A commentary is a useful resource that gives an interpretive rationalization of a biblical e book or books. It usually gives detailed exegesis of particular passages, surveys a e book’s bigger construction and argument, and engages with introductory issues equivalent to authorship and viewers.
Whereas extra detailed, prolonged commentaries are sometimes useful, generally you could simply want a fast, dependable information to make clear a troublesome passage, sketch its interpretive choices, or present its fundamental historic and literary context. That is exactly what a single-volume commentary does properly. Whether or not you’re getting ready to steer a small group, eager to complement your private Bible studying, or just want a fast reference on a troublesome textual content, a single-volume commentary presents a concise but knowledgeable survey of each e book of Scripture, all inside one manageable useful resource.
With that in thoughts, listed below are ten of one of the best single-volume commentaries on the Bible in response to our Logos neighborhood. This listing spans a variety of theological traditions, scholarly approaches, and supposed audiences.
Voted considered one of Christianity Right now’s 1995 Books of the Yr, essentially the most regularly really useful single-volume commentary was The New Bible Commentary (NBC).
Quite than counting on a single writer to discover each nook of Scripture, the NBC assembles a roster of specialists, every contributing commentary on the books inside their specific space of experience. The result’s that whether or not you’re within the Psalms, the Pauline Epistles, or the Minor Prophets, you’re all the time listening to from somebody who has spent a profession finding out that materials. Contributors embody Bruce Waltke, Leon Morris, Douglas Moo, Howard Marshall, and plenty of others, representing a number of the most outstanding names in evangelical scholarship over the previous half century.
I learn via this commentary together with my private Bible for one 12 months in seminary, and I nonetheless regularly reference it. It doesn’t require any technical coaching to utilize it. But it doesn’t draw back from substantive engagement with main interpretive questions. Every e book receives introductory materials protecting authorship, date, setting, and main themes, alongside section-by-section commentary that retains the bigger context in view. As considered one of our customers mentioned,
“It is a nice useful resource for getting the massive image of how a verse suits into its bigger context of a paragraph, chapter, part, and so forth.”
—Daniel Radke
Written by the school of Dallas Theological Seminary, the BKC displays the varsity’s dedication to a conservative, literal, and historical-grammatical strategy to Scripture. Its distinctive contribution, then, lies in its constant software of the pretribulational, premillennial, and dispensational theology attribute of Dallas, though it presents different evangelical views the place scholarly disagreement exists.
It’s designed for pastors, laypersons, Bible lecturers, and severe college students in search of complete but concise biblical commentary. Though I suppose together with it right here is dishonest (shush, don’t inform!), as a result of it’s really two volumes: one on the OT and the opposite on the NT.
Produced by school at Moody Bible Institute, this commentary occupies related theological territory to the BKC—conservative, evangelical, and dispensational. It has earned a fame as a reliable first cease earlier than reaching for extra specialised sources. See what our customers needed to say:
“It’s my first go-to earlier than trying on the relaxation.”
—Michael Ballai
“It’s remarkably filled with helpful and updated materials. It’s an everyday trustworthy go-to.”
—Dan Phillips
Written by the late William MacDonald (1917–2007), a Plymouth Brethren trainer and theologian, this work covers each e book of the Bible in a heat, devotionally wealthy fashion that makes it helpful for private studying and preparation for instructing.
“Concise but complete—essentially the most full single-volume commentary I’ve seen.”
—John MacArthur
For readers in search of engagement with the complete breadth of recent biblical scholarship, the Eerdmans Commentary is a strong choice. Written by world-class contributors, it covers the sixty-six books of the Protestant canon together with the Apocrypha, making it unusually complete in scope. It tends towards extra substantial commentary than a lot of its rivals within the single-volume house, though it’s nonetheless written with nontechnical language for broader accessibility. Certainly one of our customers had this to say:
“This quantity consistently appears to supply nice perception and way more verbose commentary than you usually get in a one-volume.”
—Dan Francis
Produced by greater than seventy African biblical students, the Africa Bible Commentary was written in Africa and for Africa, however with insights meant for the worldwide church, as properly.
