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Letter to the PhilippiansFresh and practicalLETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS ‘Paul I know, but who are you?’ That was my initial reaction to this commentary on Paul’s much loved letter to the Philippians, but by an author unfamiliar to me. I needn’t have had any doubts about the value of the work by G. Walter Hansen. Not only is Don Carson the General Editor of this Pillar New Testament Commentary series, which should be reassuring enough, but the author himself writes with a firm grasp of current exegetical debates, appears to be across a wide spectrum of theological views and has a happy knack of finding the heart of an expositional structure which delivers something fresh and practical to a potential congregation or study group. For this is above all a preacher’s commentary and that’s why I took to it so readily. Take his analysis of the hymn to Christ in Paul’s second chapter. It combined, like the rest of the book, a detached, balanced, academic perspective of the various interpretations, while providing a rich, warm application which moved the will to respond in praise. But it’s the kind of material which will not write your sermons for you — there’s still work to be done to move from text to pulpit. And so it needs to be. Let’s do away with websermon.com. Why another book though, and a pricey one, on Philippians? Fair question. But, with this commentary, you can probably afford to give away several of those you’ve already got and you won’t be the poorer. Here’s some of the latest evangelical thinking combined with the best of the past heritage about an epistle which isn’t really to do with ‘joy’, but single-minded passion for mission. Missional pastors should read it as should their missional churches. Rooted in a conviction of the centrality of the gospel, like the letter itself, this is a useful addition to a good theological library. Peter Baker,
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