Commentary Recommendations: Your advice is sought...

Baker Exegetical for sure!

Joshua Garcia said:

Baker Exegetical for sure!

As for a mere practical reason, BEC has a huge update ready to come out of pre-pub which lets me know Baker is still behind the series in Logos.  Its been on Pre-pub for around 6 months however (since 6/28/11).

I have all those commentaries (apart from Baker OT which is still on prepub). Given what you already have, I'd rank them in this order:

1. Zondervan Illustrated Background Commentary
2. NIV Application Commentary
3. Baker Exegetical
4. IVP NTC

My logic here is to rank higher sets that give you something you don't already have. If I was ranking purely by value, Baker would be top and ZIBC would be second. However, Baker is pretty similar to Pillar both in scope, theological perspective and quality. Although it's useful having both, I think there would be more value in having something different. I love the ZIBC, despite the price. I'm also a big fan of NIVAC for preaching. I tend to use it near the end of sermon prep, after I've done the heavy lifting. It often sparks ideas for application. Although you get a bit of that in NAC and Tyndale, you're currently weighted more heavily towards pure exegesis, and that might rebalance things a bit for you. I put IVP NTC last because it's similar to Tyndale in scope, and theological perspective, though not quite the quality (in my view).

For sheer value for money, I'd be very tempted to add the Bible Speaks Today set in, and certainly choose it over IVPNTC. Some volumes in that set are exceptional (e.g. Stott on 1 John).

You already have a nice set of tools for your preaching style. I am not presently a preacher but I think Mark Barnes' recommendations are best in your situation.

Mark Barnes said:

I have all those commentaries (apart
from Baker OT which is still on prepub). Given what you already have,
I'd rank them in this order:

1. Zondervan Illustrated Background Commentary
2. NIV Application Commentary
3. Baker Exegetical
4. IVP NTC

My logic here is to rank higher sets that give you something you
don't already have. If I was ranking purely by value, Baker would be top
and ZIBC would be second. However, Baker is pretty similar to Pillar
both in scope, theological perspective and quality. Although it's useful
having both, I think there would be more value in having something
different. I love the ZIBC,

Dan DeVilder said:

One commentary you didn't mention (maybe you have), that I would recommend as "something different/additional" that might prove very useful is the already mentioned: Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, edited by Carson and Beale.  Simply outstanding.  Helps give breadth to, especially, New Testament exegesis and exposition.

[Y]I Picked this up on a Logos sale a year or so ago and have been very pleased with it. It fills a unique spot.

Hi Mark!
In keeping with some of what has been implied in this thread, so much depends on your preaching/teaching style and the method you use to prepare. I highly value Baker Exegetical and the Zondervan Illustrated Backgrounds series... but I really don't care for the NIV Application series. I was familiar with it (non-Logos) and every time I have read a portion, I have not enjoyed it. Whenever it comes on sale (I could have gotten it very cheaply when Zondervan was moving over to Logos as a former Pradis user), I have tried to reevaluate it... but I always come to the same place. Its just not for me. I feel that it (by its nature) tends to pull me towards a particular applicational interpretation... and generally I find that that application ISN'T helpful to my context or at all where the Lord was wanting to lead me. So I find that I am either continually struggling against it, putting that application out of my mind, or that it dampens my ability to hear the Spirit speaking to me when I come to that stage of preparation. And beyond that applicational perspective, it really doesn't offer anything to me that other commentaries don't offer far better. (I often have the same issue with the Life Application series). SO I prefer not having it in my library. But again, the caveat is that it depends on your method of sermon/lesson preparation.  I much rather gain the deepest possible understanding of the text, and then to spend the time in prayer to allow the Lord to express how He is calling me to apply it to my life and to the context of my audience.

I wish I could recall, but there is a good website that reviews commentaries and lists those that are considered the best for each biblical book. I've found it helpful, but as I now have the commentaries I want and need, I haven't consulted it for a while and don't recall the address. I'm sure there are some folks here who know it readily and can advise.

Best wishes on your decision!!

Mark Stevens said:

Is the NIVAC good or just okay?

It is uneven, like all sets. Karen Jobes on Esther (sadly not in Logos yet) is incredibly good, but most I would rate a 3-4 out of 5. Bock on Luke, Blomberg on 1 Corinthians, Hafemann on 2 Corinthians, Thielmann on Philippians, Garland on Colossians, Guthrie on Hebrews, are all pretty good. But again, what I appreciate most about NIVAC is that it gives me something I don't really get elsewhere, that is the combination of informed exegesis and practical application. Usually it's just one or the other, and I appreciate that NIVAC gives me both.

If you're read Carson's commentary survey you'll see that he doesn't really like NIVAC:

The NIV Application Commentary series (/Zondervan) provides fairly lightweight commentaries, easily accessible, that are then filled out by application of various kinds. At one level this aim is commendable: it works against the view that biblical interpretation has the right to remain a cool and distanced discipline with the interpreter standing over the text. Yet there are converse dangers. Shallow handling of the Word coupled with immediate application may unwittingly foster the view that Scripture has primarily utilitarian value. The applications themselves may be driven by many different agendas, so that false connections are constructed between text and application. Lazy preachers may so rely on the applications provided by this series that they fail to devote themselves to the hard work of cultural reflection and appropriate application—just as lazy preachers may so rely on the immediate conclusions of commentaries in general that they never really learn how to do exegesis. Once its limitations and dangers are acknowledged, however, this series can be a useful pump-primer in the move from text to application.

But you'll see that he criticises it on principle, rather an on quality. If you're not a lazy preacher, and will turn to NIVAC late in your sermon prep, after you've done the hard work already, I agree that it is a useful pump-primer. What's doubly interesting is that when you read his recommendations for individual books of the Bible, you get comments like these:

• Luke:  Darrell L. Bock’s entry to the NIVAC series is one of the stronger volumes
• 1 Corinthians: Craig Blomberg in the NIVAC series (1995, £19.99/$24.99) is perhaps the best of [the recent middle-level commentaries]
• 2 Corinthians: Although I usually do not like the NIVAC contributions very much—too many of their “applications” are slightly forced or trendy—the 2 Corinthians volume by Scott Hafemann is a superior entry
• Philippians: The NIVAC is by Frank Thielman (1995, £13.99/$22.99); it is not flashy, but it is one of the more substantive entries to this series.
• Colossians: On the whole, I have been reticent about the NIVAC, but do not avoid the volume on Colossians by David E. Garland
• Hebrews: The NIVAC contribution by George Guthrie (/1998, £16.99/$27.99) is above average for the series: Guthrie has been working on this epistle for a long time.
• 1Peter: Unlike some volumes in the NIVAC series, Scot McKnight (1996, £13.99/$22.99) does engage in exegesis before moving on to “bridging” and “contemporary significance.”
• 2 Peter: Because he begins with exegesis, the NIVAC volume by Douglas J. Moo (1996, £24.99/$22.99) is worth reading.
• 1-3 John: The NIVAC volume by Gary M. Burge (/1996, $22.99) is sensible, in some ways a breezy American counterpart to John Stott’s TNTC volume

In other words, despite not liking the principle, he actually does like many of the individual volumes.