Careful scholarship and spiritual insight characterize this enduring commentary on Romans, generally considered to be Paul's most profound letter. In The Epistle to the Romans John Murray offers an exposition of Romans deeply penetrating in its elucidation of the text yet accessible to scholars, pastors, and students alike. In his introduction to the commentary proper, Murray discusses the authorship, occasion, purpose, and contents of Romans and provides important background information on the church at Rome. Murray then provides a verse-by-verse exposition of the text that takes into account key problems that have emerged in the older and newer literature. In ten appendices that close the volume Murray gives special attention to themes and scholarly debates that are essential for a full-orbed understanding of Romans-the meaning of justification, the relation of Isaiah 53:11 to the message of Romans, Karl Barth on Romans 5, the interpretation of the "weak brother" in Romans 14, and more. This combined edition of Murray's original two-volume work, formerly published as part of the New International Commentary on the New Testament series, will hold continued value as a scholarly resource in the study of Romans for years to come.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Murray's work on Romans may not match the pastoral brilliance of John Stott, or be as up to date in scholarship as Douglas Moo (which replaced this volume in the wonderful NICNT series), but it is a must have. There have been hundreds of commentaries written on Romans over the past few centuries, but Murray's has joined the small cluster at the top of the 'classics' list (with Charles Hodge and Martin Luther, and the less orthodox Barth). All future commentaries will continue to reference Murray, as the standout work of its kind for the mid-20th century.
In addition to its usefulness for preachers and seminary students, it is also a nice window into the kind of teaching that was coming out of Westminster Seminary in a golden period of productivity when that school was THE leading Reformed school of the English speaking world.
In addition to its usefulness for preachers and seminary students, it is also a nice window into the kind of teaching that was coming out of Westminster Seminary in a golden period of productivity when that school was THE leading Reformed school of the English speaking world.
35 of 43 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
John Murray is an important figure in the Presbyterian and Reformed faith in the 20th century. His commentary on Romans is thorough and insightful, building on the heritage which he inherited from the great Reformed thinkers from Luther and Calvin to B. B. Warfield and Geerhardus Vos, the latter under whom he studied at Princeton. Murray shows particular sensitivity to the Old Testament background of Paul's epistle to the Romans and Paul's consciousness of his place in the history of salvation, a history which to Paul culminated in the person and death/resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Dr. Murray's admirable treatment of Paul's doctrine of the Spirit may only be surpassed by his successor at Westminster Theological Seminary, Dr. Richard B. Gaffin (and by his professor at Princeton, Dr. Geerhardus Vos). Murray's work is scholarly but not so that it would be inaccessible to the intermediate student. Murray does interact with his contemporaries; but could have taken it a litter further. The only criticism against Murray's Romans is his treatment of chps. 9-11 where he fails to break out of the dogmatic mould, and thus fails to capture the movement of the epistle from the anteclimax at the end of chp. 8 to the climax at the end of chp. 11. Overall, however, Murray's is a helpful and insightful commentary, a must for students and pastors.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
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'God's righteousness revealed in the gospel is the provision of His grace to meet the exigency of His wrath. And nothing discloses its glory and efficacy more than this.' p xxiv
No one is more able or probably likely to succeed John Murray in explaining God's own glory as the sole cause of redemption. The cross as symbol of God's power to reconcile fallen man to Him, is misunderstood to be a sign in that for Jews it constitutes an offense, and for Greeks, folly. And yet, given all the hostility that came by the fall, and with the subsequent glorification of man's wisdom and power as supreme, God simply calls. And calls effectively. The covenant of grace was divinely promoted as such revelation moved onto the world scene. It was as such most successful strategically that the apostle should write the Epistle to the believers in Rome - seeking to teach the nature of the grace of God and thereby fulfill his commission as apostle to the gentiles.
