Acts 1-9:42 (WBC) by Steve Walton

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Well, we have waited for this one a long time. I think I first heard it was coming 15 years ago. Perhaps I noticed because it was anticipated to be an excellent commentary on Acts. I heard that the exegesis that Walton would likely produce were why the expectations were so high. Though it has grown into a three-volume set, and though this is only the first volume, I can see what all the hullabaloo was about.

There is an anomaly—the Introduction for Acts as a whole is not in this first volume. There is a bit about textual issues, but the rest of those things normally addressed in an Introduction will come in the third volume. At first I thought maybe he just wanted more time to write it, but he states that at the end is where those issues should be handled. He is in the minority there and I cannot concur. That also makes the staggered release of the volumes a bit unfortunate. I’m not complaining as most all major publishers of Christian academic works do the same thing. I suspect budgetary concerns are in play. It’s not that serious a problem in any event and the three volumes are going to be fantastic when they are all here.

But volume 1 is here now and the prognosticators were correct: the exegesis is expert level. The Introduction of sorts is worth reading as it explains his approach. In short, he wants a commentary on the text rather than on previous commentaries. I’m glad someone figured that out.

We are all used to the WBC format by now even if it would never occurred to us to design a commentary in such a fashion. He advises that in each periscope that we read the “Explanation” section first, which ironically is the last one in each periscope. The WBC format can’t keep a good man down, or a good commentator I suppose.

The scholarship is mature and thorough. There’s some Greek but English is always at its side. He is considered conservative, but some critical, and a bit wrong-headed orientation, is to be found occasionally. This big volume on only the first nine chapters of Acts proves that this will be detailed enough for the most demanding student imaginable.

He writes well too. It’s hard to really hold attention when we have this kind of depth, but he pulls it off. There are some good one-volume commentaries on Acts that are indispensable, but I’d think we’d have to rank this as the best major, heavy-exegesis volume on Acts we have.

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.

In the Power of the Spirit by Calvin

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Here’s the third volume of Calvin’s sermons that survived on the Gospels. These sermons are truly captivating. Credit both Calvin for his sermon prowess and White for his exquisite translating skills. While reading you can so easily forget how old they are. If it wasn’t for a near obsession against “papists”, you’d forget these sermons weren’t new. I guess we’d better credit the timelessness of God’s Word as well.

Most people know John Calvin the theologian, maybe some John Calvin the commentator, but few John Calvin the preacher. Don’t expect a treatise on the theological system that bears his name here, but some sterling exposition. These sermons are dandies.

Preachers may love the sermons as they prepare their own, but I see another wonderful use of this book. I can’t imagine a better devotional read. The sermon “One Mightier Than I” was so piercing. I was thinking of doing one thing in my life professionally that wasn’t a sin or anything like that, but this sermon turned me around in my tracks. That is now off the table. Now that’s the kind of devotional reading I like—not those that just give you the warm fuzzies, but those that humble you.

I could go on and on as all of them are high quality . The ones that covered Jesus’ temptation were especially enlightening. Without a doubt, this is a volume that I will be returning to again in the future.

Of course it’s got the beauty and durability we have come to expect from Banner. I hope they keep translating and giving us these volumes. I’ll never stop asking for them to do Jonah, but maybe I’m the only one who wants that one.

This is a book that I feel blessed to own. I suspect you will feel the same way. 

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.

Romans (NTL) by Beverly Gaventa

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This volume brings the NTL quite close to completion. The volume on Romans in any New Testament series will tell you much about its theological predilection. That is surely true here. This series gives perhaps the clearest presentation of a mediating or critical perspective. That is not my perspective at all, but I often read at least one entry from that side of the fence to stretch myself. This series’ best contribution is often theology that really gets you thinking. This volume succeeds along all those lines.

In fact, Gaventa is an especially translucent writer (or she has a grand editor). Your eyes will easily glide along the page understanding fully her thinking whether you agree or not. Often, when you don’t agree you will still find not as abrasive of arguments as we commonly find. If you are of her theological persuasion, you may develop a deep appreciation of this book.

After a large bibliography, she jumps into the Introduction. She begins by jumping into an orientation to how she approached this commentary including her influences. I wish more commentators used that method. I found she was true throughout to what she said here and I appreciate the transparency.

