New Testament Commentaries - Study Tools

Today we will look at a few New Testament collections. 

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

I wish more men would write like J.C. Ryle. He wrote like a man. He wrote like himself and to be understood. He is so clear and I never leave off reading wondering what he believed. Lots of pithy insights and a favorite of mine.

John MacArthur New Testament Commentary

These commentaries cover the whole of the New Testament. The individual volumes are not broken up by chapters of the Bible, but each chapter of the commentary is broken up into the preaching sections, or sections of thought. Each chapter covers a portion of the text, just as he preached in his church, so they do read like an expository sermon series. I also like it because he draws a lot from other sources, gleaning their best thoughts. If you are short on time, you can often read in his commentary what many other men thought in theirs.

Faults? Being it’s sermon-like, some of the more difficult passages you actually need help with, are somewhat thin and parts that need little explanation are dealt with for pages. Also, each chapter gets a sermon introduction, which often is not helpful for a commentary.

*(Note: The Galatians and Hebrews commentary contain the error that Jesus became the Son at his incarnation, and denies the eternal sonship of Christ. Though he eventually came to the truth, it was not before these volumes were written. It may have been updated in latter editions, but my editions contain the error). 

Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament

A. Robertson focuses on the Greek text of the New Testament. Very helpful when it comes to the moods and tenses of the Greek language. He wrote for people who know little or no Greek at all. More of a word study on key words rather than a commentary, but the commentary you do find is very good.

The Word Studies in the New Testament by Marvin R. Vincent

Robertson quotes Vincent often, and will sometimes argue with him in his work, but more often he agrees or expounds. I read them both together. I never understood people who say that you have to the Greek because you can trust a single translation team, but then only reference one Greek Lexicon, written by one man. If a team of Greek Scholars can't be trusted to translate, why can one Greek scholar be trusted to give you the right meaning?

• Wiersbe's Expository Outlines are pretty good for an overview of things. 
• Robertson's Harmony of the Gospels is very helpful. 
• Trapp's Commentary on the New Testament is hit and miss, and the comments far to brief to be much help on the meaning of the passage, but some good thoughts for application.  

* Updated 5/29/2017

The Concordance - Study Tools

I was going to add concordances to the list, but I’m not sure that is even necessary anymore. I have a Strong’s concordance on my phone. And I can find what I was looking for through computer software before I could get out of my chair and get the Strong’s off the shelf. This tool was, even when I started preaching, an indispensable tool for Bible study. I still, every once in a while, will take the book and a pen and paper and do study away from all technology. Brother Strong certainly served his generation well. It is especially important for a man to read the preface to the concordance. Isn't it amazing how much weight and confidence we have in this one book, and yet not take the time to read the introduction of the author and his purpose for the book and how he intended it to be read and used?

I remember buying my Strong’s Concordance in Ashland, Kentucky in 1998. A new bookstore just opened on Winchester Street and I wanted to check it out. Like most Christian “book” stores, the shops in the area were about 4% books and 96% trinkets and of the poor books on sale, most of them were not worth the paper they were printed on. When I entered the shop, most of the books were still in boxes and few had even been arranged on the shelves. But the books that were out and ready for purchase, providentially, were the good ones.  I was about to make my first Bible book purchase. Until this point, the only other book I had about the Bible was one that I got at the Calvary Baptist church bookstore. It was Sermons on Catholicism by John R. Gilpin. I remember asking for that book a few times before Mom finally bought it for me. I really don’t know why a 10 year old boy was so interested in that book, but I was and bought it and read what I could, but didn’t really understand a lot of it. Eight years later, I’m about to lay down my own money on some study tools. I saw a box of Matthew Henry’s on sale and grabbed those. Close by, maybe on the same shelf, I spied the Strong’s Concordance. I knew this book was important because I remember my Dad, laying in the living room floor with his Bible,  his brown covered Strong’s and a notebook many an evening. There were several editions. Strong’s, the New Strong’s, and the Strongest Strong’s. I didn’t know the difference and figured I should stick with the original, which remains my policy to this day, unless there is a good reason to get the updated or edited version of an author who is dead and gone. I still don’t know what the difference is and don’t care enough to find out.

