In his preface to his commentary on Romans, Martin Luther declared, “This letter is truly the most important piece in the New Testament. It is purest Gospel.” William Tyndale, who translated the Bible into English, said of Paul’s letter to the Romans, “I think it meet that every Christian man not only know it, by rote and without the book, but also exercise himself therein evermore continually, as with the daily bread of the soul. John Calvin, too, extolled the value of Romans, writing, “when anyone gains a knowledge of this Epistle, he has an entrance opened to him to all the most hidden treasures of Scripture.”
I’ve had the joy of preaching through Romans for the last year and have felt the effect of those Reformers’ lofty claims. Given the letter’s great, central theme – the gospel of Jesus Christ – it’s hard to imagine a more profound, more paradigm-shifting, more practical section in all of Scripture. God has uniquely used Paul’s 7,100-word missive to produce an outsized impact in the history of his church, and he continues to save and sanctify through Romans today. As believers, then, we would do well to pay attention to this mountaintop of theological truth and seek earnestly to scale it ourselves.
But you didn’t click on this article for more superlative language about Romans. Below, I’ve arranged a handful of fluid categories, ranging from less to more technical, that contain resources on Romans I have found helpful. I’m sure there are other useful books or articles that I haven’t encountered yet (feel free to add them in the comments), but this is a survey of what I’ve benefitted from in my study of this magisterial letter. My intent in this list is to provide a starting place for anyone studying Romans at any level.
May the Lord bless your time in his sufficient Word studying his glorious gospel!
Devotional Resources
Most group study guides on Romans for men, women, or both organize the letter into large chunks – 8 weeks through Romans and the like. Knowing that almost every devotional resource will necessarily skim over the top of some big theological ideas, these are still valuable books to get an overview of Romans or to introduce a new believer to some of the ideas in Romans.
Jared Wilson, Romans: A 12-Week Study, Knowing the Bible Series – This series consistently offers helpful commentary-lite reflections and theological questions. Wilson’s entry is no exception. As you might expect, Wilson has a covenantal bent that affects his study notes in Romans 9-11, but overall this resource is meatier than most devotional takes and can be profitably used to introduce a group to Romans. Also, TGC has a condensed version online.
Joel Kim, Romans: Nothing But Grace, Not Your Average Bible Study Series – Joel Kim’s walk through Romans borders more on commentary than devotional guide, and usefully so. As the president of Westminster Seminary California, Kim offers scholarly bona-fides in bite-size bits. He breaks up the text more than most other devotionals and gives attention to details often neglected in group study resources.
Christopher Ash, Teaching Romans – Ash’s two-volume study through Romans is essentially a commentary with an applicational bent. The table of contents prescribes two different speeds for working through the text, making it a more flexible resource for group studies.
Accessible Commentaries
These commentaries can be profitably used by anyone looking to study Romans more in-depth. I use many of them regularly in my sermon preparation, each offering a different advantage. Since these commentaries aren’t necessarily aimed at folks with seminary training, they don’t deal at length with Greek grammatical issues or scholarly debates but offer substantive interpretive arguments written at a lay level.
Andy Naselli, Romans: A Concise Guide to the Greatest Letter Ever Written – Just released by Crossway, this is one of the most direct, clear, compelling commentaries on Romans out there. The word “concise” in the subtitle isn’t wishful thinking; Naselli manages to pack tons of sound exegetical argumentation into just a few sentences per paragraph. I highly commend this work to anyone studying Romans. If you want a deeper dive from Naselli, he also put out a phrase diagram of Romans through Logos that would help with thinking structurally and grammatically through the text.
Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans (PNTC) – Leon Morris has been replaced in the Pillar series, but I actually think his work is better than his substitute. Morris writes with everyday language and thinks applicationally about the text, even while he gets into the details. It’s a long commentary, but then again, Romans is a long book, so the journey is worth it.
John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans – Murray was a Scottish theologian who died in the 1970s, so his work, while modern, has the helpful sound of a different era to it. He’s a master theologian, which is useful in studying Romans, and he isn’t caught by our current foibles. This volume has been out of print for a while, but Westminster Seminary Press is putting out a new edition this December.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans – Obviously, the doctor is in. No commentary series can match the breadth and depth of the good doctor’s Friday-night expositions on the book of Romans. Banner of Truth has printed all of DMLJ’s Romans sermons in a colorful, 14-volume set (Lloyd-Jones never finished preaching Romans because a surgery brought about his retirement in the middle of Romans 14:17). Because he’s so verbose with this letter, these commentaries require a lot of reading per verse, but the endurance will be well-paid off.
Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans – It’s hard to beat the great reformer on what has come to be his turf. Martin Luther’s historical footprint on the interpretation of Romans can’t be overstated, and his sharp, witty, theologically astute exegesis causes the text to come alive.
Douglas Moo, Encountering the Book of Romans – Moo’s lengthier commentary on Romans has been widely regarded as one of the best of Romans for years now, so Baker Academic whittled it down to a couple hundred pages of more accessible, less dense material. When my wife was going through Romans with some ladies at the church, she found this volume to be practical for her own study of the text. It deals with major issues without getting bogged down in explanation.
Technical Commentaries
These commentaries are aimed at those with seminary training or a desire to get into the weeds on exegetical issues. Typically, these volumes are longer and present multiple viewpoints on a given text before establishing their chosen position. If you’re looking for the deep-dive, heavy-hitter texts on Romans, look no further.
Douglas Moo, The Epistle to the Romans (NICNT) – For many years, Moo has been considered the gold-standard commentary on Romans, weighing in at 1038 pages. Moo pays close attention to detail, often reviews various interpretations fairly, and has a slight applicational bent in his writing. His interpretive arguments are often persuasive to me while helping me understand opposing views.
Tom Schreiner, Romans (BECNT) – Tom Schreiner is a proven theologian with an astute mind who charitably handles opposing views while arguing for his positions in detail. Schreiner regularly opts for “both and” interpretations, as is characteristic of his ministry. The updated 2018 edition of this commentary is meaningfully different from the original 1998 edition because Schreiner has changed his mind on a number of exegetical issues since then, including a complete reversal on the identity of the “I” in Romans 7. For what it’s worth, I think he gets it right the second time around.
C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans Vol. 1 and 2 – Cranfield used to be the scholarly standard on Romans and continues to be a necessary nod in any discussion on the epistle. His old-school, systematic approach to exegesis can be laborious but careful attention to his comments often yields valuable insight. Cranfield deals with the Greek grammar and diction of Romans extensively. He’s a technical commentator, to be sure, but his thorough analysis has gotten me out of a jam at different points.
David Peterson, Romans (EBTC) – This series focuses on biblical theology (think “the big storyline of Scripture”), but I’ve found Peterson’s work in Romans to be much more focused on the details of the text, and helpfully so. This is an up-to-date commentary, so it considers most other commentators on this list in its conclusions. One of Peterson’s most useful contributions is his ability to track Paul’s big-picture thought process through Romans without getting lost in the trees.
Robert Mounce, Romans: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (NAC) – If you’re stuck on a sentence in Romans and the other commentaries can’t break the tie for you, Mounce is the Greek guru you need. His mature, measured approach to exegesis rarely overstates his case but offers compelling reasons for understanding why Paul chose the words and syntax that he did in compiling Romans.
Topical and Passage-Specific Resources
Sometimes, reading commentaries that focus solely on the text of Romans can unhelpfully narrow your thinking about theological ideas. I have found it helpful to dig into related resources at various points in our journey through Romans to fill out my understanding of these glorious truths and to help me see how others have spoken about these topics more broadly.
Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will – I found the reformation classic The Bondage of the Will to be immensely helpful for my own thinking as I worked through the opening chapters of Romans that describe human depravity. Not only does Luther deal with these texts deftly in this lengthy rebuttal to Erasmus, but he argues so forcefully for the utter inability of sinners to come to God on their own that you feel as if you understand Paul’s strong insistence better because of it. Bonus points if you also get Erasmus’ The Freedom of the Will and read it as a companion piece!
Tom Schreiner, Faith Alone: The Doctrine of Justification – As you make your way through Romans 3:21-5:21, you’ll be dealing consistently with the doctrine of justification. Schreiner is a helpful guide on your way. He exegetes several key texts in Romans but also brings in historical and theological perspectives to buttress your own thinking on this heartbeat doctrine of the Christian faith.
Will Timmins, Romans 7 and Christian Identity: A Study of the ‘I’ in its Literary Context – Several scholars cite Timmins’ recently re-published Ph.D. work on Romans 7 as the best argument out there for the “regenerate Paul” view. Tom Schreiner said that this was the book that changed his mind on Romans 7. Understandably so. Timmins’ clear, insightful, textually grounded approach to Romans 7 combines the best of most other resources out there on the topic and should be considered by any wanting to delve deeper into this embattled text.
Ray Galea, From Here to Eternity: Assurance in the Face of Sin and Suffering – Galea’s work on Romans 8 doesn’t have the scholarly cred as some of these other works, but its pastoral value is hard to overstate. Romans 8 is one of, if not the, greatest chapter in Scripture, so it’s going to impress you. Galea will help you see how those high heights come down to earth in people’s lives in real, tangible, practical ways.
John Piper, The Justification of God: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Romans 9:1-23 – As one of the leading lights in the “New Calvinism” movement of the last few decades, Piper has ably defended the doctrines of grace from Scripture. Perhaps nowhere else does Piper so powerfully argue for the doctrine of election than in this volume. With his characteristic Christian Hedonist bent, Piper unfolds the glories of divine election from Romans 9, engaging well with competing views and arguing well for God’s absolute sovereignty.
If you have any Romans resources that you found particularly helpful, let me know in the comments. May Christ be honored as we spend ourselves understanding and applying his Word for his glory!