Grieb, A. Katherine. The Story of Romans: A Narrative of God’s Righteousness. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002.
I would like to thank Westminster John Knox Press for this review copy.
A. Katherine Grieb is Professor of New Testament at Virginia Theological Seminary.
Commentaries on Romans abound (Cranfield, Dunn, Moo, Schreiner, Kirk, Morris, Bruce, Moo’s NIVAC and Stott). Some are better than other at tracing the argument or the story that Paul is telling in Romans, but none make that their primary concern, and who can blame them, that is not the purpose of a commentary. Enter Katherine Grieb and The Story of Romans.
This text is not meant to explain every word, phrase or clause in Romans, or even discuss every significant exegetical issue, but to trace the argument of Romans and the story Paul is trying to tell with this letter. The basic thesis claims that Paul is most interested in defending God’s own righteous character against the claim that he has been unjust to Israel. Obviously then Grieb sees Romans 9-11 as the epicenter of the letter. Therefore, the key to understanding the letter to the Romans is to read it as “A Narrative Defense of God’s Righteousness”. Grieb follows Wright in understanding that “righteousness of God” in Romans is used to refer to God’s faithfulness to his covenant with Israel. However, as does Wright (see my forthcoming post on Wright’s ETS presentation/JETS article) Grieb also recognizes that God’s righteousness must also be expressed to the whole world since he is creator God. This aspect of righteousness includes God’s faithfulness within the divine lawcourt. Finally, the term is used as a metonymy for the saving power of God (See Michael Bird SROG). The narrative aspect of Grieg’s work comes from Paul’s constant allusion to Israel, Abraham and Adam for the foundation of God’s work with his people.The chapters of the book then follow nature breaks within the letter: 1.1-17; 1.18-3.31; 4.1-25; 5.1-8.39; 9.1-11.36; 12.1-15.13; 15.14-16.27.
Grieb’s work is step in the right direction. It takes the reading of Romans closer the proper mode of understanding Paul’s argument, namely as one sustained argument where the Paul defends God’s actions in Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of his promises to save Israel and mankind. This does not mean the volume is perfect. A stronger emphasis on the change in eschatological ages from Israel to Christ must be understood to proper read Romans. In addition, the covenantal nature of Abraham in chapter 4 and Adam in chapter needs to be more fully developed. Having said all of that, I strongly commend Grieb for moving the discussion of Romans forward. As important the discussion of propitiation/expiation, the meaning of ‘works of law’, the subjective or objective genitive debate and the identity of the first person in Roman 7 are, all of those only have their true meaning as a part of the larger argument of Romans as a whole. Any volume, such as this one, that seeks to move the interpretation of Romans to better understand the forest is one worth reading.