For readers from different cultural backgrounds, its best worth could lie exactly in its distinction: It surfaces views, purposes, and interpretive emphases that Western commentaries could extra routinely overlook. As our neighborhood member expressed:
“The actual fact that the ABC is from a unique tradition from my very own implies that it usually attracts out factors and purposes that I miss.”
—Liam Maguire
A second version is at the moment on its approach.
This New Testomony commentary brings collectively students from various ethnic backgrounds who mix rigorous exegesis with consciousness of how our personal social location shapes—and might enrich—our collective studying of Scripture. In different phrases, this quantity operates from a conviction that theological orthodoxy and multicultural interpretation work collectively.
“This ‘library-in-a-book’ displays the gorgeous mosaic of a many-colored hermeneutic.”
—Ninjay Gupta
“God’s Phrase will likely be extra faithfully understood when the colourful tapestry of God’s creation of a number of cultures and peoples is embraced.”
—Eric Barreto
For readers eager to broaden the vary of voices they seek the advice of, it is a distinctive and precious useful resource.
For individuals who recognize John MacArthur’s instructing ministry, this single-volume commentary presents a distilled exposition from considered one of America’s foremost twenty-first-century preachers. It displays his attribute theological convictions (Calvinist and dispensational) and his dedication to cautious, verse-by-verse engagement with the textual content.
Uncover what makes Logos Editions extra highly effective than customary commentaries. Begin your free trial!
This quantity is an abridgment of the acclaimed NIVAC commentary collection, lengthy acknowledged for its distinctive three-part strategy to every passage: understanding a textual content’s authentic which means, bridging the hole between the traditional and modern contexts, and reflecting on sensible software. The one-volume version condenses that content material right into a concise, accessible, and sensible useful resource, making it a robust alternative for pastors, lecturers, and anybody who desires to know not solely what a textual content meant however what it means for us as we speak.
Now in its third version, this commentary examines each e book of the Bible, together with the Apocrypha, with specific consideration to implications for a way ladies and different marginalized figures are portrayed. Written by a number of the prime feminist students, this work employs a feminist studying to contemplate what varied passages reveal about gender, sexuality, and energy dynamics. Moreover, it consists of essays on issues just like the reception historical past of ladies within the Bible and the feminist crucial technique.
Associated content material
A commentary is a useful resource that gives an interpretive rationalization of a biblical e book or books. It usually gives detailed exegesis of particular passages, surveys a e book’s bigger construction and argument, and engages with introductory issues equivalent to authorship and viewers.
Whereas extra detailed, prolonged commentaries are sometimes useful, generally you could simply want a fast, dependable information to make clear a troublesome passage, sketch its interpretive choices, or present its fundamental historic and literary context. That is exactly what a single-volume commentary does properly. Whether or not you’re getting ready to steer a small group, eager to complement your private Bible studying, or just want a fast reference on a troublesome textual content, a single-volume commentary presents a concise but knowledgeable survey of each e book of Scripture, all inside one manageable useful resource.
With that in thoughts, listed below are ten of one of the best single-volume commentaries on the Bible in response to our Logos neighborhood. This listing spans a variety of theological traditions, scholarly approaches, and supposed audiences.
Voted considered one of Christianity Right now’s 1995 Books of the Yr, essentially the most regularly really useful single-volume commentary was The New Bible Commentary (NBC).
Quite than counting on a single writer to discover each nook of Scripture, the NBC assembles a roster of specialists, every contributing commentary on the books inside their specific space of experience. The result’s that whether or not you’re within the Psalms, the Pauline Epistles, or the Minor Prophets, you’re all the time listening to from somebody who has spent a profession finding out that materials. Contributors embody Bruce Waltke, Leon Morris, Douglas Moo, Howard Marshall, and plenty of others, representing a number of the most outstanding names in evangelical scholarship over the previous half century.
I learn via this commentary together with my private Bible for one 12 months in seminary, and I nonetheless regularly reference it. It doesn’t require any technical coaching to utilize it. But it doesn’t draw back from substantive engagement with main interpretive questions. Every e book receives introductory materials protecting authorship, date, setting, and main themes, alongside section-by-section commentary that retains the bigger context in view. As considered one of our customers mentioned,
“It is a nice useful resource for getting the massive image of how a verse suits into its bigger context of a paragraph, chapter, part, and so forth.”
