Commentaries are conversation partners. They are not gurus who must be silently listened to and obeyed. They are not an equal panel of experts who deserve equal time at the microphone. And they are certainly not fools to be left unheard. They are conversation partners.

Conversation partners can be so valuable, but its worth picking them wisely. Conversation partners can be so helpful, but conversation requires both sides to speak. Thus it is important that we engage the text first in order to have an opinion to bring to the conversation. Then, when we get there, we can interact with the others at the table. Some of them we’ll find stimulating and helpful, others we might find inconsistent or agenda driven. We may tune some out. We may listen at length to others. But the key is conversation.

Don’t come to a commentary as a dumb animal ready to carry away whatever is offered. Converse. Let’s say I’ve been working in Romans and I am ready for some conversation. Who do I invite to the table?  What do I bring to the table? The more I bring, the better the conversation will be. “Doug, I see it this way, what about you?” “Tom, what’s your take on that?” “And James(Jimmy)? Oh, I see where you’re coming from! But what about these verses?” “Leon, anything to add?”

Now a conversation with Douglas Moo, Thomas Schreiner, James Dunn and Leon Morris – that would be worth having! Let’s bring in Cranfield, Murray and Calvin for good measure. This is the table to sit at in the biblical studies conference dining hall!

A few quick thoughts on buying commentaries (gathering the conversation partners):

1. If you can, try before you buy (library, google books, friend, etc.) If not, at least get good recommendations (such as on bestcommentaries.com).

2. Let your ministry provoke your purchases. I take a sermon series as a good excuse to buy a commentary or two if my library is lacking in that area. 2nd Chronicles now, Acts next.

3. Build a quality library slowly, rather than a junk collection fast. The personal library is a vital tool of the preacher. Even if it is only five books, if they are five good books, then it is worth having! Don’t rush, don’t get into debt, and don’t buy books with more hype on the cover than content in the pages.

4. Building an electronic library may save you money, but it may not. Last week we looked at software options – here’s the link.

Commentaries should not be out alone.  It’s much safer if they travel in groups of at least two.

Let’s say that I have done my work in the text and want to interact with a commentary.  I turn my chair and reach toward the shelf.  I tend to always grab at least two.  (Sometimes they are on the computer, but same principle applies.)  Why?  There are a couple of reasons:

1. Because different commentaries offer different strengths.  So I might choose to look at a single-volume commentary that will give me quick access to background matters and quick flowing summary of the passage.  But I also would benefit from looking closely at a key section in the passage, which I would get from a more technical exegetical commentary.  And I might go somewhere else again for slightly expanded applicational nudges.

So for a slightly overworked example, if I were working on a passage like Hebrews 11:13-16, I might find it helpful to get the overview of a single volume commentary like the Bible Knowledge Commentary or New Bible Commentary.  I might get slightly more coverage, but still not probing the text technically, from Expositors Bible Commentary or the Bible Speaks Today volume.  Then for technical wrestling with the text, I might grab for Ellingworth’s NIGTC, or Lane’s WBC, or Bruce in the NICNT series.  (Actually with Hebrews, I’d also be checking Koester’s ABC and maybe Attridge’s Hermeneia volume.)  Then there is Guthrie’s very good NIV Application Commentary too.  That’s quite the gang of scholars!  And I haven’t mentioned older ones like Owen or Calvin.

2. Because one voice tends to be more compelling than two in dialogue.  Ok, it is a bit unrealistic for most of us to have access to a library selection like that one, but we must be careful not to rely on a single voice.  Some people love MacArthur, or McGee, or Tom Wright, etc.  Even without raising concerns about single voice complete Bible series, I do want to raise concerns about just listening to one voice in a single book.  If you only read one, then they will probably seem compelling to you (or easily dismissed by your superior knowledge).  That is the main reason I always grab two from the shelf.  Compare and contrast, and you will reap more than double the benefit (as long as your collection isn’t completely mono-vocal in that it is all from the same theological camp).

