Galatians: Pentecostal Commentary
by Gordon D. Fee
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Book Summary Information
Author: Gordon D. FeeEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-09-28
ISBN: 1905679025
Number of pages: 280
Publisher: Deo Publishing
Book Reviews of Galatians: Pentecostal Commentary
Book Review: good ol' gordy
Summary: 5 Stars
After doing a paper on Galatians 3:6-14 I have a good sense of what issues need to be addressed for a commentary on Galatians. Gordon Fee is as sharp as always and cranks out what I consider the best commentary on Galatians. That, in a way, is actually a little sad, because there are many commentaries on Galatians. Second place probably goes to James Dunn who practically says the same things, but not always with as much conviction as Fee does. Martyn's commentary has some cannot miss gems in it as well, but suffers from overload. Fee's commentary reads nicely and clearly for the most part.
A couple of gem statements are found in this commentary. In talking about Gal 3:10 Fee says,"there is not the remotest hint here that the curse rests on us because we are incapable of doing the law, something that Paul could have easily said". The other is from the all important Gal.3:28, especially coming from an egalitarian like Fee, "the "equalizing force of verse 28 ...has little or nothing to do with any "role" people play in the Christian community except the "role" they all have in common in God's story as believers in Christ..What this passage does do is put the human-made barriers to one side with regards to being "in Christ" This statement by Fee with regard to this verse is quite unique among commentators of Galatians.
Now when it comes to commentaries on Galatians I have read, every author contradicts themself. Fee is no exception. Where are the editors? Inevitably many authors tend to mesh the written law with Christ's law so closely that you would think there is no difference between them. On page 90 Fee says about 2:18, "Under this definition of sin, if I don't keep the law, Christ himself becomes a servant of sin; and I am now a lawbreaker..." The word for "lawbreaker" would be poor form for Paul, as Martyn notes, because he just was saying that we should not build up again the law which was already torn down! In fact the word would be better translated "transgressor". In fact all the other instances of that Greek word in the NT supply the Greek word for "law" with it. If the word meant "lawbreaker" why would the other examples add the word "law"? Also, against Fee, 2:18 does not say Christ would be a "servant" of sin, but better a "promoter" of sin.
Also Fee would do better to temper his language when it comes to the law, for one reason in particular is because he usually does temper his language throughout the commentary. But on page 143 he calls circumcision "nonsense!" If it was such nonsense why would Paul ever circumcise anyone for any reason. But we know that Paul did have someone circumcised to help him reach the Jews easier. It was God's own plan to institute circumcision! Now, its still circumcision, but now circumcision of the heart. One should say that physical circumcision is no longer helpful now, and that making people feel bad about it leads to divisiveness.
Now getting to the commentary about the passage I did my research on - Gal 3:6-14. I appreciate Fee's succinctness to a degree. But because of the one-sided history of interpretation of Gal 3:12 as meaning "the one who does these things will have life in them", Fee should have talked about that history, which he does not at all!
Even without that though, it does make sense what he says about it. One cannot ignore the "I say again" of Gal. 5:3 about one who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. Where Paul says this before 5:3 is the million dollar question that almost all commentators ignore. After reading Galatians over and over again one should see that the only place one does find something similar is Gal 3:12;thus, according to Fee, one should make the phrase "live in them" mean "live their lives around the written law", After all, as Fee, makes good to note, this letter is written to those people who do believe that Christ saves them (2:16). The question Paul is trying to answer is, "how can I stay away from sin in my life; that is, What's the best way to do this as a Christian?" So then Paul says it's living by the Spirit and living by faith (3:11), so anytime we see the idea of living, we should not think of eternal life, but life-style!"
Most commentators would say about 3:12 that it means "long life" or "a good life", as much as one could have living in the Old Covenant. This has a lot going for it, 1. The history of the interpretation of Lev 18:5 including Chrysostom. But then Paul would be considered absent minded in 5:3 then, because one cannot find that statement anywhere else in Galatians. Fees interpretation of 3:12 goes against what was the current interpretation of Lev 18:5 at that time. So the question becomes, how would the agitators, as Paul calls them understand what he was saying?
The only way they could is by the context that the letter was written in, that is was about life-style not eternal life. Even in the original context of Lev 18:5 this probably was not what was intended, it probably meant "long life" or "good life". Also the context of Habbakuk 2:4 would have probably been considered not talking about "long life" but about "life-style". So what is probably going on is Paul is using the interpretation of Habakkuk to rule over the interpretation of Leviticus. But the quote from Leviticus is not explanatory for Habbakuk as some commentators would have it calling it a case of following a strict rule of rabbinic exegesis, but rather it is a quote that can only work in the new era of being "in Christ". Because for Jews to live their lives around the written law" was what they believed was the right thing to do and would be in no way a derogatory statement. But in the light of being "in Christ" now, it turns into one. The thing to keep in mind is that no one in the Galatian church was living their lives totally around the law (6:13) so then the readers would understand that there was now only two choices to be made that Paul so cleverly forced them into 1. Live totally "in Christ" under his new law, 2. Live partly under the old law which would make one cursed (3:10).
A couple of other things need to be addressed as I read even deeper. One of the things that drives me crazy is when authors seem perplexed when a certain translation or other author could possibly think of interpreting a certain verse a particular way. The one thing I noticed about this commentary is that Fee does not seem to appreciate the LONG history of interpretive difficulties, esp. in Paul. Even in the pages of his own commentary are contradictions that only emphasize the difficulty. For instance, when it comes to the Grek word for "flesh", Fee mentions that he cannot understand how translators would translate "sarx" as "naturally born" when it comes to Ishmael considering the context. But earlier in the commentary, on page 92 Fee says "to be 'in the flesh' is not always pejorative! So apparently it could mean something else?!
The other contradiction I found was again on page 118, not the best written page in the book. A bit muddy. The footnote says that Gal. 3:11-13 are really about "doing the law" as opposed to indwelling sin, and that all of Galatians is opposed not to indwelling sin but to "doing the law". But on page 90, talking about Gal. 2:19, he says the very opposite, and states that verse 19 is the really short version of Romans 7:14-8:4 which talks about indwelling sin! So obviously indwelling sin is part of Paul's argument!
Besides these minor things the commentary in a mine of great wisdom.
Summary of Galatians: Pentecostal Commentary
An introduction situating Pauls letter in time and space is followed by a detailed discussion of each section of the letter, annotated verse-by-verse commentary, and a theological discussion with challenging questions for individual or group study.Bibles Books
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