Epistle to the Romans in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE
LITERATURE
This is the greatest, in every sense, of the apostolic
letters of Paul; in scale, in scope, and in its wonderful
combination of doctrinal, ethical and administrative wisdom
and power. In some respects the later Epistles, Ephesians
and Colossians, lead us to even higher and deeper arcana of
revelation, and they, like Romans, combine with the
exposition of truth a luminous doctrine of duty. But the
range of Roman is larger in both directions, and presents us
also with noble and far-reaching discussions of Christian
polity, instructions in spiritual utterance and the like, to
which those Epistles present no parallel, and which only the
Corinthian Epistles rival.
1. Its Genuineness:
No suspicion on the head of the genuineness of the Epistle
exists which needs serious consideration. Signs of the
influence of the Epistle can be traced, at least very
probably, in the New Testament itself; in 1 Peter, and, as
some think, in James. But in our opinion Jas was the earlier
writing, and Lightfoot has given strong grounds for the
belief that the paragraph on faith and justification (Jas 2)
has no reference to perversions of Pauline teaching, but
deals with rabbinism. Clement of Rome repeatedly quotes
Romans, and so do Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin. Marcion
includes it in his list of Pauline Epistles, and it is safe
to say in general Romans "has been recognized in the
Christian church as long as any collection of Paul's
Epistles has been extant" (A. Robertson, in HDB, under the
word). But above all other evidences it testifies to itself.
The fabrication of such a writing, with its close and
complex thought, its power and marked originality of
treatment, its noble morale, and its spiritual elevation and
ardor, is nothing short of a moral impossibility. A mighty
mind and equally great heart live in every page, and a soul
exquisitely sensitive and always intent upon truth and
holiness. Literary personation is an art which has come to
anything like maturity only in modern times, certainly not
before the Renaissance. In a fully developed form it is
hardly earlier than the 19th century. And even now who can
point to a consciously personated authorship going along
with high moral principle and purpose?...
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