Review of Galatians: Reformed Expository Commentary by Phillip Graham Ryken

For the purposes of the present bibliography, comments will be limited to Ryken's interpretation of Gal 3:28. Ryken rightly emphasizes that divisions of race, rank, and gender can only be overcome in Christ. Just as all people are equal under the law and therefore deserve God's wrath due to sin, so all who are united to Christ by faith are equal in status before God. He argues against the view that portrays Paul as a male chauvinist who viewed women as inferior and second-class citizens. To the contrary, Paul recognized that women were created in the image of God and that through Christ they were remade to live as his image-bearers. However, this equality in status does not obliterate the differences between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female. Rather, this fundamental equality in status is the basis for which diversity can be most appreciated. It is here that Ryken clearly sees that differences remain between men and women, and that God-given gender has implications for the distinct roles of men and women in the home and the church. In other words, differences in roles can remain without diminishing equality in Christ. He then specifies that men are called to exercise servant leadership as husbands and officers in the church, while women are called to submit to this leadership as wives and as members of the church. This commentary provides solid exposition and pastoral application as it follows the flow of Paul's argument to the Galatians.