2 Corinthians

Book Review: J. B. Lightfoot, The Epistles of 2 Corinthians and 1 Peter: A Newly Discovered Commentary

Lightfoot, J. B. The Epistles of 2 Corinthians and 1 Peter: A Newly Discovered Commentary. Edited by Ben Witherington III and Todd D. Still. The Lightfoot Legacy Set 3; Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2016. 317 pp Hb; $40.00.   Link to IVP

IVP published the first two volumes of newly discovered commentaries in the last two years by the late nineteenth-century scholar J. B. Lightfoot. In the forward to that volume, Ben Witherington recounted how he discovered hand-written manuscripts of several long-forgotten commentaries by J. B. Lightfoot in the spring of 2013. With this commentary on 2 Corinthians and 1 Peter, all of the manuscripts discovered by Witherington have been published.

Lightfoot 2 Corinthains

Compared to the other two volumes in this series, the commentaries on 2 Corinthians or 2 Peter are brief and fragmentary, 2 Corinthians runs about seventy pages and 1 Peter has a twenty page introduction with a mere nineteen pages of commentary with the notes breaking off in 1 Peter 3. Many of the comments on 2 Corinthians are simply textual notes with only a word or two of comment. Chapter 9, for example is about a half-page of text.

Since the commentary is less than 100 pages, the editors have included several additional essays by Lightfoot to round out the volume. As an introduction to 2 Corinthians commentary, Lightfoot wrote a “Pauline Prolegomena” on the chronology and context of the letter. The essay interacts with a German text on Pauline chronology by Wieseler, published in 1848, although these pages take the form of notes on Wieseler’s work.

Following the 1 Peter commentary are several appendices. The first is an essay on the mission of Titus in 2 Corinthians originally published in The Journal of Sacred and Classical Philology (1885). This essay was originally collected in Biblical Essays (1904, reprinted by Baker, 1979). The second appendix is a reprint of some lecture notes on “St. Paul’s Preparation for Ministry” (1863), also reprinted in Biblical Essays. Appendix three is a sermon preached in 1877 on 2 Corinthians 3:6 entitled “The Letter Killeth but the Spirit Giveth Life.” The sermon was preached at St. Paul’s in Cambridge and collected in an 1893 volume.

The fourth appendix reprints “Lessons of History from the Cradle of Christianity.” Witherington discovered this essay among Lightfoot’s papers, although a later edited version was published in the Durham University Journal in the 1980s. This manuscript was a handwritten timed essay that eventually was edited and published (and subsequently reprinted in the Durham University Journal in 1987).

Appendix Five reprints “The Christian Ministry.” This 90-page essay first appears in Lightfoot’s commentary on Philippians. As Witherington comments in his note, editing this lengthy essay was the last scholarly work undertaken by B. F. Wescott, longtime mentor and friend of Lightfoot. This edition includes several pages of notes from Lightfoot not included in my copy of his Philippians commentary (Zondervan reprint, 1973).

Appendices six and seven essays evaluating the contribution of Lightfoot were published in a 1992 Durham University Journal celebrating the centenary of Lightfoot’s death. First, C. K. Barrett considers Lightfoot a biblical commentator, and James Dunn offers an essay looking back at the influence of Lightfoot, especially his commitment to historical inquiry. Initially, this took the form of responding to D. F. Strauss. Lightfoot calls Strauss a “mythicizer” who dismisses the search for historical truth in the biblical records as hopeless. Lightfoot strenuously disagreed and sought to study early Christianity with historical rigor, believing there is nothing to fear from the “full light of science and criticism” (cited by Dunn, 307). This is a less-than-common attitude among conservative biblical scholars more than 100 years after Lightfoot.

Conclusion. When I reviewed the previous volumes in this series, I asked why a modern reader cares about a lost commentary written by a scholar who died in 1889. That IVP Academic would be interested in reprinting the notes for commentaries never completed by a scholar who died more than a hundred years ago is a testimony of Lightfoot’s influence on scholarship. That Ben Witherington and Todd Still would devote effort to organize the volumes is a significant testimony to Lightfoot’s long shadow over contemporary biblical studies, even if that influence is not always recognized.

