Reprint of the original, first published in 1880.

Stevens invokes a powerful synthesis of recent Pauline studies by insisting the category of Israel is the hermeneutical key to all of Romans. Through Jesus the Messiah and the power of the Spirit, Paul saw fulfilled Isaiah’s vision of Israel’s destiny to the nations to bring the good news of salvation. Recapturing Isaiah’s vision broke the spell for Paul of the Great Assembly’s postexilic take on Israel. Paul’s apostleship first and foremost was to Israel, not gentiles exclusively. Paul used his exposé of the gospel of God in Romans to challenge believers in Rome to embrace their place in the messianic Israel of God.

Building on his own translation from the Greek, Hultgren walks readers through Romans verse by verse, illuminating the text with helpful comments, probing into major puzzles, and highlighting the letter's most inspiring features. He also demonstrates the forward-looking, missional character of Paul's epistle -- written, as Hultgren suggests, to introduce Roman Christians to the major themes of Paul's theology and to inspire in them both confidence in the soundness of his teaching and support for his planned missionary efforts in Spain.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1881.