Gary M. Burge, Galatians and Ephesians Through Old Testament Eyes

18 hours ago 5

Burge, Gary M. Galatians and Ephesians through Old Testament Eyes. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel, 2025. Pb. 327 pp. $28.99. Link to Kregel

Gary Burge, a Wheaton College emeritus professor of New Testament and well-known scholar, contributes the first volume in the Through Old Testament Eyes series on Paul’s epistles. In his short introduction to the commentary, Burge illustrates the difficulty of interpreting something from another culture. Beit Alpha has a synagogue mosaic with a series of recognizable Jewish symbols, but it also has zodiac symbols and an image of Helios, the Roman sun god, at the center. Burge suggests it takes humility to look at a Jewish mosaic with zodiac symbols and admit that we do not know what the combination means. A similar humility is required for interpreting Galatians and Ephesians (or any other biblical book). We are reading ancient letters in another language, from another culture, and we only hear Paul’s side of the argument. This TOTE commentary series attempts to bridge the gap by offering insights from the Old Testament to help a modern reader interpret Paul’s letters. By ignoring this context, Burge suggests, we risk interpreting these letters in a way that Paul would not recognize.

Like previous TOTE commentaries, Burge does not write a detailed intertextual study, nor is the commentary on “how the New Testament uses the Old” in Galatians and Ephesians. Burge does not discuss intertextual methodology (how to detect allusions to the Old Testament) or address hermeneutical issues of how Paul interpreted the Old Testament. Burge recognizes that Paul used the Septuagint but does not draw parallels to rabbinic exegesis (Galatians 4:21-31, for example). On one occasion, he draws attention to Second Temple literature (Jubilees in the endnote 5 on Galatians 4), but the focus of the commentary is on how the Old Testament sheds light on Galatians and Ephesians.

His twelve-page introduction to Galatians begins with a discussion of the location of Galatia and the timing of the letter with respect to the Jerusalem Conference (Acts 15). Burge accepts a southern Galatia position. Although this is compatible with either a date before Acts 15 or after, Burge uses the early date in his interpretation of the letter. Galatians is therefore the earliest of Paul’s letters, written just after the conclusion of the first mission trip (Acts 13-14). The introduction briefly describes the spiritual climate of the Galatian churches in a Hellenistic culture where Roman gods mixed with local religious practice. The crisis in Galatia is that “certain men from James” came to Paul’s churches, telling the Gentiles that they must be circumcised to be fully saved. Paul hears of this, postpones his return to the churches, and returns to Jerusalem to settle the issue (Acts 15). The Letter to the Galatians confronts the Jewish teachers. Burge suggests that Paul “believes that an epic shift has occurred in history” (36), by which Gentile Christians are now part of God’s family, the children of Abraham, without keeping the Law (starting with circumcision).

In the introduction to Ephesians, Burge suggests, “Paul is a different person when he writes Ephesians.” Since commentary series rarely pair Galatians and Ephesians, the contrast between “early Paul” and “later Paul” is even more profound. Like most commentaries on Ephesians, Burge discusses the letter’s destination (to the Ephesians or not?) and authorship (written by Paul, or not?) He surveys the critical consensus is that Paul did not write the letter and suggests that an amanuensis or the circumstances later in Paul’s life may account for these objections. Paul might be the author, or the letter could be written “in Paul’s voice.” He concludes Ephesians is “curiously unlike the other Pauline letters.” After offering a brief overview of the context of western Anatolia (culture, religion, imperial cult, mystery religions), Burge says the message of Ephesians is a “grand vision for the church, its place in the world, its qualities, and its mission to create a society unlike any known in the Roman world” (164). In Ephesians, the Christian life is like a battle with dark spiritual forces (like the mystery cults).

Through Old Testament Eyes commentaries have three types of sidebars. First, “What Does the Structure Mean?” These sidebars comment on structural elements of the text, such as the rhetorical strategy of pathos in Galatians 4:11-20. Second, every chapter contains several “Through Old Testament Eyes” sidebars. Burge uses these spaces to focus on how Paul uses certain Old Testament passages (Habakkuk 2:4 and Leviticus 18:5 in Galatians 3:11-12; Isaiah 57:19 on Ephesians 2:13), but also for tracing important Old Testament themes in Paul’s thought. For example: Yeast (Gal 5:9), New Creation (Gal 6:15), The Temple (Eph 2:19-22), or Sealing (Eph 4:30). Third, each chapter contains at least one sidebar entitled “Going Deeper.” These sections draw application from the text and are pastoral. For example, while discussing Galatians 5:14, “Love your Neighbor,” Burge draws application for believers who find loving some neighbors difficult. Others interact with contemporary scholarship. Commenting on Galatians 2:19-21, Burge discusses the contribution of John Barclay’s Paul and the Gift.

Compared to other volumes of the TOTE series, there are far more “Through Old Testament Eyes” sidebars. There are 25 for Galatians and 31 for Ephesians (nearly five per chapter). The Matthew commentary in this series had 29 sidebars in this category, one per chapter of Matthew. In addition, there are fewer “What Does the Structure Mean?” sidebars, only seven in the entire commentary and only one for Ephesians. By comparison, there were 26 in the Matthew volume.

This is an improvement since the commentary’s theme is reading the text through Old Testament Eyes. I found Karen Jobes’ commentary on John curiously lacking in comments on how the Old Testament illuminates John’s Gospel (there were no “Through Old Testament Eyes” sidebars in chapters 4, 5, 8, and 11). Burge’s commentary has far more commentary on how the Old Testament illuminates Galatians and Ephesians. I hope this is the case for future commentaries in this series.

The commentary proper is based on the English text (NIV) with occasional comparison to other modern translations. When Burge refers to a Greek word or phrase, it appears in transliteration. Readers without Greek will be able to use the commentary without difficulty. In the body of the commentary, he rarely refers to secondary sources. Endnotes refer to other commentaries. Burge also uses endnotes for Greek grammatical issues and occasional references to historic interpreters. Although I prefer footnotes, the body of the commentary is distraction-free and a pleasure to read.

Conclusion: Burge’s Galatians and Ephesians Through Old Testament Eyes is an excellent commentary on these two books and will be helpful for pastors and teachers preparing sermons or lessons. Although the TOTE commentaries do not deal with every detail of the text, the focus on how the Old Testament illuminates the text is a welcome contribution to the study of the New Testament.

Other volumes in the Through Old Testament Eyes series: