This latest release in the Tyndale New Testament Commentary (TNTC) series has snagged yet another top-flight scholar. Darrell Bock tackles Ephesians here after his major works on Luke, Acts, and the historical Jesus. In case you weren’t aware, his two-volume commentary on Luke in the BECNT series is often rated as the best exegetical work we have on that book. Though he branches away from his normal work in this effort to grapple with a Pauline epistle, his credentials are clearly up to the mark. TNTC targets an audience below those major exegetical works though its scholarship is always top-notch. It seems to me that Mr. Bock understood the aims of the TNTC series and brought us an excellent work within those parameters.

After a select bibliography of a few pages, Bock jumps into his introduction. He begins with explaining the importance of Ephesians which many find to be a mountain peak within Pauline writings. He goes on to explain destinations of the letter with plenty of background on the city of Ephesus before he gets into several issues involving authorship. When he enters a more formal discussion of authorship and date, he explains vocabulary and style and theological issues within Ephesians. He doesn’t find enough evidence to deny Paul authorship.

After a brief outline, Bock enters the commentary section that makes up the bulk of the book. For each passage, he gives context, before entering into commentary itself for each verse. There’s also a paragraph or so on the theology of the passage. In my estimation, he makes the reader fully aware of the issues and what the passage is trying to say to us. For example, I thought he handled the Household Code with skill and grace. He stayed true to the text concluding a conservative position yet wrote in a way that would not be overly antagonistic to someone of a different persuasion. The quality of commentary remained throughout.

Pastors, teachers, and Bible students will appreciate the fine help this commentary provides. 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.

If you are like me, you know what to expect when you pick up the latest entry in the New Studies in Biblical Theology (NSBT): perceptive theology, careful scholarship, in-depth coverage that even exceeds many commentary introductions, and a work that goes beyond anything you already have on your shelves. That consistency is as steady as the unchanging gray covers that adorn every volume. On the one hand, some credit must go to D. A. Carson for his editorial work. On the other hand, somebody must have done their homework in choosing authors as well.

This latest release by Brian J. A Tabb looks at the book of Revelation “as canonical capstone”. As heady as that sounds, the author knew how to make a strong case for his thesis. As I read, I thought this author is great at digging. He brought out so many things that are easily missed and made so many connections between Scriptures that we rarely see. Mr. Tabb takes an “eclectic” approach to Revelation. In fact, he much reminds me of Gregory Beale. (He cited 19 of Beale’s works in his bibliography!) Still, it’s clear he did his own work and made his own conclusions. Further, as one who is a futurist rather than following his eclectic approach, I felt he was gracious throughout. Even better, the type of information he mined for us can be taken and shone back into Revelation no matter which approach to prophecy you take.

His introduction was outstanding and contained all kinds of wonderful information. I did much underlining there. From there he divides his book into four parts: the triune God, worship and witness, judgment, salvation and restoration, and the word of God. Part one contained, you guessed it, three chapters on the Sovereign on the throne, Jesus as the Lion and the Lamb, and the Spirit of prophecy. These were some of my favorite chapters in the book with particular success in the chapter on the Holy Spirit. Part two looked at followers of the Lamb and discussed things like a priestly kingdom and a new Israel while another chapter talked about the battle for universal worship. I felt that viewpoint was well worth digging into. Part three considered the wrath of the Lamb and made several insights on things like the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls of wrath, as well as a new Exodus. There was a chapter on Babylon the harlot and Jerusalem the bride as well as another on all things new. Part four only had one chapter on the Word of God but it was well done and followed by a conclusion for the book. There’s a lengthy bibliography for those wanting further study.

This book even contains some charts that summarize important information for the reader and that I was blessed by. This book is fully up to the high standards set by the NSBT series and 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.

