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Galatians (Reformed Expository Commentary)

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First let me say that I am a pastor working through Galatians. I have looked at about at least 30 or 35 commentaries either a little or quite a bit. This one has ended up on my short list of favorites. Although I don't use it every time I work on a passage, it is one that gets used a lot.

Here's what I love about it:

This commentary lays out a review of the passage he deals with in a logical and clear fashion that is easy to follow. He gives good bullet points that are easy to follow reviewing even some theological ramifications of the passage at hand. It's practical and deals with issues most readers will want to understand. He does not spend a lot of time on difficult to follow minutia. Yet at the same time he does give a lot of good perspective. For preachers, some of his phrases will preach well.

Some of his illustrations are fresh and innovative. For example, he illustrates the addition of the law/legalism over Christ's work on the cross (Galatians 5) by talking about a baseball that is autographed by Babe Ruth. The owner of the baseball, seeing Babe's signature is faded, decides to take out a marker and write B-A-B-E R-U-T-H on it...right over the original signature. The effect is to make the ball worthless. In the same way, trying to add our works via the law or on our own has that effect to Christ's work on the cross. It obliterates it. So we should trust in Christ's work on the cross, not our own or our efforts through the law of Moses.

Now there is one weakness in this book. I would expect a commentary that says 'Reformed' on the cover to present the reformed view. He does, however, what he fails to do is present CONVINCING arguments for rejecting Arminianism. For example, in Galatians 5, he says that since eternal security cannot be lost, therefore the passage which says 'you are severed from Christ' cannot deal with eternal security. The problem with that approach is that it only works with some Calvinists. Nobody I know wants to be told a certain view cannot be true because of a hotly debated theological vantage point must eliminate ones interpretation. Especially when that is one of the hallmark verses of the whole debate!!! When a Reformed scholar deals with one of the key Arminian texts, I really am a bit disappointed to read 'it must be the Calvinists way because of other passages in the bible...therefore we have to skate away from the text here and add some additional meaning to understand it' (my own paraphrase). Surely Calvinist scholars have better arguments for their position (they do!).

He goes on to say it must mean expelled from the church or community of believers. Even though the text bears nothing that warrants this extension, he claims it must be that way, essentially because Calvinism is the truth.

So for Arminians, this is an exceptionally unconvincing approach. For Calvinists, it may not bother them, unless they are trying to persuade their Arminian friends. In spite of this flaw (what book outside the bible is perfect?), Ryken has done a tremendous job in my opinion.

Overall, this commentary is superior to most of the others for lay leaders/bible teachers, pastors and perhaps undergraduate bible students.

My copy is all marked up and I'm sure if you buy one you will enjoy it. I will continue to use it and because of this commentary will look for other books by this author.

I heartily recommend it for all bible students.

While Galatians may be one of Paul's easier epistles, the message is one that needs to be clear today as it was in Paul's day. There are absolutes and the death of Christ is one of them. We are saved by the cross and not by circumcision. Salvation is by Christ alone, plus nothing. Christians, young and old need to understand that the cross of Christ is still under attack. People still want to add something to the death of Christ. As Ryken says, we are all recovering Pharisees. But Paul is clear that you can add nothing to the work of the cross of Christ for salvation. The Judaizers were boasting in circumcision and the works of the flesh, but in contrast, Paul would boast only in the cross. In a day when the cross was a curse, Paul could say that he boasted in the Cross of Christ. I did not realized that there were 3 crucifixions. 1) Was when Christ was crucified, we were united with Him and also crucified. 2) We are crucified to the world. 3) The world was crucified to us. Paul not ony taught against heresy, but used the subject to teach Christians about the application of the cross to them.

I have taught Galatians before and I wish I had this commentary of expository sermons at that time. The next time I teach Galatians, I will have a great source that I have already read and marked.

Ryken is a wonderful author and preacher and he knows how to stay on the subject. He wants to teach the book of Galatians. He does not skip subjects and wander all over the place. This is a serious work. Ryken is good at giving you the big picture and then filling the blanks.

This book was a very beneficial, clear, and positive presentation of the Gospel. It was also a most helpful critique of the New Perspective, Federal Vision, and Auburn Avenue-like theologies (mostly found in the footnotes). He presents the Protestant Gospel found in Luther and the Reformation (and the Bible!) as clearly as I've seen anywhere.

