Romans-Galatians, Revised: The Expositor's Bible Commentary

Volume 11 of the Expositors Bible Commentary (EBC) series, revised edition, replaces volume 10 in the old series. Both volumes covered from Romans through Galatians. We have a mixture of original authors being updated by younger scholars, new scholars replacing old ones, and one who did his own revision. What we have is yet another success in the EBC series!

Respected scholar Donald Hagner revised Everett Harrisons original work on Romans on such a level that we now have a joint authorship. The Introduction covers the founding and history of the church at Rome, authorship, date, and place of origin, destination and integrity, occasion and purpose, composition of the Roman church, literary form, theology, the New Perspective on Paul (wisely rejected here), canonicity, and followed by a bibliography and outline. The commentary follows the usual EBC style: overview, text, commentary, and textual notes. Its a solid effort for a mid-length commentary on Romans.

The Book of 1 Corinthians is a new work by Verlyn Verbrugge. He is known for the vast amount of academic works that he has edited. The Introduction addresses Pauls missionary strategy, the church at Corinth, specific occasion of the letter, date, authorship, and integrity, literary characteristics, theological considerations, and a bibliography and outline. His editorial background gave him good insight on what would be helpful to pastors. He clearly aimed his work at them and succeeded.

II Corinthians was handled by Murray J Harris. His Introduction looks at historical background, unity, authorship, date, place of composition, occasion and purpose, special problems, theological values, structure and themes, and bibliography and outline. The success of Mr. Harris on II Corinthians is universally acknowledged. He has had a coup of sorts: the most highly-rated mid length commentary on II Corinthians with this effort as well as the top major exegetical commentary in his volume in the NIGNT series. I cant recall anyone else who has done that. This is an outstanding commentary and the revision was successful as well.

Galatians saw James Montgomery Boice be replaced by Robert Rapa. I must confess having a warm place in my heart for the late Boices commentary, but its age did call for its replacement. The Introduction discussed the identity of the Galatians, the relationship of Galatians and Acts, authorship, date and place of writing, the epistlolary and rhetorical structure of Galatians, and a bibliography and outline. It was a little brief, yet contained conservative conclusions. Pastors will find the commentary adequate.

After reviewing almost all of the EBC volumes, I just dont see how you could go wrong with this volume as a pastor or Bible student. The price is right, and the quality is good without getting as wordy as some of the major exegetical commentaries. For many pastors, that is another plus. Heres another winner that you should check out!

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255.

The Expositor's Bible Commentary Revised Edition

Romans - Galatians

Tremper Longman III & David E. Garland, General Editors

The Expositor's Bible Commentary Revised Edition (EBC-R) seeks to provide "a comprehensive yet succinct commentary that guides one to the gist of the test's meaning." This is where this commentary series excels. The EBC-R will provide its reader with a good overview of the text and its meaning. This volume (11 of 13) covers Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, and Galatians. The translation used is the NIV, which is pretty standard for most commentaries.

Each book contains an introduction written by the author containing general background information regarding the book. The bibliography is included in this section which is helpful as it provides the reader with additional commentaries to read as well as knowing where some of the author's research and thoughts come from. The outlines are always a blessing to me, as they show how the author sees the book flow. The layout of the commentary makes it very easy to read. Each section of Scripture is written in bold with a grey background and is single column, making it easy to find a particular verse quickly. The commentary section follows and is double columned, with bold verse numbers at the start of each commentary section for a particular verse. There are also a Notes section and a Reflections section that contains some extra thoughts. The layout is different from other commentaries that I have read, but once I got used to it I appreciated how easy it was to navigate.

As for the commentary itself, the EBC-R is very readable for pastors and laymen. There is not the critical depth of some commentaries that would confuse many lay people, but it is also not so shallow that the reader will not grow in their understanding. This commentary provides a great introduction to deeper Bible study and is not intimidating. Romans 8:29 is handled very clearly. The author states: "This calling is further explained in terms of 'foreknowledge' and 'predestination.' The former term does not indicate advance awareness or knowledge of someone; it refers to God's choice, his electing decision." Salvation is of sovereign grace, not human decision! The author is also fair in presenting multiple views of "all Israel will be saved" from 11:26. This treatment of Romans is very beneficial. If studying Romans, one commentary is not enough, but this one would be a good addition to have in one's library. One major disappointment I have is the replacement of James Boice in Galatians from the original set. In my honest opinion it is tough to justify replacing one of the best expositional preachers of our generation. On the positive side, Murray Harris' work on 2 Corinthians made it from the original to the revised!

Overall this revision is timely and valuable. I previously owned the original Expositors Bible Commentary and am excited to begin to collect the Revised Edition.

I received a free copy of this book from Zondervan in exchange for an honest review.

I own the New Testament portion of the revised edition. Like the older version they are formatted/organized the same, very well written, and easy to understand also. Many of the authors of the revised edition are new, providing a fresh new look and understanding of the scriptures. You can't go wrong purchasing either edition, both are equally first-rate.