How do you pick a good commentary

I have heard such statements too. And I understand where they are coming from. They usually believe that "old" commentaries don't incorporate the latest archeological or manuscript evidence.

So read the latest and the oldest and everywhere in between. Don't practice what C.S.Lewis called "chronological snobbery."

For history though, the newer is usually better. Largely because of the revelation of new documents. And you ususally have to wait for people to die before you get the unbiased truth.
Professors used to say that anything in the past 50 years is still current events and not history!

 

One or two good commentaries are better than a hundred poor ones.

Often I prefer the New International Comenatry of the New Testament(NICNT) and the NICOT. I do like the International Critical Commentary. I do stay away from those put out by a particular denomination with their biases and image.

 

I believe that the correct link is:

http://www.tms.edu/850.asp

Some helpful information can be found here. Very much more information can be found by clicking the tab for this site's home page and at that site clicking on the library tab.

 

Whoops! In order to get to the tab for the website’s homepage, you will need to backup to:

http://www.tms.edu/750books.asp

Or go directly to:

http://www.tms.edu/default.asp

 

richard

The commentaries that you look at depend so much upon what you are looking for and why you are looking at it. Your choice of commentary authors should also depend upon the quality of the author.

Do you want critical (sometimes liberal) scholarship, or do you want conservative scholarship(sometimes considered less scholarly)?

Do you want original languages?

Do you want an application commentary? I.e., makes you feel good?

In Him

 

There are many kinds of commentaries on the Bible written in several different languages, each kind of which was designed and written to meet specific needs. I shall here consider only those written in English.

Devotional Commentaries—these commentaries are written primarily to meet the devotional needs of the reader.

Expositional Commentaries—these commentaries are written primarily to expound upon the Bible. They often include a few or more notes on the Greek or Hebrew words that make up the text. Some of them were written by gifted pastors and teachers, some of them were written by Bible scholars, others were written by less able individuals.

Exegetical Commentaries—these commentaries are written primarily to establish the correct interpretation of the Bible through a very detailed analysis of the Greek or Hebrew text. Many of them are commentaries on the Greek or Hebrew text with no translation of the Bible text. They frequently quote Latin authors and usually do not translate the Latin. Some of them quote German works without an English translation. Most of these commentaries are written by Bible scholars rather than pastors.

Critical Commentaries—these commentaries are written primarily to establish the correct text of the Bible and secondly the correct interpretation of that text through extensive and very detailed exegesis. These commentaries are used mostly by finely educated pastors and advanced students in seminaries and other scholars, but some ordinary but very demanding laymen also make use of them.

Homiletical Commentaries—these commentaries are written primarily to assist the preacher in the preparation of homilies and sermons. They typically include suggested outlines for homilies and sermons on specific passages in the Bible and actual homilies by gifted preachers on these specific passages. These commentaries are used mostly by pastors who either don’t have the time for detailed study and sermon preparation, or who love the golf course and the football stadium more than they love their pastor’s study.

There are commentaries of these various kinds on the whole Bible, the whole Old Testament, the whole New Testament, the Apocrypha, the gospels, the letters of Paul, etc., and upon individual books of the Bible, upon a section of an individual book of the Bible, a chapter of an individual book of the Bible, the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, etc. These commentaries may comprise anything from a small, single volume to a work of more than 50 volumes, and they may be written by a single author—or by many different authors, each a specialist on a particular portion of the Bible.

The 23 volume Pulpit Commentary is a combination of an expositional commentary and a homiletical commentary. For each chapter of the Bible, an exposition is provided along with some exegetical notes followed by suggested outlines for homilies and sermons. These suggested outlines are followed by several homilies. The volumes are large and the 23rd volume is a General Index to the previous 22 volumes. This entire commentary and many others can be read on line ( http://www.biblecentre.net/ ). The Pulpit Commentary is also widely available for sale in both bound volumes and software editions.

Several very good Commentaries can be downloaded for free from the internet in free Bible study programs that are also downloadable, including the 27 volumes of Barnes' Notes, and other multivolume commentaries. The best of these free downloadable Bible study programs also includes more than 20 translations of the Bible into English, many foreign language translations, several Greek texts of the New Testament, Bible dictionaries, etc., along with very useful search functions. This can all (plus much more) be had for free at e-sword.net ( http://e-sword.net/ ). Donations to e-sword are appreciated by them, but donations are not solicited.

