Top 3 Commentaries
What are your top 3 commentaries you use for sermon building?
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1. Pillar's NT Commentary
2. College Press OT & NT
3. Expositor's Bible Commentary
Plus, the Bible along with the TSK for good cross references to see what other passages say. Other's I've had in the past and plan to add them again (maybe)...NIVAC OT & NT, BECNT, and now that they are sold separately slowly start with NICNT & NICOT; but we'll see. I'm not in full time ministry anymore, so it's kind of hard to invest on something you don't use as often anymore.
Blessings!
DAL
Ps. I do wish Logos still sold NIV84 Bible. I don't understand why the publishers wanted it removed.
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If I could only have three sets the top two would be easy:
New International Commentaries (OT/NT)
Word Biblical Commentary
The third, not so easy.
New American, Pillar, New International Greek Testament Commentary, and the NIV Application Commentary (OT only) would all be vying for third position.Probably New American would win out solely based on the number of Biblical books covered.
Pastor, North Park Baptist Church
Bridgeport, CT USA
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I would probably go with
- New International Commentary (Old and New Testament)
- New American Commentary
- Preaching the Word
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"For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power"
Wiki Table of Contents0 -
I use three categories of commentaries based on Morris Proctors recommendations. So I would need to know what category you were talking about. I will give you my three from each category for a total of 9 (a couple have only New Testament and so I sometimes use another set so the total is actually 11. The Titles are in order of my favorite. So #1 is my top choice from each category.
Language commentaries
1. UBS Handbook series (Old and New Testament)
2. Word Biblical Commentary (Old and New Testament)
3. A Textual Guide to the New Testament
Expository commentaries
1. The College Press NIV Commentary (Old and New Testament)
2. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Old and New Testament)
3. The New American Commentary (Old and New Testament) OR Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament
Devotional/application commentaries
1. NIV Application Commentary (New Testament – I don’t have the Old Testament)
2. Holman New Testament Commentary OR Tyndale Commentary (Old and New Testament)
3. N.T. Wright’s “For Everyone” series (New Testament)
See also James Chaisson's blog post for more helpful resources:
http://www.james-chaisson.blogspot.com/2012/09/some-helpful-resources.html
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Mark Smith said:
If I could only have three sets the top two would be easy:
New International Commentaries (OT/NT)
Word Biblical Commentary
The third, not so easy.
New American, Pillar, New International Greek Testament Commentary, and the NIV Application Commentary (OT only) would all be vying for third position.Probably New American would win out solely based on the number of Biblical books covered.
I think Mark put it right on the dot for me. I would potentially add Baker/Tyndale as third options. I bounce around between Pillar, NA, Baker, Tyndale, NIGTC depending on what book I'm reading and the insight I can gain from the commentator. Once the EEC if finished, I may have my overall solid third but that will be quite a while. I really enjoy the James layout. I'm getting EBC when it comes out at the end of the month so maybe that will tide me over [:D]
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My list would never be the same...It depends on the book that Im studying.
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Yes, depends on what book...and which part of Scripture.
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Preacher's commentary
Preach the Word
MacArthur
Focus on the Bible
Warren Weirsbe
NIV Application
sorry, couldn't get it to 3
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Mark Smith said:
Word Biblical Commentary
My dad used to day we don't all see things alike. this one is too technical for me. i have it but rarely use it.
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Josh Hunt said:
is the NT not any good?
To tell the truth I am at the point of picking individual commentaries after trying to read reviews and recommendations. The compiled reviews for the OT commentaries is much higher than for the NT on bestcommentaries.com. http://www.bestcommentaries.com/series/niv-application-commentary-nivac/
Add to that a surfeit of riches in NT commentaries, I was interested in picking up the OT set. I got it at a good price during the Christmas sale last year.
Pastor, North Park Baptist Church
Bridgeport, CT USA
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Josh Hunt said:
My dad used to day we don't all see things alike. this one is too technical for me. i have it but rarely use it.
Well I groan at the format. The series is quite uneven, but at $399 (for which it seemed to be offered for sale often at one time) it was worth having the coverage. I have found some volumes to be quite useful, others not worth consulting.
I'm fortunate enough to have enough commentaries I can use the 'best' I have on each book and avoid the ones that are weaker. Not everyone can afford this, nor is it an approach that appeals to everyone, but I count myself blessed to be able to do this after many, many years, and it suits me fine.
Pastor, North Park Baptist Church
Bridgeport, CT USA
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1. New International Commentary OT / NT
2. Word Biblical Commentary (might use Pillar Commentaries or ICC instead)
3. Something a bit more expository - The Preacher's Commentary, Wiersbe, Boice, N. T. Wright's for Everyone Commentaries, John MacArthur
I generally check out the Ancient Christian Commentary as well, Might also use the Tyndale Commentaries, but you asked for three.
Also, if Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached / wrote on the passage, be certain to read him.
