Eckhard Schnabel’s commentary on Acts in the ZECNT series beautifully lives up to the high standard of this emerging series. Coming in at over 1100 pages, this volume is a major commentary on the book of Acts that ranks near the top of commentaries available today on that book.

The Introduction including the outline is only a little over 50 pages. Though that is briefer than in some other major commentaries, it doesn’t strike me that anything important was missed. He begins his discussion on describing Luke and his readers. He argues against the silly fad of seeing anonymity in Acts or any other book of the New Testament. He finds accepting Luke as the author as totally legitimate. He further discussed the language Luke used, his origins, and the fact that he was a physician. As you might imagine, he discusses the fact that Luke has written two books of the New Testament and he reaches conservative conclusions about the date of those writings.

Many scholars today debate if Luke should be considered a historian, and Mr. Schnabel feels he is a fine one who is actually the first historian of Christianity. He reviews the positions of genre, lists the speeches in Acts, and gives a fine discussion of the purpose of Acts. After discussing the Greek text of Acts, he provides an in-depth chronology of early Christian history that will be a tremendous help in studying the book of Acts. Structure, though, is barely mentioned in the Introduction as he gets plenty of coverage in the commentary itself.

If you are familiar with the design of ZECNT, you will find that this commentary uses it to great advantage. Any Greek that is used has its English counterpart nearby making this commentary accessible to any user. I found his commentary probing, helpful, and better than I’ve seen in many other major commentaries on the book of Acts. I reviewed several passages, and found material that was very helpful to me in every case. This is an outstanding commentary and I highly 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.

This title in the highly-respected New Studies in Biblical Theology (NSBT) series published by IVP addresses the subject of the atonement in Mark’s Gospel. Since we see this subject showing up profusly in the latest commentaries on the Book of Mark, this volume will be a great addition to your shelves on Mark.

In his Introduction, Mr. Bolt explains his reasons for why he feels this is an important subject today. He explains the great number of chapters dedicated to the Passion and the journey to the cross as being a prime consideration.  He further explains, of course, the centrality of the cross to the entire New Testament. That centrality makes the atonement an important subject everywhere it’s mentioned in any biblical book. You will find that Mr. Bolt accepts the history of Mark and seeks to draw his conclusions directly from the pages of the Gospel of Mark.

In chapter 1 we find a discussion of the cross and the “abolition of religion” that is commonly discussed in some circles. He works through that subject both in the details of Mark’s Gospel and a review of scholarly opinion and then reaches a conservative conclusion that honors a strong Christology. Chapter 2 is even better where he discusses the necessity of the cross. He uncovers a great deal of wonderful information in that chapter. In chapter 3 he discusses apocalyptic concerns while chapter 4 relates Christ’s reception among men. The final chapter adds the resurrection and our future hope to the discussion to great advantage. Be sure to notice his discussion of the effect of the Roman world on Mark’s Gospel as well as an explanation for what the Roman soldier meant at the cross when he called Jesus the Son of Man.

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.

Eugene Boring’s commentary on the Gospel of Mark is one of the most highly regarded in the New Testament Library (NTL) series. Mr. Boring is quite respected in the scholarly world and this book is just one of several of his major titles. Though he is much less conservative than I am, he has a knack for throwing out provocative thoughts that I enjoy considering when studying a passage in Mark’s Gospel.

In his Introduction, he covers all the bases in 25 pages. There was a substantial bibliography before the Introduction began too. More than some writers, he focuses on Mark’s specific audience, and says this gospel is one to be read aloud “in the context of a worshiping congregation”. Though he sometimes confuses the Jesus of history as someone different than the Jesus that Mark writes about, he does trace beautifully the story that’s being written. He feels that genre is one of the most important aspects to getting at Mark’s meaning. Though I really can’t agree with Mr. Boring on his conclusions on sources, date, and provenance, nor his conclusions about Mark 13, he is a clear writer in stating his conclusions. He pulls out many details that you might miss within the text that can give some great thoughts. His discussions of author, purpose, text and transmission, and language, translation, interpretation, though, are all quite brief. His historical conclusions are odd, but in any event, he believes the main content of Mark’s narrative is theological.

