Book Review: Galatians (SGBC), Nijay Gupta

I really enjoy the Story of God Bible Commentary series. If you’ve been a follower of my blog for some time now, you’ve probably noticed this. It seems to be the updated version of the NIV Application Commentary series, aimed at pastors certainly but also for laity. These volumes, even the longer ones, are very easy to read. Nijay Gupta’s volume on Galatians is no exception. In fact, his accessible writing style is par excellence.

Galatians is a short book with a tight argument. And because Paul is so concise (at least where we wish he hadn’t been), it requires a lot of work and consideration to understand Paul. Gupta digs deeply into the text and how it has been understood (and misunderstood) in order to clearly deliver Paul’s message in Galatians: “Fear can hold you prisoner, but hope can set you free” (from The Shawshank Redemption, which Gupta introduces his book with).

Nijay Gupta—Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary—writes that the letter to the Galatians was a “responsive text” when compared to the more “polished” letter to the Romans. The situations between these two audiences was vastly different. According to Gupta, Paul “believed that this was a make-or-break time for the full acceptance of his mission and ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ for gentiles (non-Jews), so Paul did not shy away from speaking his mind” (1–2). Galatians is one of Paul’s earlier letters (ca. AD 48 to Southern Galatia), and “the truth of the gospel was at stake, so Paul wrote an incisive letter to the Galatians and prayed that they came to their senses” (2). Since Galatians did end up being canonized and it was a catalyst text for Luther in the Reformation, the mainstream of Christianity has been PaulineChristianity (2).

The Problem

But there is a problem with Galatians. Because Christians are so familiar with particular verses in Galatians, we think we know it better than we do. At least, until we sit down to read it. Then many often wonder why Paul talks about himself so much for two chapters, as well as how the covenants, the law, circumcision, and allegory have anything (or nothing) to do with the gospel today. Many just end up picking out a few key verses before finding application in the final two chapters. Gupta asks,

“Why does circumcision come up so often in this letter? Why the reflection on table-fellowship (or table-friendship, we might say)? What do the good news of Jesus Christ and the Christian life have to do with the patriarch Abraham? Or the sons of Sarah and Hagar?” (3)

Piecing these together requires understanding the story of God—the goal of this commentary.

Myth Busting

Understanding Galatians requires busting some myths that many hold about Galatians:

Paul wrote Galatians to reject Judaism;
Paul wrote Galatians to reject the Jewish law;
1. Paul does not write that the Jewish law opposes God’s promises (3:21).
2. The law was originally meant to help God’s people, but it had its limits.
3. Pointing to Brian Rosner and his book Paul and the Law, for the Christians Paul was writing to, the OT law plays a different role. We can now read the OT law as (a) wisdom and (b) prophecy. While there is plenty to learn from the OT law, “in the end only Christ and the Spirit could make sinners righteous” (13).
Galatians is about justification by faith.
1. Gupta has read through several of Luther’s works. He discovered that Luther did not tie himself to the doctrine of justification by faith (though he loved it), but “he was focused solely on the person of Jesus Christ” (14).
2. Faith is not the opposite of works, nor the absence of it. It is, as Gupta writes, “active, engaged, and attentive reliance on God through Christ, just as Paul writes that what really matters is ‘faith working through love’ (5:6 NRSV)” (14).

SGBC

This volume is part of the Story of God Bible Commentary series, which revolves around three sections:

Listen to the Story: the Bible text is provided along with background, a look at any earlier Scriptural passages, and any possible Greco-Roman and OT literary connections.
Explain the Story: Gupta explains each passage in light of the Bible’s grand story, starting with the OT context. The emphasis is on providing an accessible explanation of the passage.
Live the Story: the intent of this series is “to probe how this text might be lived out today as that story continues to march on in the life of the church” (xvii). As in Christ’s words in Luke 24, Gupta suggests ways Galatians anticipates the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Themes and a Magnifying Glass

A few dominant themes in Galatians are: family; freedom; faith; the truth of the gospel, the Spirit, and the cruciform life; and love and the law of Christ. Gupta concludes his introduction by looking at how you should read Galatians. You can became a CSI team member and analyze the history behind the text. Embrace Paul’s artwork of words (rhetorical and literary analysis) and his mastery of allusion (his use of the OT). We become like Cole Sear and “see dead people” where we engage in sociological analysis and try to envisage the kinds of people Paul wrote to. We end by looking in the mirror to read spiritually and theologically. We read the Bible as a wisdom text to examine our own lives—a perfect angle for this series. We study not only to gain information but, more importantly, to be changed by God’s Spirit through his Word.

