Commentaries | Knowable Word

Ten Commandments for Commentary Usage

February 18, 2022 By Peter Krol

The OIA Bible study method ought not be incompatible with rigorous usage of commentaries. But there is an everpresent danger of relying on commentaries more than the text, or of allowing commentaries to prevent you from wrestling with the text as you ought. Therefore the main question for commentary usage is not whether but when.

In the interest of helping you make best use of commentaries in your Bible study, here are ten commandments for your consideration.

You shall not avoid or ignore commentaries from belief in self-sufficiency to study the Scriptures.
You shall not pick up a commentary as soon as Bible study is “hard.”
You shall make every effort to form interpretive conclusions or questions about interpretations before consulting a commentary.
You shall not read only one commentary, but shall invite a plurality of voices into the conversation.
You shall not spend more time reading commentaries than reading and listening to the Bible.
You shall hold your conclusions (and your theological tradition) loosely enough to allow commentaries to compel you back into the text to discover the biblical author’s intentions for his original audience.
You shall not hold all commentaries equal, but shall give greatest weight to those that stimulate greatest interest in the biblical text and its argument. Corollary: You shall resist speculations made by commentators and shall demand the same text-driven arguments from them that you would demand of your friends or that they would demand of you.
You shall distinguish, in the commentaries, between evidence-based observations of the text (such as Hebrew or Greek syntax or wordplay, historical context, or comparative ancient near eastern literature) and reasoned interpretations of the text. You shall remain aware that the first category is more likely to contain factual data that must be accounted for, and the second category is more likely to contain opinions to be weighed and considered alongside alternatives.
You shall not quote a commentator as the final word on an interpretive matter, but must demonstrate your conclusions from the scriptural text itself.
You shall give credit to commentators where appropriate and not try to appear smarter than you are.

Commentaries: Not Whether But When

February 11, 2022 By Peter Krol

Against Commentaries?

One common objection to the OIA method of Bible study is that it trains people to think they can interpret the Bible on their own, in a vacuum, apart from history, tradition, or scholarship. Just me and my Bible; that’s all I need. And the more exciting and novel my interpretation, the better.

I can understand when folks feel they must register this objection. On this blog, we’ve certainly gone out of our way to advise against becoming a commentary junkie. We’ve labeled them “false authorities.” We’ve likened them to gasoline, which is poisonous if you drink it straight instead of sloshing it into a working engine.

And sadly, some folks have heard us advising them to avoid commentaries altogether. Despite recommending them, listing them among our main tools, and labeling avoidance of them as the #1 mistake with respect to them.

By No Means!

So let me affirm with frank directness: I’m not sure I could study the Bible well without commentaries. I commend, with utmost fervency, the practice of utilizing them. And I believe that the person who has access to quality commentaries but refuses to make use of them is playing the fool.

So I agree that rejection of commentaries is an error to avoid. However, my experience has bellowed at me that a far more frequent commentary error is not their disuse but their misuse. In the name of staying connected with Christian tradition and avoiding me-and-Jesus-ism, masses of otherwise thoughtful followers of Jesus engage repeatedly in the unexamined and unreflective commentary binge. All rise! The expert has entered the room and is about to divulge The Truth.

Therefore, the flag we’ve chosen to wave on this blog—more than its sibling flag which likewise deserves to waltz with the wind—is the flag of suspicious caution toward commentary usage. The flag of “but what does the text say?” The flag of “observe and interpret the text and don’t merely observe and interpret the commentary.”

Not Whether But When

In short, my recommendation regarding commentaries boils down to the maxim: not whether but when.

I do not dispute whether we ought to make use of commentaries. By all means, yes, yes, yes! In fact, find a few commentators you have especially benefitted from, and buy everything they’ve written. John Stott is one of those for me. As is Douglas Sean O’Donnell, David Helm, and James B. Jordan. I’ve been recently persuaded that Dale Ralph Davis could potentially join this little club of mine, so I’ve begun snapping up his wares whenever I find them on sale, though I have yet to actually read him. Just take note: Whether you would agree 100% with any commentator’s conclusions is utterly beside the point. But more on that in a moment.