'The gospel was not an invention, or a tradition, but a revelation. That is to say, it was something previously unknown that was unveiled by God.' p 30

A cursory glance at church history will convincingly show that there have been frequent attempts to veil again what God in His mercy chose to unveil. Philip Ryken, however, accepts the facts as biblical history chose to place it before us. Unquestiongly. The Bible tells of many attempts that were made on the apostle's life, and here we see why as Paul displayed in this letter an unyielding commitment to the cause of the one true gospel, which was to set him in the midst of corrupted religion. Yet this is where the sovereign Spirit had knowingly led him before (Acts 13 and 14), and still in full control of the fearless apostle, as one who no longer lived but had Christ living inside of him, made Paul to rise and meet the denials from the opponents of grace.

Ryken only senses a greater threat. 'We worship in a church of many gospels.' The preached Word gets around, there's no denying. Yet what exactly was the problem at Galatia, and can its mending have any real meaning to the wax nose modern Christians seem born-again with?

Hypocrisy is not a Christian's ally, and from Paul's vantage point we learn supremely that, comments Ryken, 'It is not enough to share the gospel or even preach it - the gospel has to be defended.' p 40 Ryken supplements and makes the connections explicit in Paul's criticisms of the 'alternative' gospel which had surfaced and gained momentum in the early church in a very short time. The flow of the argument is improved considerably by recapitulating on the full intent of Paul's pithy statements gained from his emotional objections and appeals to his brethren. Paul, who rarely called attention to himself in anticipation of it being counter-productive, provided details of his life heretofore undisclosed, in support of his apostolic calling. The greater concern was, however, theological rather than autobiographical, as Paul sought to secure gospel authentication by resorting to the only means he knew how: the unrelenting, uncompromising preaching of free grace in 'the gospel of Christ'; or, as Moises Silva summarizes it: 'the forceful way in which the apostle identifies his message: 'the gospel preached by me.' Interpreting Galatians p 152 Paul's defense of consistency in his proclamation happened to be clear as crystal: 'The present tense of 'I preach' suggests that Paul, when writing, was still preaching the same gospel that he did before going to Jerusalem.' Richard Longenecker, Galatians p 47

As fundamental to the gospel question as it was then, how much more so in our own age when acceptance into Christian ranks is made to seem dependent upon certain requirements that first be met, or Christians are made to expect demands which may have a bearing on their eternal salvation? Dr Ryken provides us the answer that implodes the myth of a DIY gospel: 'The answer is that there are no second-class Christians. Therefore, there can be no discrimination in the church. The church cannot even discriminate on the basis of relative righteousness.' p 44

Whilst reading Ryken's adaptation of Titus' apparent circumcision as a bold move or a test case by Paul, I was reminded of Richard Longenecker's 'artificial construction' of this incident (Galatians p 50). The omission of Titus by name in the whole of Acts also lends credibility to this hypothesis. Yet a strong case can be made that Titus was at the Council of Jerusalem, when one regards him to be among the unnamed 'some of the others' (Acts 15:2) that went up with Paul to Jerusalem. Ryken employs the Word of His grace across a redemptive-historical time context consistently and repudiates the nethermost modern newsfeed as publicized by the New Perspective on Paul that the means of salvation was not at issue here. The denial of justification by faith alone by NT scholar, Tom Wright, beggars belief: '...the question at issue in the church at Antioch, to which Paul refers in chapter 2, is not how people came to a relationship with God, but who one is allowed to eat with.' What Saint Paul Really Said p 121 This rejection of the gospel truth in turn brings a form of Pauline anathema on false brethren, warranting the strongest condemnation from Philip Ryken: 'We refuse to recognize as Christian any church or any other organization that does not teach the one true gospel.' p 49

After all is said and done, Ryken's deliberative raison d'ętre sums up our gratitude for God's undeserving grace found in the gospel message, which through the Holy Spirit continues to penetrate the hearts of those willing to hear of divine deliverance, and alone saves: 'What the Galatians needed, then, was a reminder that on the cross Jesus did everything necessary for their salvation. His cross is the only and all-sufficient atonement for sin. The only way to be justified is by faith alone.' p 85 Rallied around the cross, no meritorious observance is needed.

What joy can compare to this free gift?

'The apostle's ultimate goal was to see Christ take shape in the lives of his people, to see Christ formed in them. This ought to be the goal of every pastor: not the favor of men, but the formation of Christ. As Calvin observed, 'If ministers wish to be something, let them labour to form Christ, not themselves,' in their hearers. This kind of spiritual formation does not happen overnight.' pp. 177-178

Dr. Ryken's commentaries are always helpful and insightful. He has a profound way of exposing the truth of God's word. He helps you see ways of application that you never would have thought of. I would reccomend this commentary to anyone who is trying to get a better handle on the book of Galatians