Bible study and commentaries, part 7

Commentaries are an extremely useful tool that can often greatly aid in the study of the Bible.  What are commentaries?  These are books that comment, explain, or expound on the text of the Bible.  These observations and comments are usually in Scriptural order, and follow the text closely. 

Charles Spurgeon, in his book Commenting and Commentaries, stated:  “In order to be able to expound the Scriptures, and as an aid to your pulpit studies, you will need to be familiar with the commentators: a glorious army, let me tell you, whose acquaintance will be your delight and profit. Of course, you are not such wiseacres as to think or say that you can expound Scripture without assistance from the works of divines and learned men who have laboured before you in the field of exposition. If you are of that opinion, pray remain so, for you are not worth the trouble of conversion, and like a little coterie who think with you, would resent the attempt as an insult to your infallibility. It seems odd, that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he has revealed to others.” 

So commentaries are very helpful, and should be used extensively by students of the Bible.  They may provide insight and approaches to the text that the student has never thought of, and help the student to refine his approach to a particular text, or on the other hand, possibly expand his thoughts and views on a text that are too narrow.  One professor put it this way, “Although some Bible students shy away from using commentaries, not wanting to be ‘influenced’ by the teaching of others, commentaries provide a good way to check your own understanding of scripture and your own interpretations of passages. They help even the casual user to avoid misunderstandings and mistakes about the Bible. They can also help you get a better grasp of major Bible themes and topics and see the flow of the author’s argument better in a given passage of scripture. If you are concerned about being unduly influenced by a particular commentary, I recommend you read two or three on the same passage, which will serve as a ‘check and balance’ on one another.” 

There are several different levels of difficulty of commentaries.  The most detailed and difficult type of commentary is the “technical” commentary.  These commentaries are very detailed, use an abundance of original language material, and generally assume that the reader is very familiar with Greek and Hebrew.  The usually contain the author’s own translation of the text.  Some of the comments and discussion is difficult to follow if one does not have knowledge of Greek or Hebrew vocabulary and grammar, some grounding on the context and historical events surrounding the text, and knowledge of theology and textual criticism.  Examples of these types of commentaries are the Word Biblical Commentaries, the New International Greek Text Commentary, the Baker Exegetical Commentaries, and the Anchor Bible Commentary. 

The next level from the top is the “semi-technical” commentary.  These books usually have technical discussions, but the original language discussions are generally relegated to footnotes, and the Greek and Hebrew terms may be transliterated.  A well-informed layperson could probably read these commentaries and follow most of the discussion, though some parts may be difficult to follow.  Usually these commentaries use an established translation, such as the NIV.  Examples of these types of commentaries include the New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament, the New American Commentary, and perhaps the New Testament Commentary series by Hendrickson and Kistemaker. 

Some commentaries are considered semi-technical but also concentrate on helping the pastor by providing insights to particular passages that can be used in preaching and teaching the Bible to others.  Examples of these types of commentaries include the Pillar New Testament Commentary series, Calvin’s Commentaries, and the New American Commentary series.  Individual commentaries by A.W. Pink such as his one on Hebrews are also great. 

Many commentaries are made accessible to the general population, and these are very helpful for scholars, students, and laypeople alike.  They are usually less technical, but often provide keen insights in a way that can be easily understood.  Some examples of these types of commentaries include the Tyndale Old and New Testament Commentary series, the Life Application Commentary series, the NIV Application Commentary series, and the IVP New Testament Commentary series.  The Tyndale Commentaries are great starter commentaries if you are just beginning to build a library. 

Some commentaries that I have found to be very helpful are usually called expository commentaries, and consist of commentaries based on articles or sermon series on particular books of the Bible.  Many of these sets border on the semi-technical, but are in a form that is sermon-like and provide many, many deep insights and observations on the text.  There are many of these types of commentaries, but some that I have found to be exceptional are the Boice Expositional Commentaries, any expositional commentaries by David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (his Romans series is 14 volumes!), the Reformed Expository Commentaries, the Geneva Commentary Series, and the Preach the Word series of commentaries. 

Finally, whole Bible commentaries can also be useful, especially for beginners.  They provide some great insights in a concise and readable form.  Some more popular ones are Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (the complete set, not the abridged version), the New Bible Commentary, the Bible Knowledge Commentary, and the Bible Exposition Commentary. 

Other noteworthy commentaries include John Owen’s mammoth 7 volume set on Hebrews, which is not for the faint of heart.  It is long, hard to read, and very detailed.  If you ever master Owen on Hebrews, you have accomplished a great thing. 

I need to stop here.  Next time, I would like to spend just a little time on how I use commentaries in my studies.