Author: jimmyreagan

Daniel (NICOT) by Buster & Walton

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This latest in the NICOT series is massive, especially to get through only chapter 6. I can sum this one up quickly. If you are coming to this commentary for academic concerns, you will feel like you’ve received candy from your stocking on Christmas morning. If you are more into sermon prep or regular Bible study, not so much. To be fair, this work approaches commentary writing in the pattern that has developed over the last couple decades in this series, though maybe even a bit more detail.

There are good things to share here, but let me share my concerns. First, more weight was laid upon genre than it could bear. The genre “court tales” is simply overused to explain Daniel at large here. Assumptions are made and then those conventions are too often made the central argument to what’s going on. Second, the history of composition and the corresponding historical background of those times also carries too much. I love a big commentary, but I’m not sure we need 30 pages there. Finally, the structure and theology sections were weak. For these reasons, the long Introduction was not too helpful to me.

Again, with an eye to fairness, more scholars would think I’m off base than the authors here, but I think, for example, pastors would agree with me.

On the plus side, the scholarly work here will be graded exceptional in those circles. When something is addressed, no one can deny the sweat evident in the work. Additionally, the commentary hits a higher gear in the commentary proper. Check out the background on young men like Daniel being taken into the service of Babylon. That’s what I call thoroughness!

I’m a fan of this series, and I’ll want the follow up volume to have the full coverage of the commentary proper, but let’s rate it 5 stars for scholars and 4 stars for the rest of us.

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.

The Autobiography of John Paton

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I know it’s a bit grandiose to say, but I must label this the best autobiography around. I’ve not read all autobiographies, of course, but I’d probably be ready to debate you if you nominated a contender. I’m not a particularly great debater, but I bet I’d win that one simply on the merits.

What are you looking for? Thrills? There’s no shortage here. But there’s something more here. This book is on an epic man, written exquisitely, and yet the author has no earthly idea he’s a great man. To his mind, he only has a great God. I’m not talking about laying it on thick with super-spiritual prose, but a man throughly impressed with our Lord line by line. I’d like to be John Paton when I grow up. I’m 55 but only a child compared to this mature man whose spiritual timbre lifts your heart up toward Christ.

His story is told in three parts. Each part has its own distinct flavor. The first part tells us about his childhood and the wonderful family he came from. It also told his preparation for his mission work. Even this part of the story was totally engaging.

Then he goes to the island of Tanna in the New Hebrides. Instantly I noticed two things in reading this part of his story. First, the hardships he faced were off the scale. He lost his wife and child. At times, it seemed like everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I lost count of the times it looked like he was going to die. One of those stories would’ve made his life story interesting, and yet there were so many. Second, the lack of tangible results also stood out. When he left to go to Australia for a furlough and to raise money, he had far more stories than converts. The part that is so challenging is how his faith held so incredibly strong.

The second part of his story is taking those trips and returning to a different island, Aniwa. He had taken on a new wife by this point and still faced several hardships. He had a few close calls, but nothing like the earlier times. One of my favorite parts is how he dug a well, and how that was used to lead those on the island to Jesus. I’ll not describe the details to avoid a spoiler, but you will be so moved by that story. I sure know I was. The other part of the story that is so different is that the island basically turned to Christ. Though I admire Mr. Paton so much, reading his story presses me to say, what a mighty God we serve!

In the last part of the story he tells about his later years when he traveled around the world, preaching and sharing the story of what God did in those islands. While not as thrilling as the first two parts, it’s still such an enjoyable read. He still just trusted God moment by moment. Don’t skip any of it or you won’t notice him meeting George Mueller or Charles Spurgeon. There is one more twist to the story. When the ship he spent so much time raising money for unexpectedly sank, I almost felt a wave of sadness myself. Again, he gave such an example in how to handle even something of that magnitude.

This book is completely beyond criticism. The world at large doesn’t know the story of John G. Paton, but it’s one of the greatest stories I have ever read.

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.

Matthew (CSC) by Craig Blomberg

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It’s been at least 25 years ago that I picked up this volume’s predecessor in the NAC series. I’ve used it many times to advantage over those years. Count me as happy this one got a revision and landed in the CSC series here. Reading again his now improved Introduction reminds me of why I like Blomberg on Matthew. I’ve gotten more out of it than volumes in several larger academic series.