My Bible - Study Tools

I suppose I should have started with the Bible in my recommended books, but I assume you already have and regularly read a Bible. Concerning the printing and making of study Bibles," there is no end" and they continue on day and night forever. I'm no fan of the specialty Bibles. The hunter’s study Bible. The NASCAR study Bible. The Gaither Homecoming Study Bible. The Duck Commander Study Bible. The Teen Bible, but not to be out done by the Extreme Teen Bible. If you are reading God's Word, praise the Lord. I wouldn't want to discourage that, but you have to remember that Bible publishing is a business -- supply and demand. I hate to say it and to think about it, but it’s a fact. Publishers find out what the people want and give it to them, at affordable prices. Bible publishers have marketers who want you to buy their product. My advice is to stay away from these affinity Bibles altogether. Nothing wrong with having a hobby, but a Bible designed around your hobby, age, gender, or preferences and put you at the center of the Bible's message. My purpose is not a translation discussion, but my recommendation is the Kings James Bible.

I can only tell you about the Bible's I have used, so I'll tell you the story of how I came to use the Bible I have now. When I announced my call to preach, the Beauty Ridge Missionary Baptist Church bought me a Nelson’s Open Bible. I loved the study tools, especially the subject index, which was such a useful tool for someone who was, as Spurgeon said, a man of "slender apparatus". The only thing I didn’t like about it were the illustrations. I found them distracting and pointless. When my pages were starting to fall out and the bonded leather was coming unglued and I needed to upgrade, I decided to find a Bible without the illustrations in the middle of the text.

I bought a Scofield Study Bible. Why? Because a preacher I admired preached from one, and if it was good enough for him, it was good enough for me. I didn’t find the notes particularly helpful, especially on creation and the Sermon on the Mount, but I loved the type set and the paper. I bought the wide margin version and as I taught Sunday School, I wrote all my notes and outlines in the margins. I had gone through a couple books, Job, Acts, and Galatians and had filled the margins with notes, references, definitions. I loved it. I would make my own study Bible. One Sunday, I preached for a church without a pastor. They told me they had a morning service, ate, then had an afternoon service. I went and preached, we ate, and then I waited for the next service to start. One of the men asked me if I could leave so they could start their business meeting. They had a service, but with no preaching, so while I waited for the service to start, they were waiting for me to leave. I was a little aggravated because at the time, my oldest was about 3 years old and we had an infant, and they were a handful after lunch, especially after sitting in church all morning, followed by a fellowship meal. I could have left 45 minutes sooner, if they had told me. We had a few hours to drive to get back and I just wanted to get back. The boys were screaming and crying, not wanting to get in the car seat, I set my Bible on top of the car while I buckled them in the car. I was supposed to preach that evening at my home church. We arrived safe and sound, about 30 minutes before the evening service. Getting everyone out of car seats and ready to go in the building, I can't’ find my Bible. I remembered setting the Bible on top of the car, but not putting it back in the car. I got a sick feeling in my stomach. After emptying the vehicle of its contents and no Bible was discovered, it confirmed my fear – I left it on top of the car and drove off. That was the last I ever saw of that Bible.

My mom bought me a replacement, another Scofield. It wasn’t a wide-margin, those were now out of print, but honestly, the thought of putting my notes in another Bible broke the Newell heart, to be sure. This Bible was also bonded leather. I sent it off to Mississippi to be rebound and had blank pages inserted in between each page. It is heavy and think, but still very nice. My problem? I couldn’t see it from the pulpit. I wasn’t sure why, since it had the same size font. I had my eyes checked out, and received a good report. During this time, I started working for Oxford University Press, who published the Scofield Bible. I discovered the wide-margin I lost was made with India paper, which is thicker and has less ghosting because of the superior quality. The wide margin I lost was one of the last runs of this higher quality Oxford Bible. The newer Scofield Bibles are manufactured in Korea with a much thinner, cheaper paper, which explains why when you underline, you can see the ink on the other side. Cheaper Bibles, cheaper quality paper. At first, I thought it was the print size, so I got a large print when I worked for OUP, and I had the same problem. I learned a lot about the Bible business, publishing, and the nuts and bolts of mass producing Bibles while I worked with the Bible department.

