pursuing faithfulness to the Word of God and fullness of the Spirit of God
Commentaries
Book Review – CBC Hosea (Richard Patterson)
Mar 1st
Introduction
Hosea was sent with a message of God’s undying love for his people, as well as a declaration of his unwavering standards. He portrays Israel as an unfaithful wife, as a harlot. They were covenant breakers, and their only hope lay in God’s redeeming love. Patterson also uses the introduction to explain some of the textual difficulties with the book of Hosea – there are many places where the correct translation is uncertain.
Commentary
For an overview of the format of this series, see my review of the volume on Malachi. I’ll just pick out a few points of interest. Patterson favours the view that Hosea married a woman with promiscuous tendencies – i.e. her adultery came later. Many of Patterson’s commentary sections are very New Testament focused – he is keen to show connections to the gospel and the Christian life.
Patterson shows how Israel’s infectious flirtation with Baal had spread everywhere, and though he must judge their waywardness, his love never fails. In one interesting hint about his end times theology, Patterson interprets the nation of Israel as still living in the “many days” of Hos 3:3-5 – they are back in their land, but without king, temple or sacrificial system. However, he is also quick to mention that the New Testament identifies Jesus as the promised heir to the throne.
His comments on Hos 6:1-3 are helpful in explaining the biblical significance of the “third day”. The subject of the end times again comes up in Hos 10:8, where Patterson ties it in with the teaching of Revelation on an end times tribulation.
Overall, this is another good introductory level commentary. It strikes a nice balance between illuminating the meaning of the text, and suggesting theological and practical applications.
Book Review – CBC Zechariah (Andrew Hill)
Feb 10th
Introduction
Zechariah is one of the longer minor prophets, and despite being easy to date, offers a number of challenges to commentators due to the variety of hermeneutical approaches that could be taken to the visions and “proto-apocalyptic” material. Hill briefly describes four options (preterist, futurist, historicist and idealist), and in the commentary he (very) briefly summarises what the preterist and futurist interpretations of the passage in question are. He hints that he views many of these prophecies as having a dual fulfilment.
The introduction is slightly longer than some others in this series, allowing Hill to discuss the relationship of chapters 9-11 and 12-14 to the rest of the book. Hill considers it entirely plausible that they were written by Zechariah at a later stage of his life.
Zechariah and Haggai were prophesying in the same period, and while Haggai exhorted the people to rebuild the temple, Zechariah’s focus was on a call to repentance and spiritual renewal. His central theme is encouragement although the book also includes rebuke and exhortation. Zechariah’s theological concerns include right relationship with God, covenant renewal, social justice, restoration of divine presence and the enabling of the Spirit. Zechariah portrays God as a covenant-making and a covenant-keeping God.
Commentary
As promised in the introduction, Hill does not lay out a variety of possible interpretations of the visions in the first section of the book. Space would not permit it in a commentary series of this type in any case. Instead, he focuses on explaining the meaning of the Biblical text, and highlighting the key theological truths that come out of the passage. The brief sentences at the end of each section outlining the preterist and futurist views tend to leave you with more questions than answers.
In Zechariah the translation choices of the NLT often require a little more explanation in the commentary. For example, “I am jealous … with great jealousy” in Zech 1:14 is translated as “My love is passionate and strong”, or in Zech 1:6 the NLT smoothes over an ambiguity concerning who is speaking, which more literal translations such as the ESV retain. But the NLT does make the reader’s job a lot easier, particularly when dealing with the vivid imagery found in Zechariah.
In several places, Hill highlights messianic titles (e.g. ‘servant’, ‘branch’) and pictures (e.g. priest, king, shepherd), and shows the way in which Jesus fulfils them (at least partially) in his first advent and (eventually completely) in his second advent.