The main issue, as I see it, is not whether but when. When do you read your commentaries? When do you shift your gaze away from the text to attend to what others have said about the text? When do you go rooting for help with thorny issues, or looking for answers to your sincere questions?

And that “when” question is intimately connected to its why. Why do you read your commentaries? If it is to figure out what the proper interpretation of the passage is, we need to do some more work. If it’s because you feel stuck and you still need some good material to lead your next small group, you’ll be better off going back to basics. If it’s because you’re just not sure you can be trusted to understand or teach the text, and you need more expert affirmation to instill confidence, then we need to talk further about whose approval matters most to the student or teacher of the Bible (2 Tim 2:15).

The Implications of Interaction

Here is a simple suggestion: We ought to read commentaries for the same reason we ought to have small groups: Interaction. We need community to study the Bible. And that community can come through the written works of scholars just as much as through the spoken conversation of a small group of people.

And if commentaries are most helpful in getting us to interact with others over the text, commentaries are therefore most beneficial when they are treated as conversation partners and not as the definitive word on a passage. For this reason, I’m not terribly concerned with identifying “good” or “bad” commentaries, in the sense of “which ones line up with my denomination or interpretive tradition?” And I don’t have to buy into everything a commentator says or stands by. If the role of a successful commentary is to further the conversation by driving me into closer examination of the text, I can benefit just as much from a commentator I agree with as from a commentator I disagree with. Sometimes, I’ve even learned more from liberal commentators (who can be shockingly honest about what they observe in a text and about what questions they have about it) than from conservative ones (who sometimes don’t observe as closely when a dearly held theological tradition may be at stake).

As a result, my personal definition of what makes a commentary good or bad is: How much that commentary stimulates me to examine the text more closely and understand the author’s argument more clearly. Whenever I find commentaries that do this to a high degree, I add them to my list of recommendations.

Watch Your Timing

So when is the best time to read a commentary? Not first thing, and not in the first nanosecond a question or roadblock occurs to you, but after you have studied the passage for yourself. How far should you have gone in your study before you read a commentary? I speak for myself and not as a command from the Lord, but I have attempted to discipline myself to refrain from employing commentaries until I have a concrete guess as to the author’s main point in the passage.

Crafting a main point is a major milestone in the OIA process, as it represents the climax of the interpretation phase. From there, we want to connect that main point to the person and work of Jesus Christ before we move into application to head, heart, and hands, inward and outward. But before I start landing strong gospel connections or getting into application, I want to invite skilled conversation partners into the discussion to help me shape and hone what I’ve come up with.

And I devour commentaries that will improve my own observation and interpretation of the text, by showing me how to observe and interpret that text more effectively than I have done myself.

Conclusion

Please understand that the OIA method of Bible study is not about getting away from 2,000 years of history and coming up with novel interpretations all by oneself. Commentaries are crucial, as long as we use them the right way and at the right time.

A Commentator on Proper Use of Commentaries

March 4, 2020 By Peter Krol

Regardless of whether you agree with Tremper Longman on the best way to read the book of Genesis, his advice on how to properly use commentaries is terrific:

There is a right way and a wrong way to use a commentary. Actually, there are two wrong ways. The first is to ignore completely the use of commentaries. Some people do not consult commentaries because they believe that, since all Christians are equal as they approach the Scriptures, scholars have no privileged insight into the biblical text. The second error is to become overly dependent on commentaries. “These people have devoted their whole lives to the study of the Bible. How can my opinion measure up to theirs?”
Those holding the first position are wrong because they forget that God gives different gifts to different people in the Church. Not all people are equally adept at understanding the Bible and teaching it to others (1 Cor 12:12–31). Those holding the second position err in the opposite direction. They forget that God has given believers the Spirit by which they can discern spiritual things (1 Cor 2:14–16).
The right way to use a commentary is as a help. We should first study a passage without reference to any helps. Only after coming to an initial understanding of the passage should we consult commentaries.
Neither should we let commentaries bully us. Many times they will be of great help, but sometimes the reader will be right and the commentaries will be wrong.”

The piece at the Logos blog reflects further on the best use of commentaries.

Check it out!

