Thomas Long contributes this volume to the Interpretation Bible Commentary Series on Hebrews. On the plus side, it’s lively and theologically sharp. On the negative side, it’s too brief. In line with the series, it gives a cogent rendition of the critical position. Out of line with the series, it’s too short for the size and importance of the book of Hebrews.

The Introduction is merely a teaser. He succeeds in wheting your appetite for Hebrews, but little more. No common topic addressed in the introduction of a commentary is sufficiently addressed here. The bibliography at the end is equally as meager. Turn on to the commentary proper.

Here there is value. He writes well. Even if you don’t agree with him, which was often the case for me, your gray matter will be activated. I got what I wanted out of this book. I could see where critical scholarship stands on Hebrews. As a bonus, there was some theology that you could take and run with. It should have been longer, but we will still label it a solid critical effort.

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.

Lewis Donelson contributes this volume on the Epistles of Peter and Jude in the New Testament Library (NTL) series. As with other volumes in the series, this commentary takes a critical approach in its exegesis. With these epistles being some of the more challenged in the New Testament, that critical outlook protrudes more distinctly.

After a wide-ranging bibliography, we are served a brief introduction to the three letters together. The author sees a connection as Christians in conflict, which is a reasonable proposition.

Next, 1 Peter gets its own introduction. He denies Petrine authorship completely. More helpful are sections on the letter’s recipients and the theme of persecution.  After a discussion of date, he returns again to authorship this time suggesting pseudonymity. He doesn’t see much literary structure before offering his outline. There’s more theology before some brief comments on text and translation.

Each periscope in the commentary proper gives an overview of the passage, his translation, detailed exegetical notes, commentary on each verse, and a few concluding paragraphs. The exegesis is always on the critical side while there is robust theology.

Jude and 2 Peter follow a similar pattern for both Introduction and commentary. Both the critical outlook and commentary quality remain throughout.

Of the critical commentaries I’ve seen on these letters, this is the most in-depth, clear, and theologically helpful. For that perspective, this commentary is the one I’d recommend!

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.

Prolific New Testament commentator Luke Timothy Johnson tackles Hebrews in this volume in the New Testament Library (NTL) series. He’s written in other major series such as the Anchor Bible commentary series, and from what I can tell, this has been one of the more popular titles in the NTL series. In my view, it’s one of the more rigorously done scholarly work in the series.

After a substantial bibliography, the author jumps into what turns out to be a longer, more in-depth introduction than found in several other volumes in the series. After some opening observations, the author explains Hebrews in the Christian tradition as he delves into the historical background. Next, he tackles literary concerns including language and form. There’s a cultural and social overview that considers Roman as well as elements of Judaism and Christianity in the text. From there, we read of what the author calls the circumstances of composition. He delves into the rhetorical situation and finally addresses the issue of date. As you would imagine, the conclusions are of a more critical nature as is usual in the NTL series. There’s a survey of the always-controversial subject of authorship for the book of Hebrews. Finally, we have some good probing of the theology of the book. The author’s conclusion that we have here the mature teaching of Christ was well done. Much of the conclusions in this section would match that found in more conservative commentary series. The same would hold true for the theological discussion of discipleship.

The commentary proper includes some rigorous exegetical work. If you are familiar with either the author or the series, you will know what to expect. As a bonus, you will find 7 top-notch excurses. Again, it is helpful and effective. I can’t think of a better commentary on Hebrews from the critical camp.

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.

Anthony Thiselton has a revered name in the scholarly world. Among his many works, he is, perhaps, best known for his well-received NIGTC on 1 Corinthians. At first glance, you would assume this newer work on 1 Corinthians, described as “a shorter exegetical and pastoral commentary”, would merely be an abbreviation of the earlier, massive commentary. It’s not. In the preface, he carefully describes what this book is. He wrote it after five additional years of reflection and has written the work here with less scholarly interaction and more straightforward delineation of his own thoughts with additional pastoral and practical help. Neither work precludes the value of the other and this would be one of the rare cases where you really need two works by the same author on the same book of the Bible.

