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★★★★★ 5
Another welcome Pillar commentary
Format: Hardcover
The newest volume in the excellent Pillar New Testament Commentary series is another first-rate effort. The American New Testament professor has already done a very good commentary on 1-3 John (BECNT, 2008). His newest commentary adds to a now rather impressive line-up of Pillar commentaries.
As to the Pastorals, the four most important and substantial commentaries from a basically conservative, evangelical stance over the past few decades have been these:
1992: George Knight (NIGTC – 500 pages)
2000: Jerome Quinn and William Wacker (ECC – 900 pages)
2000: William Mounce (WBC – 640 pages)
2006: Philip Towner (NICNT – 900 pages)
Mention should also be made of two other commentaries. One is the 1999 volume by I. Howard Marshall (with Philip Towner) in the ICC series. It is also 900 pages and looks to be outstanding. But I do not own it (the ICC series is SO expensive), so I cannot comment further on it. Another is the shorter, 300+ page work by Gordon Fee (NIBC, 1984) which can also be added to any list of highly recommended volumes on the Pastorals.
Now we have Yarbrough to join these important works. He provides us with a very workable, informed and detailed examination of the Pastoral Epistles. He spends 95 of his 600 pages on introductory matters. As to authorship, it has become somewhat trendy of late to deny Pauline authorship. Even some conservatives have gone in this direction
Yarbrough offers ten pages on this, and affirms the traditional stance, saying: “For eighteen centuries, Pauline authorship was never doubted by the churches’ intellectual leaders; even in the last two centuries, many have doubted the doubters.”
As to the commentary proper, one tends to first head to well-known, contentious, difficult, or important passages. So let me reflect on a few of these. One of the most hotly debated passages in the Pastorals of course has to do with the matter of women in leadership.
Paul covers this in several places, but the most crucial passage is 1 Timothy 2:11-15. This is certainly a difficult passage in many respects, and one that is hotly debated. The two main camps on this have been the complementarians, who argue that men and women are equal in worth and status, but have differing, hierarchical roles, and the egalitarians, who argue that women can fully serve in church leadership positions.
This debate has been going on for quite some time now. Because all of 1 Tim. 2 must be considered here (dealing as it does with propriety in public worship), Yarbrough has a lengthy general discussion about these issues first. He then devotes another 20 pages to the actual contentious passage. He offers a “qualified complementarian reading” on all this.
Egalitarians may not fully agree, but they should appreciate his careful and gracious exegesis here. And of course he has written on this elsewhere, as in his chapter in the important volume edited by Kostenberger and Schreiner: Women in the Church, 3rd ed. (Crossway, 1995, 2016).
Another issue that can be rather difficult to understand and deal with concerns those who “have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme” (1 Tim 1:18-20). Paul says something similar in 1 Cor. 5. Says Yarbrough,
“From these two passages it may be inferred that in grave cases of ethical or doctrinal lapse, and perhaps drawing on Job 2:6, Satan was viewed as ‘God’s agent in judicial administration.’ Whereas congregations would normally have prayed for one another, there were evidently cases where petition would shift from divine protection to divine discipline (with Satan as God’s agent). Sometimes harsh measures are required to wake people up (see 2 Thess. 3:10-14).”
Since discussions about overseers are found in all three epistles, both Paul and Yarbrough spend much time on the topic. In one of the passages he makes this remark: “In sum, ‘the overseer is to be’ introduces more than a random wish list for the pastorally inclined do-gooder. It points to a quality and depth of godliness that are indiscernible for the magnitude and gravity of pastoral labor that Paul models, expects of Timothy, and hopes to see replicated in generations to come at Ephesus and beyond.”
Two more issues that can be contentious for some is found in 1 Tim. 5:23: “Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.” Some teetotallers try to argue that this is not actual wine, but watered down grape juice. And some of the health and wealth gospellers insist that no faith-filled believer should ever get sick. Yarbrough gives short shrift to both of these ideas.
Another famous passage dealing with wealth is 1 Tim. 6:6-10 which speaks of false teachers and the love of money. Yarbrough affirms the biblical balance Paul seeks to present here:
“Birth and death both illustrate the tenuous relation between life and material goods. Paul wants to relativize (not trivialize or eliminate) the importance of earthly acquisitions, since he observes people tempted to enlist God in their material quest. . . . It is important to note that this is not an adoption of an ideal of Hellenistic philosophy. Nor is it an endorsement of poverty. . . . If God does grant wealth, and if a believer has not sold his or her soul to acquire it, Paul will later give directions for its proper utilization (see on vv. 17-19 below).”
Other matters could be mentioned here. But all up this is a very competent and usable commentary, one that will stand the test of time. It offers careful exegesis and helpful theological insights. It is a very welcome addition to the Pillar series. The PNTC series really has become one of the premier sets for evangelicals and those who want the best of biblical scholarship and careful exegesis.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2018
