I mentioned two weeks ago that on the last day of a preaching seminar I was in, the professor (Frank Thielman) gave us a book recommendation list, and I thought many of you might be interested in seeing what he recommended for preachers. I shared his recommendations of books on hermeneutics, and today I will post the commentary series on his list. Other categories to come will be individual commentaries and books on biblical theology, New Testament theology, and New Testament background, followed by lists of linguistic tools and internet resources. [In most cases below, I included the hyperlink for the commentary on Matthew, but with some of them you can buy the complete set online]

New International Commentary on the New Testament (Eerdmans)

New International Greek Testament Commentary (Eerdmans)

Professor’s note: Of this list of commentary sets, this series is the “most consistently substantive,” and it is “mostly evangelical.”

International Critical Commentary (T&T Clark)

The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Eerdmans)

For what it’s worth, I love these commentaries. They’re scholarly, yet not overly technical, and they’re also readable—all from a conservative, evangelical perspective.

Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Baker)

Professor’s note: This series “has a few weak books.”

 

To this list I would add these two commentary sets:

The New American Commentary (Broadman and Holman)

The commentaries in this series are written from a Baptist perspective—they’re conservative and generally quite helpful. They were included in the Logos software package I bought several years back, and I almost always consult them before I teach or preach on a passage.

Truth for Today Commentary (Resource Publications)

As far as brotherhood commentary series go, I recommend these. They are generally helpful, though not as technical and deep as some of the others mentioned above. Eddie Cloer is the General Editor.

 

 

Some other good stuff I ran across recently:

Alberta, Canada’s Progressive New Government Bans the Words “Mother” and “Father” in Schools by Charlotte Allen (iwf.org)

Just when I think people can’t get any more ridiculous, I see something like this. Are we losing our minds?

Patient Parenting by David Murray (headhearthand.org)

I think probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done is to be a parent. You want more than anything for your kids to grow up to love Jesus, and you get stressed and anxious when they shows signs of immaturity or rebellion. Sometimes, Murray tells us, you just have to wait.

Don’t have time to read books? Try this one weird trick by Justin Taylor (thegospelcoalition.org)

The title is a little click-bait-ish, but this very short article actually has some good advice.

5 Books You Should Read This Election Year by Trevin Wax (thegospelcoalition.org)

I usually try to keep politics out of my preaching—though you may disagree with that—because I don’t want to imply that God’s kingdom work depends on who is elected in November. And I also want to avoid some of the seemingly faithless hand-wringing that inevitably happens when the wrong people win at the ballot box. Having said that, Christians need to reflect on what kind of responsibility we have to our culture, and these books help us sort through the issues that are involved. I’ve been intending to read the last one on this list anyway, so I went ahead and ordered it.