Again, appreciating transparency and agreeing with what was transparently presented are not the same thing. For example, she says she reads Paul “with a hermeneutic of generosity.” She then cites as an evidence things Paul has said. She states “and there are, to be sure, elements in the letter that disturb me, particularly Paul’s use of same-sex relations as evidence of humanity’s refusal to recognize God as God.” That statement raises far greater questions than merely commentary matters on Romans like, say, what moral system do we use to judge the Word of God? I mean, what’s higher or truer that we could use? If it can be produced, why aren’t we studying it instead of Romans anyway? See what I mean.

At least she tries. In her commentary on Romans 1&2 she twists the passages relating to homosexuality until they are contorted beyond recognition. Her description of Roman views of gender hierarchy (page 68) are beyond the pale in describing what Paul was saying. It came across as an act of desperation that on the one hand apologizes for what Romans actually says to saying it’s still a good book on the other. I can’t see how that would satisfy people on either side of the fence. Don’t misunderstand—I’m neither obsessing on this issue or stating it’s one of the main themes of Romans, but I do believe it might help you understand what you have in store for yourself between the covers of this volume.

With that settled, expect nice exegesis within the confines of her perspective. When she’s on, she’s really on because of her superior writing skills. Barth is clearly her greatest influence and that tells you what to expect doctrinally. Theological nuggets are to be found as well.

If you are like me and are conservatively minded and seek light on a different perspective with theological assists, you will find what you are looking for here. If you possess a critical mindset, you will too.

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.

Job (EEC) by Duane Garrett

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Here’s a bright, new commentary on the fascinating Book of Job from one of the leading commentary series of our day (EEC). The task fell to prolific commentator Duane Garrett. Ages ago he tackled other Wisdom books in the NAC series. Though that was a perfectly usable volume, it was the work of a rookie. Here the seasoned player steps to the plate and delivers a mature work on Job. I have not read everything he has ever written, but this is the best work he has done out of what I have used.

From the first pages of the Introduction his skills are apparent. He’s well researched, he distills that research to clearly state what the scholarly world has thought, and then he is not afraid to make a conclusion. With kindness to us he does it all without excessive verbiage.

I find myself in sympathy with most of his conclusions as well. The scholarly world has moved on from dating Job closer to Abraham and I just can’t go with them. The older generation had far better reasoning there and the new arguments strike me as vacuous. Garrett makes a strong argument for seeing chapter 28 as an inserted Wisdom Poem. I’m not sure, but he lays it out for you to decide.

He begins with the chiastic structure of Job and is spot on. Whether what he said above about chapter 28 is correct or not, it is the center of the chiasm it seems for sure just as says. The rest of the Introduction is well done. He writes with clarity on textual issues, genre, and biblical parallels.

There’s plenty of meat on the bone in the commentary proper as well. Exegesis, explanation, and theology are first rate. Some of those speeches are exceptionally challenging and there’s excellent help here.

So where does this one rank among commentaries on Job? Hartley (NICOT) is the most similar. He blows many others away as they commentate through a dark haze and so rob Job of its theological beauty. I guess, then, we will have to rank this as our best option for Job in the major commentary category.

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 30 Days Series Bundle by Trevin Wax

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This gorgeous set is a boon to one’s devotional life. It’s actually three popular titles to use for one month each with a morning, mid-day, and evening reading. The first one covers all 150 psalms in a month. That’s a cool undertaking for sure. The next volume covers the life of Jesus by a collection of key passages in the Gospels. The final one comes from the letters of Paul.

Every entry has a short call to prayer followed by a “Confession of Faith” for morning entries. The evening portion substitutes a “Confession of Sin”. Next, there’s a canticle followed by the Biblical reading. After the Gloria, you get the Lord’s Prayer in every entry. The selection ends with a short famous prayer and a blessing. It’s a nice design.

The set itself makes you think of an heirloom set. The volumes look so sharp in the slipcase. These books will easily last for many years.

It would be impossible to not benefit from these books and I recommend them. Mr. Wax envisioned these volumes masterfully and you will be blessed.

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.

CSB Notetaking Bible, Expanded Reference Edition, Brown LeatherTouch Over Board

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Here is a lovely Bible for those who enjoy note taking directly in your Bible. As for the translation, this is the Christian Standard Bible, which is one owned by Holman Publishers. There’s a short article at the beginning where they explain their approach to making this translation. They say they combine the best of formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence to produce what they call optimal equivalence. I did a little checking and they offer the KJV as well.