Don’t be a Commentary Junkie

November 29, 2019 By Ryan Higginbottom

Darren Larson (2006), Creative Commons License

Let’s be honest: a good Bible commentary is awesome. A scholar spends years studying a book of the Bible, gathering wisdom both from centuries of Christian history and from his own encounters with God in his Word. Then you get a chance to peek over his shoulder! Commentaries can be a great blessing from God.

While they can be terrific as a reference, commentaries are a poor substitute for studying the Bible yourself. I understand the temptation to rely on commentaries. The research! The analysis! The footnotes! But when we become enamored with the work of a Bible scholar, we miss out on the beauty of the Bible’s author.

The Lure of the Instant Fix

In this era of the smart phone, we’re used to getting everything quickly, from weather forecasts to bank transactions to pizza delivery. We think waiting five seconds for our email to load is an eternity. So if we feel stuck or lost when studying the Bible, we naturally want immediate aid. Study Bibles appeal to this desire by printing explanations and commentary on the same page as the Bible text. Just shift your eyes three inches for your answer.

But this need for instant gratification can short-circuit our Bible learning. You’d be troubled if your eight-year-old completed her math homework with the answer guide next to her, right? We’re not that much different from the math cheat if we camp out in a Bible commentary without poring over the Bible itself first.

Answers are not the Ultimate Goal

Part of interpreting the Bible is asking questions of the text. And, as much as the text allows, we should try to answer those questions.

But we need to be careful here. An obsession with answering interpretive questions can reveal a misplaced goal. Why are you studying the Bible? If you want to figure everything out, solve tricky theological puzzles, and generally become a Bible genius, you’re pointed in the wrong direction.

The aim of Bible study is love—love for God through his son Jesus, and love for others made in God’s image. Jesus said that all the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matt 22:35–40) If you’re not growing in love as a result of studying the Bible, you’re doing it wrong.

If you skip right to the commentary, you might acquire some temporary knowledge. But if you take a shot at the interpretation first, you are more likely to internalize the author’s main point. This will lead to deeper, Spirit-fueled application.

Five Suggestions

Used in the right way, Bible commentaries can be tremendously valuable. We’ve published two posts which caution against the misuse of commentaries and study Bibles. Let me offer five additional suggestions.

Don’t treat a commentary as an infallible expert. Bible commentaries are written by imperfect sinners like you and me. Always weigh the commentary against the Bible.
Watch out for speculation. A good number of Bible commentators seem prone to this error.
Take advantage of the strengths. Commentaries are usually helpful in developing a book overview and in answering interpretation questions. On the whole, they tend to be less helpful in the realms of observation and application. (Though there are exceptions!)
Recognize the weaknesses. Commentators often have different priorities than you. Don’t be frustrated when a commentary doesn’t address your entire list of unanswered questions.
Choose good commentaries. Though the most trustworthy recommendations come from friends, I’ve found Best Commentaries to be a helpful resource.

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Let’s Think Straight About Commentaries

September 11, 2019 By Peter Krol

Christine Gordon and Hope Blanton have written a thoughtful piece on the role of commentaries in Bible study: “Yes, Bring Commentaries to Bible Study.” I appreciate their willingness to push back on an idea we’ve trumpeted on this blog (though I doubt they have our blog specifically in mind):

Others have been warned that commentaries present a direct danger to their personal Bible study. Naysayers caution Christians that reading the words of others may prevent them from thinking their own thoughts and coming to their own conclusions about Scripture. The vital steps of observing the text and interpreting it for ourselves, they worry, may be missed if we allow others to do it for us.

The objection is initially well-stated: Commentaries indeed pose a direct danger to personal Bible study. I would only clarify that the danger is not that we’d allow commentaries to do the vital steps of observing and interpreting for us. The real danger is that the vital steps of observing and interpreting the text would go undone altogether—yet we wouldn’t notice on account of the secure embrace we feel from the opinions of the experts.

This is why we are more than eager to recommend good commentaries that promote observation, interpretation, and application of the text. We must remember that a commentary is like gasoline. It will get you where you want to go, if you possess a working engine. But if you’re prone to drinking it straight, you ought to label it as poison.

