One-Volume Bible Commentaries

Reference rooms in theological libraries have bookshelves full of commentaries. By sheer volume, this is a very important category of biblical reference books. Starting on page 4, I will list some commentaries that cover the entire Bible; I will not attempt to list the more than 1000 commentaries on individual books of the Bible. Publishers keep cranking out more commentaries because consumers keep buying them – and that is because consumers find them helpful. So I will say something about what sort of “help” these books offer.

First, a general definition: “Commentaries are books that provide passage-by-passage explanations of books in the Bible.”[1] Some of them have roughly one paragraph for each paragraph of the Bible; others have a paragraph per verse; and some average a paragraph for each word in the Bible. Some in the first category don’t tell you anything you don’t already know; some in the last category are so long and tedious that you can’t find the information you want.

The goal of most commentaries is to help you understand the meaning of the biblical text. But authors have different understandings of the word “meaning.” Some focus on the lexical data and grammar: this is what the sentence means. Most also look at the historical context, to tell us what it meant back then. Some look at the modern context: this is how it should affect us today. Some commentaries do all three, with different emphases. Stuart writes:

• The basic reason there are commentaries is that everybody can use help in understanding the Bible. There are two reasons for this. Both reasons are really very simple, but they are important to understand: (1) All parts of the Bible are not equally comprehensible. (2) Not all people are equally able to figure out the meaning of any given part.[2]

What is the best commentary? There is no such thing—it depends on what you’re looking for. Even if you know what you are looking for, there is no “best” commentary. One will communicate best with scholars who know Greek, another will communicate the same details to those have had only a smattering of Greek, and some will communicate as much as they can to people who don’t know any Greek. The one that works best for me is probably not the one that works best for you. Evans writes, “Too many students fail to make good use of the library, and upon leaving school they have little idea what commentaries are out there or what kind of books they like.”[3]

If you are not looking for details of Greek, commentaries with a lot of Greek will not be very good—they just add clutter to what you are looking for. So you need to look at the book for yourself and see it if it is useful for you. If you don’t own any commentary at all, start with one that covers the entire Bible. Then you will at least have a little something for every book in the Bible.[4] After that, you may want to get a short commentary on a biblical book that interests you. Then a more moderate length commentary on a different book of the Bible.[5] Don’t start with a thousand-page volume on Obadiah merely because it has a good price – start with something you will actually use. You know how much you like to read. Check them out ahead of time on Amazon, in a bookstore, or in a library.

Don’t rush to buy an entire set. Very few sets are good all the way through. If you see a really good deal, don’t fall for it just because it’s a lot of book for the buck. Make sure that the book is actually good before you take the deal.[6] Some of you may want to acquire a moderate-sized commentary on each book in the New Testament, for example, a few from this series and a few from that. Or you might want to buy an entire moderate-priced series[7], once you have some experience with commentaries and know how you want to use them.

Some people look at commentaries just to find something to spice up their sermon. I have no objection to spice, but this is a substandard reason to use a commentary. The main purpose of a commentary is to help you understand the text, so it should focus on the text rather than “illustrations.”[8] Stuart writes,

• Perhaps the worst kind of commentary of all is the commentary that contains little or no data, i.e., is composed almost entirely of statements of opinion that are not supported by citation of facts. Even a commentary authored by an avowed skeptic can be used profitably, if you’re very careful to sort out the facts from the opinion and let the facts help you understand the passage you’re studying. But a data-free commentary is nothing but opinion. You have no way of knowing whether its opinions are right or wrong unless you have some data by which to evaluate them. No commentator is so trustworthy that he or she should be allowed to tell you what to think about a passage without explaining to you what his or her reasons are—that is, what evidence he or she has for the opinions offered in the commentary.[9]

One important question to ask: Is this author credible? Does the person have any credentials? Does anybody think they are worth hiring? It is possible for someone with a degree in art to write an insightful commentary, but it’s not likely. There are a growing number of self-published books on Amazon: anyone with a little computer know-how can publish a book on Amazon. I have published several books that way. Amazon does not require any expertise in the subject, and as a result, some of the commentaries on Amazon are poorly researched, poorly written, and based on poor theology. Many others are simply reprints of very old books. Others are good; some publishers are more in line with our theology than others are.

