Dialogue with the Commentators

Our purpose here is to compare and contrast our position with that of mainstream Evangelical and Reformed commentators on Romans 13 and systematic theologians on the doctrine of the State.

Commentators on Romans 13 include:

• Alford, Henry, Alford’s Greek Testament, Grand Rapids: Guardian Press, 1976 (1952).

• Achtemeier, Paul J., Romans, Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1985.

• Barth, Karl, The Epistle to the Romans, London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1933.

• Brown, David, The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans, in A Commentary Critical, Experimental, and Practical on the Old and New Testaments, Jamieson, Fausset, Brown, eds., Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1978 ( xxxx )

• Barclay, William, The Letter to the Romans, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 2d ed., 1957.

• Barrett, C.K., A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, New York: Harper & Row, 1957.

• Black, Matthew, Romans, Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1973.

• Bruce, F.F., The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, in Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Tasker, ed., Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1980 (1963).

• Calvin, John, Commentaries on the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, John Owen, ed., Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979 (1539).

• Denney James, “St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans,” in The Expositor’s Greek Testament, W. Robertson Nicoll, ed., Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1983.

• Dodd, C.H., The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, London: Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd., 1932.

• Gifford, E.H., Romans, in The Holy Bible . . . with an Explanatory and Critical Commentary, F. C. Cook, ed., Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1981 (1877-81).

• Gill, John, An Exposition of the New Testament, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1980 (1852).

• Godet, F., Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1956 (1883).

• Haldane, Robert, An Exposition of Romans, MacLean, VA: MacDonald Publishing Co., n.d., (c. 1839)

• Hendriksen, William, New Testament Commentary: Exposition of Paul's Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1982),

• Henry, Matthew, Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Co., n.d.

• Hodge, Charles, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1950 (1886)

• Lange, J. P., The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1960 (1869).

• Lenski, R.C.H., The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1936.

• Liddon, H.P., Explanatory Analysis of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1961.

• Luther, Martin, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1954 (15xx).

• MacArthur, John, Romans 9-16, in The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Chicago: Moody Bible Institute, 1994.

• Macknight, James, Macknight on the Epistles, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1984 (1795).

• McGee, J. Vernon, Romans, vol. II, Pasadena: Thru the Bible Books, 1976.

• McQuilkin, Robert C., The Message of Romans, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1947.

• Meyer, Heinrich August Wilhelm, Critical and Exegetical Hand-Book to The Epistle to the Romans, Winona Lake, IN: Alpha Publications, 1980 (1883).

• Moule, H.C.G., Studies in Romans, Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1977 (1892).

• Murray, John, The Epistle to the Romans, Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1968.

• North, Gary, Cooperation and Dominion: An Economic Commentary on Romans, Institute for Christian Economics, 2000.

• Ockenga, Harold J., Every One that Believeth: Expository Addresses on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, NY: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1942.

• Poole, Matthew, A Commentary on the Holy Bible, Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1963 (1685).

• Pridham, Arthur, Notes and Reflections on the Epistle to the Romans, Atlanta: The Granary, 1977 (1864).

• Sanday, W., The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans, in Ellicott’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, Charles John Ellicott, ed,. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959 (69).

• Shedd, W.G.T., A Critical and Doctrinal Commentary on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1967 (1879).

• Steele, David N. and Thomas, Curtis C., Romans: An Interpretive Outline, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1963.

• Trapp, John, A Commentary on the New Testament, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1981 (1865).

• Westminster Divines and Other Puritans, Annotations Upon all the Books of the Old and New Testament, London: Evan Tyler, 1657.

• Willson, James M., Civil Government: An Exposition of Romans XIII.1-7, Philadelphia: William S. Young, 1853.

• Wilson, Geoffrey B., Romans, Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1976.

• Wuest, Kenneth S., Romans in the Greek New Testament, Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1955.

• Brutus, Junius, A Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants, Edmonton, AB: Still Waters Revival Books, 1989 (1689).

• Calvin, John, “Civil Government,” Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book IV, chap xx.

• Culver, Robert Duncan, Toward a Biblical View of Civil Government, Chicago: Moody Press, 1974.

• DeMar, Gary, Ruler of the Nations: Biblical Principles for Government, Ft.Worth, TX: Dominion Press, 1987.

• Dabney, Robert L., “The Civil Magistrate,” Lecture LXXIII in Lectures in Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1972 (1878).

• DeMar, Gary, God and Government, Atlanta: American Vision, 3 vols., 1989.

• Dooyeweerd, Herman, The Christian Idea of the State, Nutley, NJ: The Craig Press, 1975.

• Gentry Kenneth L., "Civil Sanctions in the New Testament, in North, Gary, ed., Theonomy: An Informed Response, Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1991.

• Hodge, Charles, “The Fifth Commandment,” Systematic Theology, vol. III, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1975 (1871).

• Hosmer, William, The Higher Law in its Relations to Civil Government, NY: Negro Universities Press, 1969 [1852].