In the latter part of Zechariah (chapters 9 onwards), the centre of gravity shifts slightly, with the ‘Notes’ section more detailed, and the ‘Commentary’ section being used to pick out key theological or application points. So for example, the commentary section for chapter 12 only really touches on Zech 12:1 and Zech 12:10. Over the course of the book, these theological reflections manage to cover a broad range of topics, and do a good job of showing how Zechariah builds on the prophetic hope held forth by Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Conclusion
Overall I found this a helpful guide to Zechariah’s message. One of the big strengths of the Cornerstone series is the attention to finding links with the message of other books, both in the Old and New Testaments. Hill may not have explained everything in Zechariah, but he has taken us a step in the right direction by connecting the main points of the prophet’s message with the big picture of the whole Bible’s teaching.
Book Review – BEC John (Andreas Köstenberger)
Feb 5th
The Baker Exegetical Commentary series is one of my favourites in terms of layout, with very nice typesetting which sets it apart from series like the Word Biblical Commentary or even the Pillar New Testament Commentary series. It is good to see newer series following suit. The full text of the book is included in blocks at the start of each new section, usually the author’s translation. Comments are on groups of verses, sometimes up to six at a time. The commentary does use Greek characters, usually transliterated and translated (except in the footnotes).
Introduction
The introduction is surprisingly concise given the size of this commentary, although it touches on the subjects you will expect. He does include a table where he attempts to date all the incidents in the gospel. He breaks the book into two halves, the first as the book of signs, and the second the book of glory. In the first part there are seven “signs”, seven “I AM statements”, and quite possibly seven “witnesses” too.
Commentary
I read through this commentary in parallel with Don Carson’s commentary on John in the Pillar Commentary Series, and the similarities were striking. Not only are the same conclusions reached, but often the structure of the argument is extremely close. Disagreements between the two are rare, and usually only minor in any case. In many ways, these could be called "synoptic commentaries" – Köstenberger and Carson approach John from very similar points of view, unsurprisingly so, since Köstenberger refers to Carson as his mentor. He also highly rates the commentary of Herman Ridderbos.
Carson interacts with other commentators to disagree with them, whereas Köstenberger prefers to highlight the best of their comments. Carson says almost everything in the main text, while Köstenberger utilises footnotes a lot more. Sometimes well over half the page is taken up with footnotes. However, lists of references to other commentators whose views he is quoting or summarising do not get relegated to footnotes, which means that some sentences can get swamped amidst a mass of attributions. This means that, despite the two books having roughly the same size, reading through Köstenberger will be much quicker. Carson is happy to go off on excursuses teasing out the meaning of difficult phrases, while Köstenberger is much more concise (e.g. Carson spends 5 pages on "water and spirit" in 3:5, Köstenberger a paragraph or so).
In some ways, this functions as a digest of other commentaries on John, as he often selects good quotes from other commentators or summarises their arguments, without the need for him to add additional comments of his own (except in the footnotes).
There are a couple of features that make Köstenberger unique though. He has more interest than Carson in things like geography and historical details (for example, he fills us in on the types of lanterns and torches in 18:3). He is also very interested in placing events in the year they happened (it seems to be a couple of years later than others I have read – he has Jesus starting his ministry aged 33). One surprising feature, perhaps, is his choice not to translate or provide commentary on the story of the woman caught in adultery (though he does include an excursus on it). Clearly, he feels strongly that this should not be considered part of the canon of Scripture.
Conclusion
I guess the trouble with this commentary is that it is difficult to recommend it instead of Carson’s and it is also difficult to recommend it as well as Carson’s due to their close agreement on so many matters. His key advantage is his succinctness in the main text, allowing him to make very direct points that in Carson’s commentary are spread out over several pages of interaction with other views. This does not mean though that Köstenberger’s commentary is shallow. The copious footnotes allow you to choose the points at which you want to go deeper.
Book Review – The Gospel According to John (D A Carson)
Jan 31st
I have already blogged about the Pillar New Testament Commentary series, which is itself edited by Don Carson, so you can read my general thoughts on the layout and goals of this series there.
