The apostle Paul is baffling to many. Who hasn’t puzzled over what Paul meant in Romans 9-11? John Harvey, Professor of New Testament and Dean of the Seminary & School of Ministry at Columbia International University, has written a short volume to help us understand Paul’s epistles. Interpreting the Pauline Letters: An Exegetical Handbook, takes students, seminarians and pastors through Paul’s letters, highlighting pertinent background information and helping us get from ‘exegesis to exposition.’

Harvey’s eight chapters walk us through the whole process of exegesis of these letters. The first three chapters give a general overview. In chapter one, Harvey provides background on the ‘genre’ and structure of Paul’s letters. Chapter two gives a bird’s eye view of the historical context for each of the epistles. In chapter three he examines themes in Paul’s theology (organized with reference to Paul’s own vocabulary rather than imposing a structure from systematic theology).

In chapter four and five, Harvey unfolds the steps for his exegetical approach. The first step to proper interpretation is textual criticism and translation (chapter four). This helps us establish what the text says and what it means. As we begin the work of interpreting the text, we will need to look at the passage historically, literary and theologically (chapter five) Each of these spheres informs our understanding of the text. Historical analysis helps us understand the social context of Paul and his original audience. Literary Analysis illuminates structural and generic elements, as well as gets us to pay attention to rhetorical features and syntax. Finally, theological analysis helps us articulate how this passage makes sense in relationship to the Bible’s wider themes (the analogy of scripture) and doctrine (analogy of faith)(140-1).

Chapter six and seven discuss how to communicate the message of the passages we are exegeting. Chapter six describes how to move from the ‘big idea’ in the passage to how to relate it to a contemporary context. Chapter seven gives two case studies of how this approach works from ‘text to sermon.’ The final chapter provides a list of resources and commentaries for understanding Paul’s letters.

This is a constructive guide and Harvey’s exegetical steps correspond well to the approach I learned in seminary. I found this text simple to understand, and I thought he did a good job of describing the elements of good exegesis. I really like his three lenses on the text: history, literature, and theology. Harvey demonstrates the importance of understanding history, and literature for exegesis and highlights aspects of ‘theological analysis, especially as it relates to Paul (i.e. the Old Testament use in the New).

For me, a book on interpretation of the Bible is only ‘good,’ if I feel like it is worth putting into practice. The next time I am preaching from Paul’s letters, I will refer back to this book. I especially found helpful, Harvey’s succinct background on Greek and Jewish Epistles and how Paul’s letters fit the pattern (and where they are unique). I think his exegetical approach is spot on; however I felt like he could have explored more in-depth what theological analysis entails (i.e. what weight do we ascribe to patristic sources or historical theology?).

That small criticism aside, this is an introductory book on Pauline exegesis and does not attempt to untwist every issue in interpreting Paul’s letters. What it does is give a framework for us to dig deeper into the text ourselves. I give this book four stars and recommend it for pastors and students alike.

Thank you to Kregel Academic for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. ( )

Focusing on Paul's letters, but not on any one of his letters in particular, this book is basically a recourse for studying Biblical letters. Harvey delves into proper methods of researching the text, its variants, and the historical background of the time of Paul. He also gives recommended steps in studying the original Greek and advise as to how it can be presented.

I particularly liked Harvey's summary/overview of Paul's teachings throughout his letters. When dealing with Paul's speaking of the change that takes place at salvation, quoting 2Cor. 5:17, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come' he explains, "That statement points to something far greater than a minor shift in belief or behavior; it describes nothing less than a total transfer from one sphere of existence to another." I also liked his overview of the backgrounds of each place to which Paul wrote his letters.

What I didn't like was that Harvey didn't seem like a big advocate for verse-by-verse/book-by-book preaching. Not that he was absolutely against it, but he seemed to be advocating focusing on people's needs and applying the scripture to those, which might bring about more of a selective approach to the Scriptures. Don't we discover our needs from God's Word? Not our felt needs necessarily, but our true needs, whether we feel a need for them or not. Perhaps I would add the word duties, and not merely "needs" but 'must-knows'(which isn't really a word), so how about 'imperatives'? These things may be what Mr. Harvey meant, but isn't a verse-by-verse/book-by-book approach the best way to discover all of our needs and duties, in the correct order we're supposed to deal with them and all of the instruction pertaining to them?

But overall, I think that this was a good 'handbook'. It gives a good amount of background information and summaries. Also, the chapters on translating and interpreting the passages from the Greek are handy. I think that it is a good overview of Paul's letters.

Thanks to Kregel Academic for sending me a free review copy of this book!(My review did not have to be favorable)


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John D. Harvey’s Interpreting the Pauline Letters: An Exegetical Handbook is the first in a series of books slated to be published for the specific purpose of assisting students of the New Testament in their ability to understand and communicate the text of Scripture. In this volume, Harvey (Professor of New Testament and Dean of the Seminary and School of Ministry at Columbia International University) sets the pace for series by focusing on the Pauline letters: Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.

The book is written in such a manner as to provide quick helps and summaries of major points of emphasis in the interpretation process. Harvey relates Paul’s letters to the various genre of Scripture, as well as other letters written during the first-century. While Paul’s letters find some similarity at points with familial letters, his is a distinct structure. Harvey then discusses the historical background of Paul’s letters by attempting to reconstruct a timeline of the events of Paul’s life based primarily upon his letters and only then using the book of Acts to clarify and fill in gaps in what can be discerned. Harvey discusses the overarching theology of Paul’s letters by looking at Paul’s use of two spheres: “in Adam” and “in Christ.” He provides a brief primer on textual criticism and translation, an introductory hermeneutic method, ideas on preaching methods, and two examples of the entire process from text to sermon.
Critique

The strength of this handbook lies in its ability to simplify concepts that often require extensive study and research. His chapter on genre, while its impact upon final interpretation may be debated, synthesizes the research well and provides the reader with a quick understanding of the nature of Paul’s genre. Likewise, the historical background work helps the reader gain a better understanding of the discussions surrounding the timeline of Paul’s life, missionary travels, and imprisonment – including the impact of such events upon his writing.

