Romans (Believers Church Bible Commentary) [Paperback]

John E. Toews (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 463 pages
• Publisher: Herald Press (VA) (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 083619277X
• ISBN-13: 978-0836192773
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,137,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vigorous and crucial reading of Romans, July 9, 2005

By 

J. D. Truex (Wichita, KS) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Romans (Believers Church Bible Commentary) (Paperback)

John E. Toews - emeritus Professor of New Testament at Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary and former President of Conrad Grebel University College - has provided a noticeably fresh, vigorous, and crucial interpretation of Romans.

Toews explores each passage of Romans in four sections: a preview, explanatory notes, comment on the text in biblical context, and comments on the text in the life of the church. Toews excels in keeping the big picture in view, while offering breakthrough translations, eye-popping structural analyses, and a cornucopia of insights derived from Jewish and Greco-Roman history and current Pauline scholarship.

According to Toews, Paul's thesis and gospel is that God's end-time power has arrived to save or set-right the world, both Jews and Gentiles, which is revealed through both the righteousness of God and the wrath of God (1:16-18). According to Toews, Paul's thesis is then expanded in three major arguments.

In the first argument, Paul describes how the wrath of God is poured out impartially on all humanity (1:18 - 3:20).

In the second, Paul explains how the righteousness of God is revealed through the "faithfulness of Jesus" (3:21-26) and through God's power "to make people righteous" through faith(fulness), exemplified by Abraham (4:3-25). This means peace with God (5:1-11), solidarity with Christ (5:12-21), liberation from the sin as power, which exploits the law, and submission to the Spirit, who fulfills the law in us (6:1-8:11), and incorporation into the family of God (8:12-39). Since this argument raising questions for Jews, Paul is then forced to explain the Jew-Gentile relationship in God's plan (9:1-11:36). I found Toews' explanations very helpful regarding the difficult and debated chapters of Rom 9-11.

In Paul's third argument, the revelation of God's righteousness is revealed in the righteous and faithful community (12:1-15:13), characterized by sacrificial living, non-conformity, and transformation (12:1-2), renewed minds and loving relationships (12:3-16), commitment to the "political realism" of non-retaliation, paying taxes, and loving neighbors (12:17 - 13:14), and tolerant welcoming of one another (14:1-15:13).

For many readers, studying Toews' commentary will be like reading Romans again for the first time. First, Toews embraces the New Perspective on Paul. Second, he offers unique translations that are occasionally awkward, often refreshing, but always grammatically and semantically justifiable. And third, he masterful elucidates Paul's apocalyptic, especially sin as an enslaving cosmic power (distinct from acts of transgressions) that can only be overcome by grace and the Spirit.

Written for the Believers Church Bible Commentary Series, Toews places Mennonites and Anabaptists in conversation with Paul, which is, of course, unparalleled by any other Romans commentary. For example, after analysis of Rom 5:1-11, readers hear the story of P.M. Friesen making peace (149), after Rom 5:12-21, Sebastian Franck expresses his opinion on "original sin" (167), and after Rom 13:1-7, Menno Simons speaks out on what we owe civil magistrates (326).

Unfortunately, the commentary suffers from occasional repetitiveness, awkward phrases (Toews represents the Greek too literally at times), and an unconvincing argument that the "I" of Rom 7:14-25 represents collective Israel (Toews 194-7).

Still, Toews' commentary is a brilliant gift to the church and deserves attention by scholars and careful reading by all.

2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From the cover:, August 10, 2005

By 

S. McDonald "Library World" (Independence, MO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Romans (Believers Church Bible Commentary) (Paperback)

From the book:
This commentary on Romans is a rich gift to the contemporary church, its lay leaders, pastors, and scholars. The eighteenth volume in the Believers Church Bible Commentary Series gives new eyes for readers to see what the central message of Romans really is. Growing out of years of scholarship on Romans, the author presents a provocative reinterpretation of Paul's letter.