Ironically enough, I recently reviewed a fine theology on Matthew. Following up so soon with this volume makes me really appreciate how in so many less pages than that huge volume he still covered all the key things sufficiently well. I agree with most of his conclusions and even appreciate how he weighed things. In other words, he had a great understanding of which issues were important and which ones were not so much.

His section on structure was fairly brief, but most people are in fairly close agreement over Matthew’s structure. It’s the theology section beginning on page 10 that was his best. Again, he took the topics in order of importance and I think he nailed it as he really grasps what Matthew is all about.

I marked up several pages for things I need to go back and add to my own studies on Matthew. It was a real help to me. As I have already mentioned, I have used the commentary section for years. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

This is a great volume that is perfect for pastors or teachers or those just doing some really serious Bible study. You simply can’t go wrong with this one. 

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.

Zephaniah (CSC) by Robert Chisholm

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Can you believe this is the second major commentary on Zephaniah in the last few months? Perhaps even more surprising, I must label this volume a winner just like I did the other recent one in the ZECOT. To be sure, they possess different strengths. Both are very unique contributions that don’t mimic each other at all. Some readers are definitely going to favor this one. It’s deep, but very understandable. The last portion of the Introduction does get into the minutiae a bit, but it’s different minutiae than the other one too. I don’t know if I can sell you on having two standalone commentaries on Zephaniah, but that is actually what I think you should do.

One of the reasons that Mr. Chisholm can write so many interesting things in a different lane is that he is open to dispensational theology. Don’t expect a dispensational treatise, as I’m not suggesting that at all; but it can just give some very interesting viewpoints that other commentaries do not. Still, all the basic things you look for are here as well.

The introduction is outstanding and full of learning. It didn’t have as much on structure, but it did seem to have better linkage with the rest of the Old Testament. Its historical background was excellent, but I felt the book was at his best at bringing in material that really illuminated the big picture. He even has some pages that suggest possibilities for a sermon series on Zephaniah. You don’t see that too often.

The scholarly conclusions and the theology are both warmly conservative. The amount of research that he did is very impressive. The introduction runs to 140 pages! They held my interest all the way through.

Mr. Chisholm is a name that has always come up favorably over the years I have been doing Bible study. He has still got it.

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.

The Consequences of Ideas by Sproul

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Fascinating! I must admit I’ve spent my life inside theology, but how clearly Sproul shows most of theology’s greatest assaults have been at the hands of philosophers. It’s hard to grasp how such a small group of men along with their ideas have swayed the world—swayed it away from our gracious Lord. After you read this book, you will be more diligent to dodge both the blatant and the subtle intrusions of these ideas into our lives.

Sproul is so well known that he needs no introduction in a review. I imagine most everyone who reads this review already has an assessment of Sproul in your mind. All I can give is a description of what kind of Sproul you’re getting here. As widely as he has been read, I suspect more have listened to him than even read him. This book doesn’t read like a textbook but like you’re listening to the engaging Sproul talk. In fact, I’ve tackled a few of the shorter overviews of philosophy from a Christian perspective over the years (I must confess I’ve always struggled more in grasping philosophy than theology), but this one moved the needle of my understanding farther than the others.

In my opinion after reading this book, after Augustine and Aquinas gave way to Descartes and Locke, philosophy starts slipping down a mountain. By Hume and Kant we are in a free fall. Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, Darwin and Freud are merely rummaging through the corpses at the bottom of the hill. Read this book and see if you agree.

I know you and I can’t walk down to the university and teach a philosophy course after reading this book, but we can sure better understand the world around us.

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.

A Theology of Matthew’s Gospel by Michael Wilkins

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This volume gets us close to the completion of the Biblical Theology of the New Testament series. I’ve reviewed them all so far and there’s not a dud in the bunch. Matthew deserves one of the eight volumes in this series and Michael Wilkins does a phenomenal job. I’ve had an over 20 year fascination with reading everything I could get my hands on about this wonderful gospel. With that extensive background, I can tell you that this book lacks nothing.

