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2 CorinthiansVolume 1 - Chapters 1-7Unlawful2 CORINTHIANS: Readers will have discovered in Paul's epistles, as did Peter, 'things hard to understand', especially in 2 Corinthians, perhaps the most difficult of his epistles. This study commentary by Dr. Peter Naylor is initially welcome, therefore. He helpfully threads his way through the background problems posed by this epistle, avoiding speculative modern theories. The commentary follows the natural divisions of the first seven chapters, and subdivides into sectors, each of which concludes with 'Application'. In fairly full 'endnotes' reference is made to the Greek text and to other commentators. The author gives a scholarly exposition of the text, although sometimes does not consider alternative interpretations (cp.1.21-22). Dr. Naylor dissents from the Puritan view that the law has abiding significance for the believer, who, he declares, 'is released from any obligation to consider the law of Moses in any of its parts as his rule of life' (p.164). The Judaisers were guilty of making adherence to the law essential to salvation, but Dr. Naylor goes to the other extreme, declaring the whole of it, including the moral law, 'redundant'. The law is no more an instrument of sanctification than of justification, and to this extent we may differ from some Puritans; but Dr. Naylor has taken a bridge too far, and landed himself in Antinomian territory. He should, therefore, be read with care. Paul Cook, Derby© Evangelicals Now - August 2002 |