If you, like me, have used his earlier commentary and remember it’s thorough introduction, you will be impressed that he could also write something as accessible, clear, and helpful as he did in this 27-page introduction. Many writers could do one or the other, but few could pull off both with such success. The first section of the introduction covers the city and the culture of Corinth, which succinctly reviews what would be found in any introduction. The second section on the ethos that permeated the church was particularly enlightening. From there, he got into rhetoric and archaeological information and finished with a discussion of the writing of the epistle itself. A few helpful pictures were thrown in as well.

The commentary proper was to the point yet distilled the heart of the matter nicely. In the preface, he described how difficult the section on suggestions for possible reflection for every passage was to put together. While, perhaps, not as valuable as the commentary itself, these reflections are worth scanning for the pastor preparing messages. The tone is not that of heavy scholarly interaction, but it’s clear great scholarship stands behind what’s presented.

This book isn’t part of a series and might be easily overlooked. Look it up. You won’t be disappointed.

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Mark this volume by Adele Berlin down as one of my favorites in the Old Testament Library (OTL) series. In fact, it has some helpful information that I’m not used to seeing in this series. There’s still the critical viewpoint, yet that criticism is not as orienting in the work itself and is far more open to conservative theories than I would’ve expected.

The Introduction begins by describing some of the unique elements of the book before it dives into an explanation of the poetry of Lamentations. Berlin makes it clear that it’s some unique poetry that we have here. There’s also an excellent use of imagery throughout the Book of Lamentations. He has some sane thoughts on the speaking voices of the book as well. The section on gender and suffering is really not over-the-top in any way, but just acknowledges some of the feminine language used throughout Lamentations. There’s an excursus on the personified Zion, as well as one on the residents of Jerusalem with a sociological profile. The discussion of mourning as a religious concept added good things the discussion as did the theology of destruction and the exile. The explanation of the paradigm of purity was interesting and beyond anything I’d thought of before. There’s a section on the literary context with some helpful thoughts, though perhaps a little overemphasis on Mesopotamian influences. In the section on authorship, there’s a fairly conservative conclusion about dating and at least an acceptance that it’s theoretically possible that Jeremiah wrote it though she feels it could never be known. More than arguing date, she sees the larger question as why was the Book of Lamentations written in the first place.

The commentary proper shows outstanding scholarly work. We might learn more about the people of Judah than we do about God in this work, but this is an excellent addition to your commentary library. I warmly recommend it.

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Ben Witherington III is easily one of the most prolific commentators of our day. It’s hard to believe that he has written major scholarly commentaries on as many books of the New Testament as he has done. As with all his commentaries, he provides what he calls a socio-rhetorical commentary. Here he tackles Philemon, Colossians, and Ephesians. When he says he commentates on the Captivity Epistles, you may notice that Philippians is missing. He explains in the Introduction that that omission is only because he had written a commentary on Philippians earlier. If you are familiar with any of his other commentaries, you will be comfortable in this one. As always, he writes well, he loves scholarly interaction, and he’s not afraid to chart his own course.

The Introduction runs at less than 40 pages and is an Introduction to the three letters together. This serves to highlight well the commonalities between the three. You won’t get far into this book before you see that his conclusion that these letters use an “Asiatic rhetoric” affects all his conclusions. While I find that hard to swallow, I did appreciate several of his conservative conclusions. He crushes the argument that the vocabulary of Ephesians denies it’s the possibility of a Pauline authorship. The other major component of the Introduction is the social settings of Paul and his audiences. In that section, he will cover Paul, his imprisonment, some of his companions, the effect of slavery in the Roman world and the philosophies at play in these regions. He provides a nice bibliography as well.