His actual commentary is even better. This is where he sees things that others miss. Even if you don’t agree with his conclusion about what he found, you will love being able to dwell on the nuggets he dug up. The real value of this commentary is here.

This commentary is now available in a more economical paperback edition. It’s one of the more important mid-sized commentaries on the Gospel of Mark. You will enjoy checking it out.

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 book, edited by Andreas Kostenberger and Terry Wilder, collects 12 scholarly articles on the Pastoral Epistles. They cover matters similar to what you might find in the introduction of a major commentary and discussions of theological issues. The editors provide the first two articles while the others are provided by other scholars who have a good background in the Pastoral Epistles.

You will likely find some articles more interesting than others, just as I did, as a matter of personal interest. For example, I’m so convinced that the books in the New Testament are written by those they’re attributed to, that I find a discussion of pseudonymity pointless. Still, if that’s your thing, you’ll find a good article about it here.

I found the article that describes the stewardship theme of the Pastoral Epistles to be very interesting, as was the one on cohesion and structure. There is good coverage of Christology and the prevalence of salvation found in these letters. One of the very best articles was the one on ecclesiology as there are so many local church issues discussed in the Pastoral Epistles. Paul Wolfe has an article that exegetes several of the more debated versus in these epistles. In addition to ethics and mission in the pastoral epistles, well-known scholar Howard Marshall gives a detailed overview of all the recent literature on these epistles (since 1998).

This book accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. The contributors are more conservative and the scholarship more dependable than many such books. This book is important in any major scholarly study of the Pastoral Epistles.

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.

I wish other scholarly books read like this one. It could make a prototype for future scholarly monographs. For one thing, he loved to read the New Testament back into these five wonderful Old Testament books. These five books – Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther – became the five short Old Testament books that were sung in the great festivals of Israel. Though they are not together in our Bibles, it’s still a great idea to look at them together. Mr. Webb has hit a home run and packed an incredible amount of material in 150 pages.

Mr. Webb describes these books as sitting on the edge of the canon because they had more trouble with acceptance than any in the Old Testament. In the chapter on each of the five books he crams in much material like you might find in an introduction in a commentary, but the depth can’t hide the warm spiritual truth he uncovers for Christians.

He broke down the Song of Solomon in an incredible way. He describes the incredible statement it makes about love between a man and a woman in a tasteful way. He may not see it as a picture of the love of Christ for his church as much as I do, but he does finally conclude that there’s something of the love of God in it.

Without getting bogged down as I’ve seen so many scholars do, he broke down the episodes of the book of Ruth. He beautifully brought out the theology to be found in this amazing little book. He also discussed Ruth as salvation history, which many scholars will no longer do.

He sets the scene of suffering in the book of Lamentations and makes sense of its structure. Again, the theology was spot on. I may not have agreed with all his conclusions on Ecclesiastes, but I was intrigued by what he had to say. In the chapter on Esther he addressed the charge that it’s a secular book. He did see Esther and Mordecai as more conflicted characters than Bible characters like, say, Daniel. Again, he provided us with many avenues of study.

I enjoyed this book. I sat down and read it straight through in about two hours. I don’t see how anyone could read it without benefit. It’s an awesome 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.

This commentary is a fairly recent entry in the well-known New Testament Library (NTL) series. Before I received this book, I had heard reports that it was one of the most practical volumes in the series for pastors. Now that I’ve had a chance to get into it, I must agree. It’s a quality midsize commentary for the Gospel of Luke.

After an extensive bibliography, Mr. Carroll gets into his Introduction on Luke’s Gospel. Though rather brief, I felt it covered all the bases well. In fact, it might be the length that many pastors would prefer. He begins by explaining Luke’s impressive qualities, including he says, “Christian historian, gifted storyteller, literary artist, and theologian”. He sees Luke is drawing the picture of Jesus within the Roman world. As you will find in most such commentaries, he outlines what has been believed about Luke being the author of this gospel. He dates Luke’s Gospel later than I would. He discusses genre and purpose followed by the suggested approach to reading Luke’s Gospel. He feels that Luke applies his story to Israel’s story. He sees Luke’s Gospel as the theocentric and says, “what drives the story as God’s faithful commitment and relentless activity to accomplish the divine purpose for Israel, and through Israel for all people”. Finally, after discussing textual issues of the Gospel of Luke, he gets into the design of the narrative, which covers issues of structure. All in all, it’s an introduction well done.