 

You would probably very much enjoy reading Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg’s Christology of the Old Testament. It is 1,396 pages of precisely what you are looking for. Be sure, however, to check out the unabridged edition (an abridged is edition is available).

 

Diamonds last forever—well, almost!

 

I'll second this, as I see you have in culling chosen a solid companion for Richard to lay next to His Word. JohnB acquired complete works for $15, so Richard perhaps checking “half price book stores”, eBay, and others will produce good results. Christian faith, ituttut.

 

J. Vernon McGee’s comments may inspire the uninspired, but it is important to bear in mind that his comments were never intended for those persons who desire to study the Bible in any detail. Indeed, they are geared more towards Aunt Gertrude’s mother-in-law than they are toward students of the Bible. I don’t need to buy commentaries to get peoples opinions—there are plenty of those on the Baptist Board; I buy commentaries to have readily at hand a summation of the results of biblical scholarship—past and present—on each book of the Bible so that I can evaluate the data and come to a more clear and informed understanding of the Bible.

 

hmmm, Matthew Henry and Wesley would be quite opposed on matters of soteriology...

 

I tend to like to pick commentaries individually (as opposed to whole sets). I think books of essays are easy as good or better than most commentaries for the topics they cover. Consider J.A. Fitzmyer's "To Advance the Gospel".

As far as in depth NT studies I would be VERY cautious about any commentary that post-dates the Dead Sea Scrolls. These are invaluable in understanding righteousness in the NT and can really open things up in terms of seeing Paul and Jesus in proper context (Jewish!).

I highly recommend anything by D.A. Carson, J.A. Fitzmyer, Richard Bauckham, Raymond Brown, or Craig Evans.

 

There are thousands of commentaries out there. How can you sort all the divergent views into anything resembling one complete thought? It must take you hours and days on each verse. If we can get us one understandable commentary of the Bible that is comprehensive, why muddy the waters?

Fully agree Dr. McGee’s understanding of verses is not a commentary along the lines theological or in technique of the technician. He has done the work already, so I see his commentary a companion to the Bible, for helping we that study the Word, to have the “meat” before us, rather than chasing down through various sources that are so often just “wordy – words” needing to untangle to get to the “meat”.

As is said in the “Preface” ”Behind these messages is a great deal of research and study in order to interpret the Bible from a popular rather than from a scholarly (and too-often boring) viewpoint.” So for a careful studious person I find this commentary of the verses a great time saver. I labored through many “wordy-words” of knowledge for 25 years, books of which I no longer have or need, for when I found McGee’s comments, “wordy wasn’t wordy anymore”.

This then opened up the opportunity to then understand the dispensations of God, to find out if God had something specifically to say to me, a Gentile, for which He said he did not come for. I found what is written to me, so that opened the Old Testament of prophecy along with prophecy in Revelation. These do not apply to us today for we do not live in prophecy, other than confirming at the end we are in the Temple as that is where Christ Jesus is.

I have posted on other boards for a number of years, and some remarks were that I was a student having evidently spent much time studying the Old Testament. I could never understand the Old Testament or the New Testament or Revelation until I understood Paul. I have understood Paul only for about 4 years now. If we don’t understand Paul (Peter says it is a good idea to do so) we cannot understand the revelation that Christ Jesus gave to Paul from heaven.

When Richard finds the “types in prophecy” he will find God’s nation Israel. But there is something beyond which is not shown in prophecy, that being the Body of Christ in His own kingdom reconciling the whole world unto Himself, of those who will. I could never fully understand that past or that future, until I understood today. One day I noticed I had my own personal heavenly Apostle. If we understand him, we can understand from the beginning to the end, for that is Christ Jesus of whose kingdom I am in, and will be there to meet those saints that come marching into the kingdom of God on the earth.

