Interpreting the Pauline Epistles

by Thomas R. Schreiner

Leading Pauline-studies expert Thomas Schreiner provides an updated guide to the exegesis of the New Testament epistles traditionally assigned to Paul. The first edition helped thousands of students dig deeper into studying the New Testament epistles. This new edition is revised throughout to account for changes in the field and to incorporate the author's maturing judgments. The book helps readers understand the nature of first-century letters, do textual criticism, investigate historical and introductory issues, probe theological context, and much more.

Genres: Theology, Biblical Studies, Christian, New Testament, Nonfiction, School, Reference

182 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1990

About the author

Thomas R. Schreiner (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including New Testament Theology; Magnifying God in Christ; Apostle of God's Glory in Christ; and Romans in the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament.

Reviews

[Michael Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful to the preacher, teacher, or student of Paul's letters. I would have liked to see Schreiner teach block diagramming rather than the older-style grammatical diagramming, which I do not find as useful. But that quibble aside, this book is very useful to think through interpreting Paul's letters. Schreiner is always worth a read and is one of the top exegetes on Pauline literature.

[Cbarrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Schreiner offers one of the finer books on biblical interpretation. His focus is Paul, but the method can be applied to all biblical books. He writes with clarity and provides a number of textual illustrations to demonstrate visually what he describes verbally.

All chapters are helpful. The following standout: Chapter 5. Diagramming and Conducting a Grammatical Analysis. Schreiner makes diagramming fun again. Chapter 6: Tracing the Argument. Paul's writing is often complex, sophisticated, and nuanced. This chapter illustrates how the interpreter can follow Paul's argument. Chapter 9. Delineating the Significance of Paul's Letters. It is vital to legitimately get from Paul to modern application. Schreiner is a wise guide.

A technical read, but clear. Recommended to those desirous to see how the move from exegesis to theology works.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Schreiner is one of the best scholars on Paul in the last 100 years, and one I consistently go to for help on understanding difficulties in Scripture. Not only is he incredibly sharp, he's also very humble in his arguments admitting where some weaknesses may lie in his writing. Because of his knowledge, love for the church, and character, he is one of the theologians that I trust most.

In "Interpreting the Pauline Epistles", he outlines principles of interpretation as it relates to understanding Paul. Schreiner shows how he himself walks through Pauline interpretation and in many ways it's as if you get to look over the masters shoulder and see how he works his craft. This was the central strength of the book: showcasing mechanics of interpretation while exhibiting the artistry needed in interpretation.

I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about principles of interpretation and isn't scared of lengthy footnotes and German last names.

[Nathan Schrock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Handy little guide covering the steps everyone should go through to interpret the Pauline Epistles. He includes several long lists of resources for various aspects of study that I expect to be useful to reference in the future.
Though I don't necessarily line up with Schreiner on every point, he said many things that I think most of us would do well to hear:
"Some people consider biblical scholars to be specialists who investigate and debate issues that have little to do with practical everyday living. Sadly enough, scholars share some of the blame here, for they have often failed to see or to share the wider implications of their work. They have become specialists. So the ordinary person asks, Why should I learn any more about the labyrinth of NT scholarship than about the latest research on astronomy? Reading the latest theories in astronomy may be intellectually stimulating, but it is deemed to be practically useless. So too students often relegate biblical exegesis to the scholarly shelf and abandon it as soon as they complete their academic course work. Too often evangelicals have responded to the world of scholarship with an anti-intellectual attitude. Recognizing the glaring deficiencies of critical scholarship, evangelicals have sometimes responded by denying the need for critical and searching study of the Bible. In place of serious study, some segments of the evangelical subculture have trumpeted a somewhat naive and simplistic way of understanding Scripture. Long ago Erasmus revealed the error of such a mind-set with this penetrating remark: 'People say to me, How can scholarly knowledge facilitate the understanding of Holy Scripture? My answer is, How does ignorance contribute to it?' "

[Mike Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an academic overview to aid in reading and interpreting Pauline literature. The book spends a large amount of space dealing with more liberal views on the Pauline epistles (debates on authorship, gender roles, etc). If someone is already convinced of the traditional views in some of those areas, the book will provide little use to them. The best chapter was on diagramming and conducting a grammatical analysis, and it was worth the entire read.

[Brandon Beckman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a super helpful read. It gave me a great basic understanding of things like tracing the argument through Paul’s letters, understanding the importance of diagraming sentences and propositional clauses. It is filled with practical advice and good examples to help you grasp his main points. I feel more equipped to engage with Pauline texts as a result of this book.

[Matthew Richey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful.

[Cole Michaels · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful guide for studying Paul’s letters but really any epistle in the New Testament. I especially found value in the chapter on “tracing”. I have found it very helpful in interpreting and studying the epistles and the arguments they are making.

[Matt Pitts · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best things you could do if you wanted to learn how to accurately interpret Paul's letters is to sit under a noted Pauline scholar like Dr. Schreiner. But perhaps the next best thing would be to read this book and work on putting his method into practice in your own study.

Dr. Schreiner is one of my favorite authors/Bible scholars and this book is a great reminder of why I enjoy and appreciate him so much. He is clear, helpful, pastoral (a careful reader will notice his concern for his students even in his writing), biblical, and loves what he does. It would be hard to imagine a better step-by-step guide to interpreting Paul's letters than this one.

Perhaps the most challenging chapters are those on grammatical analysis and tracing Paul's arguments. These chapters are easier to read than they are to practice, but the examples he provides in the chapter on tracing the argument make the payoff clear. For those who have heard of or looked into John Piper's 'arcing' method, Schreiner's method appears to be very similiar. In fact, I believe they have both drawn heavily on Daniel Fuller's method (Schreiner notes he has in this book and I think Piper does in his booklet as well).