—Daniel Radke
Written by the school of Dallas Theological Seminary, the BKC displays the varsity’s dedication to a conservative, literal, and historical-grammatical strategy to Scripture. Its distinctive contribution, then, lies in its constant software of the pretribulational, premillennial, and dispensational theology attribute of Dallas, though it presents different evangelical views the place scholarly disagreement exists.
It’s designed for pastors, laypersons, Bible lecturers, and severe college students in search of complete but concise biblical commentary. Though I suppose together with it right here is dishonest (shush, don’t inform!), as a result of it’s really two volumes: one on the OT and the opposite on the NT.
Produced by school at Moody Bible Institute, this commentary occupies related theological territory to the BKC—conservative, evangelical, and dispensational. It has earned a fame as a reliable first cease earlier than reaching for extra specialised sources. See what our customers needed to say:
“It’s my first go-to earlier than trying on the relaxation.”
—Michael Ballai
“It’s remarkably filled with helpful and updated materials. It’s an everyday trustworthy go-to.”
—Dan Phillips
Written by the late William MacDonald (1917–2007), a Plymouth Brethren trainer and theologian, this work covers each e book of the Bible in a heat, devotionally wealthy fashion that makes it helpful for private studying and preparation for instructing.
“Concise but complete—essentially the most full single-volume commentary I’ve seen.”
—John MacArthur
For readers in search of engagement with the complete breadth of recent biblical scholarship, the Eerdmans Commentary is a strong choice. Written by world-class contributors, it covers the sixty-six books of the Protestant canon together with the Apocrypha, making it unusually complete in scope. It tends towards extra substantial commentary than a lot of its rivals within the single-volume house, though it’s nonetheless written with nontechnical language for broader accessibility. Certainly one of our customers had this to say:
“This quantity consistently appears to supply nice perception and way more verbose commentary than you usually get in a one-volume.”
—Dan Francis
Produced by greater than seventy African biblical students, the Africa Bible Commentary was written in Africa and for Africa, however with insights meant for the worldwide church, as properly.
For readers from different cultural backgrounds, its best worth could lie exactly in its distinction: It surfaces views, purposes, and interpretive emphases that Western commentaries could extra routinely overlook. As our neighborhood member expressed:
“The actual fact that the ABC is from a unique tradition from my very own implies that it usually attracts out factors and purposes that I miss.”
—Liam Maguire
A second version is at the moment on its approach.
This New Testomony commentary brings collectively students from various ethnic backgrounds who mix rigorous exegesis with consciousness of how our personal social location shapes—and might enrich—our collective studying of Scripture. In different phrases, this quantity operates from a conviction that theological orthodoxy and multicultural interpretation work collectively.
“This ‘library-in-a-book’ displays the gorgeous mosaic of a many-colored hermeneutic.”
—Ninjay Gupta
“God’s Phrase will likely be extra faithfully understood when the colourful tapestry of God’s creation of a number of cultures and peoples is embraced.”
—Eric Barreto
For readers eager to broaden the vary of voices they seek the advice of, it is a distinctive and precious useful resource.
For individuals who recognize John MacArthur’s instructing ministry, this single-volume commentary presents a distilled exposition from considered one of America’s foremost twenty-first-century preachers. It displays his attribute theological convictions (Calvinist and dispensational) and his dedication to cautious, verse-by-verse engagement with the textual content.
Uncover what makes Logos Editions extra highly effective than customary commentaries. Begin your free trial!
This quantity is an abridgment of the acclaimed NIVAC commentary collection, lengthy acknowledged for its distinctive three-part strategy to every passage: understanding a textual content’s authentic which means, bridging the hole between the traditional and modern contexts, and reflecting on sensible software. The one-volume version condenses that content material right into a concise, accessible, and sensible useful resource, making it a robust alternative for pastors, lecturers, and anybody who desires to know not solely what a textual content meant however what it means for us as we speak.
Now in its third version, this commentary examines each e book of the Bible, together with the Apocrypha, with specific consideration to implications for a way ladies and different marginalized figures are portrayed. Written by a number of the prime feminist students, this work employs a feminist studying to contemplate what varied passages reveal about gender, sexuality, and energy dynamics. Moreover, it consists of essays on issues just like the reception historical past of ladies within the Bible and the feminist crucial technique.
Associated content material