Harvey’s chapter on sermon preparation and delivery relies on texts that most will not find surprising – Robinson’s Biblical Preaching, Chapell’s Christ-Centered Preaching, and Hamilton’s Homiletical Handbook. One might also note Harvey’s repeated use of Andy Stanley’s Communicating for a Change. While Stanley is a popular speaker and author, his books are not universally considered of the same substance and weight as those previously mentioned, and differs significantly in terms of sermon shape. Stanley’s inclusion into this list of expositors simply appears out-of-place.

Harvey’s book will serve those in search of an accessible tool to assist them in the task of sermon preparation. His summaries provide a cursory understanding of the material needed for such a task, but also provide recommended (conservative, evangelical) texts for further study as one sees fit. Anyone striving to faithfully communicate God’s Word as penned by Paul the Apostle will find assistance in this little volume. ( )

The life of a pastor is busy. Hectic may be a better word. And in the 21st Century, the pace of life has quickened for everyone while the expectations for what a pastor must do have only increased. Fortunately, there is an abundance of books and resources designed to give the pastor or teacher a helping hand. "Interpreting the Pauline Letters" by John D. Harvey, will prove not only helpful but indispensable in the study of the Pauline Epistles.

The book is an exegetical handbook designed to prepare the pastor, teacher or student for an intensive study through Paul's letters. But it doesn't stop there. Harvey's intent is not merely to educate about the historical background of these treasured NT epistles. He aims to facilitate a pastoral application of the Word for today's hearers. To that end, the book includes a section on how to craft an expositional sermon as well as two examples where Harvey walks through all the steps in preparing a sermon on a text from one of Paul's letters.

The book begins with a study of the genre of Paul's letters, comparing Paul's writing with formal and informal letter styles from the ancient world. Harvey draws careful, balanced conclusions from a comparison of the structure of all of Paul's letters and explains the function of various sub-units of Paul's letters. In this chapter, I was introduced to the terms "apostolic parousia" and "apostolic apologia" which play an important role in Paul's letters and have commonalities with other ancient letters. He also looks at the role rhetoric plays in Paul's letters. I found his thoughts on the genre to be instructive and not overblown: a helpful survey to keep in mind as one approaches Paul's letters.

Next Harvey surveys the historical background of Paul's writings. This section was perhaps the most fascinating. The conservative pastor will be appreciative that the arguments for and against Paul's authorship of all the traditional Pauline epistles are briefly surveyed and a defense of Pauline authorship - even of the pastoral epistles, is presented. He defends Pauline authorship well but in a cursory manner. He then argues for the integrity of the epistles as we find them in Scripture - 2 Corinthians and Philippians in particular are discussed. He then attempts to build a chronology of the historical background for Paul's letters from a study of just the letters themselves. He compares this with what we find in Acts and finds complementarity not disharmony. He presents an interesting argument for Philippians being the last of Paul's letters, but presents the traditional view as well. He is careful not to base too much on historical reconstructions where the evidence is slim. Harvey shines in this section as he navigates the reader through the ins and outs of Pauline scholarship.

The handbook continues with a section on Paul's theology, which emphasizes "the great transfer" from darkness to light, from being in the world to being in Christ, from Satan's dominion to the power of God. He traces a theology of each of the letters as well. He only briefly discusses "covenantal nomism" and the New Pauline Perspective, arguing for a traditional view. This in my view is the book's biggest weakness. By only briefly surveying that issue, and by brief I mean about a half page, the handbook is perhaps more acceptable by a wider audience, but it is less helpful for the busy pastor who wants to know more about this important Pauline question.

The book then moves away from a laser focus on Paul's epistles to a more generic approach to studying Scripture. Textual criticism and translation are discussed, with several approaches for busy teachers - from comparing translations to doing you own translation from the Greek text (advocated as the best approach). In this section I was pleased to see the Majority Text view of Byzantine priority given equal treatment with the prevailing preference for Alexandrian manuscripts. Most works of this scholarly nature hardly give the Byzantine perspective any mention at all. It is almost a certainty that for conservative pastors, the question of Byzantine priority will come up. Harvey attempts to be even-handed even while ultimately siding with the majority scholarly opinion. After focusing on translation and defining the text to be studied, he gives a general study of how to interpret passages synthetically. He focuses on historical, lexical/linguistic, and theological analyses in a brief but helpful way. The historical analyses was redundant for this book and a bit distracting in my perspective, but everything else was quite useful.

In the next section, Harvey focused on homiletics and how to build a sermon using deductive or inductive patterns. Like the previous sections on translation and interpretation, the examples were from Paul's epistles but the content was broad and applicable to all of the New Testament. It is here that he also focuses on applying the text to the 21st Century.

In the final section he provides two case-studies applying all the tools, starting with textual criticism and translation of the text, to historical study, literary/linguistic analysis, syntactical study, theological analysis, appropriation, and homiletical packaging. Walking the reader through his method helps bring the whole book together.

I was impressed with how useful and accessible this handbook was for the average reader. It will benefit lay teachers and pastors alike. While it doesn't cover everything I would like, it is a fine resource which stays faithful to a conservative approach to Scripture. This book is one of a series produced by Kregel Publications: the "Handbooks for New Testament Exegesis." There is also an OT set of handbooks as well. I'll be wanting to collect the entire set after my time spent reading through this example. I encourage you to check out this helpful series as well.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by Kregel Publishers. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a positive review. ( )