2 Corinthians
About
In this addition to the award-winning BECNT series, a respected New Testament scholar offers a substantive evangelical commentary on 2 Corinthians. George Guthrie leads readers through the intricacies of literary structure, word meanings, cultural backdrop, and theological proclamation, offering insights applicable to modern ministry contexts.
As with all BECNT volumes, this commentary features the author's detailed interaction with the Greek text; extensive research; thoughtful, chapter-by-chapter exegesis; and an acclaimed, user-friendly design. It admirably achieves the dual aims of the series--academic sophistication with pastoral sensitivity and accessibility--making it a useful tool for pastors, church leaders, students, and teachers.
Endorsements
"George Guthrie brings his significant skills to the task of interpreting this complex Pauline letter and proves to be a competent and helpful guide. Guthrie strikes the right balance in choosing how much information to impart without overloading the reader. His judgments on the interpretive issues are always fair and insightful, and I especially appreciate the clarity of his writing. Pastors and teachers will find this a very useful volume in preparing messages on 2 Corinthians."
Clinton E. Arnold, dean and professor of New Testament, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University
The Author
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George H. Guthrie
George H. Guthrie (PhD, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is professor of New Testament at Regent College in Vancouver. He previously taught at Union University. Guthrie is the author of numerous books and articles, including commentaries on Hebrews...
Continue reading about George H. Guthrie
Reviews
"A major academic treatment and analysis of 2 Corinthians. . . . Guthrie mounts a strong defense of the letter's unity, and provides some of the best arguments for that position in a short and readable compass. . . . This is an excellent commentary with much to commend it. Obviously such a complex letter with so many exegetical intricacies means that there is room to present certain details of interpretation. However, that adds to the richness of this treatment, and means that the commentary has much to offer to the debates concerning the meaning of the component parts and the wider message of this letter."
Paul Foster,
Expository Times
"This is an excellent examination of 2 Corinthians. The author leads his readers through Paul's letter with narrative dignity, theological awareness, historical appreciation, and sensibility to the modern context. Guthrie offers various views and perspectives on difficult passages and fully engages with Greek texts and vocabulary. It is an academically sound and practically oriented writing. Highly recommended for researchers and practitioners alike!"
Svetlana Khobnya,
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
"An eminently well-researched and readable commentary on 2 Corinthians. . . . As is customary of the series, the research is clearly written, with attention to accuracy in its exegetical discussions, including close analysis of original textual variants when warranted. Many interpretational questions are addressed. . . . Especially beneficial to the reader are the introductory thoughts and reflection sections that are highlighted in gray, which allow for creating bridges to contemporary application from the text. . . . I also find helpful Guthrie's charts depicting theological concepts, outline structures of the Greek text, and graphical representations of data. Additionally, Guthrie does a find job connecting practical implications in the letter to important contemporary issues. . . . One of the strengths of this volume is its broad accessibility. I could recommend this volume for individuals who want to know this book better while being challenged academically (perhaps while learning Greek), seminary students who are learning to exegete Scripture, pastors who are teaching from the book, and professors of NT who would like to refresh their reading of 2 Corinthians while being challenged in new and helpful ways. . . . I am happy to include it as an invaluable resource on my bookshelf."
Aaron Devine,
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
"Guthrie's commentary offers a helpful resource for readers of 2 Corinthians. . . . The commentary is engagingly written (peppered with literary references) and addresses recent scholarship without losing focus; it is not heavily technical but assumes exegetical training. . . . Guthrie assumes a Christian audience. . . . This somewhat narrows the ideal audience (though non-Christian exegetes will benefit from Guthrie's textual analysis) but simultaneously offers a resource rich in pastoral application and makes this commentary a distinctive book for those involved in church leadership."
James B. Prothro,
Religious Studies Review
"This is an extensive and insightful commentary on Paul's most personal letter. . . . Guthrie's rich commentary draws on the Greek text of the letter but explains it in such a way as to make it accessible to those not equipped with Greek. The commentary is explicitly theological and pastoral: each segment closes with an explicit reflection on the potential meaning of the passage for Christian life today."
Donald Senior, CP,
The Bible Today
"Guthrie's 2 Corinthians will be a great help to preachers. Guthrie provides careful exegesis of the Greek text, well aware of the secondary literature making fresh suggestions, with an eye to application. Guthrie nicely combines scholarly attention and awareness with churchly concern and pastoral heart."
Ray Van Neste,
Preaching
"The commentary provides an excellent mix of technical nuance and big-picture clarity. . . . Guthrie provides thorough and often highly sophisticated insights into the text. Without losing the reader, the author provides careful explanation of each individual unit within the book and provides judgments that are both accessible and astute. There are numerous diagrams, charts, and tables throughout the commentary. . . . The crisp layout along with helpful footnoting and headings make this a highly usable resource. One of the outstanding features of this commentary is Guthrie's sensitivity to the cultural backdrop and imagery of 2 Corinthians. . . . Guthrie has provided a benchmark commentary on 2 Corinthians. His work demonstrates excellent scholarship that is marked by humility as well as pastoral warmth and wisdom. Throughout this commentary, Guthrie's interpretive decisions are both judicious and persuasive. . . . 2 Corinthians is fresh, engaging, and thoroughly accessible to pastor and scholar alike and should be an automatic inclusion into the library of anyone hoping to mine the wealth of this wonderful epistle."
Malcolm J. Gill,
Themelios
"The BECNT series has been a great gift to pastors, combining exegetical detail with a sensitivity to the needs of the pastor in a useful format. In reading this commentary, one can almost imagine Guthrie conversing with a pastor over a cup of coffee about the meaning of the text and what it means for his church."
Jeff Purswell,
Sovereign Grace Churches (named one of the most Significant Books for Pastors in 2015)
"As with the rest of the volumes in this series, Guthrie's work on 2 Corinthians will serve well those pastors and teachers who want both to interact with the latest scholarship and to discover what a text has to say in their particular ministry context."
Elliott Ritzema,
Bible Study Magazine
"[Guthrie] does a fine job incorporating the wealth of published material on [2 Corinthians] throughout the commentary. . . . Guthrie's commentary is at the same time well-informed and useful to the average reader/teacher. . . . I appreciate the use of the Greek alphabet as well as transliteration. . . . Well written and--thanks in part to the pleasing structure and formatting of the series generally--very useful as [a] reference [tool]."
Bryan Buchanan,
Association for Mormon Letters
Praise for the BECNT Series
"In this age of unprecedented proliferation of biblical commentary series, it is an outstanding accomplishment for the Baker Exegetical series consistently to have produced what with only rare exceptions have become the best available commentaries on the Greek text of the New Testament book or books treated."
Craig Blomberg,
Denver Journal
"Rigorous exegesis by seasoned scholars with explicit evangelical commitments. This is also one of the best-designed, easy-to-read series as it includes intro matters, then each commentator's translation, commentary, and textual notes for every passage. Very reliable."
Bruce Riley Ashford and Grant Taylor,
Between the Times blog