My main criticism of this volume is that these are not newly discovered commentaries but brief notes that Lightfoot may have later used to write a commentary. The bulk of this book is reprinted essays by Lightfoot and two celebrating his legacy. This does not limit the value of the three volumes of this series published by IVP Academic. The series is a fitting tribute to an important scholar and will serve as a worthy introduction of Lightfoot to many younger students of the Bible and early Christianity.

Read my reviews of Lightfoot’s newly discovered Book of Acts commentary and  John commentary.

NB: Thanks to InterVarsity Press for kindly providing me with a review copy of this book. This did not influence my thoughts regarding the work.

Logos Free Book – Craig Keener, Romans (Cascade Commentary)

PrintLogos Bible Software is offering Craig Keener’s Cascade Commentary on Romans for free during the month of October. This is one of the best resources Logos has offered in a while. I already have both books in my Logos library (and Fee as a physical book).

Unlike some of Keener’s other commentaries, this book is a rather slender 211 pages plus indices. But do not let the size of the book fool you, Keener’s commentary is an excellent exegetical commentary which is extremely useful for preaching and teaching the book of Romans. As he says in the introduction, Keener has included “only a fraction of my research documentation in the notes for interested readers to follow up” (xi).

I overlooked this short commentary when I offered my Top Five Romans Commentaries several years ago, but have read most of it while preparing for my Romans course this fall and would certainly consider this a highly recommended commentary for pastors or laymen interested in the important exegetical discussions for key passages in Romans. For more in depth work on Romans, I recommend Douglas Moo (NICNT) and Richard Longenecker (NIGTC).

Fee RevelationFor only $1.99 you can add Gordon Fee’s Cascade Commentary on Revelation. I reviewed this commentary when it was first published, you can read the details here, but I said at that time “Fee’s commentary is an exegetical commentary and his goal is to read the text in order to determine the author’s original intent. . . Fee’s commentary is useful and can be used by pastor and layman alike, although the specialist will find it lacking in the sorts of details we have come to expect from the mammoth exegetical commentaries of Aune or Beale.”

As always Logos is giving away the other four published Cascade Commentaries in the Logos library. Both of these books are excellent additions to your Logos library, so make sure to add them to your library before the end of the month.

Logos Free Book – What is a Healthy Church Member?

Logos-Free-Book-of-the-monthAs they do every month, Logos Bible Software is offering a free book for your Logos library. This month Logos partners with 9Marks to offer you a free copy of Thabiti M. Anyabwile, What Is a Healthy Church Member?   Anyabwile is senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands and a contributor at The Gospel Coalition. And he tweets, @ThabitiAnyabwil.

From the Logos description of the series,

“This remarkable series is a must-read for Christians of all levels. Those who are young in the faith will be propelled forward in their spiritual growth with these accessible guides to important topics and significant doctrines. Mature Christians, students, and pastors will reach new depths in their understanding of Scripture and the Christian life with these succinct, yet profound volumes. This series organically weds theory and practice through clear explanation of key theological themes coupled with practical application in the church and from the pulpit.”

Logos-Free-BookFor $1.99 you can add What Is a Healthy Church? by Mark Dever. Dever is the senior pastor of the Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and the president of 9Marks. He has published many books on both theology and church practice as well as articles for Ligonier and Tabletalk Magazine.

Both of these books are excellent additions to your Logos library, so make sure to add them to your library before the end of the month.

As always Logos is giving away a set of books related to the free book. This month they are giving an eleven book set from 9Marks, including:

  • Am I Really a Christian?
  • Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church: A Guide for Ministry
  • Church Planting Is for Wimps
  • Finding Faithful Elders and Deacons
  • It Is Well: Expositions on Substitutionary Atonement
  • The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love
  • The Gospel and Personal Evangelism
  • What Does God Want of Us Anyway?: A Quick Overview of the Whole Book
  • What Is a Healthy Church Member?
  • What Is a Healthy Church?
  • What Is the Gospel?