The one in front of me for review is the “Brown Leather Touch Over Board”. It’s an attractive hardback volume that seems well crafted. Others options they provide are “Cream Suede Soft”, “Floral Cloth Over Board”, and “Sea Depth Leather Touch”. They are all nice and cater to various tastes, but I prefer this brown one by far.

They give ample room for notes. To have that space for notes you have to give up something. Even though it’s a reference Bible, there’s not many other features outside those references. That’s no problem though because you’d only pick this one if you specifically wanted space for notes. Personally, I love a Bible with the note taking space. I’ve used one for many years. My scribbled notes would be worthless to others and probably illegible. Still, they are so helpful to me. Mark me down as firmly in the note taking Bible 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.

Answering the Psalmist’s Perplexity (NSBT) by James Hely Hutchinson

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Though the topics can be narrowly constructed, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the NSBT series. Can you believe this volume is #62 in the series? Regarding narrowly defined subjects, perhaps this one is even more so. Because of that, this book may not find as big a round of acceptance as the others. When you are sixty-two titles deep into a project, you clearly have a homogeneous audience that can be easily described. So why do I feel perhaps that mutual admiration society might not hold up in this case? Well, it’s more, to be sure, the fault of the subject than the author.

He’s jumping into the covenant theology- dispensational theology divide. But he dives deeper still using a 7-model spectrum running from Westminster Covenantalism to Classical Dispensationalism. Though Models 1-5 are more on the Covenant Theology side and 6-7 on the Dispensational Theology side, you are still going to make six out of seven groups at least marginally unhappy.

Let’s give credit where credit is due—he lays out well the seven groups and is fair minded to those even farthest from him. He makes clear the whole Continuity versus Discontinuity that is the trendy way to lay out the issue. Continuity is God’s people (Israel and the Church) are mostly the same ties to Covenant Theology while Discontinuity separates them in distinct ways and ties to Dispensationalism.

Instead of stating Hutchinson’s viewpoint or my own, I’d rather mention the larger problem. His approach reminds me of walking into an opulent room and focusing on one immaculate lamp. It is a nice lamp, but what about that gorgeous mahogany desk? Must the room forever be oriented to the lamp? You mean I can’t talk about the couch or the ceiling tiles unless I speak in terms of the lamp? That’s the problem to my mind with either Covenant Theology or Dispensationalism. They are asked to explain more than they can. Their adherents see them as more a throne in a throne room, but I say they’re still a lamp. Nice lamps, ok, but not strong enough to bear the weight of the room. They explain something, but no where near everything. Less esoteric, less enticing to scholarly vanity, and more accessible to the common Bible believer, are ideas like Jesus, or say relationship between the Trinity and us. Make these ideas (I’ve learned much from all seven of the viewpoints while having some clear opinions on some of those issues) the condiments and Jesus the meal and what a feast we can have.

Let’s move on before someone gags on my review. The richness of this volume is to take the Scripture Index and use with all the texts he uses in Psalms. He can help with exegesis.

He’s a clear writer too. Surely we can do better than the term “New-Covenant Newness”, but he communicates his line effectively.

Agree with Hutchinson and you’ll love the book; not fully agree and you’ll see the boundaries more carefully; agree or not and use the exegesis for Psalms and you’ll be helped at least.

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.

How Do We Know? by Dew and Foreman

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Here’s another volume in the “Questions in Christian philosophy” series that distills what I imagine would be a semester-long class. I enjoyed the earlier one on Logic especially, and found this one on epistemology helpful too. Though I read theological works regularly, this material is new to me. The subject itself, not the author’s writing, can be challenging. At times philosophy has split the hair too finely on what it is to “know”, and yet how powerful is the thought that we can “know” something.

As for the book itself, it’s clearly written. Often the examples are catchy and effective to make the idea clear. I imagine Dew and Foreman would be engaging teachers. The only problem I had with the book is that too often they wouldn’t pick a side. They never failed to give you the strengths and weaknesses of every viewpoint, but it almost seemed like they never champion any one of them. They never really forged their own new way forward either. Since this was newer material for me, perhaps I wanted that feature more than usual. Especially I wanted to know how a Christian ought to think as so many of the philosophers were not Christian. I am not saying they didn’t give information that you could dig out, perhaps, and find your own opinion. But that design would be better for those who are well-versed on the subject. I hope my one criticism of the book is not actually more one of my own self than of the authors, but I’ll leave that to your judgment.

