What is the best commentaries to use?

[SamMcNear]

I would like to find some good commentaries for my studies in preparing for teaching. I would like something that tells me all there is to know about a passage. Also it would be nice to have a commentary that talks of different views like Steve’s teachings and his book on the four views on Revelation. Is there such a commentary series

I heard the Hermeneia series ( link below) are legit but I haven’t had a chance to look at them. I have one on hold at the library so I will know soon if I like the format/ style. http://www.logos.com/product/8047/herme ... mmentaries

Anyway what commentary sets would you recommend?
Thank you in advice

[steve]

I haven't bought any commentaries for many years, so there may be good ones out there that I am not familiar with. The older "Tyndale" commentary series has always impressed me as being balanced and scholarly, but well-suited for a layman (like myself). They are not dispensational, which is saying a lot for any modern commentary set.

In these series, different authors write the volumes for different books of the Bible, but (to give you an idea of the quality of the writers), some volumes are written by F.F.Bruce, John R.W. Stott, N.T. Wright, Donald Guthrie, Leon Morris, R.T. France, Douglas Moo, Wayne Grudem, and Michael Green. That's just in the New Testament set. The Old Testament set has equally impressive authors, like R.K. Harrison, Derek Kidner (one of my favorites), Gordon Wenham and Donald Wiseman.

If you are not familiar with these names, just know that they are well-known and regarded as top-flight evangelical scholars. The sets are not as inexpensive as they used to be, but, because they are paperback books, they are less expensive than some other sets.

[SamMcNear]

Thanks Steve I will look into the Tyndale Commentaries. It will be nice to see some commentaries that aren't biased toward dispensationalism.

[backwoodsman]

Don't forget about some of the older commentaries. In particular, since you mention wanting one that addresses different views and is non-dispensational, I'd recommend Albert Barnes' Notes. It's on most of the online Bible sites, and free for the Sword Project and other software, so you can take a look and see if you like it. But most of the online sites don't have his intros to the books, which are very worthwhile to have. His intro to Revelation is about 95 pages.

There's a single-volume unabridged New Testament edition that can be had quite cheaply:
http://www.bookfinder4u.com/IsbnSearch. ... 0825422000

There are also multi-volume sets covering the entire Bible that can be hard to find at a good price, but they're still probably cheaper than most newer commentary sets, and certainly worth a lot more than some of them. Barnes wrote the New Testament, but only a few books of the Old; others from the same era wrote the rest.

[SamMcNear]

Thanks backwoodsman
I found a hardcover copy of Albert Barnes' Notes on Amazon for $4.99 free shipping since I have prime Cheap enough to add to my library. Thanks again

-Sam

[backwoodsman]

I found a hardcover copy of Albert Barnes' Notes on Amazon for $4.99

Be careful that it's not just one volume of one of the sets. Many sellers have only one volume, but don't make that clear in the listing.

[mattrose]

This site is pretty good at listing commentaries and even ranking them (though that is subjective)

http://bestcommentaries.com/

I am using this site to give me ideas on what commentary is the best per book. Rather than buying a whole set which may excel here or there, I will end up having the best (or near best) commentary on every book.

[Homer]

Best I have seen is the commentary set by John Peter Lange on the entire bible. Comment is given in "Exegetical and Critical", "Doctrinal and Ethical", and "Homelitical and Practical" categories. Provides and discusses comments by Alford, Bengal, Wordsworth, Olshausen, Owen, Augustine, Calvin, Chrysostom, Henry, Schaff, etc., etc. Translated by Philip Schaff.

Assumes knowledge of Greek and Latin as words and phrases are untranslated from those languages. Out of print so will be expensive but can be bought in CD format.