Richard Ganz has written a controversial book about a controversial book. 20 Controversies is a pastoral commentary on selected passages from 1 Corinthians, framing each as a controversy that threatened the health of the Corinthian church. Chapters cover such polarizing topics as divisions in the church, sexual immorality, church discipline, headship in the church, and charismatic gifts. Few readers are likely to agree with all of the author’s conclusions, but the book succeeds in demonstrating the powerful, practical relevance of each controversy for churches today. The modern church needs to hear and heed Paul’s words to this struggling congregation, and Ganz helps us to see why.

The book’s greatest value is that it tirelessly drives readers back to the text of 1 Corinthians, passages from which are printed at the beginning of each chapter. This is important because Ganz’s tone can change dramatically from chapter to chapter—sometimes coming across as cold and harsh, while at other times brimming with personal humility and gospel joy. Yet when we turn to Paul’s words, we might easily say the same of him!

For example, chapters on “The Scandal of the Cross” and “Lawsuits Against the Church” draw a sharp antithesis between the church and the world, sometimes depicting “heathens” as invariably hostile and contemptuous toward the church. Ganz is similarly strident in his treatment of “Sexual Immorality in the Church,” warning that “If you find yourself even thinking in the direction of sex, you had better ask yourself why you are not thinking about marriage” (p. 87). Yet Paul’s words are no softer: “With such a man do not even eat” and, “Expel the immoral brother!” (5:11,13). In a culture where sexual immorality is the norm, we may need muscular words to expose our own numbness to its infection in the church.

On the kinder, gentler side, chapters like, “Were we Wise or Foolish?” remind believers that “There was nothing in us that merited God’s favor. There was nothing in us that deserved God’s mercy” (p. 36). He devotes an entire chapter, “Who is Christ?” to a single verse (1 Cor. 1:30), bearing rich pastoral assurance to troubled souls: “When you sin, it is easy to despair of ever being what you desire to be in Christ. At those times, let this text come to your mind… In spite of everything, you are secure. It is because of him” (p. 44). And the last chapter, “Is There Meaning in Life?” expounds Paul’s final words to “Stand firm” (15:58) with a stirring call to persevere and hope in Christ.

Ganz’s arguments are usually more convinced than conciliatory, but sometimes he surprises you. Consider the chapter, “Christian Liberty.” Where some Reformed writers would vigorously defend the freedom to engage in certain activities (drinking and smoking tend to head the list), Ganz concedes it but winsomely reminds readers that “love is a higher priority than freedom” (p. 129). Similarly, his treatment of “Headship in the Church” affirms Biblical gender roles but works very hard to qualify the interdependent nature of male-female relationships. He neglects to answer the specific textual questions concerning head coverings and hair length, but seems to capture the thrust of Paul’s teaching. Headship, he argues, entails authority but also grave responsibility: “I am tired of hearing that feminists are responsible for the breakdown of the family.” We need to put the responsibility where it belongs—on the heads of homes” (p. 155).

Some readers will notice the conspicuous absence of 1 Corinthians 13, the famous passage on love that commonly surfaces at weddings. Despite Paul’s polemical language (“If I … but have not love, I am nothing”), the author chooses not to frame this passage as a controversy, enlisting it only briefly to support his cessationist position that “tongues will cease” (13:8). One cannot help but think that a healthy dose of chapter 13 would have made some of the book’s bitterer sections more digestible.

This omission also exposes a weakness of a selected commentary, which passively excludes some elements of the letter from the context of the whole. The book’s chapter on tongues, for example, only prints 1 Cor. 14:1–26, excluding such relevant verses as 39: “do not forbid speaking in tongues.” A similar omission falls in “Marriage or Celibacy,” where Ganz argues that “when Paul said, ‘It is good for a man not to marry,’ he was saying, “It is good for a man not to be involved in sexual immorality.’” This chapter only prints 1 Cor. 7:1-7, so that verse 8b, which reads, “It is good for them to stay unmarried,” doesn’t show up until the next chapter. Such choices weaken the force of some of his conclusions. He regularly makes reference to un-cited passages (and other, primarily Pauline, texts), but the fuller context of Paul’s letter can be missed in the seams between chapters.

A better decision was to divide his treatment of the miraculous gifts into four chapters covering sections of 1 Cor. 12 and 14. Together they build toward a classic cessationist position that the gifts of miracles, healing, tongues and revelatory prophecy are no longer given to the church. His depiction of Pentecostals can seem uncharitable at times, propping an emotionalistic straw man in front of his Biblical arsenal. Still, readers who disagree will find much to agree with along the way: that “the gifts are given… for the edification of the church, not for private pleasure” (p. 166); that “the entire body of Christ, not just some select individuals” receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and that this baptism is “for the church to be a witness throughout the world” (p. 170).

What rescues the book from merely inflaming its own controversies is Ganz’s dogged pastoral applications to the life of the local church. When attempting to explain difficult interpretive issues, he never devolves into scholar-speak, but writes in a way that a layperson can understand and apply. Consider the chapter on 1 Cor. 15:29-34, which raises the puzzling concept of “Baptism for the Dead.” Ganz surveys a dozen historical explanations of this passage and is willing to admit that no one knows exactly what it means. But he doesn’t stop there. With careful reasoning, he leads to a satisfying, plausible, and practical interpretation that gives new force to Paul’s confidence in the resurrection.

20 Controversies is a tough, meaty book about issues that truly matter to the local church. Like Paul’s letter, it wades deep into the muck of human depravity and continually lifts the reader’s gaze to realities above and ahead. You might not enjoy reading it, but you will be glad you did.