Getting Back to Basics

One of my seminary professors said to me privately, when I mentioned a monster commentary I had recently seen, that commentary writing had become vulgar. He was referring to length. There is a place for someone to write hundreds of pages on a short epistle, say Titus, but there’s something profoundly weird about such intensity if one steps back a minute. Yes, there is a place for the long commentary but it has its limitations.

Of all the New Testament books on which commentaries could become vulgar, if I may use my professor’s term, is the Letter to the Romans and part of the problem here is sheer number.  It would not be hard to find at least thirty or forty good commentaries on Romans, and I mean genuinely good ones. Somehow — God be thanked — the book of Romans has avoided having all the good commentaries become multi-volume commentaries. But, there are a number of them that are deep and intense and right at 1000 pages. (I have some suggestions here.)

Commentaries, so I believe, are read by only three groups of people: students who are assigned them for papers; pastors who use them for preaching and study; professors who review them, use them, and sort them out for lectures. Many commentaries are said to be for preaching pastors but I can’t believe they are. If a pastor is preaching through a shorter book, say Colossians or James, a longer commentary seems more digestible.

Maybe I’m out of touch, but I honestly don’t think most pastors thoroughly read multi-volume commentaries when they prepare sermons. Instead, they find the commentaries that get right at it and explain what the text says.

I’m happy to recommend Baker’s new series: The Paideia Commentaries New Testament. Yes, this post has been about Romans, and the new Paideia Romans has appeared: by Frank Matera. It’s called: Romans (Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament).

Matera doesn’t grind any peculiar theories; he sees righteousness as God’s saving justice; he sorts through major options but doesn’t belabor the task; there are no footnotes. What this Romans does is explain the text and the flow of the logic and letter. Matera’s is clear and concise and massively-informed, though he doesn’t advertise his knowledge. He explores theological and moral issues that are at work in the text — and he does this sensitively throughout; but he also keeps his eye on historical and cultural clues.

Here’s the big word: brief. This series will give us commentaries are readable and usable and useful for pastors who are preparing texts because they can be read carefully and they will give us the basics in brief compass. I suspect the Paideia series will be an exceptional place to start for students. Scholars will read them, but they are not designed for just those within the guild.