The Introduction
The introduction is fairly lengthy (80 pages), and dives straight in with a look at the distinctives of the gospel of John as compared to the Synoptics. Carson has of course also authored a commentary on Matthew that paid special attention to the relationship between the Synoptics, so this enables him to complete the picture.
He devotes several pages to the historical interpretation of John’s gospel, before embarking on a lengthy defence of the authenticity of the fourth Gospel. In particular, he addresses Bultmann’s antisupernaturalism and ‘demythologizing’ of the text. He points out that the Dead Sea scrolls find has removed the need to postulate a hellenistic background to the thought of John’s gospel.
Another sizable section is devoted to authorship, in which he casts doubt on the validity of efforts to detect several sources in the text. He concludes that a working assumption of Johannine authorship is the best way to approach the text. He very tentatively dates it at around AD 80.
Carson even includes some advice for those preaching from the book of John. Overall the introduction is a great read, and almost a book in its own right.
The Commentary
The commentary itself is densely packed in with little whitespace, and no inclusion of the biblical text. There are surprisingly few footnotes, since Carson prefers to do most of his interaction with other commentators in the main text. As with his Matthew commentary, he loves to take the time to defend the text against accusations of fabrication, and offers explanations for supposed problems. He is also quite happy to spend several pages digging deeper into a particular theological concern that is raised by the text.
The commentary itself is far too massive for me to attempt to summarise all the useful points. To list all the sections of John in which I found Carson’s comments particularly helpful I would be to list the entire contents.
Carson’s strengths as a biblical commentator are the comprehensive way he tackles the types of concern that an expositor will have. He incisively gets to the bottom of what the sayings mean, some of which are hard to unpack. He has a good eye for Old Testament allusions. He is willing to take on and reject other possible interpretations, both from skeptics and other Christian traditions (such as Roman Catholicism). He is also prepared to reject “sentimental” conclusions popular amongst evangelicals if the exegesis does not bear it out.
Conclusion
I cannot recommend this commentary on John highly enough. It is a magnificent work, and one that would greatly benefit any serious student or teacher of the Bible. Yes, it is quite long, but it is always interesting. It has actually taken me about five years to work my way through it, but I am glad I have done so, and this will almost certainly be one of the first commentaries I consult every time I am doing study on John.
Book Review – CBC Haggai (Andrew Hill)
Jan 28th
Introduction
One nice feature of Haggai’s ministry is that it can be precisely dated and located in Israel’s history. Haggai was a herald sounding a wake-up call to a community that was spiritually asleep. In particular he wanted to stir them up to rebuild the temple. He emphasised the abiding presence of God’s Spirit. Some key themes of Haggai include:
- A call to reprioritize community life
- Reiteration of promises of blessing and restoration
- Ritual purity for priests and people – they are to be holy
- The prominence of the Davidic line
Commentary
As with all the commentaries in this series, the authors explain the meaning of a section, and then move to some quick, theological reflection, often linking in other parts of Scripture. So for example, Hill offers helpful comments on putting the significance of the temple into its proper place. He highlights how Haggai makes regular use of the name “Lord of Heaven’s Armies” for God.
On the second chapter, Hill shows how Haggai draws on themes from Ezekiel and Jeremiah’s prophecies in previous times, and overturns Jeremiah’s curse on the Davidic line (Jer 22:24-30), rekindling the messianic hopes that had been dashed by the Babylonian exile. He points out that though the second temple did not outstrip the glory of Solomon’s temple in terms of architectural magnificence, the real glory consists of God’s presence in and amongst his people.
Overall, this has been one of my favourite commentaries in this volume so far. Hill has made effective use of the short space available to make this a good companion to those wanting to do a brief study of Haggai.
