Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 87:2 (Fall 2025)
Article: Short Notices
Author: Anonymous

WTJ 87:1 (Spring 2025) p. 311

Short Notices

Frederick Dale Bruner, The Letter to the Romans: A Short Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2021. Pp. xiv + 215. $26.99, cloth.

Frederick Dale Bruner has previously written well-received, theologically and pastorally minded commentaries on the Gospels of Matthew and John. He now gives attention to Romans, which he affectionately labels “the fifth gospel.” Bruner’s Short Commentary is approachable and distinguished by evocative, fresh comments. At the same time, Bruner sets his work apart by mining some of the best insights of previous interpreters, from ancient to contemporary voices, across several theological traditions. He sets their names in bold type and consistently places their thoughts next to his, so that this commentary also functions as something of an introduction to the reception history of Romans. This is also made true by Bruner’s sensitivity to the letter’s influence in centuries of social-ethical debates. With a pastoral tone, Bruner often connects Romans (especially chs. 12–16) to contemporary ethical, and especially social-ethical issues, such as the “black lives matter” movement and the social-religious divide between conservative and liberal Christians. His work of exegesis and application is unified around what he argues is Paul’s central message in “the fifth gospel,” which is also the “deepest meaning” (p. viii) of the fourfold Gospel: “through the Father’s Love, Jesus’ Passion, and the Spirit’s Application of this Passionate Love … human beings can have a perfectly right relationship with God—by simple faith in his Christ” (p. viii). His emphasis on “simple faith” is designed to contrast with the reading of Paul’s “faith” language in terms of human faithfulness. Further, Bruner finds the goodness of the “good news” precisely in the gift that the gospel’s magnanimous benefits can be received by the “simplest of all human responses” (p. 10). Bruner takes the key language of “righteousness” in Romans as indicating our “perfectly right” or “All-Right” relationship (p. 11) with God by simple faith. Nevertheless, Bruner does not deny that Rom 2:6, 10 depicts a real, final judgment of works, even confessing that he previously “undertaught” the doctrine of end-time judgment (p. 29). Some readers are likely to find his treatment of Rom 6 disproportionately short. On Rom 7, he follows the “unbelieving I” position. He attempts to handle Rom 13:1–7 by distinguishing between the “authorities” Paul says deserve hono...