McGee’s book says the cookies are down on the lower shelf where we can reach them. I take from that as we grow we don’t forget those cookies lying right beside our Bible, to which we oft return when we get too big for out britches. Christian faith, ituttut

 

one of the reasons you'll want to pick up more recent commentaries is if you are working with more technical aspects of exegetical work. Within the last 50 years OT work has had a massive paradigm shift with the integration of Ugaritic, Aramiac, Phonecian, and other ancient languages and their influences on the Hebrew (and Aramiac) of the OT. The results of this work have been a huge advance in understanding better some idiom, cultural influences, and so forth affecting the OT and the authors. Commentaries of old did not possess some of this knowledge and therefore have some erroneous conclusions about theological matters.

On the NT side there have been some excellent advances (though not as far stretching as the Hebrew) which have lended to better grasping some issues there.

Also many old commentaries have deep seated influences from left wing biblical criticism, wrong archeological assumptions, poor research on variants, and so forth. Many newer commentaries are strong evangelical commentaries with conservative roots which better answer issues of authorship, composition date, theological language, and they hold a higher view of the text than some others. This wasn't par for the course for older commentaries.

Another troublesome issue are commentary sets written by one author. While I appreciate sets like Calvin's commentaries and will use them, they are secondary sources many times since I also will own a commentary from a particular scholar who is far better versed in that particular book of the Bible. Some commentaries are extremely weak on the OT and others are particular areas of the NT since the author of the set cannot be an expert at all these levels. Thankfully we do have commentary sets such as Word, NAC, NICNT, NICOT, ICC, and others where the particular author is a recognized authority of their particular biblical book(s).

Nevertheless if you are looking for exciting, cutting edge, and conservative evangelical commentary go for the newer stuff. Its imho better and will serve you well.

Of course if that's not your gig go with what serves you and your flock the best!

 

Hello Charles. I’ll not disagree with you here, and may have left the wrong impression with reply to Craigbythesea.

When endeavoring to see what the Holy Spirit is saying, if it doesn’t fit with my Baptist upbringing, I have J. Vernon McGee handy for most verses are commented on. But many times they are not precisely what I am looking for. I don’t fully agree with Dr. McGee on everything.

I then have a couple of other sources I trust, one being from the Christian Jew standpoint, of which I also do not agree with everything.

Then I have information from the Berean Bible Society, of which I do not agree with everything.

From these few sources I have found, they usually are all that is needed to bring to light the interpretation that the Holy Spirit leaves for us in the Bible. God is not talking to His people today, so I believe He only communicates with us through His written Word, other than Christian witnesses. As the Holy Spirit intercedes with God the Father for us in understanding, at that end, I believe He does the same down here through His Word, and will guide us to those that do understand His Word, if we do not understand on our own. He helps us, if it is His will, when we ask. But we have to ask, and pray that it is His will. I see McGee sort of like John. We can easily understand, but we know there are things deeper to be understood.

So I suppose what I am saying is get a firm foundation overall, then find a couple of others also built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. I believe too many will only confuse as we are trying to find truth. Christ faith, ituttut.

 

Actually I should have said be cautious about any commentaries that PREDATE the Dead Sea scrolls! OOPS!

People read commentaries for different reasons. McGee and others like him are basically devotional type commentaries. In most cases the authors will have predetermined their positions before any research is done. That's fine for someone who wants a simple explanation for a tough verse or who wants the "fundamentalist position" on an issue. That's not bad.

But for those who have textual questions that sort of commentary will not suffice. Grammatical and critical commentaries are useful for this.

The Holy Spirit will guide Christians for sure. But He isn't going to magically impart knowledge of languages or ancient culture. Seeking knowledge is not a bad thing.

 

McGee's works are not for the seminary student but more of something that you can go to for verse-by-verse study. The man was intelligent and has done his homework. He presents, in his commentaries, the practical gleanings and leaves out the process he went through to arrive at them. It's for the lay person as a Bible companion and is a good quick reference. His pastoral and evangelistic experiences are worth much and can be used and applied by all.
Anyone know of Edersheim? Leon Wood? These guys are pretty good with Jewish issues and Old Testament.
I tend to disagree with the idea that the newer commentaries are better in most cases. Pink's work on Genesis and the Gospel of John are truly awesome and I think there are many great scholars today who owe it to the older writers for at least a foundation to grow from. All this new stuff that smacks of humanism and psychology coated with a Christian shell... I just aint into it.