I'm a pastor who preaches through books of the bible. I am just finishing my current series on 1 Corinthians. I've found this commentary to be one that I would not want to work without. It's really one of the best ones I own. I've found David Garland's commentary to be consistently even handed, careful to evaluate the text honestly, and helpful in almost every situation I've used this commentary for. In particular I found this commentary more helpful on his treatment of 1 Corinthians 11, 13 & 15 than most of my other tools on 1 Corinthians. I've been using about 15 different commentaries on 1 Corinthians, including Worthington, Fee, Keener, Thiselton's NIGTC & Thiselton's Short Pastoral Commentary on 1 Corinthians, as well as a bunch of other commentaries like Prior (Bible Speaks Today Series) & Life Application Commentary. All of them have individual strengths, but this commentary, Garland's, has a lot more material than most of the other commentaries (except for NICNT & NIGTC) I own. Not only does it have more material, but most of the material is helpful.
This series of commentaries does one thing that I don't appreciate. The editors have decided to put summaries at the beginning of each segment of the commentary in a medium gray shaded box. This does set apart the text that is a summary of what follows, but it does not copy well on a copier. So if you like a summary and want to use that in a small group discussion you have to lug the entire book in with you. It is also difficult on the eyes to read a few pages of that black print on medium gray background. I just don't like it.
Garland sometimes doesn't summarize his material as well as I would like to see. For example, the section on 1 Corinthians 13 where he introduces his exegetical comments on love has some statements that are meant to summarize what follows, but almost contradict the most important point that follows. They sounded good, but as I thought about them, I became worried that he was going to add to the published material that wrongly defines agape as 'unconditional love'. Sometimes he also spends a lot of time on things that most pastors (at least myself) don't really care about. For example in his discussion on love he gives 23 pages of material. The first 4 pages are his summary, but he never accurately defines love in his summary. He does later on in his detailed exegesis, but in his summary he says things like "Love is concern for their community" and "love is the new aeon already present". He says that love is the marrow of the Christian existence. In the 4 pages of summary material he gives two pages to the discussion of the raging and worthless debate on what kind of literary passage does 1 Corinthians 13 represent. If scholars ever figure that out, will it help us? I think that kind of stuff is pretty much a waste of ink and paper, but that's just my opinion. He obviously thought it was worth half of his summarization of 1 Corinthians 13! But he never got to the point that some have written about...and EVERY scholar publishing articles on agape needs to have the courage to write about the fact that the word agape does not mean unconditional love just because it is the word agape. He didn't say that...although he in essence comes to that conclusion without talking about the unconditional love definition pop myth.
So anyhow, much to my delight when I arrived at his detailed exegesis of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Garland (to use a baseball metaphor) hits a grand slam home run. He goes to the fine work of Spicq (French scholar and quotes his 3 volume set's article on agape-which has the best definition on agape in print).
Theological Lexicon of the New Testament 3 Volume Set
(By the way, he doesn't cite Spicq's exhaustive work on Agape. But he is the published authority on detailed study of this term historically and is the most helpful scholar in print on agape.
Agape in the New Testament, 3 Volumes
It made me so happy to see Garland pull through and define agape as "demonstration of love" that I wanted to shout 'yes'! He defines agape in this section as something that is not an inner feeling alone, but that it must put itself on display...quoting Spicq verbatim. So he ends up contradicting the summary section of his commentary. Agape is not 'concern for the community'. It is a demonstration of love. I especially love his links to the unmentioned backdrop of the 1 Corinthians passage (Paul doesn't say it in chapter 13), but the clear demonstration of God's love for us all in the offering of his Son on the cross. Bravo!! Pastors-these things preach well! Don't overlook this material. If we goof up the definition of love, we seriously miss what the accurate meaning is of many biblical passages. For 'agape' is a primary theme in the New Testament, if not THE primary theme.
He also handles the 'perfect' term correctly, does not even bother to mention the old view that some amazingly are still teaching to this day...that the perfect refers to the completion of the canon: see the ESV Study Bible notes on 1 Corinthians as an example.
The ESV Study Bible
His material should be read before one uses 1 Corinthians 13 in a wedding because it will help a good Pastor preach in a more practical way for a couple.
I say all of this, because sometimes if you are short of time you will be tempted to read just his summaries of a section. I recommend you try to slot enough time to read his exegetical comments in full because of what I have just chronicled on 1 Cor 13.
I wish he had a sub section for each part that gave pertinent links to ancient Jewish and Greek literature with focus on the Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Apostolic Fathers, and 1 Century Jewish authors writing in Greek (like Josephus). I think it would be helpful to have more cross links to these categories. He does bring them into play, but it seems to be more judicious that I would prefer. It would also be interesting to see some material tying into the Hebrew Old Testament terms for love and how this ties in to 1 Corinthians as well as more LXX ties.
I found his treatment of 1 Corinthians 11 to be convincing, noting the difficulty of treating the 'head covering' issue, he lays out a full case for how to interpret that passage, including a simple, yet confirming chiastic outline to support his point. I think I agree with him on that as well. His handling of 1 Corinthians 15 helped me preach on the resurrection and is a worthy aid to any pastor who has to prepare a message for a funeral.
Because some of these passages are usually used in Weddings and Funerals, and I have used them over and over in Weddings and Funerals, I found it interesting to see how Garland contextualizes these passages. I think his links to Paul's purpose in writing remain consistent throughout the book. So you will regularly be reminded of why Paul wrote 1 Corinthians. On 1 Corinthians 13 Garland's comments are superior to Fee's because he correctly defines agape. Fee doesn't cite either of the massive works by Spicq (how can they be ignored?)...but does quote Shakespeare?! This is why it's good to have both commentaries if you can afford it.
One reviewer wrote that this commentary is superior to Fee's
The First Epistle to the Corinthians (The New International Commentary on the New Testament)
because of his treatment of 1 Corinthians 14:34. I don't know if I agree with that. I believe it's a worthy addition to ones library and that one should read Fee as well as Garland. I don't think I know enough to say which one is superior. I love both of these commentaries. I will say that I also prefer Thistleton's Shorter Commentary
First Corinthians: A Shorter Exegetical and Pastoral Commentary
over his NIGTC
The First Epistle to the Corinthians : A Commentary on the Greek Text
, and I prefer Keener's short Socio commentary
1-2 Corinthians (New Cambridge Bible Commentary)
over Witherington
Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians
because he consistently gets to the relevant issue at hand.
If you have $100 budgeted for 1 Corinthians, I recommend Fee & Garland. Then Thiselton's shorter commentary and Keener's shorter commentary. Of all of these I love Garland the best. But they are all excellent. When I am done reading a section by Garland on 1 Corinthians, I usually have the sense that I've just had an objective and helpful look at what scholars say, and what the text actually means, as well as some links for further study on key issues. I think that's likely how you will feel too if you purchase and use this book in your sermon prep time.
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Wojciech Kuzniar
must have for exegesis
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 16, 2023