There are several ways to enter the contest, so visit the Logos Free Book of the Month site and enter the contest early and often.

Mark A. Seifrid, The Second Letter to the Corinthians

Seifrid, Mark A. The Second Letter to the Corinthians. Pillar New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2014. 569 pp. Hb; $50.   Link to Eerdmans

Seifrid’s new commentary on Second Corinthians arrived about the same time as the second edition of Ralph Martin’s classic WBC commentary from Zondervan. Seifrid is known for his work on Pauline theology and, more specifically, Justification in the Pauline literature. His Christ, Our Righteousness: Paul’s Theology of Justification (IVP 2001) built on the foundation of his Justification by Faith: The Origin and Development of a Central Pauline Theme (Brill, 1992). As one of the editors of Justification and Variegated Nomism (Baker, 2004), Seifrid is also well-known as a defender of the traditional view of Paul over against the New Perspective. This theological background often comes through clearly in his commentary on 2 Corinthians.

Seifrid Second Letter to the Corinthians

In the brief twelve-page introduction to the commentary, Seifrid first discusses the situation both before and after the writing of the second letter to the Corinthian church. Here he traces the sometimes confusing period after the reception of 1 Corinthians, a brief time which included a “painful visit” and later a “tearful letter” delivered by Titus.

Second, the introduction examines the various suggestions for the identity of Paul’s opponents in the letter, which naturally leads Seifrid to the purpose of the letter. He advocates a minimal “mirror-reading,” resulting in a Jewish-Christian opponent who appeared in Corinth between the two canonical letters. Since these new arrivals were considered apostles by the Corinthian church, they have made a bad situation worse. But for Seifrid, there is nothing in the letter that can be used to clearly describe the theology of the opponents. They preach another Jesus (2 Cor 11:4), and for Paul, this is the real threat to the church.

Since there are a number of complex theories regarding the composition of 2 Corinthians, the third section of the introduction deals with the integrity of the letter. After a short synopsis of the usual divisions suggested in scholarship, Seifrid concludes the alleged incoherence and inconsistency is “more apparent than real (xxxi). Paul’s defense of his mission “constitutes the thematic unity” for the letter.

Finally, Seifrid offers a few comments on the theology of the letter. Despite the fact that 2 Corinthians is a deeply personal letter, Paul’s concern is to lay out clearly the marks of a true apostle. For the Corinthians, there is a “jarring contrast between his powerful letters and his pitiful presence” (xxxii). Seifrid sees this as a hermeneutical problem, and the whole of Scripture is at stake. For those who are outsiders, a veil covers their face and prevents them from seeing God and his saving work. The opponents have been blinded by the god of this world and are, therefore, “unbelievers” by definition. Only those who are “in Christ” are free in see the truth of the Gospel as revealed now by Paul, God’s representative.

In my view, Seifrid’s introduction is too brief. While I agree there is little or no merit to many of the partition theories for the letter, I would have liked more engagement with contemporary scholarship on the literary issues, whether in the introduction or the appropriate places in the commentary. While I thought his section on 6:14-7:1 was excellent, there is no hint this section is sometimes seen as a non-Pauline insertion. There is no interaction with Betz’s theory that chapters 8-9 are administrative letters. He simply states that chapters 8-9 are “integral to Paul’s larger purpose in the letter of binding the Corinthians to the other churches and to Christ” (317). Perhaps including a detailed discussion of these literary issues would have distracted Seifrid’s overall goal of explaining the text of the letter as we have it. Still, given the strong objections to the unity of the letter in New Testament scholarship, I am surprised the issue is not addressed.

The commentary follows the same pattern as the other Pillar commentaries. After the NIV text, Seifrid briefly introduces the pericope, usually setting the section into the context of the letter as a whole. The commentary proceeds verse by verse, commenting primarily on the English text, although occasionally, he comments on a transliterated Greek word. Greek and Hebrew are untransliterated in the footnotes. There are fewer exegetical comments on the Greek text than other PNTC commentaries. In fact, he only rarely comments on the text. Comparing this to D. A. Carson’s Matthew or Colin Kruse’s Romans in the same series, there is very little exegetical material.

