David A. deSilva. Galatians: A Handbook on the Greek Text. Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament. Baylor University Press, 2014.
I’m not sure why a series such as this one wasn’t published sooner. The Baylor Handbooks on the Greek New Testament are a beautiful addition to the library of any student, pastor, or scholar. The purpose of these volumes is to give a grammatical and syntactical analysis of the Greek text of each book of the Bible. This is the “prequel” to commentary proper (ix). However, as we will see, deSilva’s volume does more than label Greek words or phrases with their corresponding syntactical category.
DeSilva’s introduction is somewhat extensive for a work such as this. He covers authorship and secretaries, rhetorical situation, Galatians as a letter, and Galatians as rhetoric. DeSilva shows his competence on matters relating to the letter, although I think it unlikely that Paul wrote Galatians without a secretary, as he argues (xx-xxi). He suggests the “large letters” mentioned in Gal 6:11 refer to the letters throughout the epistle! But more likely is that he is calling attention to the authenticity of his letter by referring to the different handwriting that he uses, as opposed to his anonymous scribe. Of course, this is a small point. Quite on point is his analysis of the rhetorical situation, that Paul’s credibility is eroding in Galatia because of the rival teachers’ activity (xxii).
The commentary on the Greek is terse and to the point. The following are common lines:
- ὅτε. Introduces a temporal clause.
- σὺ. Nominative subject of ζῇς.
However, sometimes the commentary is fuller when deSilva finds it proper to make an interpretive point of his Greek analysis. For example, on Gal 3:14, he notes that the phrase ἐν χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ is causal, and then proceeds to explain in a lengthy paragraph how this clause is a recapitulation of what is said in 3:13 (that is, Christ’s becoming a curse for us results in releasing the blessing for the Gentiles), but he also notes that it could equally be sphere, showing the sphere in which the blessing resides.
Quite helpful are deSilva’s comments at the beginning of paragraphs. He does not always include them (e.g., there is no comment introducing Gal 3:15-18), but when he does they give a good orientation to the subject and flow of thought to the paragraph (e.g., Gal 2:15-21). Here he notes the impossibility to determine where Paul’s reconstructed words to Peter end, and then attempts to explain how each of the following verses fits into the flow of the argument (a notorious problem for this section).
Sometimes deSilva provides full-on theological commentary. When he reaches ἐὰν μὴ in Gal 2:16, he takes it as exceptive rather than adversative, then dives into the issue of the role of works of the Law and justification. It is quite unclear here, though, how an exceptive reading does not give a partial justificatory role to works of the law. That is, if ἐὰν μὴ means here “except,” then Paul is saying a man is not justified through works of the Law except in the case that he has faith in Christ. To reverse the language, if one has faith in Christ, he is (or can be) justified by works. DeSilva hedges himself by saying that not matter what Paul means, the Galatians would have heard it as exceptive since that is “its overwhelmingly typical sense.” However, this seems to be a hermeneutical issue in the midst of a Greek handbook, touching on the nature of meaning and where it resides. One might argue against deSilva here that an audience’s misunderstanding of an author’s meaning does not mean we should not still attend to the author’s meaning, even if his use of a certain word or phrase is the less common use.
In sum, deSilva’s volume on Galatians is quite flexible. He handles not only Greek syntax and grammar, but also flow of thought, structure, rhetorical analysis, and theological analysis. He does not do each of these on every passage, or the handbook would be much larger. He is selective in bringing in discussions that need to be made. And of course, sometimes theology must be brought in to determine the syntactical category of a use of a word. None of this is out of place in the work and deSilva handles it gracefully and skillfully.
This volume would be an excellent resource for preparing to preach or text a text, for working on your Greek language skills, or for academic research. I would recommend this book and the entire series quite highly. Preview or buy the book here on Amazon.
For a similar Greek series with different strengths and limitations, see my reviews on the 1 Peter volume and Colossians/Philemon volume in B&H Academic’s Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament series.
