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Bible Commentary Guide

 ​A Bible Commentary explains the Bible either verse-by-verse, or section-by-section. There are numerous types of Bible Commentaries and numerous ways to categorize them. For the purposes of this guide, they are grouped into critical, exegetical, pastoral, popular, and specialized sections. 

The Crown College Library has a large selection of Bible Commentaries. The guide below can help you select the one that best suits your needs! 

Critical Commentaries:
In this context, “critical” doesn’t necessarily mean the commentary is critical of the Bible (though some are).  Critical commentaries are scholarly works that usually examine the passage in great detail. They will often discuss the pros and cons of numerous viewpoints, and may tell you everything you needed to know about the passage but didn’t even know to ask! The downside is that you may be overwhelmed with technical, scholarly details like discussion of sources, literary styles, critical theories, grammatical constructions (in the original Greek and Hebrew) and other issues that may or may not have immediate relevance to ministry. Critical commentaries can sometimes focus so much on the “trees” they lose site of the forest. Commentaries in our Reference section that can be classified as “Critical” include the following:
Commentary on the Old Testament
The authors, C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch lived in the 1800’s. Though some of their observations may be outdated by more recent archaeological discoveries (like the Dead Sea Scrolls), this set is a classic in scholarly Old Testament Commentaries. Keil was a conservative Lutheran scholar. Delitzsch was also a German Lutheran scholar, though some would say, not quite as conservative theologically.

​Located at Ref 491.2 .K414​​
Hermeneia: A Critical and Historical Commentary 
Written from a liberal/critical theological perspective, this is a scholarly commentary set that places significant emphasis on such issues as imagined sources for the biblical text and theories of composition. 

Located at Ref BS491.2 .H37 
    (Also available in the general collection by book of the Bible)
​
International Critical Commentary
​A multi-volume commentary on the entire Bible, the ICC series is one of the most detailed, critical Bible commentaries on the market. Designed primarily for scholars, a knowledge of Hebrew and Greek is helpful, but not absolutely essential. The perspective is often theologically liberal.

Located at Ref BS491 .I6 
The New International Greek Testament Commentary
A multi-volume, in-depth, scholarly, theologically conservative Evangelical commentary on the New Testament covering all aspects of interpretation but focusing specifically on the Greek Text.

​Located at Ref BS491.2 .N4
​
Word Biblical Commentary
This scholarly commentary set provides the best in Evangelical scholarship. Each passage contains a bibliography, a translation from the original languages, a section on form/structure/setting, a commentary on the text, and an explanation (broad overview).

Located at Ref BS491.2 .W67
​    (Also available online)
​    (Also available in the general collection by book of the Bible)

Exegetical Commentaries:
​The distinction this guide makes between critical commentaries and exegetical commentaries is just a matter of focus. Like critical commentaries, exegetical commentaries may discuss scholarly details like sources, literary styles, critical theories, grammatical constructions but they generally focus more on the meaning of the text and spend less time on the scholarly details.
​
Apollos Old Testament Commentary
​This commentary set focuses solely on the Old Testament and many volumes still await publication. This set strives to provide the best in Evangelical scholarship, combined with exposition of the overall message of the text and some practical application. In other words, unlike the ICC series, it strives to not lose sight of the forest for the trees.

​Located at Ref BS491.2 .A66
Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries
John Calvin lived from 1509 to 1564. He was a theologically conservative scholar, theologian and pastor, and was one of the founders of the Protestant Reformation. His commentary is insightful and provides a good historical perspective, but is not going to be as helpful in applying Scripture to 21st century issues.

​Located at Ref BS491.2 .C25
Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament
The authors of this commentary set are theologically conservative, Evangelical Christian scholars. The focus is to provide pastors, teachers and students with a scholarly discussion of the meaning and application of the text without getting bogged down in technical scholarly details that may not have much relevance to church ministry.

​Located at Ref BS491.2 .Z65
The Expositors Bible Commentary
This is a 12 volume Evangelical commentary series on the entire Bible. It is not nearly as in-depth as the ICC, Word Biblical Commentaries, or New International Commentary on the Old or New Testaments, but it is much more in-depth than popular level commentaries. 

​Located at Ref BS491.2 .E96
​    (Also available online)
​​    (Also available in the general collection by book of the Bible)
Interpretation: a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching
This commentary set, written from a scholarly, theologically liberal, perspective, tries to combine the best in critical interpretation along with theological insights and practical application for teaching and preaching.

​Located at Ref BS491.2 .M474
     (Also available online)
     (Also available in the general collection by book of the Bible)
New American Commentary
This commentary set on the entire Bible was written by Evangelical scholars for the purpose of teaching and preaching. They try to combine the best in scholarship at a level that non-scholars can understand. 

Located at Ref BS491.2 .N48
The New Interpreter’s Bible
This 12 volume set on the entire Bible was written by theologically liberal scholars. It was intended to bring the best in critical scholarship down to a level that would be useful for teaching and preaching.

Located at Ref BS491.2 .N484
The New International Commentary on the Old/New Testament
The best in Evangelical scholarship, this set provides in-depth, detailed coverage of the entire Bible. Designed for pastors and teachers. 

Located at Ref BS491.2 .N49
​     (Also available in the general collection by book of the Bible)
New Testament Commentary
This set was written by two solidly Evangelical Calvinist Scholars (Christian Reformed tradition). The set is characterized by solid scholarship written in a style that non-scholars can understand. Also contains some practical application.

