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BrianPaul
Member



Joined: 2007/10/3
Posts: 68
Moorpark, CA

 Bible Commentary?

I just got an email from Barnes and Noble for 15% off. I am wondering what is "the best" (lol) Bible Commentary. Im still going to shop around just want to see whats worth the money. Please post recommendations.


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Brian

 2008/6/5 20:03Profile









 Re: Bible Commentary?

Matthew Henry's commentary has been a blessing to me.

 2008/6/5 20:10
KingJimmy
Member



Joined: 2003/5/8
Posts: 4419
Charlotte, NC

 Re: Bible Commentary?

Are you looking for a single-volume commentary, or a multi-volume commentary?

I believe the best multi-volume commentary series is the New International Commentary on the Old and New Testaments. It is written by outstanding modern evangelical scholars. You have to buy individual books on each book of the Bible though, so, this can get pretty expensive.

I've never been a big fan of the commentaries that are written by one or two authors that covering the entirity of Scripture. Such authors have brilliant insights from time to time on varioius passages, but tend to be shallow in their digestion of the overall text (going through it verse by verse).


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Jimmy H

 2008/6/5 20:10Profile
sojourner7
Member



Joined: 2007/6/27
Posts: 1573
Omaha, NE

 Re: Bible Commentary?

If you're looking for an all-purpose all-in-one
commentary; my favorite is *The Believer's Bible
Commentary by William MacDonald.


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Martin G. Smith

 2008/6/5 20:41Profile
BrianPaul
Member



Joined: 2007/10/3
Posts: 68
Moorpark, CA

 Re:

Quote:
Are you looking for a single-volume commentary, or a multi-volume commentary?


I guess i have to probably go with Ravenhill when he talks about finding the best commentator on each book. So maybe a multi volume is the best way to go. Are there any multi-author single book commentaries? I doubt it but let me know if you know of any.


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Brian

 2008/6/5 20:57Profile
theopenlife
Member



Joined: 2007/1/30
Posts: 926


 Re:

I second Matthew Henry as the best single-volume.

Listen to what Spurgeon - who read literally thousands of books in his lifetime, and dozens of entire commentaries - had to say about it...

Quote:
First among the mighty for general usefulness is... Matthew Henry. He is most pious and pithy, sound and sensible, suggestive and sober, terse and trustworthy. You will find him to be glittering with metaphors, rich in analogies, overflowing with illustrations, superabundant in reflections. He delights in apposition and alliteration; he is usually plain, quaint, and full of pith; he sees right through a text directly; apparently he is not critical, but he quietly gives the result of an accurate critical knowledge of the original fully up to the best critics of his time. He is not versed in the manners and customs of the East, for the Holy Land was not so accessible as in our day; but he is deeply spiritual, heavenly, and profitable; finding good matter in every text, and from all deducing most practical and judicious lessons. His is a kind of commentary to be placed where I saw it, in the old meeting house at Chester--chained in the vestry for anybody and everybody to read. It is the poor man's commentary, the old Christian's companion, suitable to everybody, instructive to all. His own account of how he was led to write his exposition, affords us an example of delighting in the law of the Lord... Every minister ought to read Matthew Henry entirely and carefully through once at least. I should recommend you to get through it in the next twelve months after you leave college. Begin at the beginning, and resolve that you will traverse the goodly land from Dan to Beersheba. You will acquire a vast store of sermons if you read with your notebook close at hand; and as for thoughts, they will swarm around you like twittering swallows around an old gable towards the close of autumn.



Spurgeon's thoughts on other commentaries...

[url=http://weppipakki.com/or/spurgu.htm]Spurgeon on Commentaries[/url]

 2008/6/6 0:35Profile









 Re:

Without a doubt... Matthew Henry.

Krispy

 2008/6/6 7:11
hmmhmm
Member



Joined: 2006/1/31
Posts: 4994
Sweden

 Re: Bible Commentary?

I do not own this one, but have been blessed by it online.

[url=http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=j+c+ryle+commentary]J.C ryles commentary on the Gospels[/url]


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CHRISTIAN

 2008/6/6 7:38Profile
KingJimmy
Member



Joined: 2003/5/8
Posts: 4419
Charlotte, NC

 Re:

Keep in mind though, when reading any one given commentary, that the author has their own theological take on things. Matthew Henry, for example, is very much Calvinistic in his interpretations. If memory serves me correct, he's also a post-millennialist. On the other hand, you have other commentators like Adam Clark who interpret the Scriptures in line with Arminian/Methodist theology.

Because of this, I think many of the modern multi-volume commentaries by leading evangelical scholars tend to be the best. For even though the same authors have their own theological slants on things, they generally acknowledge other view points within Christianity about any given text, and, tend to weigh the various opinions. Whereas Matthew Henry and the like, due to space limitations and time, simply could not do such a thing. They tend to be less "scholarly" in that regard.

Also, modern commentaries tend to talk much more about things like structure/authorship/dates/occassions of writing and the like than the older commentators. Those things are important and should not be overlooked, as they are very helpful. Granted, such information can be supplemented by a good Bible dictionary, Encyclopedia, or survey book, which generally contain outlines and the like. Such things might be much more technical for some than they'd like in regard to their studies. But these things should be embraced, even if they don't seem overtly spiritual in nature, and tend to be more "dry." For, in my experience with commentaries, it is often the the little "dry" facts that the author provides that truly illuminate the overall meaning of a passage of Scripture.

Just some thoughts...


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Jimmy H

 2008/6/6 8:05Profile
hmmhmm
Member



Joined: 2006/1/31
Posts: 4994
Sweden

 Re:

Quote:

KingJimmy wrote:
structure/authorship/dates/occassions of writing and the like than the older commentators



I was actually looking for something like this, a good "dictionary/encyclopedia" with Facts and information, that may help furtherdraw from scripture to get some deeper understanding, can anyone recomend a good one?


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CHRISTIAN

 2008/6/6 8:32Profile





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