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Title: Commentary on Romans by Martin Luther, J. Theodore Mueller ISBN: 0-8254-3120-4 Publisher: Kregel Publications Pub. Date: May, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.86 (7 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: worthy commentary, but find a better edition
Comment: I really wanted to give a higher rating to this little book, but the further I read, the more frustrated I got. The translator and editor adopted a rather annoying convention of including parenthesised explanatory notes in italics. 90% of the time these notes are redundant and serve only to interrupt the flow of the text (for instance, indicating the antecedent of a preposition when it is perfectly obvious). In a few cases, these notes actually distort the sense of what Luther is saying.
Beyond that, it's difficult to know exactly how to rate Luther's writing itself. Being from the Reformed tradition rather than the Lutheran, I would obviously take issue with Luther on some minor points, and perhaps suggest Calvin's or Murray's commentary instead. Luther does have the rather annoying habit of arguing against works and reason in extremely strong terms and then later coming back to explain that he is not rejecting works but only the reliance upon them or reason, but only the wrong use of it. This is understandable in the context of the original writing, but a more careful use of terms that avoids the problem entirely would have been preferable.
The book has considerable historical merit. Most of the content comes directly from his lectures in the second decade of the 16th century and was not significantly revised when it was published later. The preface on the other hand, written in 1557 gives a clearer indication of Luther's mature theology and is frequently quoted in works about Luther. If you are looking for essential Luther, Bondage of the Will or his Commentary on Galatians would be a better fit for that purpose.
Finally, we must note that the book is what I call a pastoral commentary. That is, the interest of the author is primarily in assisting the reader in applying God's Word in his or her life. As such, it devotes no time to questions of the date and circumstance of Romans, and very little to matters of translation or text criticism. If you are looking for what I would call a "scholarly" commentary to assist you in preparing lessons, sermons, or what not, this is not what you are after.
If it weren't for the awful italic insertions, I probably would have given it a 4.
Rating: 5
Summary: From The Man Who Longed To Understand Romans
Comment: Perhaps the following quote from Luther will help clarify how he viewed this Bible Book:
"I greatly longed to understand Paul's Epistle to the Romans, and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, 'the righteounses of God', because I took it to mean that righteousness whereby God is righteous and deals righteously in punishing the unrighteous .. Night and day I pondered until ... I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, he justifies us by faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before 'the righteousness of God' had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gateway to heaven."
Knowing what the Book of Romans meant to him makes it worth reading this commentary and finding out from this great theologian why there was a reformation at all.
Rating: 5
Summary: Wonderful for the modern "luterans"
Comment: It's a great book for us, because have the principle SOLA FIDE
in Rm 4.3 = Gn 15.6 = Abraham was justified by faith
in James 2.24= Gn 22 = The faith of abraham was proved or justified by works
Sola Gratia Sola Fide Sola Scriptura Solo Christi Soli Deo Gloria
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Title: Commentary on Galatians by Martin Luther, Stuart D. Briscoe ISBN: 0800756487 Publisher: Fleming H Revell Co Pub. Date: January, 1998 List Price(USD): $18.99 |
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Title: The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther, J. I. Packer, O. R. Johnston ISBN: 0800753429 Publisher: Fleming H Revell Co Pub. Date: April, 1990 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
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Title: By Faith Alone by Martin Luther ISBN: 0529109670 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: September, 1998 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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Title: The Epistle to the Romans by Karl Barth, Edwyn C. Hoskyns ISBN: 0195002946 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: September, 1968 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Luther's Ninety-Five Theses by Martin Luther, C. M. Jacobs, Harold J. Grimm ISBN: 0800612655 Publisher: Fortress Press Pub. Date: December, 1957 List Price(USD): $5.00 |
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