An Intertextual Commentary on Romans, Volume 2

Book excerpt: An Intertextual Commentary on Romans is an exhaustive treatment of the hundreds of Old Testament citations, allusions, and echoes embedded in Paul’s most famous epistle. As many scholars have acknowledged, to understand Paul’s engagement with Israel’s Scriptures is to understand Romans. Despite this acknowledgement, there is a dearth of reference works in which the primary focus is how the Old Testament impacts Paul’s argument from Romans 1:1 to 16:27. This four-volume commentary aims to provide just such a reference. The interplay between Romans and its vast sea of Old Testament pre-texts produces unstated points of resonance that illuminate Paul’s rhetorical argument from the letter’s opening to its closing doxology. Volume 2 examines the scriptural pre-texts in Romans 5:1—8:39. While this portion of Romans contains only one full citation, it is teeming with scriptural allusions and echoes that are critical to understanding Paul’s argumentation. Crisler leaves no intertextual stone unturned as he probes the subtext of one of the richest sections in the entire Pauline corpus. From Paul’s key transition in Romans 5:1 to his poetic flourish in 8:31–39, and everywhere in between, Crisler explores the interplay between the apostle’s endless engagement with Israel’s Scriptures and his message to the Christians in Rome. This volume contributes to the commentary’s overarching aim which is to provide scholars, interpreters, and students with verse by verse analysis of how Israel’s Scriptures impact almost every clause of Paul’s most famous letter.