I am working on a sermon again for next Sunday and have some questions regarding a portion of scripture. The commentary that I have is VERY liberal and not something that I think gives good explanations regarding scriptures.If anyone has any recommendations for a good commentary, please let me know. I don't use commentaries that often (seeing how I don't have a good one), but it would be nice to have one when needed.Thanks All!
I found this site recently that has many commentaries. Some appear liberal and others conservative. It has the widely acclaimed Matthew Henry Commentary as well as Wesley's Exposition of the Whole Bible to name a couple. Here's the site:www.searchgodsword.org
Great, thanks for the website. Any commentary you or anyone personally recommends?
What passage of Scripture are you looking at?I appreciate alot of methodist commentaries: benson, clarkes (a classic), wesley notes on the bible.Matthew Henry is a great classic for spiritual application, I think it was george whitefield that recommended to his pupils that they read matthew henry straight through on their knees!there are alot more great commentaries, I will try and find a list! :)
Here are some greats available via crosswalk.com:John Gill's Exposition of the BibleHe preached in the same church as C. H. Spurgeon over one hundred years earlier. Yet most people today have never heard of John Gill. This is unfortunate, since his works contain priceless gems of information that are found nowhere except in the ancient writings of the Jews. Presented here is a verse by verse exposition of the New Testament. http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/GillsExpositionoftheBible/Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole BibleThis one volume commentary was prepared by Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown and published in 1871. http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/JamiesonFaussetBrown/Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole BibleOriginally written in 1706, Matthew Henry's six volume Complete Commentary provides an exhaustive look at every verse in the Bible. http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/MatthewHenryComplete/Wesley's Explanatory NotesJohn Wesley's commentary on the whole Bible was produced between 1754 and 1765. http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/WesleysExplanatoryNotes/The Fourfold GospelAlso known as a "Harmony of the Four Gospels", this work by J. W. McGarvey and Philip Y. Pendleton is a complete chronology of the life of Christ, divided into titled sections and sub-divisions, with comments injected in the text. http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/TheFourfoldGospel/John Darby's Synopsis of the New TestamentOriginally written and published in French, these synopses were introduced book by book. Currently only the New Testament is available. http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/DarbysSynopsisofNewTestament/
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown has been an excellent resource for me. And here's a pretty good endorsement:"It is not necessary to load down our preface with tributes to this Commentary, but I cannot forbear quoting the single sentence of Mr. Spurgeon, who knew commentaries, from a practical standpoint, as few men of any age have known them. In his famous work Commenting and Commentaries, published in 1876, Spurgeon says of this work that, 'It contains so great a varitey of information that if a man had no other exposition he would find himself at no great loss if he possessed and used it diligently."- taken from the 1945 edition published by WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids MI, in the forward conatined in volume 1 by Wilbur M. Smith.
Well, I suppose it depends on what book you need a commentary from. The two primary sets of commentaries I've been made familiar with so far in bible school have been the New International Commentaries and Tyndal's series. They tend to be conservative and evangelical (usually of the Reformed persuasion). I cannot say I have always agreed with what I have read though, and sometimes have had some major disagreements, but, I think they are in general, decent (though sometimes a bit dry). Tyndal's tend to be a little more devotional, and less academic. The NIC series is typically more academic... although not unreadable by those lacking a biblical education.
Thanks everyone!!! I'm preaching a message about God's controversy with the priests in the book of Malachi and would like some more background on the offerings and some of the verses in Malachi.On your recommendations I'll head to the bible book store tomorrow and check some of thes out.Thanks again!
okay there's more then ... if that's the passage, a more specific commentary for the prophets would be Gordon McConville's Exploring the New Testament Vol. 4: The Prophets. That has a section on Malachi that is worth the look.I would also check the Anchor Bible Commentary (a library would have it). If you also have any specific points you want to check, just email me and I may be able to help as well.
This is a hard question to answer since we have no idea if you want a commentary set or just a single volume commentary. My recomendation for a conservative commentray and my favorite and most used is:The Expositor's Bible Commentary, 12 VolumesBy: Edited by Frank E. GaebeleinEBCIf you want a really good commentary on the offerings for background study I would recommend C.H. Mackintosh's "Note On The Pentateuch". His approach is a little devotional but one of the best books on typology there is. I have no recommendation for individual commentaries. If you want a good commentary on the minor prophets see if you can find:An Introduction to Old Testament Prophets by Hobart E. Freeman This is an excellent commentary and very conservative. Hobart was later to drift off into an extreme faith healing philosophy and died as a result but this book is recognized by most scholars to be one of the best.Kevin
Those commentaries listed above are excellent. Most are easily accessed through the free program, e-sword.
They have been extremely helpful to me!
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