Customer Reviews

1 Corinthians

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The NIBC series is intended to give the generalist reader a good sense of the book and of current scholarship. An educated layperson or non-Christian could read this with profit. Soards keeps the technical matters of lexicography, archaeology and grammar to endnotes. In the text itself he gives a careful, if conventional, verse-by-verse commentary. This volume surpasses Morris in the Tyndale series.

Marion Soards' work is part of the New International Biblical Commentary
series published by Hendrickson. Its copyright date is 1999.

Despite its inexpensive price tag, the commentary by Soards contains a number
of rich exegetical discussions and some intensely pleasurable didactic
sections on Greek words. I have found this commentary to be more valuable
than works costing three times as much and I must say that Soards'
objectivity is quite refreshing.

While Soards tries to avoid an anachronistic view of Christological subordinationism, he nevertheless explains Jesus' role in
the New Testament within the context of divine agency (God acting through Christ who serves as the divine intermediary). According to Soards, Paul does
not seem preoccupied with Trinitarian concerns and seems to view God the
Father as the one God of Christianity. On the other hand, Jesus is called KURIOS by Paul (indicating the apostle's "uneasiness" with calling Jesus QEOS in the
fullest sense of the word). But Soards does not press the Christological discussion too far in his attempts to avoid imputing later ideas to an earlier writer.

Another aspect of Soards' commentary worth calling attention to are his
observations on 1 Corinthians 11:1ff. While D.A. Carson confidently asserts that
KEPHALH in 1 Cor. 11:3 unequivocally means exercising authority over another
person, Soards reexamines this lexical issue, thereby giving his readers pause for
reflection. While I may not fully agree with Soards' final analysis of 1 Cor. 11:3, the section is highly instructional to say the least, and it caused me to do
more research on the terms at issue (KEFALH, ROSH (Heb.), ARXH, ARXWN).

Finally Soards ends on a climactic note with a discussion of 1
Cor. 15. As most Bible students are aware, Paul's delineation of the
resurrection (the TELOS of the age) and the time when God becomes "all in
all" has been the locus classicus for numerous debates on the nature of the
resurrection and the intra-trinitarian relations of the triune Godhead. Explaining 1 Cor. 15:24ff, Soards again writes that Paul was not doctrinally concerned with the Trinity--but thinks of Jesus as the one through whom God works (i.e., Jesus is the divine agent). In view of the quality discussions in this book, I can heartily recommend it. Anyone who purchases Soards' book will not be disappointed if he/she enjoys new angles on familiar topics.