The Epistle to the Galatians

Bruce is quite balanced in his approach to Galatians. I still view Harmon's as the best, but this is a great aid.

This is classic F.F. Bruce. It is reliable exegesis and linguistic analysis from a scholar trusted by seemingly everyone under the broad umbrella of evangelicalism (and probably even most outside that umbrella too!). The only drawback is its publication date. Because it was published as the New Perspective was only embryonic, Bruce interacts with NPP ideas in only a few places and not in great detail. He takes a fairly traditional route on many of the tricky bits in Galatians- a South Galatia location, and early date, an objective genitive reading of pistis Christou Iesou, and he takes a moderate reading of 3:13 and atonement. Bruce did however make some waves in this volume with his egalitarianism which he explores in regard to 3:28. But overall, this is an excellent volume, and with Longenecker, the best option for a technical commentary on Galatians.

I do think F.F. Bruce's NIGTC is one of the better commentaries out there. It's getting dated, especially given the New Perspective on Paul that Bruce doesn't spend a lot of time interacting with, since it was pretty much brand new during the final years he was working on this volume. Bruce tends to be stronger on historical and language, especially on smaller details, and weaker on theology and broader structure. (Carson gives two examples of weaker areas: law/grace and old/new covenants.) Bruce defends the traditional Protestant approach that the New Perspective responds to, even if he doesn't spend a lot of time tackling the claims of particular proponents of the NPP. He argues for an early date and a South Galatian location, and he gives one of the most convincing accounts I've seen of how Galatians and Acts fit together, defending the historicity of both. Complementarians will be annoyed at his insistence on egalitarianism in Gal 3:28, which even a good number of egalitarians recognize as being about gospel equality rather than about what the implications of gospel equality are in marriage and in church governance. Most of the commentary isn't so ideologically-driven, however, and this is currently the first place I look on this book. I'm just not as inclined to look in only one place as I might be on other books. [Full Review]

[Full Review]

The NIGTC series is a technical commentary series requiring knowledge of Greek to use fully. Bruce's commentary in the series is a very helpful contribution for those who wish to dig deeper into the original text of Paul's letter. [Full Review]

[Full Review]