And this gets at the overwhelming agreement I have with Gordon and Blanton. Because they arrive at the same place I do, even if they’re more sensitive to different dangers along the way than I am:

Instead of preventing beneficial study, good commentaries can protect us from heretical interpretations, correct our personal biases, and help us come to the conclusions God intended when he wrote his Word. When used judiciously, these resources give rich, deep material for the Bible student, leading to informed observation, accurate interpretation, and appropriate personal application.
Commentaries also give us windows into the historical context of the people to whom the books were written…
Yes, we must still do the work of observing and interpreting the text. But with commentaries we can do so in an informed way, with a clearer understanding of the way the first hearers would’ve understood the passage…
Just as you would carefully select a Bible teacher or pastor for orthodoxy and trustworthiness, so you must be deliberate in your use of commentaries…
Read the Bible passage multiple times. Linger there before you open the commentary. Get a good idea of the story, teaching, or principles. Try to form a few questions—things you don’t understand or ideas you’d like to investigate. Then bring these questions to your commentary. Commentary writers—your brothers and sisters who have labored to understand the Word in a detailed and careful way—will help to clarify the text and encourage you as you read.

I couldn’t agree more if such regulations were shouted at me from atop Mounts Ebal and Gerizim. If more people used commentaries this way, I would lay my cloak at their feet to ease their journey. If it were the case that people used commentaries as conversation partners with regard to the text, instead of as teachers independent of the text, the world would be a happier place.

Gordon and Blanton model such wise use of commentaries for us. They give examples of how commentaries can help us to to find answers to our interpretive questions that are assumed in the text. I might argue that some of their other benefits of commentaries could simply be acquired by studying the text in context—though, once again, good commentaries will be helpful conversation partners, pointing out arguments or trains of thought we may have missed. There remains much to commend in this article.

Check it out!

5 False Authorities in Small Group Bible Study

August 19, 2019 By Ryan Higginbottom

Who’s in charge here? In government, family, and church, this question has sparked controversy aplenty throughout history.

In small group Bible studies, we have a similar question before us every time we gather. What’s our authority? What quotes do we share? To whom do we appeal? How do we handle disagreements?

For both leaders and small group members, our answers reveal our allegiances. And misplaced allegiances may short-circuit our learning or stunt our growth as Christians.

False Authorities

When small group members differ on a matter of interpretation, how is the question settled? To what authority do you and your friends appeal?

Our conviction here at Knowable Word is that God is the absolute and perfect authority, and he has revealed himself and declared his will through the Bible. The Bible speaks as an authority, and all humanity is called to submit their thoughts, plans, and interpretations of reality to God’s Word.

Despite the absolute authority of God’s word, we often rely on other helpful people and resources more than the Bible. Let’s examine five false authorities that emerge in small group studies.

A Respected Preacher or Pastor

There may be an author or preacher who has well-known thoughts on the topic your group is discussing. (This may be your own pastor!) A member of your small group may invoke this leader’s opinion on the matter when making their appeal.

Like much in life, quotations vary in their helpfulness. As a small group leader, I may share a quote when I find someone has a more powerful or elegant way of making my point. But if a quotation is not rooted in the biblical text, the appeal may be to eloquence or reputation instead of to the Bible.

The Small Group Leader

In an ideal small group Bible study, the leader does not function as an authority or expert. Rather, the small group leader guides the group in understanding and applying the Bible.

Attempting to answer every question is a dangerous approach to small group leadership. Small groups thrive when each member is grappling with the text, sharing observations, discussing interpretations, and praying together about applications.

Church Tradition

The historical tradition of a church or denomination can help us interpret Scripture. But tradition should never replace studying the Bible itself. The best sort of church tradition leads us back to the text, not away from it.

Group Consensus

Healthy small groups leave room for questions, further explanations, and repetition. No one should feel bad for having difficulty understanding the Bible, and no one should feel small for asking questions.

Many of the best discussions in my small groups have occurred when most of the group seemed ready to move on. But one person had a question they couldn’t shake. This forced us to examine a standard or easy interpretation of a passage.

Good leaders welcome questions that point back to the text, no matter when they arise.

Commentaries and Study Bibles

It’s happened more times than I can count. In response to a question in Sunday school or small group, someone notices an entry in their study Bible that addresses the issue head-on.