Seifrid’s comments on 1 Cor 5:21 are an example of the more theological nature of the commentary. For Seifrid, “not reckoning the trespasses of the world” is a “forensic event,” and reconciliation and justification refer to the same event, the cross and resurrection (260-261, and note 539). This verse offers Seifrid the opportunity to write more than eight pages on justification from a decidedly Lutheran perspective (citing Luther and Melanchton at length in the notes). His discussion is excellent, and the theology presented in this section certainly reflects the “traditional view” of Paul and justification. Still, there is little discussion of the exegetical details in the text itself. For example, a discussion of the meaning of γενώμεθα in the ἵνα-clause is missing. Nor does Seifrid discuss the potentially rich allusion to Isaiah 53. But this is the style of the commentary, and this criticism should not detract from the value of the commentary.

Interaction with other commentaries is minimal in the body of the commentary, but Seifrid is obviously well-informed by a broad spectrum of scholarship. It is unsurprising that Luther is one of the most cited commentaries in the notes (according to the index), but only one reference to Ralph Martin’s WBC commentary is strange. (Ironically, Barack Obama is also cited one time as well!) Another difference between this commentary and others in the PNTC series is Seifrid use of German scholarship. Seifrid often cites the work of the Lutheran systematic theologian Oswald Bayer.

There are three excurses embedded in the commentary. For example, after Paul’s reference to himself as a “minister of the New Covenant” in 2 Cor 3:6, Seifrid offers 4 pages on “Paul’s Understanding of ‘Covenant.’” This brief overview of a monograph-worthy topic is a kind of biblical theology of Covenant,” beginning with Galatians and concluding with Hebrews. Seifrid concludes Paul’s contrast between the New and Old Covenants in 3:6 and 3:14 is consistent with both Galatians and Hebrews.

Conclusion. Seifrid’s commentary on 2 Corinthians is another excellent contribution to studying this oft-neglected letter of Paul. While it is certainly more theological than exegetical, it will nevertheless be a valuable resource for Bible teachers and pastors for many years.

 

Other volumes reviewed in this series:

James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Luke

Colin Kruse, The Letter to the Romans

Mark A. Seifrid, The Second Letter to the Corinthians

Constantine R. Campbell, The Letter to the Ephesians

Robert W. Yarbrough, The Letters to Timothy and Titus

Peter T. O’Brien, The Letter to the Hebrews (No longer available from the publisher)

Sigurd Grindheim, The Letter to the Hebrews

NB: Thanks to Eerdmans for kindly providing me with a review copy of this book. This did not influence my thoughts regarding the work.

Logos Free Book – 1 Corinthians by Roy A. Harrisville

HarrisvilleLogos Bible Software is offering Roy Harrisville’s 1 Corinthians commentary in the Augsburg Commentary series for free, and Frederick Danker’s 2 Corinthians in the same series for only 99 cents. Harrisville is a long time professor of New Testament at Luther Theological Seminary. He was one of the editors on the Augsburg Commentary series, wrote the Romans commentary in the same series. He has contributed many articles on theological topics in Lutheran Quarterly and “Before Pistis Christou: The Objective Genitive As Good Greek.” Novum Testamentum 48.4 (2006): 353-358. This 294-page commentary was originally published in 1987, and the series is intended for laypeople, students, and pastors. The commentary is based on the Revised Standard Version and there is very little Greek in the text of the commentary. It is very readable and helpful for pastors and laymen.

Frederick Danker is best known as the D in BDAG. He was the editor and reviser of the third edition of Bauer’s A Greek Lexicon of the New Testament. This 221-pages commentary was published in 1989. Like Harrisville, Danker is primarily focused on the English text, although there is more drawn from the Greek in this commentary. Danker has an excellent section on the cultural context of 2 Corinthians (p. 20-25) and these sorts of insights are found throughout the book.

As always Logos is giving away a set of the Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament, a $229 value.

Both of these books are excellent additions to your Logos library, so make sure to add them to your library before the end of the month.