Book Review – CBC Zephaniah (Richard Patterson)
Jan 26th
Introduction
Patterson identifies the Day of the Lord as the primary theme of Zephaniah. He dates it early in Josiah’s reign, at a time where there was much syncretism. Zephaniah writes not just to inform people about God’s future program, but to exhort them to surrender to God, to repent and seek him.
Commentary
On Zeph 1, Patterson explains that “the Day of the Lord” refers to that time when, for his glory and in accordance with his purposes, God intervenes in human affairs to execute judgment against sin and/or deliver his people. The people of Judah were behaving like pagans. Patterson sees a partial fulfilment of these prophecies in Jerusalem’s fall in 586BC, with other elements being fulfilled in various historical epochs (e.g. A.D. 70). Patterson draws out a challenge for Christians not to sit idly by as a lost world heads towards the day of the Lord.
Zeph 2 includes themes of a godly remnant, of judgment and hope, the seriousness of sin and the sovereignty of God. Much of the fault for the nations disobedience could be accounted to the leadership’s failure to encourage the fear of the Lord (Zeph 3:1-7).
Zeph 3:8-20 is a passage of hope for the remnant – God will deem his people’s punishment completed and bring them happiness as their ultimate good. I was somewhat surprised, and a little disappointed, to note that Patterson passes over Zeph 3:17 with barely any comment – a curious omission considering this is one of the most cherished verses in the Bible. Indeed, his comments on this section are more focused on the “divine shepherd”, but he fails to explain which verse(s) in particular he finds this motif in.
This is, I suppose, both a strength and weakness of the CBC series. It is brief enough to be useful to those without the time or inclination to engage with every exegetical option, and can be relied upon to provide some pertinent observations on the contemporary relevance of the major themes of the passage. However, its brevity means that several potentially fruitful theological avenues will inevitably be left unexplored.
Book Review – CBC Habakkuk (Richard Patterson)
Jan 22nd
Introduction
We know very little about Habakkuk. Patterson assumes a pre-exilic date, most likely during the reigns of either Josiah or Manasseh. The central theme of the book is faith, and we see how, despite how Habakkuk felt about the injustice he saw, he brought his doubts and perplexities to God in prayer and came to a place of trust.
Commentary
The “notes” sections serve as a way of highlighting exegetical issues, particularly the meaning of individual key words. Patterson feels free to disagree with the NLT translation. The “commentary” on each section always moves from summarising the meaning of the passage to drawing out a significant theological theme and discussing it in the light of other related Biblical passages.
A good example would be how he handles Hab 2:4, where he first explores the meaning of the verse in Habakkuk, explaining faithfulness as having both an active (truthfulness) and a passive (trustworthiness) sense. He then goes on to show how the different ways in which it is used in the New Testament (Rom 1:17 and Heb 10:35-39), as well as pointing out the way it references Gen 15:6.
because the believer is one in whom God’s righteous character has been reproduced, he can be expected to conduct himself in a manner consistent with his renewed being. … a genuinely righteous person will live out the faith in faithful activity
Patterson also highlights the different names that Habakkuk uses for God throughout the book, and how they mirror his journey from doubt to a confident faith that meant he could trust in the Lord through the coming hour of judgment and rejoice no matter what may happen.
Conclusion
These CBC commentaries serve as good companions to a Bible study, allowing you to get a good understanding of the meaning of the text as well as seeing how they fit into a wider theological picture. They help you to break out of the trap of just focusing on the famous verses, and getting a better grasp of the message of the whole book. Whilst the exegetical notes aren’t exhaustive, they are fairly thorough, meaning that you would only need to go for a more technical commentary if you were doing more in-depth study on the book.
Book Review – CBC Nahum (Richard Patterson)
Jan 19th
This is another commentary contained within Volume 10 of the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary. See my review of Andrew Hill’s Commentary on Micah for my thoughts on the layout of this commentary series.