They read the entry and the discussion is over. After all, who would question a study Bible? Some people feel as though they’re questioning the Bible itself!

Small group leaders can make the same error when appealing to a commentary. It’s a discussion killer, and it often leads to no further insight or skill for those involved.

Again, I’m not against quoting other sources. But quotations which help with interpretations should make their arguments from the text of the Bible.

(As an aside, if you have a problem with study-Bible-answers in your small group, you might consider using ESV Scripture Journals for your next study and banning all other Bibles. Seriously.)

True Authority

God has given us other Christians—past and present—as a gift. As we learn about God from these other saints, we receive God’s gift with thanksgiving.

But we honor God most when we view these gifts in their proper place. Our leaders, resources, and traditions should all be used in service of the authority of God in his word. The more we demonstrate that the Bible has the answers we need, the more we remind each other that God’s word is knowable.

Behind the Scenes: My Bible Study Tools and Process

July 22, 2019 By Ryan Higginbottom

Studying the Bible is hard, holy work.

The tools we use for this work are not holy, but neither are they incidental. As we grow and mature we find different Bibles, different processes, and different translations that offer just the help we need at that time.

At the risk of navel gazing, my goal in this post is to let you into my Bible study workshop. I’ll describe the tools and process I use to prepare a small group Bible study.

This is one workshop among many. (My co-blogger Peter has written about this too.) My example is not meant for blind imitation, but I hope some readers may find some inspiration here. I should also note that my personal preferences are in flux. I have adopted some of my work flow within the past four months.

Tools

I use six main tools when studying the Bible and preparing for my small group.

An audio Bible. In my early exposure to the passage I’m studying, I like to listen to the Bible. A lot.
A markup Bible. My current markup Bible is a template of my own design. I copy the text from Bible Gateway into a Word document with fat margins (three inches on each side and two inches on the bottom). This gives me plenty of room for notes, arrows, and symbols.
Colored pencils. I use cheap colored pencils to mark up the Bible text. Color coordination helps me locate repetition and connections.
A Bible commentary. This one’s fairly self-explanatory.
A journal and pen. I need to write in order to understand a Bible passage. I grab a nearby notebook or journal.
Multiple Bible translations. I read the passage in multiple translations at Bible Gateway before my small group meets. (I make a point to consult the translations that my small group members prefer.)

My Process

With my tools in hand, these are the eight steps I take to prepare a small group Bible study lesson.

Before I do anything, I pray. I am weak and full of sin, and I am approaching God’s holy word. I need his help!
My first step is to print out my markup Bible. Simple enough.
Next, I listen to and read the Bible passage a bunch. My goal is to discover and understand the structure of the passage. (I recently wrote about how helpful it was to read a passage 25 times.) I listen to or read the Bible passage at least ten times before I make a single mark on the page.
Now it’s time for Bible study. Using the markup Bible, colored pencils, and a pen, I dive into the Observe-Interpret-Apply (OIA) Bible study method. I make a ton of observations on the paper, and these lead me to interpretive questions, which I also write next to the text. I use the right-hand margin of the paper for these notes.
At this point I try to answer the interpretive questions from the text. I outline the passage according to the central ideas of each paragraph and land on an overall main point. I force myself to make notes about the passage before reading any commentaries. I also write down the primary questions I’d like to learn from the commentary.
Next, I read the commentary. If I found the passage confusing, I’ll spend a lot of time interacting with the commentary. If it was an easier passage, I might skim the commentary or skip it altogether. I write notes from the commentary in the left-hand margin of my markup Bible.
It’s time for more writing. I try to identify the main point of each section of the passage and then the overall main point. (This will use my work from step 5 as well as what I learned in step 6.) I list how my interpretation of the passage connects to Jesus and I think through application. Finally, I write a launching question for my small group.
The last step is to create my leader’s notes for the small group meeting. This is a list of questions to help my friends discover the main point of the passage and discuss application. This is also when I read the passage in different translations, although I may do this earlier if the passage is especially thorny.

One Model Among Many

What I’ve outlined above is just one model among many. Some of it may work for you and some may not. And if what you’re doing already is working for you, you shouldn’t feel any need to change.

