New Testament: Corinthians

by Ralph P. Martin

The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship.

Genres: Reference

527 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 1985

About the author

Ralph Martin (1925-2013) was a distinguished New Testament scholar and a significant figure in the post-World War 2 resurgence of British evangelical scholarship. Born in Anfield, Liverpool, England, his early education was interrupted in 1939 by the war, and he was conscripted to work in the coal mines of Lancashire. After the war he pursued ministerial training at Manchester Baptist College and in 1949 earned his B.A. at the University of Manchester. In 1963 he completed his Ph.D. at King’s College, University of London. In 1969 Martin joined the faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, where he would serve as professor of New Testament from 1969 to 1988, and director of the graduate studies program beginning in 1979. He resumed his teaching there in 1995 as Distinguished Scholar in Residence. Throughout his academic career he stayed involved in preaching, teaching laypeople and other pastoral ministry. He was the author of numerous studies and commentaries on the New Testament, including Worship in the Early Church, the volume on Philippians in The Tyndale New Testament Commentary series, and 2 Corinthians and James in the Word Biblical Commentary, for which he also served as New Testament editor.

Reviews

[Fred Kohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have found Paul's second letter to the Corinthians the most difficult of Paul's undisputed letters to read in the original Greek. So when I found this volume from the excellent World Biblical Commentary series for only thirty bucks, I couldn’t pass it up. I didn’t realize the reason it was so cheap was because I was buying the first edition and a later edition was available (for more money, of course!) Nonetheless this edition was fine, if not my favorite in this series, and I doubt I will bother to read the later edition.

I started reading this book several months ago but only got about 100 pages in before I was distracted by other projects. My interest in 2 Corinthians was renewed when I read Framing Paul: An Epistolary Biography by Douglas A. Campbell. 2 Corinthians is an important work for reconstructing the life of Paul. It contains more biographical material than any other of Paul's letters other than Galatians. It is partly for this reason, I think, that Martin calls 2 Corinthians a very human letter.

Even after reading 2 Corinthians again in the Greek with the help of this commentary I am still struggling with the Greek. There are lots of unfamiliar words.

[Matthew Bonzon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technical. Especially helpful with literary forms, devices, and structures.
The in-text citations hurt the readability.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin's commentary on 2 Corinthians is thoughtful and useful, despite the convoluted organization of Word commentaries generally. One could wish he spent more time explicating passages as a whole and less on the technical details, but it is a wise companion overall. The new revised version of this text looks even better.