'There is no discrimination arising from race or culture and there is no obstacle arising from the degradations of sin. Wherever there is faith, there the omnipotence of God is operative unto salvation. This is a law with no exception.' 1:28
Romans 3:24 is the ground of our confidence: 'Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus'. God settles the relationship issue once and for all through justification and adoption, and in this way He places the new life on a sure foundation. Murray's syntactical construction connected v 24 to 22a: 'a righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unto all who believe', as clauses that are parenthetical in the pericope. He then stated the importance of the doctrine of justification in unequivocal terms: 'It is perhaps not irrelevant to observe that this is the first time in this epistle that Paul uses this verb directly and positively in reference to what is the leading theme of this epistle.' Again in support of free grace, Murray calculated its staggering implication: 'As we have found already, the fact of universal sinfulness bears directly upon the other fact that there is no discrimination among believers - they all are beneficiaries of the righteousness of God.' 1:115 The indiscriminate preaching of the gospel to all, regardless of creed, color or condition, strengthens our need to understand the free offer of grace by, firstly, putting forth the sufficiency of Christ to save us from our sins, and, secondly, by teaching that God is willing to save all those He efficaciously calls.
As Murray explained elsewhere:
'God's call, since it is effectual, carries with it the operative grace whereby the person called is enabled to answer the call and to embrace Jesus Christ as He is freely offered in the gospel.' Redemption: Accomplished & Applied p 96
To add weight to his already convincing exegetical argument, Murray honed in on the two catalytic terms Paul used: 'freely' [Gk: dorean] and 'by His grace' [Gk: autos charis]: 'Merit of any kind on the part of man, when brought into relation to justification, contradicts the first article of the Pauline doctrine and therefore his gospel.' The sovereign will of God's good pleasure invites us only to try harder to come to grips with Paul's true meaning: Paul said that it is God's goodness [Gk: chrestotes] that leads us to repentance (2:4). Because we are powerless to effect salvation's actualization in and of ourselves, we have no choice but to accept that God, having promised eternal life, is able to make good on His promise: 'No element in Paul's doctrine of justification is more central than this - God's justifying act is not constrained to any extent or degree by anything that we are or do which could be esteemed as predisposing God to this act.' 1:116
'It is the justification of the ungodly. It is the King clothing beggars.' Stuart Olyott, Romans p 31
No one is more able or probably likely to succeed John Murray in explaining God's own glory as the sole cause of redemption. The cross as symbol of God's power to reconcile fallen man to Him, is misunderstood to be a sign in that for Jews it constitutes an offense, and for Greeks, folly. And yet, given all the hostility that came by the fall, and with the subsequent glorification of man's wisdom and power as supreme, God simply calls. And calls effectively. The covenant of grace was divinely promoted as such revelation moved onto the world scene. It was as such most successful strategically that the apostle should write the Epistle to the believers in Rome - seeking to teach the nature of the grace of God and thereby fulfill his commission as apostle to the gentiles.
'There is no discrimination arising from race or culture and there is no obstacle arising from the degradations of sin. Wherever there is faith, there the omnipotence of God is operative unto salvation. This is a law with no exception.' 1:28
Romans 3:24 is the ground of our confidence: 'Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus'. God settles the relationship issue once and for all through justification and adoption, and in this way He places the new life on a sure foundation. Murray's syntactical construction connected v 24 to 22a: 'a righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unto all who believe', as clauses that are parenthetical in the pericope. He then stated the importance of the doctrine of justification in unequivocal terms: 'It is perhaps not irrelevant to observe that this is the first time in this epistle that Paul uses this verb directly and positively in reference to what is the leading theme of this epistle.' Again in support of free grace, Murray calculated its staggering implication: 'As we have found already, the fact of universal sinfulness bears directly upon the other fact that there is no discrimination among believers - they all are beneficiaries of the righteousness of God.' 1:115 The indiscriminate preaching of the gospel to all, regardless of creed, color or condition, strengthens our need to understand the free offer of grace by, firstly, putting forth the sufficiency of Christ to save us from our sins, and, secondly, by teaching that God is willing to save all those He efficaciously calls.
