Galatians

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Book Reviews / Pneuma 31 (2009) 105-160

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Gordon D. Fee, Galatians. Pentecostal Commentary (Blandford Forum, UK: Deo Publish- ing, 2007). ix + 262 pp. $39.95.

Gordon Fee’s Galatians is a masterful example of a commentary that combines serious exegetical labor with penetrating insight into the challenges facing Pentecostal congrega- tions today. The commentary opens with a brief introduction that orients the reader to the letter and to Fee’s particular approach to understanding it. From the outset his concern is that readers appreciate the central issue in Galatians: “At issue throughout the letter is not the question, ‘How are people saved?’ (to use contemporary language) but whether people who are already ‘saved’ also need to practice specifi c aspects of the Jewish law” (p. 1). T ough Fee never discusses the so-called “new perspective” on Paul directly, readers attuned to the issues raised by the new perspective will appreciate that Fee aims to read Galatians “as if the Reformation had never happened” (p. 1). Fee thus seeks to hear Paul on his own terms and understand him in his own context without imposing the theological concerns of a later period onto the letter. Fee sees this as a major challenge for contemporary Chris- tians and thus keeps this aim in mind in both his commentary and refl ections.

Fee divides Galatians into six sections: Introductory Matters (1:1-9); Paul Defends Himself and His Gospel (1:11-2:21); The First Argument from Scripture (3:1-4:20); The Second Argument from Scripture (4:21-5:12); The Spirit Supersedes the Law (5:13-6:10); Post- script: The Opponents One More Time (6:11-18). For each section he provides an overview and verse-by-verse analysis, followed by a section of refl ection and response. T roughout his analyses he helps the reader keep the larger argument in mind, even as he delves into the details of the Greek text. T ough writing primarily for pastors, Fee does not shy away from acknowledging the critical issues that scholars have identifi ed in Galatians. He provides suficient support for his own conclusions and builds a solid foundation for those who will use this commentary as a resource for their own study and teaching. As for the overall argument, Fee makes a good case that the “ethical” portion of the letter (5:13- 6:10) should be considered not as an add-on to the theological section, but rather as the culmination of Paul’s argument.

In the “Refl ection and Response” sections Fee looks at his experience of the contempo- rary North American Pentecostal church in light of the preceding exegesis. Fee gently leads readers to consider where their Christian life and thought may align more with the oppo- nents of Paul than with Paul himself. He asks, for example, “Am I really ready to trust Christ alone and rely on his grace, or am I also a ‘pocket’ Judaizer, who secretly thinks that unless people live up to certain standards of the law, they are not really ‘good Christians’?” (p. 199). Fee brings into focus several issues that he has seen become legalistic measures of Christian maturity within the Pentecostal church: food, drink, entertainment, dress, Sab- bath observance, tithing, and women’s roles in ministry. He writes, “It should surely be a cause of some wonder that some of the very people who feel most strongly about ‘justifi ca- tion by faith’ and not ‘by works,’ turn about and create a new form of ‘law,’ defi ned by cultural standards and not by scripture itself” (p. 97). Ultimately Fee points to the critical (though challenging) importance of walking daily by the Spirit in loving communion with other believers. With these kinds of refl ections, Fee calls believers to take a hard look at their practice of Christianity in light of Paul’s teaching.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009 DOI: 10.1163/157007409X418248

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Book Reviews / Pneuma 31 (2009) 105-160

T ere is very little that one might critique about this thoughtful volume that emerges from years of study and teaching. Nevertheless, one might wish that Fee would not have so easily dismissed newer methodological approaches that off er promise in shedding light on the letter. In particular, Fee summarily dismisses rhetorical analyses in three short para- graphs in his introduction. This is surprising since Fee refers to Paul’s “rhetoric” no less than ten times, though without defi nition or explanation as to what he means by the term. For a letter which is based so strongly on logical, emotional, and rhetorical argumentation, a properly nuanced appreciation of ancient rhetorical strategies (even if Galatians is not a speech) would help to shed light both on how Paul’s argument is constructed and on how it might have been received by his audience. By eschewing newer approaches like this and failing to integrate them into his analysis, Fee misses an opportunity to off er some insight on how to employ these analytical approaches in the most eff ective way.

Ultimately, Fee has made an important contribution both exegetically and theologically, particularly for Pentecostal pastors and teachers. Pentecostal pastors and their congrega- tions owe a debt of gratitude to Fee for providing an accessible and pointed commentary that is aimed at their ecclesial tradition while being grounded in solid exegetical labor on the Greek text.

Reviewed by Matthew E. Gordley

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