Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon, 2nd ed., Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2024)
This work is a revised edition of Moo’s previous commentary in the Pillar New Testament Commentary series, which was originally published in 2008. Like all commentaries in this series, it is designed for pastors and Bible teachers. To this end, Moo exegetes the text of Colossians and Philemon, interacting with it in the form of the NIV translation and transliterating any Greek terms. He does so with an eye to Biblical theology as a whole and the contemporary relevance of these two letters for the Church today. In the process, Moo references contemporary debates about aspects of these two letters without delving too deep into the details of these scholarly conversations. The updates to his commentary are his interaction with works published since 2008, the rewording of some of his prose to clarify his meaning, and his alteration of some exegetical conclusions.
This volume begins with a preface from the series editor, D. A. Carson, prefaces to the second and first editions of the commentary, a list of texts and translations of primary sources and abbreviations that Moo used,[1] and a bibliography of commentaries and secondary sources on Colossians and Philemon that he referenced.
The first portion of the commentary consists of a comprehensive introduction to Colossians (3–54) in which Moo discusses introductory matters related to the letter. He describes the Colossians, the letter’s original recipients (4–6) and then discusses the letter’s author, whom he concludes is St. Paul (6–20). Moo places the letter’s composition in Rome around AD 60–61, during the apostle’s imprisonment there (20–26), and reconstructs the following occasion: St. Paul composed the letter to “provide the resources that the Colossian Christians need to fend off some kind of false teaching to which they are exposed” (26), which stemmed from a syncretism of local pagan, Jewish, and Christian beliefs and practices (26–41).[2] He then discusses the following theological aspects that are prominent in the missive: Christology (41–44), angelology (44–47), ecclesiology (47–47), the Gospel (49–50), eschatology (50–51), and ethics (51–53). In the introduction’s final portion, Moo lays out the letter’s outline (53–54).
Skipping to his introduction to Philemon, Moo follows a similar structure as with his introduction to Colossians. He discusses the authorship of Philemon, which he (and every sensible scholar) takes to be St. Paul (351–52). Moo considers Philemon to be a Colossian Christian (353), he dates the letter to AD 60–61, and places its composition at the same time as Colossians and Ephesians, during St. Paul’s Roman imprisonment (353–54). Moo grapples with the situation behind the missive to Philemon that caused the apostle to compose the letter and leans toward the hypothesis that Onesimus was a runaway slave who had gone to St. Paul to ask him to mediate for him with his master Philemon, during which time Onesimus became a Christian (354–60). Moo contends that the epistle’s purpose is to demonstrate how Onesimus’s conversion “reconfigured” his relationship with Philemon because of the “fellowship” that they both now share in Christ (363). This new relationship may have resulted in Onesimus’s manumission (364–65). Finally, Moo provides the structure of the missive.
The bulk of the commentary consists of Moo’s comments (55–348, 371–438). For both Colossians and the letter to Philemon, Moo has structured the commentary portion of this volume in the same way. He provides general comments about the section of each letter, which he then breaks down into subsections with detailed comments. He begins each subsection with the text of Colossians or Philemon as translated by the NIV in italicized font. Thereafter, he provides a verse-by-verse exposition of the subsection. Finally, Moo supplies four indices at his work’s conclusion: an index of subjects (439–43), an index of authors (444–54), an index of Scripture (455–74), and an index of extrabiblical literature (475–78).
As expected of Moo’s work, this commentary is clear, concise, careful, well-researched, and, above all, pastoral. My only regret with this commentary is that Moo does not interact with my work on Psalm 110:1 (“The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’”) in Colossians.[3] Instead, he relies on the older, but excellent study of David Hay.[4] This small limitation notwithstanding, the second edition of Moo’s commentary on Colossians and Philemon is a great addition to any pastor’s or Bible teacher’s library!
I am grateful to Eerdmans for the gratis copy of this work that in no way influenced my review of it.
[1] Apart from the NIV translation of Colossians and Philemon, quotations from: the New Testament are from the 28th edition of Novem Testamentum; the Old Testament are from the Biblica Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS); the Apocrypha are from the NRSV; pseudepigrapha are from The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. James Charlesworth, 2 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1983, 1985); and the Dead Sea Scrolls are from The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, eds. F. G. Martínez and E. J. C. Tigchelaar, 2 vols (Leiden: Brill, 1997).
[2] Moo relies on the study by Clinton Arnold, The Colossian Syncretism: The Interface between Christianity and Folk Belief in Colossae, WUNT 2/77 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1995).
[3] D. Clint Burnett, Christ’s Enthronement at God’s Right Hand and Its Greco-Roman Cultural Context, BZNW 242 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021). This is not because my work was unavailable to him. It came out in 2021 and appears as the sixth entry on a search of “Psalm 110 New Testament” and the twelfth entry of “Psalm 110 Early Christianity” on Wheaton College’s Library’s online catalogue. Wheaton College is where Moo is a Professor Emeritus.
[4] David Hay, Glory at the Right Hand: Psalm 110 in Early Christianity (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1973).