Volume 12 of the Expositor’s Bible Commentary (EBC) is a major revision of volume 11 of the old series that also covered Ephesians through Philemon. Only two authors revised their earlier works and every other commentary is a new treatment by a different scholar. What we have here will be a real blessing to pastors and Bible students.

The Book of Ephesians is now handled by William Klein. Considering the importance of Ephesians, some will label it a very concise volume. Still, don’t see the brevity as superficiality. This volume is well done. In the Introduction he discusses authorship, structure, setting, date of composition, purpose, the relation to Colossians, theology, and textual issues. There’s also a fine bibliography and outline. If you see a negative review of this one, you may find that it’s not for any lack of quality work, but his corporate view of election and the fact that he’s a complementarian may be the real reason. I appreciate this work.

The Book of Philippians now has highly-respected scholar David Garland as its commentator. That’s a coup for this series. The writer of massive, major commentaries has proven himself adept here with a briefer entry. In the Introduction, he discusses background, date and place of origin, integrity of the letter, purpose and occasion, literary form, followed by a bibliography and outline. The commentary itself is outstanding.

Todd Still does Colossians. In his introduction he begins by discussing the overarching Christological theme. He surveys all the other typical introductory issues, also providing a bibliography and outline. The commentaries in the same fine style as the rest of these in the series.

Robert Thomas revises his earlier work on Thessalonians. Some criticize him for his dispensational viewpoint, but I’ve always enjoyed reading it. It appears to me that he took care in doing the revision and it’s even a far better work than before.

Andreas Kostenberger replaced two authors from the old series in his handling of the Pastoral Epistles. He has since written other commentaries on those epistles and this is a fine improvement over the older series (though I like them as well). He tackles each of those three epistles separately. Again, this is a quality commentary for pastors to have.

Philemon sees a revision by the previous author and continues to be a very usable entry.

This book is another economical, wonderful tool for pastors and teachers. Many of us have used the older set for several years, and appreciate the care that went in producing this new set that will last for years to come. I give it the highest recommendation.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.