The Gospel Coalition

Many of us probably do not realize how spoiled we are these days with so many competent evangelical exegetical commentaries. Such was not the case 50 years ago. This is a grace— a gift—for the church that we should not take for granted.

(Side note: commentaries can be expensive. E.g., Doug Moo’s commentary on Romans retails for $62. With a substantial discount like Amazon offers, you can get it down to $38.58 [no tax, no cost for shipping]. But that’s still a good chunk of change. But I think of it like this: what if someone said to me: “For $38.58 you can have guaranteed access to Dr. Moo 24/7, for the rest of your life, for any question you have on the book of Romans. Here’s his personal phone number and email. Call, text, or write him and he’ll respond instantly. I think it’s worth the investment to have lifetime access to one of the best experts on one of the most important books in the Most Important Book in the world!)

Here are three new commentaries I’ve received and look forward to using as a tool and a gift.

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Roy Ciampa and Brian Rosner, The First Letter to the Corinthians (Pillar New Testament Commentary Series).

Richard Bauckam comments, “I particularly appreciate the very full introduction, which covers many more topics than the usual introductions to a Pauline letter.” You can read that 50+ page introduction, along with a detailed outline of the book and some commentary on chapter 1, online for free.

I am finding the introduction to be exceptionally clear and helpful. Here is how they begin the intro on the importance and difficulty of this letter:

1 Corinthians has much to say to the modern world. No book in the New Testament, even Paul’s letter to the Romans, does more to explain the grace of God, the lordship of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit. The contribution of the letter to the practical knowledge of God is immense. Not only is its ethics searching and rigorous, but its theology, especially of the cross, announces the end of the world as we know it. In addition to supplying concrete answers to many problems which have comparable manifestations today, on subjects as diverse as leadership, preaching, pluralism, sexuality, and worship, 1 Corinthians models how to approach the complexity of Christian living with the resources of the Old Testament and the example and teaching of Jesus. Above all, it shows the importance of asking, How does the gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which envelop the letter in chapters 1 and 15, teach us to live?

Nonetheless, John Calvin was right to describe 1 Corinthians as “no less difficult than valuable.” It is, in fact, one of Paul’s most difficult letters. . . .

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Thomas R. Schreiner, Galatians (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament).

In my opinion, Galatians has not been as well-served as most of the other Pauline books. Moo and Carson are both slotted to write commentaries on the letter in the future. Schreiner’s is certainly a very welcome contribution. (As readers of this blog might have guessed by now, I think virtually everything by Schreiner is worth reading!)

I’ve mentioned already that I like this new series, where each passage is analyzed via the following:

• Literary Context: Explains how each passage functions within the book
• Main Idea: Summarizes the central message of the passage
• Translation in Graphic Layout: Presents a translation through a diagram that helps readers visualize the flow of thought within the text
• Exegetical Outline: Gives the overall structure of the passage
• Explanation of the Text: Provides interpretive insights into the background and meaning of the text
• Theology in Application: Discusses how the message of the text fits within the book itself and in a broader biblical-theological context, suggesting applications for the church today

You can read some of Schreiner’s introduction to letter here. An excerpt:

Paul is engaged in a battle for the gospel in this letter, and his words still speak to us today. Vital issues for the Christian life are tackled in Galatians. Paul unpacks the heart of the gospel. We see the meaning and the centrality of justification by faith, which Luther rightly argued was the article by which the church stands or falls. How can a person stand before a holy God without being condemned? Paul answers that question in Galatians.

Jesus Christ is also central in Galatians. We will see that Jesus is fully divine and hence should be worshiped. And the cross of Christ plays a fundamental role in the letter, for no one is justified apart from the cross. Believers are right with God because Christ on the cross bore the curse that believers deserved, and Christ freed us from the power of sin through his death and resurrection.

Paul also emphasizes the power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers, for as Christians we please God only through relying on the Spirit. The Christian life is not an exercise in autonomy or self-effort but is lived in dependence on the Holy Spirit. The role of the law in the Christian life is also unpacked, so that we gain a sharper profile of the relationship between the old covenant and the new, between the law and the gospel, between the old age and the age to come. Galatians focuses on soteriology, but at the same time the nature of sin is set forth in the letter, and thereby we understand more clearly why the death of Jesus Christ is of supreme importance. Reading Galatians should not be merely an academic enterprise. The gospel Paul proclaims in it has often been used by the Lord to revive the church. We see from Paul’s passion for the gospel that issues of life and death are at stake.

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Clinton E. Arnold, Ephesians (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament).

Arnold not only serves as the general editor of this series, but has just published the commentary on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.

You can read some of the introduction here. He writes:

When we carefully examine this essay that comes in at less than 2,500 words, it is remarkable how many issues it addresses that continue to be hot topics and issues in today’s church. Here are just a few of these (put in more contemporary language):

• assimilation ministry and the training of new believers
• the issue of divine sovereignty and human free will
• spiritual warfare
• worship in the church, including the issue of diversity in form and style
• spiritual formation
• gender roles in marriage
• racial reconciliation
• God’s design and plan for the church
• the basis and call for ecumenical unity
• the gospel in an animistic context
• the contextualization of theology
• living in a context of religious pluralism
• the gift of being an apostle
• the gift of prophecy
• the role of the Jewish law
• the local church and missions
• intercessory prayer in the Christian life
• the nature of spiritual power
• the ongoing work of Satan and demons

Pastors and teachers will discover that every paragraph of Ephesians is filled with content that is relevant to Christians in local churches today wherever they are located.