Interpreting the Pauline Epistles

Title: Interpreting the Pauline Epistles
Author: Thomas R. Schreiner
Publisher: Baker Book House
Number of pages: 167
Purchased: March 2005, BJU Bible Conference, $11.39
Recommended by: Had to read chapter 6 for a seminary class with Dr. Minnick’s
Begun: 3/21/2007
Finished: 5/16/2007
Rating: ***

Review: “Guides to New Testament Exegesis” is a seven-part series that deals individually with the different genres of New Testament literature. Fifth in the series is this book by Thomas Schreiner that focuses on the Pauline letters. (The letter to the Hebrews is treated separately in another volume.)
The book assumes that the reader has at least a first-year education in Greek, but it is on the whole very accessible. The one exception would be chapter five which covers diagramming and grammatical analysis. I forced myself to labor through this chapter, and it was to my great profit. (Diagramming was something I was never taught to do in my Greek education, though I have heard that that has changed at the seminary).
Schreiner begins (chapter 1) by explaining the nature of letters (epistles), their common elements, and how this medium of communication differs from other genres. Most of Paul’s letters were occasional in nature (i.e., written to address specific situations), and so it becomes important to understand what was going on at the time the letter was written while avoiding the error of “mirror reading.” Mirror reading is the practice of assuming that every issue Paul addresses in a letter reflects some problem or attitude among the first readers. For example: the fact that in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 Paul emphasizes the integrity of his ministry does not necessarily mean that the Thessalonians were challenging it. On the other hand, much can be learned about the Galatian Judaizers and their teaching by observing the way Paul defends his apostolicity and the Gospel’s authenticity in his letter to the Galatians.
Schreiner moves on (chapters 2-4) to provide a brief survey of textual criticism as it relates to the Pauline corpus, the importance of translating directly from the Greek text, and how to go about investigating historical and introductory issues.
By far the best chapter in the book (and alone worth the price of the book) is chapter 6 on “Tracing the Argument.” Schreiner explains that the key to interpreting the epistles is being able to explain the relationships between propositions. “All propositions relate in either a coordinate or subordinate way to previous propositions” (99). Illustration: “I listened to the radio, and I washed my car” is a sentence containing two coordinate propositions. “I listened to the radio while washing my car” is a sentence containing two propositions but one is subordinate to the other. In this case, the relationship is temporal since it tells you when I listened to the radio. Schreiner goes on to list out and illustrate all the different possible relationships that can exist between propositions. Having his list of propositional relationships before you as you analyze a text is of immeasurable value. I worked through this chapter with Ruth and she discovered that it is something one can do without any knowledge of the Greek as long as one has a good, literal translation. This is the kind of stuff that makes Bible study exciting. When people slow down to ask, “Is this proposition providing a reason? Drawing an inference? Issuing a condition? Making a comparison? Explaining an idea? Giving the result or purpose of an action? Noting the time or place? etc.,” the epistles just open up. When someone learns to approach the text with the right questions, he or she will normally discover the right answers. This chapter on “Tracing the Argument” is an armory of questions with which to approach the text.
The remaining balance of the book (chapters 7-9) handles “Doing Lexical Studies,” “Probing the Theological Context,” and “Delineating the Significance of Paul’s Letters.” On the whole, this book provides an accessible and profitable introduction to “Interpreting the Pauline Epistles.”