1 & 2 Timothy and Titus: A Commentary

Currents in Theology and Mission, August, 2005 by Edgar Krentz

1 & 2 Timothy and Titus: A Commentary. By Raymond F. Collins. The New Testament Library. Louisville and London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002. xxiv and 408 pages. Cloth. $34.95.

II Corinthians: A Commentary. By Frank J. Matera. The New Testament Library. Louisville and London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003. xx and 332 pages. Cloth. $34.95.

Welcome a new series of New Testament commentaries that parallels the distinguished Old Testament Library of the publisher. It sets a high standard. Pastors might well make this series a mainstay in their library. The series will also contain other useful works, the first a new expanded and revised edition of J. Louis Martyn's History and Theology in the Fourth Gospel.

The two volumes follow a similar format. The introduction sets the stage for the commentary that follows. Collins presents the evidence for knowledge of the letters in the early church (sparse and ambiguous), notes what makes them different from other Pauline letters, and then argues for their non-authenticity, in the process identifying them as unique, not conforming to any epistolary genre identified by the later theorists (p. 6). 2 Timothy has a textamentary character, while the other two are similar to documents about church order from the second century. Their language is Hellenistic, arising from the "confluence of the Judeo-Christian traditions with the Hellenistic world" (p. 8). Puzzles remain: the appearance of Crete in Titus, the choice of Timothy and Titus as recipients, the order of composition by a single writer. The letters are practical teaching yet profoundly theological. The writer affirms many of the moral values of contemporary society, e.g. in his catalogs of virtues and vices and his use of the household code.

Matera goes against the stream in arguing that 2 Corinthians, "the most personal and revealing of Paul's letters" (p. 1), is a single letter, not composed of multiple authentic fragments later fathered into a single document. He concludes that Paul wrote to solve the crisis caused by his painful visit, to encourage the completion of the collection, and to respond to another crisis caused by intrusive apostles and unrepentant Corinthians.

In each case the commentary proper, written in paragraph style, deals carefully with the text section by section, providing detailed commentary on the text in terms of its literary form, structure, social and literary relationships, and the theological content in Paul's message for his own time and for the contemporary church. In each case there is careful attention to the social context of the letter, to the use of rhetorical features, to the text-critical problems of the Greek original, and to the problems faced. Each is concerned to trace the flow of the thought. Collins provides his own translation of these letters, Matera does not.

Both authors are professors at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. That the major Presbyterian publishing house published these works indicates how much modern biblical studies are not dominated by provincial, denominational concerns. These commentaries will be appreciated by theological students, by pastors preparing to preach or teach, by scholars in the academy, and by lay readers who are concerned to read the Bible with understanding. They deserve wide use.