Also particularly helpful are his suggestions for further reading. On NT background he suggests more books than you will probably ever read, but you won't be lacking in options! And perhaps most helpfully, he recommends what he thinks are the three best commentaries for students and pastors on all of the Pauline epistles.

I simply cannot recommend this book highly enough to anyone who wants to be a better student of Paul. Scott and Jeff, if you guys are reading this, I would strongly encourage you both to get yourselves a copy of this book.

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good read. I still need to sit down and work through in detail the chapters on sentence diagramming and arcing to get a firmer grasp on them. I will say though that I was a bit disappointed with the detail given in these chapters. I thought it would be more of a complete crash course than just a brief fly over, but these were just my expectations, not necessarily a defect in the book. Over all very helpful

[Timmy Marsee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very helpful book in learning how to properly interpret Paul's letters. It takes into consideration the historical context, the ancient letter-writing genre, appropriate terminology, and much more.

[Calvin Coulter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love you Schreiner, this book is first class. the diagramming is probably beyond me, but there's some real gold here.

[Kyle Jaeger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not for the lazy biblical interpreter or perhaps not even for the layman; however, for the reader of the Bible who desires to wrestle with the text and understand it at a deeper level, this is a critical, foundational book. While not telling the reader what to think, Shreiner lays out a comprehensive path to approaching the text with a healthy, how-to-think mindset and gives all the tools one needs to tackle a text from every angle, to dig into it as thoroughly as as a pastor and scholar should. He also lists endless references for further help in every chapter. One could take this slim book and use it as a tool for a lifetime of study.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good as an intro to exegesis especially to focus on a single genre (Paul's epistles) without getting too overwhelmed by other genres. This also makes it easier for him to give specific examples from Paul's text. His basic explanation of textual criticism with examples was the most understandable I've read. Schreiner, however, does assume the reader has learned (or will be learning) Greek, so that's disappointing; there's some you just have to skip over. Gordon Fee's book on exegesis does a better job including a lay reader and explaining how to work through the exegetical process even if you can't study in the original language. Schreiner does have good Paul-specific bibliography.

[Kenneth Cheong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A scholarly work on interpreting the Pauline epistles, written in an engaging and easy to follow manner. For the most part, I can happily recommend this book: the approach is sound, thorough and careful. Only when Schreiner comes to the application to current life in ch.9, he addresses some thorny questions, like woman pastors, where he wisely avoids taking a definitive stand, though he does drop strong hints. In my opinion, the book would have been better if he gave more examples (both good and bad), perhaps from his own commentary on Romans, as he exegetes a passage. Recommended.

[Keegan Stussy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Schreiner’s Interpreting the Pauline Epistles is a helpful and concise guide to (take a guess) interpreting the epistles written by the apostle Paul. This book walks through the most important factors that influence how one understands Paul’s writings. It also helpfully teaches methods of tracing and diagramming which have proven to be a tremendous help in my own study. This book is a must get for students of the New Testament and would be valuable in the hands of anyone who just wants to be a better interpreter of the Bible.

[Tristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very technical but yet very helpful. Used this book for New Testament 2, but could see how men who are entering pastoral ministry would find this resource beneficial for sermon prep. Most helpful tool I learned was tracing the argument, but I can see how the other chapters in this book could benefit one who knows the text in the original Greek. There are also other helpful interpretive principles for people simply seeking to study Scripture and know Scripture well.

[Harold Piet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is written for the educated reader, it is a textbook at Guido Bible Collage in Metter Ga. The paperback text is written to small for my eyes. As a Kindle addition I am able to enlarge the print, highlight and understand it better. The kindle edition is $13.50 which I think is too much, but I needed it.

[Matt Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a different approach to reading Paul by Tom Schreiner. It needs to be noted that this slim and brief volume is not a commentary on the writings of Paul. It is how to interpret them. This is Schreiner guiding through understanding how to apply the text. There is some commentary but it is only given as an example to the process. It is a great read and a good primer for NT study.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for class. The chapters required for class were helpful and interesting! The other chapters were clearly not required for a reason because they were far beyond my pay grade. But! Introduced me to a lot of discussion in the academic realm to which I was previously ignorant, so that is good. Wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book for someone *not* deeply studying Greek/the NT.

[Simdumise Poswa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Handbook

Thomas Schreiner has written a great handbook on exegeting Paul's epistles. I recommend this book to be used as a handy handbook and not just read through. One's exegesis of Paul will be enriched by this volume.

[Ben Nissen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Schreiner is the man! It's not a light task to teach others to interpret scripture. I love the straightforward forward logical approach he brings to the reader. It's certainly deep, but I believe plain-spoken enough to be beneficial to all levels of bible teachers.

[Roger Bryan Van Pelt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read about 2/3 of this book. It is intended for a classroom environment, rather than just helpful reading. I liked it and will recommend it, although I wonder if there is a newer addition that might be more approachable for me at this point in my ministry journey.

[Lauren Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very practical, helpful book for approaching the Pauline epistles.

[Eric Fults · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for the topic. Very helpful in setting up a strategy for effective reading of Paul's letters.

[DT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful if you're studying an epistle in-depth. More technical, though you can still benefit if you don't have Greek.

[Dwain Minor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good introduction to reading the Apostle Paul written by one of the foremost New Testament scholars today.

[Timothy Decker · Rating 5 out of 5]

For its purpose, it is very good. I would do and emphasize things differently, but Schreiner is a top notch scholar. Who am I to question his methodology? Great textbook!

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skimmed for seminary and ended up finishing via audio Kindle.

[Starley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m sure it would make an excellent resource for people who know Greek and want to study Pail’s epistles in depth. However, large parts of it were very confusing and not very helpful for myself