Having learned more about paper quality, bindings, and fount from OUP, I  tried the Cambridge Wide-Margin with the higher quality, thicker paper and bolder font. My wife bought me the Cambridge as a gift right before I went and preached a revival meeting. One of the first times I preached from the Bible,  I said, “Turn to Revelation 21” and I tried to do the same, but my Bible ended with Revelation 19, which I felt was a little disappointing and set the tone for the experience I had with it.  Their customer service was a delight. The quickly replaced the Bible, but the replacemnt had ink smeared on several pages. So they upgraded me to goatskin leather version, which was great. Quite a big jump from bonded leather, or even genuine leather. The ink was faded in some places on this Bible. I could read it, but it looked like a printed page when your printer is running out of ink. I gave up and kept the Bible.

I still had a hard time reading from the pulpit, and now just reading. Plus, the Bible is large, and most pulpits were not designed for Bibles and notes. That’s when I found the R.L. Allan & Son Publishers, King James Bible. They sale high quality Bibles. Up front, they are rather expensive but they are very nice and I think they are worth the money. Mine is printed on India paper and bound in highland goatskin leather, which is very soft and makes for easy turning and comfortable reading. The font is 8/9, but the paper is high quality and thick so there is very little bleed through. They also use bold font, which I have discovered is the second component to easy reading in a Bible. It is better to have thicker paper and bolder font than to have bigger font on thinner paper. I love it and highly recommend getting one, especially if you are having eye problems. That’s what I have now, and wouldn't think about using any other now. I like everything about it.

Get a good Bible and read it. Buy one, read that one Bible and get familiar with that Bible.

Study Tools. Full Commentary Sets

Pastor David Green has begun and excellent work by recommending books that every Baptist preacher needs to have. I’m going to try my hand at adding to the list and using his format. I’m not disagreeing with his list. There are some books he has that I haven’t read and I’m sure vice versa. First, check out David’s list.

I’m going to go section by section and then give a short overview of why I like them. Today's installment will cover Full Commentary sets. These are my favorites. 

Full Commentary Sets.

John Gill's Exposition of the Bible. The Good Doctor is a staple for any Baptist library. He’ll give you most of the information that you want and a lot of the information that you don’t want. As Spurgeon pointed out, he likes to firstly, then secondly explain what the text doesn’t mean before telling you what it does. But the man was such a giant intellect it is worth the effort. Not so hot on eschatological issues.

Matthew Henry

If you need the sense of the passage and how to apply it, Matthew Henry is great.

Albert Barnes.

Might be my favorite. Would probably be the happy medium between the overabundance of information with Gill on each verse, but with the clarity and insight of Henry. Like Henry, he did not finish the whole Bible and it was finished for him, some areas weaker than others, especially on church doctrine.

Matthew Poole

Short and sweet comments. I’ll follow his lead.

B. H. Carroll

I absolutely love this collection. Sometimes I’ll just take one down and read a little section. They are full of insightful observations and witty stories and illustrations. The book recommendations he makes are also gold. These are Carroll’s classroom lectures as he took his seminary students through the English Bible. Obviously, not a verse by verse commentary, but it you are going to preach through a book or do a book study, I would say that this set should be on you list to read in your early study of the book. I disagree with his eschatological views.

The Pulpit Commentary

I usually look at this once I’m finished with my outline and my study. I rarely look at the exegetical work, but I enjoy the homiletics section. It’s a collection of sermons and sermon outlines from various preachers.

 Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 

Another favorite when I'm just looking for the sense of the passage. Often good application.