Don’t focus on the tools. Get and use the tools that will help you focus on the Bible.

Recommended Commentaries that Model Good Bible Study

June 14, 2019 By Peter Krol

A good commentary is like gasoline. If you possess a working engine, it will get you where you want to go. But if you’re prone to drinking it straight, you’re better off labeling it as poison.

Alin S (2013), Creative Commons

This is why I and others warn against common but dangerous mistakes when using commentaries. We urge you not to awaken or arouse your study Bibles until the time is right. We’re committed to helping you break the addiction. We’d like to see our generation less dependent on so many Bible curricula and discipleship materials. We’re delighted when others promote the same cause.

However, please don’t think I’m against commentaries. Sure, I occasionally use strong language, but it’s because I care about you. I blog to help you build a good Bible study engine, and I want to help you see the connection between your unquenchable thirst and your choice of beverage. Don’t drink the gasoline!

I devour commentaries. I read them for the same reason I attend Bible studies: I can’t do this by myself, and I need the Christian community to help me know God better. The right commentaries stimulate me, provoking a fanatical compulsion to investigate the text.

The wrong commentaries make me feel like my 6-year-old daughter, who, on a 3-mile bike ride around town, despaired at every uphill stretch. Before long, she was calling down imprecations on herself and all she held dear: “I wish I didn’t even have a bike!” Substitute “a bike” with “this volume,” and you’ve got my sense when I spend good money on something that offers little more than word histories, cross references, and catalogues of debates between older commentators.

An excellent commentary, who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. And many websites and book lists and blog series exist to help you pluck the gems from the sediment. But it’s still hard to find a good match without consistent criteria to help you decide.

So I’ve created a page on the resources section of this site, recommending commentaries that model good Bible study. By “good Bible study,” I mean the following:

observing the text carefully (not merely telling us what others have said about the text)
taking note of literary devices
making interpretive decisions primarily from the text and not merely by scholarly consensus
showing, not merely telling, their conclusions
spelling out the author’s train of thought (focusing more on logic and meaning than on words, etymology, or cross references)
focusing on the author’s main points (without getting distracted by every possible debate on isolated words or phrases)
showing a conviction that the text will change our lives, both individually and corporately

Not every commentary I recommend will do all 7 things well, but I’ll look for a preponderance of evidence. And I award bonus points when the gospel of Jesus Christ takes center stage.

Now, before you click the button, please promise me you won’t misuse the list. Commit yourself to studying the text yourself. After you have guessed at the author’s main point and attempted to apply it, your engine will be thirsty and ready for a refill. You’ll get far more out of these commentaries if you don’t rely on them to do the work for you.

Are you ready? Do you promise? Take me to the page!

3 Rules for Using Commentaries

April 3, 2019 By Peter Krol

The Logos Talk blog has a great, brief article with “3 Rules for Using Commentaries.” These rules are similar to the “4 Mistakes When Using Commentaries,” which I posted in 2012. But the Logos post goes into more helpful detail.

The 3 rules are:

Bring opinions to the commentary.
Bring questions to the commentary.
Bring out a variety of commentaries.

These are great rules. If we don’t bring our own opinions, we allow the commentary to do our thinking for us. If we don’t bring our questions, we may spend a lot of time looking up irrelevant information. And if we don’t bring out a variety of commentaries, we’ll be simpletons, easily persuaded by one man’s opinion.

My favorite part of the article is when the authors describe their seminary professors, who prohibited commentary usage until the students had done their own work first. The reason?

They wanted us to converse with commentaries, not merely listen to them.

Great advice! Check it out!

Not By Sermons and Books Alone

June 14, 2017 By Peter Krol

Following up on last week’s “check it out,” John Piper was asked if he plans to write a commentary on the Bible. After saying no, he elaborates:

I suppose there is a kind of commentary that would put the emphasis on helping people find the meaning themselves. That’s the kind I would want to write if I wrote a commentary, because there’s a deep conviction behind this; namely, that over the long haul, strong Christians are created not by sermons and by books alone, but by a personal encounter with the word of God, the Bible itself.

Piper goes on to explain what sort of questions he’d like to see commentaries (and the people who read them) ask.

It’s a great, short answer to an excellent question. Check it out!

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