Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 36:4 (Autumn 2022)
Article: Chinese Interpretations Of Galatians 3:28: Ambiguities, Insights, And Paths Forward
Author: Yu-Huei Huang

PP 36:4 (Autumn 2022) p. 12

Chinese Interpretations Of Galatians 3:28: Ambiguities, Insights, And Paths Forward

Yu-Huei Huang

Yu-Huei Huang is an MDiv student at Fuller Theological Seminary. She has worked as a campus minister and cofounded the PeopleMovers Theatre Company with her husband, Vincent Lin. She is from Taiwan and is passionate about testifying to the beauty of Christ in culturally sensitive ways in Mandarin- and Taiwanese-speaking communities. As a student paper competition winner, Yu-huei read this article at CBE’s 2022 International Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.

Galatians 3:28 is one of the foundational verses that addresses how people of different genders should relate to each other in Christ. This article will examine interpretations of Gal 3:28 by nine Chinese pastors and biblical scholars, spanning from the 1970s to 2010, and will point out common ambiguities which may hinder their application in ministry. It will then review the work of two other Chinese scholars, namely Sam Tsang and K. K. Yeo, to show how a more nuanced reading of Galatians can be helpful for practical application in a real-world Chinese ministry context. I close by suggesting several areas in which care should be taken when future interpretation and ministry are done.

Chinese Interpreters Surveyed

The nine authors surveyed (not including Tsang and Yeo, as explained above) are listed below with the original publication date of their main interpretive work in parentheses:1

1. Chow Lien-hwa (1979)
2. Ronald Y. K. Fung (1982 and 2008)
3. Stephen C. T. Chan (1983)
4. Witness Lee (1987)
5. Paul Li (1997)
6. Wang Guo-xian (2000)
7. Ezra Hon-seng Kok (2003)
8. Simon S. M. Wong (2003)
9. Huang Deng-huang (2010)

These authors represent preachers, pastors, and seminary professors working in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and among the Chinese diaspora. They represent how Galatians is often read in a real-world setting. Furthermore, because Bible commentaries written from a native Chinese standpoint are rare, these are likely to serve as teaching and preaching reference materials for pastors in the Chinese church. As such, these works can help us understand how a Chinese Christian would likely understand the passage at hand. Note that these authors are all male; to my knowledge, there have been no published books on Galatians in Chinese by female authors.

Main Interpretive Issues

The interpretative works surveyed in this study generally focus on three issues in Gal 3:28. First, the way the three ...