Tomorrow I want to point out that commentary and preaching are not the same!

I’d like to offer a few thoughts on the use of commentaries.  There are some extreme views around in Christian circles.  For instance, some seem to suggest that commentaries should be avoided at all costs, as if they have a sinister agenda.  Others will quote an interpretation and treat it as sacrosanct because it was in a commentary.

Two views, both with their unique issues, both making the same error.  The first view seems strangely oblivious to the unique privilege we have in our time of the accessibility of some very high quality resources, both in print and online.  They may prepare on an up to date computer and drive to church in a modern car, but be positively pre-modern in their non-use of scholarship.

The second view seems to be caught in the glare of flashbulbs as the wonder of publication seems to blind their discernment faculties.  Just because something is in print, doesn’t make it right.  We all know that with certain newspapers, but some lose that awareness when the book has a hard cover on it.

Both views are making the same mistake though – they both lump all commentaries together.  But, not all commentaries are created equal.   Some are devotional, others are technical; some are written for the preacher, others for the scholar; some take interpretation seriously, others seem to use the Scripture as a launch point for doctrinal or precious thoughts; some believe God inspired the Bible, others don’t; some are written by Reformed, others by Arminian, others by Dispensational, others by Roman Catholics, others by … you get the point.

Some don’t lump them all together.  More than once I’ve come across people who will quote Matthew Henry’s commentary as if it were second only to the Bible, yet express deep distrust of contemporary evangelical commentators.  Perhaps this is the power of the familiar, and therefore, perceived to be trustworthy?

So let’s be careful not to subconsciously treat all commentaries as equal – either by dismissing all, or automatically trusting all.  Even in a specific series, there will be stronger and weaker commentaries.  So when buying paper commentaries it makes most sense to pick and mix to get the best from different series (although with software options, it may make sense to buy complete series due to cost).

There are so many commentaries, but whatever we do, let’s not just lump them all together.  Some are worth their weight in gold, some quite simply aren’t. Tomorrow I will offer a safety warning for commentaries.

This week I’ve decided to post about the use of technology in sermon preparation.  Searching for help with biblical study online can be hit and miss.  For most people it is mostly miss since they don’t know where they are looking.  Not every web-based resource is created equal.

Consequently people tend to end up looking at some blog from somebody pontificating without any credibility (not in every case, of course, but there are plenty of them out there).  Or you end up with free resources that lean on public domain materials, which may be ok, but often are very outdated and not the best place to be spending your energy.

Here are some sites I don’t think you should miss, and they are free.

net.bible.org – The NET Bible is an excellent translation that I hope will continue to gain in popularity.  I know some of the translators and have really enjoyed using this version in recent years.  Now the new online study environment is one not to miss.  The NET Bible, other versions too, as well as the excellent translators’ notes (explaining why they made the decisions they did with the text in a way that is accessible to non-original language scholars), plus Thomas Constable’s class notes (Bible exposition prof’s notes covering the whole Bible – while I might not agree with every detail, these are a solid resource that most people would have published years ago – I love it when people give away quality material!), plus numerous articles from experts like Dan Wallace (Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, etc.)  You need to check this out.

Other Bible sites – it is worth looking at Biblia.com (especially if you have a Logos account, sign in and access more resources, but even without there is some helpful stuff there).  I’m sure the usual suspects will be mentioned in comments too.

www.biblicalstudies.org.uk – This resource is growing all the time.  A friend of mine has been plugging away at this for years (I’d love to see more people catch the vision and support him so he can do this even more efficiently).  There is a growing resource of pdf articles from theological journals and magazines on this site, as well as its sister sites related to theology and historical studies.  Obviously journal articles are of different quality, but all have been published.

www.theologynetwork.org – This is a great site associated with UCCF which provides written, audio and video resources.  Especially strong in areas of theology and historical theology, if you don’t have this site bookmarked you are missing out on a massive set of free resources.

There is so much online, but I’d suggest you get these three sites bookmarked and start there rather than simply googling the passage you are studying.