There are two major mistakes that people make with commentaries:[10]

1) Not using them at all – forgetting that the Holy Spirit gives different gifts to different people, and some people are better at discerning different aspects of the Bible. Danker says, “Expositors who think they can work independently of commentators display not only consummate arrogance but also ignorance.”[11] Discerning meaning from a text written in another language thousands of years ago, in a variety of literary types, is so complex that no one can be a master of all of it. Use at least a one-volume commentary to help you avoid the worst blunders.

2) Relying on them too much – forgetting that the Holy Spirit does inspire each person as they do their own research and analysis. Longman writes, “The right way to use a commentary is as a help. We should first of all study a passage without any reference to any helps. Only after coming to an initial understanding of the passage should we consult commentaries.”[12] Evans writes, “Commentaries should not be used as a crutch. Reading a commentary or two, or even ten, is no substitute for your own thorough initial study of the biblical text. The commentaries… are meant to take you deeper than you have already gone and to help you check the conclusions of your own exegesis.”[13]

Stuart adds what he calls the “Golden Rule of Commentary Use”:

• Always consult more than one commentary on your passage. Be sure to get a second opinion. Nobody is always right. No commentator is so free of bias and so full of knowledge that he or she will invariably be able to explain the meaning of biblical passages faultlessly.[14]

One commentator will deal with cultural matters better, and some will deal with ethical matters better, depending on their training and interests. Some pay more attention to theological matters, some to lexical details. But no one is good at everything. Stuart adds a warning against dogmatism: “A good commentator will always be honest with you about the degree of uncertainty that applies to his or her comments. Beware of the cocksure commentator, who never lets on that there is anything unknown.”[15]

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One-Volume Bible Commentaries Longer Than 1000 Pages

Including Commentaries That Cover the New Testament in One Volume.

Published 2005-2020

Adeyemo, Tokunboh, ed. Africa Bible Commentary: A One-Volume Commentary Written by 70 African Scholars. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010. 1632 pages. $26. http://amzn.to/1qAW9FN (links given if Amazon allows people to see inside the book)

Barton, John, and John Muddiman, eds. The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. 1386 pages. $36. Primarily Anglican, I suspect.

Beitzel, Barry J. Lexham Geographic Commentary. Volume 1: On the Gospels. Volume 2: On Acts Through Revelation. Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2019. Readable, interesting articles.

Burge, Gary M., and Andrew E. Hill, eds. The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2012. 1648 pages. $16. http://amzn.to/1hNdlaN “A complete revision of the Evangelical Commentary on the Bible…edited by Dr. Walter Elwell.”

Gaventa, Beverly Roberts, and David L. Petersen. The New Interpreter’s Bible One-Volume Commentary. Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2010. 1068 pages. $47. http://amzn.to/1v5GvEJ This is not an abridgement of the 12-volume set – it is a new work. Includes the Apocrypha. Generally liberal.

Gundry, Robert H. Commentary on the New Testament: Verse-by-Verse Explanations with a Literal Translation. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2010. 1100 pages. $20. http://amzn.to/1jn9ZXh Conservative. This is different than his Survey of the New Testament, which is published by Zondervan.

Hamilton, Mark W., Kenneth L. Cukrowski, Nancy W. Shankle, James Thompson, and John T. Willis. The Transforming Word: One-Volume Commentary on the Bible. Abilene, TX: ACU Press, 2009. 1136 pages. $62. Churches of Christ. Conservative.

Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2014. 816 pages. $22. http://amzn.to/1v5Uk6e. Also on Google books: 1994 edition. 2014 ed.

MacArthur, John. The MacArthur Bible Commentary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2005. 2040 pages. $24. http://amzn.to/1hNGtPo Expanded from the notes in The MacArthur Study Bible, New King James Version.

Patterson, Dorothy Kelley, and Kelley, Rhonda Harrington, eds. Women’s Evangelical Commentary New Testament. Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2011. 1032 pages. $11. http://amzn.to/SRti4n Written from the perspective that women cannot be pastors, but they can teach the Bible.

Rydelnik, Michael, and Michael Vanlaningham. The Moody Bible Commentary. Moody, 2014. 2176 pages. $32. http://amzn.to/1oiLNgo

Wintle, Brian, and others. South Asia Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015. 1824 pages. $31. http://amzn.to/2cCJZ24

[1]. Douglas Stuart, A Guide to Selecting and Using Bible Commentaries (Dallas, TX: Word, 1990), 7.

