundamental of Paul's thought, sola fide does not exhaust the gospel he preaches, nor is it even the pre-eminent element of his gospel. While Luther touches on the redemptive-historical moment at key junctures in the book, he seems to run back to what for himself was so liberating. And that has led to a brand of subjectivism which threatens to obscure the objective foundation of the doctrine of justification itself. Because of his piety Luther himself does a decent job of avoiding that pitfall, but he leaves the pit uncovered so that his readers are susceptible to that danger.

Enjoy Luther's Romans. Appreciate it for its original magnitude and historical impact. It's a classic. Embrace the doctrine of justification by faith. But take care to read it with some perspective.