Siu Fung Wu, Suffering in Romans (Cambridge: James Clarke & Co., 2015), xviii + 288 Pps., $44.00.
Siu Fung Wu is Honorary Postdoctoral Associate at University of Divinity, Australia, and Adjunct Lecturer at Whitley College. He has an MPhil from Trinity College, University of Bristol, and a PhD from University of Divinity. In this text he looks at Paul’s account of suffering in the biblical book of Romans. The text is a slightly revised version of his PhD dissertation.
Suffering is a significant theme in Romans 5-8, and in particular 5:1-11 and 8:14-39. The approach of Suffering in Romans is audience-focused, paying special attention to how a first-century audience in Rome might have interacted with the rhetorical strategy, the literary construct, and the use of Israel’s Scripture in the book of Romans. Wu argues that Paul speaks of the vocation of Jesus’s followers to participate in Christ’s suffering, with the purpose that they may be glorified with him. Their identification with Christ’s suffering is an integral part of God’s project of transforming humanity and renewing creation. It is in their faithful suffering that Christ’s followers participate in God’s triumph over evil. This is counter-intuitive, because most people think that victory is won by power. Yet, the children of God partake in victory by their suffering, aided by the Spirit.
In chapter 1, Wu outlines the reasons for why the audience-focused approach should be taken and how this works in his exegesis. In the traditional author-focused approach, the interpreter asks what Paul’s intention was for the letter of Romans, that is, what does Paul intend to convey to his audience in and through the text? Wu’s approach, however, concerns how the audience might have heard the letter as they interacted with the text, especially with reference to their experience of suffering in first-century Rome. Chapter 2 provides a general picture of the types of suffering Paul’s readers had. Wu explains how hardship and injustice were intertwined, and were often embedded in the social, economic, religious, and political systems of first-century Rome.
In chapter 3 through 8, Wu examines the key pericopes in Romans 5:1-8:39. He notes that the readers of Paul’s letter, who were familiar with daily hardship, would have appreciated the significance of suffering as the backdrop of hope. Particularly, in chapter 3, Wu contends that Romans 5-8 speaks of the formation of a new humanity out of Adam’s humanity. In chapter 4, Wu describes the work of Christ and the eschatological nature of the Spirit. In chapter 5, Wu argues that there is a merge of identities and vocations between believers and Christ in that they share the identity of being God’s children as well as God’s call to suffer. Chapter 6 contends that the restoration of humanity is part of God’s plan of renewing the entire creation, and the believer’s vocation of suffering is an essential part of that plan.
In chapter 7, Wu speaks about the reader’s participation in the triumph of God. Wu notes that it is in identifying with Christ’s innocent suffering that the children of God partake in God’s triumph over evil. Chapter 8 serves an overall conclusion to the book.
Bradford McCall
Holy Apostles College & Seminary