Introduction
Nahum’s main message is the impending doom of wicked Nineveh. We know very little of who Nahum is, but Patterson tentatively places him at a time when Israel were reduced to Assyrian vassalage during the reign of evil king Manasseh. Despite the predicament they find themselves in, Nahum believes in God who is still sovereign over the nations, and faithful to his covenant promises. Nahum portrays God as the “divine warrior”, who subdues nature and his enemies, while protecting his own people.
Commentary
On Nahum 1, a strong emphasis is placed on God’s sovereignty over the nations, his omnipotence and his justice. Nahum chapters 2 and 3 are focused more on the destruction of Nineveh. A lot of translation notes are provided explaining the difficulties determining the exact meaning of many of the verses. The included NLT translation smoothes over most of these difficulties. Enough historical and geographical information is given to help make sense of much of the imagery, including some historical details on the savage brutality and treachery of the Assyrian empire.
Despite the bleakness of much of Nahum’s prophecy, Patterson does manage to find some fruitful avenues for application including reflections on the justice of God and sovereignty of God, as well as the need to work to transform the evil within our society. As with the other volumes in this series, he willingly draws on other parts of the Bible to help shed light on the message of Nahum.
Conclusion
I appreciated the way this brief commentary helped me get a solid understanding of Nahum’s main message and put it into some sort of historical context. The way he ties in themes from Nahum with other Biblical passages is also very helpful for those who, like me, have always found Nahum a difficult book to “get anything out of”.
Book Review – BEC Philippians (Moises Silva)
Jan 16th
Introduction
This deserves credit for having one of the most engaging introductions of a commentary I have read. In 36 pages, he tackles the book from a wide variety of angles.
He is less certain than most that the Philippian church was in a good state of health. He in particular thinks that there may be some looming danger from the Judaizers – in fact, he thinks that most, if not all, of Paul’s “opponents” can be viewed as heterodox Jewish believers. Quite fascinating was his roundup of other commentaries. Since this is a revision of a commentary originally published in 1988, he deals with some of the new works that have come out since. Whilst there is high praise for O’Brien and Blockmeuhl, his opinion of Fee’s commentary is equivocal. He feels Fee misrepresented his opinions in a few places, and often when Fee is referenced in the footnotes it is to firmly reject his exegesis.
Commentary
The commentary itself follows the usual pattern of the Baker Exegetical Series. First is a section overview, followed by the author’s own translation. Then there are the comments on the text, dealt with usually in groups of about three verses at a time. At the end of each section, Silva provides a large number of additional notes, mainly dealing with translation or manuscript issues (which he clearly has a great interest in), and occasionally interacting with other commentators. Silva’s translation of Philippians is particularly useful, as he inserts a number of clarifying clauses, so that the translation reflects the sense he argues for in the commentary.
While there is plenty of attention given to the Greek grammar and vocabulary, Silva is always careful to move on to theological reflection. Silva demonstrates out that several of the grammatical problems of Philippians are minimized by the fact that many of the possible translations do not substantively differ from one another. In other words, we can often determine the main point being made even if we cannot discern the exact meaning of every phrase.
Points of Interest
Silva argues strongly that the “deliverance” of Phil 1:19 is salvation, not merely release from prison, though he acknowledges there may be some calculated ambiguity. He has some good comments on perseverance, which he sees as a running theme through the letter. He has some helpful theological reflection on suffering in his comments on Phil 1:29 and Phil 3:10. “The stinging reality of Christian suffering is our reminder that we have been united with Christ”.
On Phil 2:1-4 he points out that the true obstacle to unity is not the presence of legitimate differences of opinion but self-centredness. The opposition the Philippians were facing calls for steadfastness on their part, but this is only possible if they have unity, which in turn calls for humility. In Phil 2:6, the phrase μορφη θεου is equivalent to “being equal with God”, though it cannot be pressed to explain exactly how. In the same verse, he acknowledges that while we may not be able to detect the exact meaning of αρπαγμον, the sense is clear – Jesus refused to make a selfish choice with regards to his divinity.
