Commentaries

Different Types of Commentaries

• Sermonic Commentaries 

  • A printed or reworked sermon
    
    

• Expositional Commentaries

  • Not set up like a sermon but designed to convey information or explain what is difficult to understand
    
    

• Homiletical Commentaries

  • Designed to help with sermon or lesson preparation
  • Homiletics means the art of preparing sermons and preaching.
    
    

• Application Commentaries

  • Seek to help the pastor bring the text into conversation with the modern world
    
    

• Expository Commentaries

  • References to the original languages, when they occur, are sequestered to their own sections, and Greek or Hebrew words are transliterated
  • Exposition means a comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory
    
    

• Hybrid Commentaries

  • Combine the features of an expositional commentary and an exegetical commentary
  • These commentaries provide readers with a sustained exposition of given biblical books, and they also contain features that are exegetical in nature
  • These commentaries will often be the core resources for sermon preparation for pastors with standard levels of seminary training. 
    
    

• Exegetical Commentaries

  • These commentaries trace the structure of passages, sometimes providing a discourse analysis of each pericope, deal with textual variants, discuss lexical and grammatical matters, and survey different interpretive options in detail.
  • The Greek or Hebrew text is printed and transliterations may or may not be provided.
    
    

• Hebrew or Greek Handbooks

  • Provide more detailed grammatical and syntactical help than a normal exegetical commentary would provide.
    
    

• Theological Commentaries

  • Provide more attention to the theological themes of the books under consideration.
  • Some of these commentaries come in two parts: an abbreviated exposition of the book, section-by-section, and an expanded survey of the major theological themes found in or raised by the book.
    
    

• Socio-Rhetorical Commentaries

  • Focus on the social world that informs the biblical text and on the ancient forms of rhetoric which shape how a book is written. 
    
    

• Specialized Commentaries

  • Focus on particular features rather than on expositing or exegeting books in their entirety.
  • Some features include: historical and cultural background, geography, etc
    
    

Commentaries from Different Theological Perspectives

• Lutheran

• Reformed

• Wesleyan

• Baptist

• Dispensationalist

• Broadly evangelical

• Non-evangelical

Recommended Commentaries

• John MacArthur
• Apologetics Study Bible
• Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament
• Word Biblical Commentary
• New International Greek Testament Commentary
• New International Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
• Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament
• Pillar New Testament Commentary