Arland J. Hultgren, Pauls Letter to the Romans: A Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011.

Chapter Two

The body of the Letter to the Romans commences in 1:18 and thats where Hultgren picks up in this chapter. He believes that Paul is not taking up live issues at Rome but is doing a theological analysis of the human situation before God apart from the grace of God revealed in Christ (p. 85). The topic, then, is the wrath of God and Hultgren draws on previous commentators to explain what precisely that is. Or, in other words, he doesnt really add anything new to the discussion of that particular issue. What he does bring to the table, though, in his treatment of 1:18-3:20, is a meticulous examination of the issue of homosexuality (at 1:26-27 specifically). He insists that Paul is making a broadside indictment of the Gentiles as a whole in a world where heterosexual persons (in modern understanding) knowingly and voluntarily exchanged their normal sexual roles for samegender activities (p. 102). Paul isnt, in Hultgrens estimation, against homosexuality; he is opposed to persons who are not homosexual participating in homosexual behavior. But of course this doesnt really address Pauls rather direct condemnation of same sex behavior, it merely qualifies it. He continues this qualification suggesting the concepts of what is natural and unnatural change over time (p. 102). So do concepts of sin, salvation, righteousness, judgement, and all the other major Christian ideas. But Hultgren never applies the concepts change over time criterion to them. In sum, his treatment of the issue of homosexuality devolves to special pleading. In his defense, though, he spends even more time on the subject in an appendix which those who struggle with the issue will certainly want to read. They may not agree but that wont hinder learning. Wherever one lands on the issue, all will agree that Hultgren is right when he proceeds to observe that for Paul

The lives of the Gentiles are in bondage to the powers of evil, leading to abusive behaviors that get approval (p. 105). When he arrives at his treatment of 2:17-29 Hultgren does some of his best work yet. He carefully describes and discusses the question of who is a Jew and the purpose Paul has in mind for raising the question immediately after lambasting the Gentiles for their perversions. Hultgren sees Pauls a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly but who is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart as an attempt to create a level playing field for both Jews and Gentiles in the overall redemptive work of Christ (p. 131). And then brilliantly, H. declares All of this is disastrous for a theology of election and covenant, in which it is affirmed that God has chosen and made an abiding covenant with a particular people that is permanent until the end of time (p. 131). This is why, explains H., Paul returns to the subject and treats it so extensively in Chapters 9-11. Before, though, he gets there, Paul anticipates the charge of antinomianism and addresses it (in 3:1-8 and 9-20). The purpose of the law, as H sees Paul seeing it (!) is that With all its prescriptions the law is not only impossible to observe; it also exposes and brings to light sin (singular) as an operative power in the life of every person (p 142). That includes, of course, the Gentiles described as so perverse in Chapter 1 and the Jews described as equally perverse (in a different way) in Chapters 2-3. To Chapter Three of Hultgrens volume next, where he exegetes 3:21-4:25.

Jim West Quartz Hill School of Theology