Snapshots

Gal 2:10, remember the poor: The one thing Paul and Barnabas were asked to do by the Jerusalem Council was to remember the poor. Gupta offers some wonderful thoughts in the “Live the Story” section on the biblical warrant for caring for the poor, how we can offer compassion and practically help those less fortunate than us.
Gal 2:16–17, justification: Gupta sides with Michael Bird and Michael Gorman’s understanding of “justification by faith” where believers share in the righteousness of Christ—“incorporated righteousness.” Rather than there being a transfer of merit (like imputation), “believers act righteous because they ‘participate in the vicarious death and resurrection of Jesus Christ’ and become ‘incorporated into the righteousness of Jesus Christ’” (83). As Gupta writes, “Only through active and ongoing participation in Jesus Christ through the Spirit can any sinful mortal become rightly oriented toward God, self, and the world” (83). The problem in Galatians was that Peter was trying to prove his “justification” through his social behavior—his supposedly proper table fellowship. But no one, not even Peter, can be justified through “works of the law.”
Gal 2:16, works of the law: Gupta holds to the typical NPP (New Perspective on Paul) view of this phrase. Rather than “works of the law” encompassing keeping the whole law, it refers to the works of circumcision, food/table purity, and Jewish holy days, which marked the Jewish people off from the pagan nations. However, I don’t think this works well with Galatians 3:10 and 5:3.
Gal 2:16, faith in/faithfulness of Jesus Christ: the phrase “faith in/faithfulness of Jesus Christ” means… well, both are actually present in Paul’s writings. Human faith is important (Rom 1:16–17), but our salvation comes through what Jesus has done (Rom 3:11–18; Eph 2:1–10). Faith is clinging to Christ. It is a “life orientation” (85).
Gal 3:19, added because of transgressions: The law “was added because of transgressions.” Rather than being put in place to increase sin (a popular view), or that it identified what was actually sin, the law was a temporary measure to contain and control sin.
Gal 3:20: The mention of a mediator and angels emphasizes that more and more people (or figures) were involved in the giving of the law, unlike in the giving of the Abrahamic covenant where the only two figures were God and Abraham.
Gal 4:21-31: Paul’s use of allegory here comes from Paul believing that there was “a deeper gospel message embedded in it” (196). It was “only truly made visible by using gospel lenses” (196). But Paul may also have been offering a counter narrative of the story of Abraham to what had been used by his opponents.
Gal 6:16, God’s Israel: Who is “God’s Israel”? Israel’s identity now includes gentiles who now neither need to be circumcised nor complete law obedience (259). Because of Jesus, both Jews and gentiles are welcomed into the household of God.

As I briefly mentioned above, Gupta fits into the NPP camp. If you find yourself entirely in the traditional camp, you won’t agree with some of his interpretations (like in 3:10–12 or 5:3 on keeping the “whole law,” or on what it means to be justified). I don’t agree with his interpretations there either.

However, Gupta gives good pushback against Reformed dichotomies such as “doing vs. believing.” I write this as someone in the Reformed camp. Commenting on 3:12 (p.118), Gupta quotes from Doug Moo’s Galatians commentary. Moo writes that “one of the reasons… why Paul denies that the law can lead to justification is precisely because it is, by its nature, something to be ‘done.’” Yet as Gupta points out, as Christians we don’t stop doing. To do so would be lazy, something Paul also warns against (2 Thess 3:10). “Faith works through love” (Gal 5:6), which we need to remember so that we do not “grow weary in doing good” (6:9). As Paul writes elsewhere, we “work out our faith” (Phil 2:12), and James tells us to “be doers of the word” (Jas 1:22–23). What we need to remember is that doing cannot replace a relationship. We do good works because of our right standing in Jesus Christ (2 Cor 5:21; 9:9–10).

Recommended?

I haven’t read much from Gupta, unfortunately. This was the first book I’ve read written solely by him, and it just makes me want to read more by him (like his WBC themes of Galatians and Strange Religion). He has an incredible depth of knowledge of the ancient world, and is able to pair together the teenage problem of “Snapchat dysmorphia” with the ancient world’s desire for the perfect image. I would recommend this commentary to anyone who wants to learn more about Galatians, whether student, teacher, pastor, or layperson. Gupta is engaging and a clear-thinker, and he has written a commentary that is a pleasure—not a pain—to read. Highly recommended.

Other helpful evangelical commentaries would be those by Keener, Harman (EBTC), Schreiner (ZECNT), Moo (BECNT), and Keller.

Other reviews in the SGBC series

Exodus — Christopher Wright
Leviticus — Jerry Shepherd
Numbers — Jay Sklar
1–2 Chronicles — Carol Kaminski
Mark — Timothy Gombis

Lagniappe

Series: The Story of God Bible Commentary
Author: Nijay K. Gupta
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: ‎ Zondervan Academic (November 14, 2023)

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