Galatians was the first book I studied when, as a high schooler, a claim on my life was experienced. I tell more of this story in the opening to my own commentary on Galatians (Galatians (The NIV Application Commentary)
), which can be interpreted as an early new perspective reading of Galatians. The emphasis was on salvation-history than on "badges" that separate Jews from Gentiles.We have a rich selection of commentaries on Galatians, and I reveal my own biases: would you add to these or eliminate some of these?
FF Bruce's commentary is where many begin today: The Epistle to the Galatians: A Commentary on the Greek Text (The new international Greek Testament commentary)
.R Longenecker is one of the most complete listing of viewpoints: Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 41, Galatians
.HD Betz, a powerful commentary when it came out for its focus on rhetorical theory, is a masterpiece of exegesis: Galatians: A Commentary on Paul's Letter to the Churches in Galatia (Hermeneia: a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible)
.JDG Dunn's small commentary can't be dismissed for its size: here is a compact statement of his version of the new perspective -- The Epistle to the Galatians
.And now many will finish off their work on this letter by turning to J Louis Martyn, Galatians (The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries)
.
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Coming Soon: Brian Vickers in the NCC edited by Michael Bird and Craig Keener.
Don Garlington has an excellent FREE commentary you can download from the Paul Page:
http://www.thepaulpage.com/Shorter_Galatians.pdf
Certainly these two by Richard Hays: The Faith of Christ (not a commentary, per se) and his section on Galatians in the New Interpreter's Bible series.
Gordon Fee's "Pentecostal Commentary",
Hays in the NIB (which picks up on Martyn's apocalyptic themes but seems more balanced),
Dunn's book on the theological issues in Galatians,
Wright's "entry-level" commentary,
and some of the papers that Wright has on the web.
Now, I also read some of the typical "old perspective" commentaries and it was as if they were talking about another book!
To all those mentioned, I would add Walter Hansen's work from IVP. I have found it to be quite good - richly condensed - despite a place or two where I disagree with him. A lay person should have little trouble with him.
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