Review of A Pentecostal Commentary on Romans by Glen W. Menzies

Commentaries on Romans from authors broadly identified as Protestant are legion.This includes those who would identify as Pentecostal.While the Pentecostal movement largely identifies its beginnings with the Azusa Street revival in 1906, it has, curiously, taken its theological cues from more conservative Protestant streams of thought, especially in biblical interpretation and hermeneutics.Of course, any movement that in any way connects itself with Protestant Christianity will have to provide a reading of Paul's letter to the Romans.Beginning with Martin Luther and continuing with more recent commentaries originating from the Grand Rapids-based publishers, commentaries on Romans are almost a rite of passage for those entities that wish to stake their claims in the stream of Protestant interpretation of the letter.Not only that, but it seems as if none of the more recent commentaries number no fewer than 1,000 pages.In this respect, Glen Menzies' offering is a welcome entry, coming in at just over 500 pages.In broad strokes, Menzies' commentary not only comes in well under the page counts of these recent commentaries, but it largely reads the letter in terms that differ from the more or less Calvinistic readings offered by these publishers.In itself, this is a welcome diversion.The author's desire to remain focused on the text of Romans, rather than treat the letter as the battleground between Calvinists and Arminians, is refreshing.This historical tendency is especially prevalent in the discussion of Romans 9-11, which is the crux of the debate.That Menzies does not succumb to the temptation to resolve the debate is a strength of the commentary.This feature of the commentary itself commends the commentary for serious consideration.Interestingly, however, is the tendency within this commentary to address the text in ways that largely do not take into consideration topics that would be of interest for Pentecostals.A rather broad overview of the letter reveals a few places where a Pentecostal interest in the letter would prevail.Of course, Romans 8 comes to mind.In his discussion of this chapter, frequently identified as the "Holy Spirit" chapter, Menzies offers a rather extensive discussion of pneumatology, including a sympathetic interpretation of Romans 8:26-27 as referring to glossolalia, as one would expect of a Pentecostal interpreter.Yet even this is not so surprising, as New Testament scholar Ernst Ksemann offers such an interpretation.Menzies' interpretation follows suit here, providing Pentecostal readers with a treatment of the passage that would confirm their presuppositions.However, most of the commentary does not go out of its way to find other places where Pentecostals would find a distinctively Pentecostal reading of Romans.Rather, the bulk of the commentary provides a reading that would find a home within Wesleyan readings of the letter.Given the affinity of Pentecostalism with