Still, when I have a question on epistemology, I’ll be reaching for 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.

Galatians (Word Biblical Themes) by Nijay Gupta

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This is the inaugural volume of the New Word Biblical Themes series. For some reason, only 15 volumes were ever written in the old series meaning that by far most in the WBC series did not have a corresponding offering in this series. The first thing you notice now is that unlike the old series each volume is not written by the author of the corresponding WBC volume. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes this new series more distinct, less likely to rehash information from the WBC series, and not bound by any of the weaknesses (or strengths) of the commentary. This series will be entirely in the hands of the new authors and the work they do.

That brings me to Nijay Gupta, who additionally happens to be the series editor. Richard Longenecker did the WBC volume back in 1990. That has been ranked as a high-class exegetical work ever since, though it has been consistently labeled a bit overboard with its entertainment of newer perspectives by many in the more conservative camp. Spring forward 34 years and I will say the same thing about Gupta. He works well from where he reasons, but do you accept that line? I found his work here easy to read and follow with all necessary scholarly spade work behind it, but he is dialed in to the wrong frequency for me.

Perhaps you’ve already guessed he is sympathetic to the New Perspective on Paul (NPP) and (full disclosure) I am not. Still, he divides how we view Paul’s thought in four main ways: 1) The Reformation Approach, 2) NPP, 3) the Apocalyptic Paul Approach, and 4) the Salvation-Historical Approach. He sees it as a combination of #2 and #4 while I would see it as a combination of #1 and #4. My viewpoint is unimportant as you are seeking a review of his book. My point is, more than in most books, your viewpoint is going to greatly affect your valuation of this book. Gupta himself says, “… leaning into one of these approaches leads to a particular kind of reading of Galatians, and promoting another one presents a different reading, sometimes starkly different.” This is a book about themes and your guiding theme orients everything else you say.

I still must commend certain things about this book. He lays the issues out well even if he, in your opinion, chooses the wrong option. There is value sometimes in reading on an entirely different track. Also, he very cogently and succinctly lays out his position in an understandable way. It’s quite easy to see what he believes, and why he believes it, even if you cannot agree with it.

And there you have it. Part of this book’s final score will be the viewpoint you had before you even cracked it open.

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 Diary and Journal of David Brainerd (With Notes & Reflections by Jonathan Edwards

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This is one of the great ones. It has a longstanding reputation that will not be lost when actually being read. On the other hand, it is different. It’s a biography that reads like a spiritual classic. It is a spiritual classic drawn from a man’s life. It’s like a memoir of a man who only relates to God and has no other life whatsoever. Not stylistically is it written about God, but its essence is that God is the hero and its (auto) biographic subject is the villain. At book’s end, though, you of necessity will arrive at two conclusions: 1) our God is awesome, and 2) Brainerd is a Christian you need to be much more like. And that’s just part of what this book has to offer.

The first and lengthiest part of the book is the Life and Diary. It reads like it was never meant to be read by someone else. There’s no posing, no justifying, just a man recording his wrestlings of faith. There are elements of discouragement so deep that some will suspect a mental health struggle as they read. The beauty of the reading, though, is how he groped after God. He prayed and prayed and like the wrestling Jacob would not let go till the Lord blessed him with His presence. The part that smacks me is that I might quit groping and sink down in that darkness. The impressions gained by the end of that section are that I must never quit turning to God, that I must relentlessly turn to Him rather than myself, and that an intimate relationship with the Lord is available if I will simply go after it as the most important thing in life.

The next section, the Journal, is a different animal altogether. The first surprise is that the Diary left you thinking he didn’t accomplish a thing. Now you find out the Lord used him mightily. There’s still not one syllable designed to impress you as the story is related in a Dragnet just-the-facts style. Brainerd still writes as one totally unimpressed with himself while I became one more and more impressed. The next surprise is that this humble, and dare I say even broken man, was one of the greatest missionaries ever.

Don’t miss what might seem like the hodgepodge that concludes the book. Some of the observations given explain so well the hardships of missionary work. Another feature both in Brainerd’s humble statements and Edward’s perceptive analysis is a guideline for what is real in revival.

Throughout the work, you see hardships on a level that most of us never get within a mile of. What an encouragement you’ll gain because his attitude was never O-me-O-my, but rather with an awesome God like I had why didn’t I handle it even better.

More than a book or a biography, this volume is an experience.

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.