• Jordan, James B., The Bible and the Nations, Tyler TX: Biblical Horizons, 1988.

• Kuyper, Abraham, “Calvinism and Politics,” in Lectures on Calvinism, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1931 (1898).

• Maritain, Jacques, Man and the State, Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1951.

• Mayhew, Jonathan, A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers,  (1750)

• Morecraft, Joseph, III, With Liberty and Justice for All, Sevierville, TN: Onward Press, 1991.

• North, Gary, "The State's Monopoly of Vengeance," in Boundaries and Dominion: The Economics of Leviticus, Institute for Christian Economics, 1994.

• North, Gary, "Editor's Introduction to Part II," in North, Gary, ed., Theonomy: An Informed Response, Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1991.

• Owen, John, “Christ’s Kingdom and the Magistrate’s Power,” Sermon IX (1652), The Works of John Owen, vol. 8, ed. Goold, Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1967 (1850).

• Pratt, Lawrence, “Political Science,” in Gary North, ed., Foundations of Christian Scholarship, Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 1976

• Rankin, F.E., The State and the Citizen of the State: A Sermon in the First Congregational Church on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1883, Library of Congress, African American Perspectives: Pamphlets form the Daniel A.P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907.

• Roberts, William L., The Reformed Presbyterian Catechism, NY: R. Craighead, 1853.

• Rushdoony, R.J., Christianity and the State, Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 1986.

• Rushdoony, R.J., “Humanistic Law,” in Hebden Taylor, The New Legality, Philadelphia: Presbyterian & Reformed Publ. Co., 1967.

• Rushdoony, R.J., “Introduction,” (1968) in Herman Dooyeweerd, The Christian Idea of the State, Nutley, NJ: The Craig Press, 1975.

• Rushdoony, R.J., “The Sociology of Justification,” in Politics of Guilt and Pity, Nutley, NJ: The Craig Press, 1970.

• Rutherford, Samuel, Lex, Rex, Harrison, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1980 (1644).

• Singer, C. Gregg, “Gordon Clark’s View of the State,” in The Philosophy of Gordon H. Clark, Ronald Nash, ed., Philadelphia: Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing Company, 1968.

• Sutton, Ray R., “State: Biblical and Historical,” in That You May Prosper: Dominion by Covenant, Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1987.

• Thoburn, John, Vindiciae Magistratus, Edinburgh: D. Paterson, 1773.

• Thornwell, James Henley, “Moral Government,” Lecture XI in The Collected Writings of James Henley Thornwell, Edinburgh, The Banner of Truth Trust, 1974 (1875).

• Titus, Herbert H., God, Man, and Law: The Biblical Principles, Oak Brook, IL: Institute in Basic Life Principles, 1994.

• Weaver, John, The Christian and Civil Government, Fitzgerald, GA: self-published, 1991.

• Weaver, John, The Sovereignty of God and Civil Government, Fitzgerald, GA: self-published, n.d.

• Willson, James M., An Essay on Submission to the Powers that Be., http://covenanter.org/JMWillson/ )

Westminster Confession of Faith -- Expositions

• Clark, Gordon H., “Of the Civil Magistrate,” What Do Presbyterians Believe? Philadelphia: Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing Co., 1976.

• Hodge, A.A., Commentary on the Westminster Confession, Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1978 [1869].

• Macpherson, John, The Confession of Faith, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1977 (1882).

• Shaw, Robert, An Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith, Christian Focus Pub., 1998.

• Williamson, G.I., The Westminster Confession of Faith, Phillipsburgh, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1964.
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Social Order

• Carey, George W., ed., Freedom and Virtue: The Conservative/Libertarian Debate, Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984.
• Bird, Otto A., The Idea of Justice, NY: Praeger, 1967.

Anarcho-Capitalism

• Bruce L. Benson, The Enterprise of Law, San Francisco: Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, 1990.
• Robert C. Ellickson, Order Without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991.
• David Friedman, The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism, La Salle: Open Court, 1989 (2nd ed.).
• Harrington, Christine B., Shadow Justice: The Ideology and Institutionalization of Alternatives to Court (Contributions in Political Science, No. 133), Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1985.
• Bruno Leoni, Freedom and the Law, Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1991 (3rd ed.).
• J. Roland Pennock and John W. Chapman, eds., Anarchism (Nomos XIX, Yearbook of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy), NY: New York University Press, 1978.
• J. Roland Pennock and John W. Chapman, eds., Voluntary Associations (Nomos XI, Yearbook of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy), NY: Atherton Press, 1969.
• Murray Rothbard, For a New Liberty, New York: Collier Books, 1978.
• Morris and Linda Tannehill, The Market for Liberty, New York: Laissez Faire Books, 1984.
• Jacques Ellul, Anarchy and Christianity, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, (1988).
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Statism

• Kohn, Hans, Nationalism: Its Meaning and History, Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., 1955.
• Snyder, Louis L., The Meaning of Nationalism, Rutgers University Press, 1954.