Epistle to the Romans, The

Annotation

Amongst all the commentaries on St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans,Leenhardt's has won a distinguished place. First published in 1957, hisanalysis is marked by freshness and lucidity combined with a firm grasp of theinner essentials of the Epistle. The result is both scholarly and readable.Leenhardt brings a fresh assessment of righteousness, not as anintrinsic attribute of God but as a description of God's relationship withhumanity, and traces this back to God's saving acts within the covenantrelationship of the Old Testament. Through careful attention to the originalGreek, he also reinterprets the central Jew-Gentile dichotomy thatcharacterises much of the previous scholarship on Romans. Throughout, his boldoverarching thesis is combined with an even-handed approach free ofoversimplification. The result is a work that has become an enduring voice inPauline studies.