The commentary itself was well done. He brought in appropriate background material, defined the meaning of words, and did lose track of the narrative flow of the gospel of Luke. Every passage I checked had meaningful, helpful commentary that you could appreciate. In fact, I compared some passages to what I had read in some of my favorite larger exegetical commentaries, and Mr. Carroll had something worthwhile to share in every passage. This is a good resource to add to your shelves.

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 commentary on the Gospel of John is one of the latest in the New Testament Library (NTL) series published by WJK. This volume is designed to be a major mid-length commentary for those who study in the Gospel of John. It is aimed more at those who teach than scholars. You will find it quite suggestive on many passages.

Marianne Meye Thompson explains in her preface that she has worked 17 years on this commentary. That’s a lot of time for mature reflection. It’s also fair to say that this is one of the more conservative volumes in this series. She chooses not to debate the historicity of the stories in John’s Gospel, but just comments on the text that we have.

I could not agree with her that the John of this Gospel was not the John, who was the son of Zebedee. Still, the Introduction to John’s Gospel she gave was filled with helpful insights. You could sense a love of the gospel of John as you read her comments. She makes some great comments on how John is different than the Synoptic Gospels. The discussion of Jesus as the son of God in both the Introduction and a later excursus (excursus 2) showed that this was an area of the author’s expertise. I thought her explanation of how matters affecting ritual purity were absent from John was well-made as well.

The section on structure was rather short though competent, and her opinion on the dating of John landed at the conservative position of the 90s. She stated that this commentary “focuses on the gospel’s account of Jesus of Nazareth: what he said, what he did, how is life ended, and what happened after his death.” To my mind, this commentary achieves the goals the author set out at the beginning.

Though it was not as in-depth as some of the major exegetical commentaries out there, I thought the commentary proper was both interesting and helpful. She wrote in a clear way that was easy to understand. I could not agree with all her conclusions, but I appreciated the way she wrote. I checked several passages in this commentary, and the quality was consistent throughout.

If you’re looking for an additional voice in your studies of John’s Gospel, you would do well to cure this volume for your shelves. I 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.

With every new title in this Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series that I delve into, I find my appreciation growing. This series is well conceived and this entry by seasoned-commentator David Garland adds to the laurels of the series. In addition to commentaries on a few New Testament epistles, Mr. Garland has already produced a volume on Mark in the NIVAC series. He is equally at ease in either the Gospels or the epistles.

In his Introduction to Luke, Mr. Garland discusses the authorship of Luke and Acts. In accepting Luke as the author, he strives to dig a little deeper into who Luke actually is. He keeps his discussion of Luke’s sources mercifully brief and jumps on into the genre of Luke and Acts. He sees Luke as both an historian and apologist. The next section is called “date, provenance, and the readers of Luke-Acts”. Unlike some other commentaries I’ve read, he discusses those three issues together rather than separately. There’s even in that section some great information that some others might put in the category of structure. He makes some nice, valid points about Luke’s purpose in writing this gospel. The only disappointment in the Introduction is that his section on structure is only an outline.

I found the commentary proper of even more value. That’s not to say I didn’t disagree with him on some points. For example, the meaning of the word “inn” in the birth of Christ is much more conducive to the traditional meaning that Mr. Garland seems to believe. Most other commentators would not agree with him on that one either. Still, the commentary is of extraordinary value. Every passage I surveyed offered the kind of things I’m looking for in a commentary.

Mr. Garland appears comfortable with the ZECNT format. In each passage, he discussed the literary context, stated the main idea, offered his own translation, explain the structure and literary form, and gave an exegetical outline before launching into a detailed explanation of the text. That is followed by a theology in application section that helps preachers bridge the gap between exegetical information and the sermon.

Having reviewed the volumes on Mark and John, and now reviewing this volume on Luke, I’m amazed at the quality this series has given us on these three Gospels. This volume is ideal for pastors. Think of it as being helpful like the NAC series with a little more depth. I warmly 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.