I’ve been using the works of Walter Kaiser for several years, so when I saw that he was coming out with a new work on Jeremiah I was instantly intrigued. Now that I’ve had a chance to get into this commentary, I can confess that it did live up to my high expectations. As something of a commentary junkie, I’ve had the privilege to review all types of commentaries all the way up to the massive tomes that cover every conceivable issue. As much as I enjoy using all of them, if I were forced to choose, this type of commentary prepared by Kaiser and his colleague Tiberius Rata is the most ideal for pastors. It has more depth than the TOTC series and is pretty close to the NAC in its scope. If you can imagine that style of commentary, then you will know how to gauge this work that is a model volume of its class. Further, in these days of prolific commentary production, I would argue that Jeremiah would be one of the books most in need of a new commentary of this type.

The introduction is not massive, but it gets to the heart of what most Bible students and pastors are looking for. There is background on Jeremiah and his times. There’s a brief mention of compositional issues because the scholarly world is so enamored with them. You will find conservative conclusions here. There is a discussion of Jeremiah’s relation to Deuteronomy as well as the text of Jeremiah. The section on theological emphases could probably have been expanded but was accurate as far as it went. The authors give us an extensive outline of Jeremiah along with a brief bibliography at the end of the introduction. (There’s a lengthy bibliography at the end of the book).

As for me, I enjoyed the commentary itself even more than the introduction. What you received in every passage was clear guidance on understanding the text. If scholarly side issues were mentioned, they never dominated the discussion. I don’t see how this book could not help someone wrestling with the challenging book of Jeremiah. Let’s label this book a necessity!

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 my first foray into the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary. Often sold as a set, individual volumes like this one can be picked up. This commentary on John is new within the series and is written by Craig Keener. The amount of writing that this world-class scholar has done is almost beyond belief. I’ve personally used his massive two-volume commentary on the Gospel of John to advantage, but this new commentary is a completely different resource.

You will find the background and commentary in this book to the point. Unlike others of this style that I have seen, however, things most likely to need illumination are exactly what received comment. You might not agree with every comment made, but you won’t find any of the pointless fluff that is often passed off as a viable resource for students. In addition to Keener’s writing, some fine designers exquisitely integrated visuals throughout the book. Sometimes they included a helpful chart, a sidebar on a specific item, a map, a picture, or an illustration. Again, the value of the book is in its wise selections both in comment and visuals. What you end up with is a resource that is as attractive as it is helpful.

Pastors might enjoy this commentary on the fly but would need other more-detailed resources to go with it. Still, this commentary could be an incredible asset to Sunday school teachers, Bible study group leaders, or people attempting to do serious Bible study at home. It’s not common for books aimed at these users to be so well underpinned with quality scholarship. For that reason, this book is a clear winner.

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.

Before I even cracked open this book, I figured it might be the most important in the Reformation Commentary on Scripture (RCS) simply because it covers Romans 1-8. I further imagined that its editor would likely find what to leave out more difficult than what to put in with such a wealth of Reformation writings on these chapters available. When I finally perused this volume, I found that editor Gwenfair Walters Adams had done as well as job as could be done though arbitrary choices had to be made.

I enjoyed Adam’s introduction to the commentary on Romans 1-8. She fully described the challenges you would anticipate with this volume and yet gave a wonderful overview in around 25 large pages. She explained which groups wrote widely on Romans and which did not and yet was equitable to all. I felt she was exceptionally fair to the Anabaptists and accurately stated their position. Without doubt, this volume favors a Calvinistic viewpoint, but what else would you expect from a Reformation commentary?

If you are familiar with this series, you will be pleased to know that this latest release is wonderfully consistent in following the series format and making interesting selections from Reformation writings. General editor Timothy George has succeeded in having this series make a congruous presentation.

Picky readers can always argue selections made for each passage, yet it would be impossible to debate the distinct contribution this volume makes. There is nowhere else you could gain all these Reformation insights between two covers. And as we said before, these chapters were the favorite of the Reformers. There simply had to be great pressure in covering Romans 1-8 in the RCS series and that pressure has brought us a pearl.

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.