"In all cases, the Church is to be judged by the Scripture, not the Scripture by the Church," John Wesley0 -
Not bad at all...He asked for 3....You narrowed it down to a dozen.[:P]Michael Childs said:but you asked for three.
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NICOT/NICNT
Pillar
Word
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Hermeneia
Sacra Pagina/Olem Berit
JPS
Anchor
(I get four since one isn't in Logos)
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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I usually use:
- NICOT/NICNT
- ICC (only recent volumes) or NIGTC or WBC or Hermeneia or Continental
- NAC
- Calvin
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1. PIllar if covered. If not, NIGTC.
2. NAC
3. Preacher's Commentary
For any sermon/study I prepare, I consult a technical commentary, a pastoral/technical and a pastoral/devotional.
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Paul C said:
Not bad at all...He asked for 3....You narrowed it down to a dozen.Michael Childs said:but you asked for three.
Yes, I usually don't follow instructions that well. I am seldom accused of brevity. Do I get a point for having numbering 1,2, and 3?
"In all cases, the Church is to be judged by the Scripture, not the Scripture by the Church," John Wesley0 -
I recently opened up several commentaries to look up something for a message and found every single one of them noted the exact same thing. My desire for adding more commentaries is starting to get a reality check. Chances are very good that if you have one of the better base packages in Scholar, you probably need to add just one good set like NICOT/NICNT or WBC. More doesn't hurt, but the yield is no longer a slam dunk regardless of how good a commentary set might be.
The mind of man is the mill of God, not to grind chaff, but wheat. Thomas Manton | Study hard, for the well is deep, and our brains are shallow. Richard Baxter
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Michael Ballai said:
I recently opened up several commentaries to look up something for a message and found every single one of them noted the exact same thing. My desire for adding more commentaries is starting to get a reality check. Chances are very good that if you have one of the better base packages in Scholar, you probably need to add just one good set like NICOT/NICNT or WBC. More doesn't hurt, but the yield is no longer a slam dunk regardless of how good a commentary set might be.
That was exactly my point in a post I made some time ago. Most commentaries will pretty much give you the same thing worded differently. That's why I cancelled most of my classic commentaries from CP because I didn't really see the point of having 30 volumes on one single book of the Bible that pretty much gave me the same explanation. Yes, there are some that throw a little nugget here and there, but some times you can come up with better "nuggets" on your own. Also, my rational was "why clutter" my search results with a bunch of results if I'm gonna end up using one or two because the others say the same thing or something totally irrelevant. I've found out this happens even with Bible encyclopedias or Bible dictionaries, some give same word for word definitions others just vary on approximate dates or distance, but nothing really new out of the ordinary. Now that I'm not in full time ministry at the moment I can tell you that if I go back to full time preaching, I will be more selective on how I spend my money on Biblical tools for my sermon preparation. I still have a huge logos library, but it will shrink a little once I get most of the Perseus Collection locked.
So that being said, if someone has Scholar's Package, they could add the good commentaries like NICOT/NT, along with BDAG/HALOT and some other commentaries like EBC, NIVAC OT/NT, BECNT and Pillars and they pretty much have all they need to prepare inspiring and relevant lessons for today's church needs. They could even go to Platinum and build a little extra from there and they'd still have a lot of resources they'll never use. It's all a matter of stewardship and how much you actually need a set of commentaries or encyclopedias or any other thing. For the longest I struggled whether to buy the Nelson's Reference Bundle when the third party had it for $399 but then I realized: "If I don't use all of what I have now, why add more stuff that I'm not really gonna use." So my take is use a good personalized strategy or game plan to make sure you'll spend your money wisely and spend on resources that you'll actually use and not just be something that will sit there and just be used once or never.
Alright, I guess I really got off topic here, but thanks for reading! LOL
Blessings!
DAL
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Michael Ballai said:
I recently opened up several commentaries to look up something for a message and found every single one of them noted the exact same thing.
Avoiding that is a major criteria for my choice of commentaries.[;)]
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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MJ. Smith said:Michael Ballai said:
I recently opened up several commentaries to look up something for a message and found every single one of them noted the exact same thing.
Avoiding that is a major criteria for my choice of commentaries.
[Y]
Mac Pro (late 2013) OS 12.6.2
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More and more, I'd be at fault for not adding that the absolute best commentary is the Bible. My favorite tool for that is the New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Seems like much of what any commentary does is to bring those references to our attention. The added advantage of the commentary then is to bring other references which one might normally not know about or have at hand,
All of which probably sells more reference works in Logos or print.
The mind of man is the mill of God, not to grind chaff, but wheat. Thomas Manton | Study hard, for the well is deep, and our brains are shallow. Richard Baxter
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Baker exegetical (My fav.)
The Expositors Bible commentary
That's all I have for now. I want more and more commen. but they get so expensive especially that ones that I want.
I love Baker Acad. Seeing most have said that the New International Comm. is their fav. and now I want that!!
I did see that they have verse by verse commentary and I think that is very neat. Going to think about this purchase....
Thanks![:$]
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