​Located by Ref 491.2 .H4
​     (Also available in the general collection by book of the Bible)
Paideia Commentary on the New Testament
This set “deals with the text in terms of larger rhetorical units; these are not verse-by-verse commentaries” (v.1., xi). They were directed specifically at students and were written by scholars from Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Protestant perspectives.

Located at Ref BS491.2 .P35
     (Also available online)
The Pillar New Testament Commentary
Combining the best in Evangelical scholarship, this in-depth and detail set tries to interact with contemporary perspectives while avoiding technical scholarly details. It aims to be helpful to scholars while being understandable to students.

Located at Ref BS 491.2 .P55
The Wesleyan Bible Commentary
As the title indicates, this is a commentary from a Wesleyan (Arminian) perspective. 

Located at Ref BS491.2 .W4
​     (Also available in the general collection by book of the Bible)

Pastoral Commentaries:
Pastoral commentaries are also scholarly works in the sense that they are written by biblical scholars. These commentaries are often detailed, but they usually focus on issues directly relevant to pastoral ministry rather than diving into the “weeds” of technical scholarly details like those mentioned in the discussion of critical or exegetical commentaries above. Below are some commentaries in our reference section that could classify as pastoral.
​
The Life Application Bible Commentary
This commentary series provides a popular-level interpretation, focusing on the practical rather than the technical aspects of the text. It is generously sprinkled with practical application insets.

Located at Ref 491.2 .L57​
Mastering the Old Testament
This is part of the Communicator’s Commentary series (New Testament volumes can be found in the general collection). Written by Evangelical pastors and scholars, the focus is on helping pastors understand the big ideas in a passage to be better able to preach the passage.

Located at Ref BS491.2 .C67
The NIV Application Commentary
An Evangelical commentary on the entire Bible. Commentary on each passage contains a section on “Original Meaning,” “Bridging Contexts,” and “Contemporary Significance.”

​Located at Ref BS491.2 .N485
     (Also available in the general collection by book of the Bible)
Preaching the Word
​Designed specifically with preachers in mind, each passage covered by this set is in the form of an expositional sermon. Based on solid scholarship focusing on practical application in an understandable form.

Located at Ref BS491.2 .P74
     (Also available online)
     (Also available in the general collection by book of the Bible)
Teach the Text Commentary Series
The commentary series was written with pastors and teachers in mind. For each passage there is a section on 1) “Understanding the Text” which includes context, background, interpretive and theological insights, 2) Teaching the text and 3) Illustrating the text.

Located at Ref BS491.2 .T43
     (Also located online)

Popular Commentaries:
A popular-level commentary may or may not be written by a biblical scholar. Those in our reference section were written by scholars, so these commentaries have a scholarly background but written so average Christians can understand them. The positive side is their understandability. The downside is that they are often quite brief in their discussion of each passage and may not really answer the questions you have. In other words, whereas technical commentaries may focus so much on the trees they lose sight of the forest, popular-level commentaries may focus so much on the forest, they don’t pay much attention to the trees.​
Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament
This is a popular level New Testament commentary series written from a theologically liberal, Lutheran perspective.

​Located at Ref BS491.2 .A94​
The New Century Bible Commentary
Written by scholars for a popular-level audience, this commentary is based on the Revised Standard Version. Contributors include both theologically conservative and moderate Evangelical scholars.

Located at Ref BS491.2 .N42
​     (Also available in the general collection by book of the Bible)
Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries /
Tyndale New Testament Commentaries
These are popular-level commentaries designed to give a big picture overview of the text without getting lost in the details. The only problem is that it is so brief that it often doesn’t give much more information than you might get from your NIV Study Bible notes.

Located at Ref 491.2 .T96 / Ref 491.2 .T963
​     (Also available online)
     (Also available in the general collection by book of the Bible)

Specialized Commentaries:
In this guide, “specialized” commentaries are those that don’t easily fit under the other categories.
Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Old and New Testament)
This commentary set on the entire Bible focuses on providing quotations from ancient Christian authors on each passage of Scripture. This allows the readers to see how passages have been interpreted by the earliest Christian interpreters.

​Located at Ref BS491.2 .A53​ / Ref BS491.2 .A535
     (Also available online)
     (Also available in the general collection by book of the Bible)
The Complete Biblical Library
The Complete Biblical Library is an Evangelical commentary series on the whole Bible written to help people with little or no knowledge of Greek and Hebrew. The commentary provides the text of the Old Testament in Hebrew and New Testament in Greek, with English words underneath. It also provides numbers coded to Greek and Hebrew dictionaries, also contained in the set. The set also gives alternate translations and a passage by passage commentary.

Located at Ref BS491.2 .C66
Judaica Books of the Prophets
This is a commentary set (in Hebrew and English) written by the great medieval French Jewish scholar and Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, also known as Rashi, who lived from AD 1040 to 1105.

Located at Ref BS491.2 .M45
The Soncino Books of the Bible
This 14 volume Jewish commentary series provides the Hebrew and English text at the top of each page, with commentary at the bottom of each page.

​Located at Ref BS491.2 .S65
Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary
This is a specialized commentary series that focuses specifically on the historical, cultural or archaeological background to specific passages.

Located at Ref BS491.2 .Z66
​     (An older edition is available in the general collection)
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