I feel this book could hardly be better. If I had to split hairs, maybe it could’ve used a few more charts. It’s not only the depth of coverage, but the conclusions themselves that I love. I guess you couldn’t feel the need to judge a book by me liking its conclusions, but I suggest you give it a chance. What he concludes, he develops persuasively. He covered all these background issues, but in someway in so doing he has gotten to the heart of Matthew.

The book starts a bit slowly. That is because the first two chapters cover topics I find less interesting. If we have to endure such things, I’m at least glad to see that he has dispensed with some of the dumber things that have come down the path of the scholarly world. “Q” isn’t the spectacular book behind some dependent gospels, but a foray into limited imagination; but I digress.

Chapter 3 is a skillful summary of structure. It has taken several books to put together what he explains well in a few pages. The next chapter is a literary and theological reading of Matthew’s gospel. It’s not exactly a commentary, but think of it as a collection of nuggets. In other words, it’s really good.

The next part has several chapters on major themes in Matthew’s theology. What he discusses is easily the main topics that have been on the agenda of many people over the last few decades or even longer. I call your attention to his fantastic chapter on the kingdom of Heaven. I especially was enlightened by it.

He’s also fair to various groups within Christianity. For example, he is kind to those who follow dispensational theology, but at the same time, he probably doesn’t really offend any reformed thinkers either. In other words, he’s not writing for a specific team, but is just trying to do the scholar’s task. He does it well.

This book is so good that it can probably take the place of 10 other releases from the past. You will want this one. 

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.

Revelation (RCS), NT XV, Edited by Petersen and Bray

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These commentaries assembled from Reformation writers can be quite interesting. Just as I imagined, this one covering Revelation is exceptionally unique. I don’t think there’s any way you’d be able to grasp the big picture of Revelation in this volume. That’s no fault of the editors whose work is as diligent as others in the series, but with what they had to work with.

No matter your approach to prophecy, you will not really find a polemic for your position here. Reformers approached Revelation as passages to directly apply to the Christian life. As you might guess, that gets tremendously subjective. That almost turns it into a devotional work. What they had to say could be very accurate and insightful to the Christian life, but I’m not sure how much it fully expounded the text.

So come to this book with the right expectations. For a historical representation for how the reformers tackled this book it’s tremendously helpful. If you would approach it more as just devotional reading, you would also find blessing I would think. If you are exegeting the book of Revelation, I think you might not have much help. I’m not sure that’s a problem, because I don’t think the task of exegeting the text has this series as its first choice anyway. Again, remember what this series is about and you will have you a nice book here.

Still, it is fascinating. Just reading how they approached the thousand year reign, for example, will show you what I mean.

For the things that we should be coming to this volume for, I can fully recommend it. 

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.

Defending Your Faith by R.C. Sproul

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It’s subtitled “an Introduction to Apologetics”. After reading it, I’m prepared to recommend it as a starting place without reservation. Its writing is clear even if its concepts are deep. In other words, you might struggle a bit if it’s your first encounter with this material, but you’ll go farther in understanding than in many books three times its length. Sproul, with his philosophy background, is at his best here. I actually prefer him here over theological subjects though his brilliance is undeniable.

The first section of two chapters makes a biblical case for apologetics. He briefly explains historical reasons for the development of apologetics and then outlines its task. He further discusses the quandary of defense versus evangelism, which he defines as proof and persuasion. The bulk of the book, he says, is to defend the existence of God and the authority of the Bible. He also makes a good case against those who criticize apologetics. 

The next section of six chapters, which are the best of the book, cover the four principles of knowledge. If you are not familiar with this subject, you would never guess these four principles, but as you read, you are easily convinced of how essential they are. I am amazed by both the depth and the quantity of learning you receive in 40 pages here. It is laid out so flawlessly. He takes you step-by-step on a journey and convinces you every step of the way. I almost think that describing it would be like giving spoilers, and I figure you’d be better off to just enjoy it. I would further believe that if you mastered these 40 pages, you would be a long way down the road of understanding apologetics.

The next section of two chapters about natural reason and faith are really just overcoming the attacks against those four principles that have developed. These attacks fall to the ground like a stray bullet that hits nothing.