As Murray explained elsewhere:
'God's call, since it is effectual, carries with it the operative grace whereby the person called is enabled to answer the call and to embrace Jesus Christ as He is freely offered in the gospel.' Redemption: Accomplished & Applied p 96
To add weight to his already convincing exegetical argument, Murray honed in on the two catalytic terms Paul used: 'freely' [Gk: dorean] and 'by His grace' [Gk: autos charis]: 'Merit of any kind on the part of man, when brought into relation to justification, contradicts the first article of the Pauline doctrine and therefore his gospel.' The sovereign will of God's good pleasure invites us only to try harder to come to grips with Paul's true meaning: Paul said that it is God's goodness [Gk: chrestotes] that leads us to repentance (2:4). Because we are powerless to effect salvation's actualization in and of ourselves, we have no choice but to accept that God, having promised eternal life, is able to make good on His promise: 'No element in Paul's doctrine of justification is more central than this - God's justifying act is not constrained to any extent or degree by anything that we are or do which could be esteemed as predisposing God to this act.' 1:116
'It is the justification of the ungodly. It is the King clothing beggars.' Stuart Olyott, Romans p 31
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Murray at His Best
Murray provides a superb reformed understanding of the book of Romans. At times he is a bit challenging but well worth slowing down to glean his insights. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Rev. Don Robertson
Excellent reference work
I am finding Morris' commentary extremely helpful. He exegetes problematical Greek, which is helpful for an indifferently-able Greek reader. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Ruth Smith
detailed
I enjoy this commentary because I can use it to help with block diagramming and for word by word explanations. It is a bit high level but still usable.
Published on July 12, 2007 by K. Smith
The authoritative Reformed commentary
Murray's commentary on Romans is the best 20th century treatment of the work, easily beating Barth's earlier work. Read more
Published on August 26, 1997
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The salutation of this epistle is longer than that of any other of the Pauline epistles. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
righteousness contemplated, operative unto salvation, forensic signification, stative idea, theocratic election, been discharged from the law, redemptive accomplishment, one righteous act, electing purpose, judicial ordinance, one trespass, forensic meaning, practise such things, apostle proceeds, covenant favour, constituted righteous, righteousness unto eternal life, penal judgment, censorious judgment, holy hate, constituted sinners, depreciatory sense, justifying act, same mind one, one that believeth Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, New Testament, Old Testament, Christ Jesus, Son of God, God the Father, New York, Spirit of God, Grand Rapids, Paul's Epistle, Hebrew of Psalm, Neuen Testament, Robert Haldane, Anders Nygren, James Fraser New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The salutation of this epistle is longer than that of any other of the Pauline epistles. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
righteousness contemplated, operative unto salvation, forensic signification, stative idea, theocratic election, been discharged from the law, redemptive accomplishment, one righteous act, electing purpose, judicial ordinance, one trespass, forensic meaning, practise such things, apostle proceeds, covenant favour, constituted righteous, righteousness unto eternal life, penal judgment, censorious judgment, holy hate, constituted sinners, depreciatory sense, justifying act, same mind one, one that believeth Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, New Testament, Old Testament, Christ Jesus, Son of God, God the Father, New York, Spirit of God, Grand Rapids, Paul's Epistle, Hebrew of Psalm, Neuen Testament, Robert Haldane, Anders Nygren, James Fraser New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 36
books:
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100
books
cite this book:
See all 100 books citing this book
- Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans by C. K. Barrett on 5 pages
- Christ and Time: The Primitive Christian Conception of Time by Oscar Cullmann on 4 pages
- The Epistle to the Romans by Karl Barth in Front Matter, page 5, and Back Matter
- Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament by W. Gingrich on page 45, page 65, and Back Matter
- The Epistle to the Romans (Library of Theological Translations) by Franz Jehan Leenhardt in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
See all 36 books this book cites
- Case for Progressive Dispensationalism, The by Robert Saucy on 13 pages
- Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond by Stanley N. Gundry on 4 pages
- The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Volume 1: The Biblical Period by Hughes Oliphant Old on 4 pages
- The Kingdom and the Power by Gary S. Greig on 4 pages
- Vital Biblical Issues: Examining Problem Passages of the Bible (Vital Issues Series) by Roy B. Zuck on 4 pages
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