In Phil 2:10, Paul stunningly applies Isa 45:23 to Jesus. Phil 2:12-13 is one of several places in Philippians that express the paradox of human and divine activity in salvation, and Silva offers some good theological reflection on this. The grumbling of Phil 2:14 is likely to be an allusion to the Israelites complaining against Moses. The best commentary on Phil 2:15 is Jesus’ words in Matt 5:14-16: you are already the light of the world – therefore shine.
In Phil 3:2, Paul is ironically (rather than abusively) characterizing these Judaizers as “dogs”. A great spiritual reversal has taken place – these Judaizers are the new Gentiles, while the Christian believers are the new Jews. He effectively rebuts Stendahl’s notion that in Phil 3:6 Paul is referring to his subjective conscience.
In Phil 3:9-11 we see Paul’s doctrine of salvation compressed into just a few sentences – justification, sanctification, and glorification. Silva makes the point that union with Christ, rather than justification by faith is at the heart of Paul’s soteriology. When Paul speaks of experiencing the power of Christ’s resurrection in Phil 3:10, he has in mind our spiritual transformation into the image of Christ.
Silva makes the case that antinomian libertines may not be the opponents in view in 3:12-4:1, and that it makes good sense to read this section as being against the Judaizers. In Phil 3:15, Paul is referring not to differences they may have with him, but differences they have amongst themselves – he paraphrases: “If there continue to be some disagreements among you, I trust that God will soon bring unanimity in your midst.”
About Euodia and Syntyche (Phil 4:2), Silva says “most likely, what we have here is not a personal quarrel between cantankerous old ladies but rather a substantive division within the church leadership, which from the beginning consisted largely of faithful women.” On Phil 4:4-7 Silva notes that “genuine Christian joy is not inward looking. It is not by concentrating on our need for happiness, but on the needs of others that we learn to rejoice.”
Conclusion
Philippians is served by several highly-rated commentaries. I found Fee’s extremely helpful when I read through it about 10 years ago. O’Brien and Blockmeuhl also get consistently high praise for their work. But this one deserves its reputation too. As any good commentary should, it helps you get right to the heart of what is being said and how it fits into the overall flow of the argument, but also brings out the practical and doctrinal application of the text. So even if you already have Fee, it is well worth your money getting Silva as well (especially since they don’t always agree on the interpretation).
Book Review – CBC Joel (Richard Patterson)
Mar 4th
Posted by Mark Heath in Book Reviews
No comments
Introduction
The primary theme of Joel is the day of the Lord, with a secondary theme of repentance. Patterson tentatively leans towards a pre-exilic date.
Commentary
God’s people had become obsessed with the pursuit of pleasure, and times of ease had resulted in spiritual and moral lethargy. Their spiritual service had degenerated into meaningless theology. Into this context, Joel urged people to follow his example in fasting and pleading with God. Patterson understands Joel 1 as a literal locust invasion which Joel takes as a harbinger of the day of the Lord.
As with other commentaries in the series, the teaching of Joel is connected to the rest of the Bible, and Patterson has a strong emphasis on the importance of a consistent personal prayer life, and stresses the need for regular confession of sin.
On the prophecy of the outpoured Spirit (Joel 2:28-32), Patterson sees Joel’s prophecy as being fulfilled in four stages – Pentecost, the Preset Age, the End of the Age and the Second Advent. He focuses on explaining the prophetic significance of the three major feasts Passover, Pentecost and Shelters.
On Joel 3:1-8 he lists some of the historical defeats that the nations warned of judgement suffered. He also, as in his Hosea commentary, draws out some end times implications without managing to fully nail his colours to the mast. He hints at a belief in an end times battle near Jerusalem, and talks about “Zion theology” which is “integral to NT eschatology”. Probably the limited space available and the desire of the editors not to favour one end times view above the others explains the lack of clarity.