After one long paragraph of Introduction to Philemon he dives into the commentary. It is quite helpful. Colossians gets its own introduction before the commentary as does Ephesians. You won’t doubt that he has surveyed most all scholarship in his reading to prepare this commentary. He takes an egalitarian position in his commentary in the requisite passages in Colossians and Ephesians. (In Ephesians, he battled Peter O’Brien in his scholarly interaction and in my opinion lost badly).  Still, this commentary is a major contribution.

Witherington’s works are a great second commentary to refer to. This one has the quality and sparkle of all his other commentaries that I have seen.

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.

This volume covers the Song of Songs in the Old Testament Library (OTL) series. It’s best known for its literary criticism and I can see why as that’s clearly the emphasis throughout the book. As is common with this series, it takes a critical position throughout, but as is also common for commentaries on this book of the Old Testament, there are some strange theories suggested. It succeeds in what it attempts to do, yet I’m not sure it makes the same theological contribution as some others in the series. It’s not the place to look for application either. Though I did not at all agree with the overall arguments made in this commentary, there were some fascinating paragraphs.

The introduction is longer than most in the OTL series. After a substantial bibliography, the introduction begins by describing the Song as a love poem “about erotic love and sexual desire”. You will notice quickly how key the author finds this to be in the Song. I’ve seen a few popular commentaries that almost make it a book about marital intimacy, but this is the first major commentary that I’ve seen that goes as far as this one does. The most shocking part is the author takes what seems to be the strongest literal interpretation and then says there could be some allegorical meaning to it. The difference is it’s not an allegory of God and His people, but just of love. It’s surprising the way the author digs into this subject of love, relationship, and eroticism over many pages of the introduction. Along the way, gender studies are brought in. I really can’t agree with any of these conclusions, but this is the place I would suggest you go if you want to look into it.

There’s a look at poetic composition and style, including a discussion of whether it’s one poem or many, and a thorough review of literary arrangement and its significance. There’s a fine listing of how other commentators have divided up the book. From there more literary concerns are considered including the literary context of the ANE world. Copious examples are brought to bear. There’s a section on the historical-cultural context as well as a consideration of how this book made it to the Bible. The author concludes allegorization came about to explain its blunt material. There’s a good review of the historical interpretations that the Song has gone through.

The commentary itself is detailed and continues to be dominated by the things brought up in the introduction. Along the way, you will get a good representation of a critical outlook of the book. It’s not my favorite commentary in the OTL series, but it’s one of the most important critical commentaries available.

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.

Raymond Collins wrote this commentary on the Pastoral Epistles in the New Testament Library (NTL) series. Its critical stance is in line with what I found in several of these NTL volumes, though there are a few a little less critical in the series. I’ve heard it criticized for having too little scholarly interaction, but that proved no detriment to me as he at least thoroughly articulates his own critical position. I’m not sure I found as much theology as can be found in some of these NTL volumes, but at around 400 pages he never skimps on various passages.

After a bibliography, Collins provides an overall introduction to the Pastoral Epistles. From several angles (second-century witnesses, how the Pastorals differ from other epistles, and a scholarly review of authenticity and literary form), he rejects Pauline authorship and dates late. He reviews other issues within the Pastoral Epistles and determines that it’s reasonable to assume a single author for all three epistles though they came from someone else’s hand after the death of Paul. Strangely, in a section entitled “engaged teaching”, he argues that the teaching presented is taken beyond that which Paul gave. It is in this section, though, that he outlines what are the main themes, in his opinion, of these epistles.

Next, he provides a short introduction to 1 Timothy alone. Mostly that is just to discuss its unique elements. From there, he dives into commentary on the text. The same pattern is followed with 2 Timothy and Titus. Though I often disagreed with him, he did give some good food for thought for several passages. He used the analogy of “text and context” to reserve some of the more debated passages in these epistles to Paul’s day alone (e.g., the Household Code).

While this might not be my favorite NTL volume, it does uphold the series’ aims and is a good representation of the critical position. It’s not as wordy as those in the Anchor Bible Commentary series and so is probably the ideal commentary for those who want to add a critical commentary to round out their studies.

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.