The following two sections really are about how we weather the later philosophical storms against belief in the existence of God. For example, some admit that there must be a higher being, but then try to negate His influence today. Others try radical ideas like saying God is an illusion, or that all that exists is self created, which Sproul explains is nonsense, or creation by chance which is pretty much the same thing, or the universe is God. He at length shows that only our God as a self-existent being explains reality. He then exposes the rogue philosophers who level these attacks.

The final section of the book is a robust defense in four chapters on the authority and trustworthiness of the Bible. Good stuff.

Sometimes you read a book that is fantastic and you lay it aside. Other times you read a great book and you know you will refer to it again and again. That is where I find myself on this book.

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.

Genesis (OTL) by David Petersen

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The OLT is my go-to for these conservative eyes to grasp the more liberal viewpoint. I know going in what to expect and that I’ll have a host of disagreements. I rate these volumes, though, on how interesting they are and how much imaginative theology is given. What did I find here? It was easy to read, it was not as extreme as I figured especially with this being on Genesis, and it was sufficiently imaginative. It gave me that out-of-my-box perspective I hoped it would.

The positions held in the Introduction were as expected, but without the usual pontificating. The raggedly worn Documentary Hypothesis theory was held to, but it seemed Petersen instinctively knew it would weary readers so he didn’t drone on about it. Some of his literary conclusions were still a bit much for me, but somehow he was still interesting in discussing it. Though I disagreed with much, there were a few nuggets along the way in the Introduction. Readers like me could safely skip the Introduction actually.

It’s when you get to the commentary proper that your time is repaid. If you work around a few subversive sentences, you will discover stimulating ones await you. I told you what I was looking for and I got it here. Better than some OTL volumes and better by far than Von Rad’s volume that preceded it, Petersen gives us a thoughtful work here. Liberal theologians should love it while we conservatives who admit we can learn from others can walk away with something worthwhile as well.

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.

Luke (CSC) by Gregory R. Lanier

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“Wow” comes to mind on this one. The NAC volume this replaces (though that volume is still in print) was solid and well worth having, but this one is next level. Lanier displays such mature scholarship with a hint of seeing all the scholarly world and being weary of some of it. I share his weariness and love having what he offers to learn from.

Just reading the Author’s Preface will tell you this is going to be good. Look at the six things he’s attempting to do in this commentary. One of those, focusing on Luke rather than some speculative “Q” behind him, means a tenth of the commentary isn’t pure rubbish as befalls so many works. Another, his upholding a high view of God’s Word, wins my trust out of the gate. I feel he kept all six of his aims.

He also showed that he felt no straitjacket bound him when he began the Introduction by expounding Luke 1:1-4. I’ve never seen that before, but especially here in Luke so many introductory issues were brought up in the text and made him avoid redundancy. From there, he explained Luke as literature and discussed sources. He slapped “Q” around a little more (can you tell I loved it?) and ended the section by reminding us of the full inspiration of Scripture. That’s such a breath of fresh air.

Some elite types will read what I’ve said so far and assume we have a lightweight commentary before us. How incredibly wrong they would be. Watch him guide us through plot, setting, narrative devices, and background factors and you will see that he’s not taking a backseat to anyone. He reasons his way to several conservative conclusions (e.g. authorship) rather than just stating positions. He also dismantled the untenable “community” ideas (e.g., Johannine community or Lukan community) that for some bizarre reason took a stronghold on so much NT scholarship. I further loved how he rolled his eyes at the circuitous routes of the “so-called quest for the historical Jesus”. I think I’ve shared enough for you to see the direction of the introduction, and I must say it is outstanding.

They were some of the most eye-appealing and helpful charts throughout the work, both in the introduction and in the text itself. They shared really helpful information to those of us trying to grasp the gospel of Luke. His commentary on individual passages was so helpful as well. I mean really good.

There are a lot of good commentaries on Luke, and several not as good as their reputation, but I see no reason why this one couldn’t be a pastor‘s first choice. It has what those of us preparing sermons need the most. Along the way, you’ll be told what the scholarly world has done with certain issues without yourself having to drown in them. I assure you, I will keep this one handy.

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.