IN the Introduction to Galatians, Wright takes some time to examine Luther’s world, Paul’s world, and our attempts to do justice to modern biblical scholarship by trying to understand how Paul’s part in the furore in Galatia forged arguments and concepts that still have currency in Christian theology and formation today. In these 40 pages or so Wright reiterates his views on justification, sanctification, works of the law, and the unity of the church across all ethnic, religious and gender barriers. Galatians, he insists, is vitally concerned with the coming together of Jewish and Gentile believers in the single Messiah family.
The situation in Galatia presupposes anxiety amongst some Jewish Christians that admission of Gentile converts on the basis of faith alone would send a signal of civil disobedience to Roman authorities, and call in question the provisions of the Abrahamic covenant for Israel. In addition, for Gentile believers to turn from idols was an act of social dissent, a self-exclusion from much of society, and a dangerous precedent. “What happens if people start to make the claim that Jesus is Lord but Caesar is not?” (31)
Paul’s answer is to root all believers, Jews and Gentiles, within God’s covenant and new creation. Much of the argumentation in Galatians is less about who is in or out and on what basis, and more about the new covenant through faith in Messiah Jesus. “Christian formation in Galatians is rooted in the declaration of new creation, bursting in upon the old world with rescuing power.” (34).
With this new creation and covenant come new demands and a new enabling to fulfil them. Through Christ's atoning death, the power of His resurrection and the coming of the indwelling Spirit, believers are caught up into the story of God’s new, transformed and changed creation. Crucifixion atonement, resurrection life, and Spirit-inspired living, constitute the true Gospel, than which there is no other for Christian believers. That is the argument at the heart of Galatians.
The Spirit is both transformative energy and advance gift. Through the Spirit, Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free are brought into the one family of God, the God of Abraham, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Messiah. As one example of how this works in the letter itself, Wright argues forcefully that for Paul, shared meals at the same table are absolutely non-negotiable for Christian believers. Hence the confrontation with Peter, and Paul’s intransigence on this issue. Separation at the table (as Peter exemplified) on the basis of Jew / Gentile identity markers, is fatal to Paul’s vision of the community of those who are “crucified with Christ, yet who live because Christ lives in them, the Christ who loved them and gave himself for them.”
How Wright’s take on the Galatian situation and Paul’s response to it in this letter all works out, is demonstrated in the remaining 350 pages of verse by verse commentary. This is divided into 9 sections, each of which has a substantial conclusion drawing out the implications of the passage for Christian formation.
Galatians 2.11-21 is covered in fifty pages. Like the other sections Wright provides his own translation, a brief introduction that puts the text block in its literary and rhetorical context. The text breaks naturally into two sub sections, one on Peter and the Antioch incident, the other Paul’s theological argument for his own position. Wright is a good storyteller and his explanation of what exactly was going on between Peter and Paul is a fine piece of narrative exegesis in which Paul tells the Galatians what happened and why it matters. Along the way we learn the two apostles had a history, and that Paul had no option but to have a public showdown. In 2.14 Wright translates, “But when I saw that they weren’t walking down the line of gospel truth, I said to Cephas in front of them all…” That’s fighting talk, and Wright is an excellent guide to what the fight was about.
The argument of Paul is detailed, subtle and aims to establish once and for all the nature of the Gospel, the grounds of salvation as funded and founded in Christ, and as the basis of the new community of believers. Galatians 2.20 Wright sees as pivotal in the letter, indeed the heart of Paul’s theology and experience. Because of the faithfulness of Christ, fulfilled in crucifixion and vindicated in resurrection, believers in Messiah Jesus are part of a new life, and a new creation. They become a Spirit enlivened and driven community, risen in Christ and in which Christ lives, so that by their faith in the faithful Messiah, they embody and demonstrate the Gospel of the crucified and risen Messiah Jesus.
I found Wright’s interpretation of this passage persuasive, non-polemical, exegetically thorough and theologically rich in suggestion. As a passage of commentary focusing on Christian formation, the conclusions on pages 160-168 are not of the “hints for how the text applies and can be used in preaching” type! Five core principles of spiritual theology emerge: The people of God are defined by their relation to Jesus Christ; faith and righteousness (pistis and dikaiosyne) describe exactly the basis of Christian community; Paul is not arguing the end of Jewish faith, but its fulfilment in Jesus Messiah; Galatians is an ecumenical document arguing passionately for the unity of all Jesus believers; to be crucified and risen in Christ is to live a new life, subversive of cultural norms and characterised by the practices of Jesus and the fruits of the Spirit. Each of these points is substantially argued.
Perhaps a final quotation will give a flavour of commentary for Christian formation:
““The life I do still live in the flesh, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Whenever genuine Jesus-shaped preaching and pastoral work take place, the faithful self-giving of Jesus will be both the driving and guiding force. And the love outpoured on the cross, generating an answering love, remains at the heart of the formation both of Jesus-followers as individuals and, yet more demandingly of the common life that seeks to invoke and follow the Son of God.” (167)
Galatians is well served by good commentaries. These include De Silva (most recent, and alert to Paul’s rhetorical and theological strategies) Dunn (new perspective), Keener (rich in background), Longenecker (showing its age but solid traditional), Martyn, De Boer (both apocalyptic perspective), Matera (new perspective and Catholic), Moo (traditional Reformed), and Oakes (historical and social background).
This volume by Wright does seem to bring something beyond the historical and exegetical excellence in many of these commentaries. Wright is just as committed to excellence in those same disciplines, but in this commentary with additional reflection on how the text is to be embodied, lived and practiced in the life “now lived by the faithfulness of the Son of God.” The nearest equivalent in my view is Richard Hays’ luminous commentary, unfortunately hidden away in vol. XI of The New Interpreter’s Bible (2000). There too there’s an emphasis on historical exegesis, but with a separate section of application. Wright now supplements, but certainly doesn’t replace Hays as a commentary on Galatians for personal and community formation.
Is such a new series justified? Yes, if subsequent volumes maintain the quality of Wright’s initiating work on Galatians, and yes, if they are as spiritually and pastorally knowing. Does Wright fulfil his remit? Yes, though in his own way, and within the now well-known, and for some controversial, theological and exegetical matrix within which he does his work to the blessing of the wider church. This is a readable, stimulating and authoritative commentary. Tolle lege.
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