[2]. Ibid., 9.

[3]. John F. Evans, A Guide to Biblical Commentaries and Reference Works, 10th ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), 23. 480 pages. A new edition is probably in the works. Other similar works:

· D.A. Carson, New Testament Commentary Survey, 7th ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2013.

· John Glynn, Commentary and Reference Survey: A Comprehensive Guide to Biblical and Theological Resources (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2013); 380 pages.

· Tremper Longman III, Old Testament Commentary Survey, 5th ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2013.

· An internet site is www.bestcommentaries.com, which repeats the generally conservative recommendations of Andreas J. Köstenberger and Richard D. Patterson, Invitation to Biblical Interpretation: Exploring the Hermeneutical Triad of History, Literature, and Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2011), in consultation with several other internet lists.

[4]. “One-volume commentaries are too brief to be useful in detailed exegesis and exposition, but they have the advantage of providing at least something on every book of the Bible—an advantage when the student or minister is young or able to maintain only a very small library” (Carson, New Testament Commentary Survey, 48).

[5]. You might want to get one exegetical commentary, and one that gives more attention to exposition (Evans, 29).

[6]. That is especially true for electronic books: just because they offer you a lot of resources does not mean that the resources are helpful. Many of them are probably old books that are no longer copyrighted. It’s volume but not quality.

[7]. Such as the Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries and the Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, published by InterVarsity as inexpensive paperbacks. Or the Expositor’s Bible Commentary, a 13-volume set published by Zondervan. Get the new edition edited by Longman and Garland, not the older and cheaper set edited by Gabelein. If you want more exegetical depth, you’ll find good material in most volumes of the New International Commentary on the Old Testament, and the New International Commentary on the New Testament (Eerdmans). Evans points out that there is no need to buy the sets by Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch, since they are available for free on the internet. He says that Matthew Henry “is still quite useful” (37), but notes that “for many of these older commentaries, the best insights were mined out long ago and incorporated in newer works” (38).

[8]. If you are looking for sermon spice, you might want to look at a homiletical commentary set – some sort of preacher’s help. I have never found them very helpful. This includes the Knox Preaching Guides, Proclamation commentaries, Communicator’s Commentary, the Bible Expositor, and the Pulpit Commentary. If you want to know what the Bible says, you need a commentary that has more meat than spice.

[9]. Stuart, Selecting and Using, 11. If the commentary is short, it is likely taking short-cuts with the information and the decisions.

[10]. Adapted from Longman, Old Testament Commentary Survey, 3.

[11]. Frederick Danker, Multipurpose Tools for Bible Study. Rev. ed. (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1993), 305.

[12]. Longman, 17.

[13]. Evans, A Guide to Biblical Commentaries, 21.

[14]. Stuart, 20, emphasis added. “It may be a good idea to balance a non-evangelical commentary with an evangelical one” (34).

[15]. Ibid., 21. Good advice for me when I write a commentary.

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Published 1995-2004

Dobson, Edward G., ed. King James Bible Commentary. Nashville, TN: Nelson, 2005. 1856 pages. Used copies, $8. The same as The Complete Bible Commentary (1999).

Dunn, James D. G., and J. W. Rogerson. Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003. 1649 pages. $49. http://amzn.to/1lk9Zf6 Includes the Apocrypha.

Farmer, William R., Armando Levoratti, David L. Dungan, and Andre LaCocque, eds. The International Bible Commentary: A Catholic and Ecumenical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1998. 1986 pages. $75. ISBN 9780814624548.

MacDonald, William; edited by Arthur L. Farstad. Believer’s Bible Commentary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995. 2462 pages. $19. http://amzn.to/1ppg8K5

Mays, James Luther, and Joseph Blenkinsopp. The HarperCollins Bible Commentary. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2000. 1232 pages. $27. http://amzn.to/1v4Yz1G Mostly liberal scholarship.

Radmacher, Earl D., Ronald B. Allen, and H. Wayne House. Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary. Nashville: T. Nelson, 1999. 1920 pages. $18. http://amzn.to/1hSgl68. There are two abridgments: Compact Bible Commentary (2004; 960 pages; $5) and Nelson’s Student Bible Commentary. (2008; 528 pages; $10).

Wenham, Gordon J., J. Alec Motyer, Donald A. Carson, and R.T. France, eds. New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1994. 1468 pages. $25. A popular evangelical work. Overdue for revision.

Mills, Watson, and Richard F. Wilson, eds. Mercer Commentary on the New Testament. Mercer University Press, 1995, 2003. 1347 pages. Can search inside on Google books. Baptist.

Published 1985-1994

Barker, Kenneth L., and John R. Kohlenberger, eds. The Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary: New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1994. 1264 pages. Used, $7. Based on the multi-volume Expositor’s Bible Commentary, edited by Frank Gaebelein (1979). Evangelical. Gabelein’s set has been completely redone; perhaps they will do another abridgement.

Brown, Raymond Edward, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall/Pearson, 1990. 1475 pages. $57. Catholic. Includes the Apocrypha.

Bruce, F. F., ed. New International Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007. 1664 pages. $10. http://amzn.to/1oY3JsQ Evangelical. Also titled International Bible Commentary; it’s a revised version of A Bible Commentary for Today and New Layman’s Bible Commentary, so the text is older. Bruce died in 1990, but his work gets repackaged. Zondervan Bible Commentary (2008; 1696 pages; $24) is the same text, but with pictures.

Elwell, Walter A. Baker Commentary on the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1989. 1248 pages. $15. http://amzn.to/1iruC4k Also titled Evangelical Commentary on the Bible. Superseded by Burge in 2012.

Richards, Lawrence O. The Teacher’s Commentary. Victor, 1989. 1110 pages. Used, $1. http://amzn.to/SE12BS Conservative, lay level.

New Testament Theologies

Many books describe the theology of an individual biblical book, such as Romans or Luke. Others trace a specific doctrine through the New Testament. Here I list works that attempt to describe the theology of the entire New Testament, book by book or section by section. Not everything that has “New Testament Theology” in the title fits this; some are discussions of this type of study.

Published since 1990

Beale, G. K. A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011. 1072 pages. $32. http://amzn.to/1m0RexF Organized by doctrine first.

Caird, G. B., and L. D. Hurst. New Testament Theology. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995. 520 pages. $67. Organized primarily by the doctrine of salvation. http://amzn.to/1lDfWVR

deSilva, David. New Testament Themes. St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2001.

Hafemann, Scott J., and Paul House, eds. Central Themes in Biblical Theology: Mapping Unity in Diversity. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007.

Ladd, George Eldon. A Theology of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993. Revised edition, but the main text is the same as 1974. 778 pages. $21. http://amzn.to/URGzeU

Marshall, I. Howard. New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2004. 765 pages. Paperback, $30. http://amzn.to/2cCMn9c. Good work.

Marshall, I. Howard. A Concise New Testament Theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2008. 304 pages. $3. http://amzn.to/1srCGMf An abridgement.

Matera, Frank J. New Testament Theology: Exploring Diversity and Unity. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2007. 520 pages. $31. Book by book. http://amzn.to/1lFruGz

Schnelle, Udo. Theology of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009. 910 pages. $47. http://amzn.to/URz1c3

Schreiner, Thomas R. New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008. 976 pages. $30. http://amzn.to/1pNKAh8. Dramatically abridged to create Magnifying God in Christ: A Summary of New Testament Theology. Baker Academic, 2010. 272 pages. $10. http://amzn.to/1lFurqB

Scott, J. Julius, Jr. New Testament Theology: A New Study of the Thematic Structure of the New Testament. Fearn, Scotland: Mentor, 2008. 368 pages. Surveys seven major questions.

Strecker, Georg. Theology of the New Testament. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2000. 758 pages. $11. Book by book. He finds disunity. http://amzn.to/1iMEkyG

Thielman, Frank. Theology of the New Testament: A Canonical and Synthetic Approach. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005. 800 pages. $24. http://amzn.to/1lDoyMc Book by book.

Zuck, Roy B., and Darrell L. Bock. A Biblical Theology of the New Testament. Chicago: Moody Press, 1994. 496 pages. $27. http://amzn.to/1qjFiaK Book by book.