I'm working on a short sermon series through Luke's gospel. I have read a number of works (select portions). I think that Evans NIBC commentary brings aspects into the picture that I haven't found in the other commentaries. For example, most commentaries deal with the temptation of Christ in the wilderness and mention allusions or parallels to Israel's wandering in the wilderness, or Job's trials or Paul's affliction. It was Craig Evans that pointed out the link to Moses' forty days of fasting and then the proclamation of the law which followed that.
Perhaps another commentator brings this out, but what pastor has time to read them all. The thing I like about this one is that he is to the point and he tries to bring in pertinent points that others don't always bring out.
For pastors/teachers who need a commentary to supplement their exegetical work but who are under a time constraint, this NIBC series generally works really well in that role. It also works well as another view in the mix of several quality commentaries. For Luke, I have found Bock's to be perhaps the best. Even so, I am still checking what Evans says and sometimes find some nuggets worth adding to my notes. Therefore, I heartily recommend this commentary.
I would like to add one caution on Evans. This is an older commentary, and he does not seem to bring out the Already aspect of the Kingdom of God as he comments on Luke. For example, he takes great care to point out that the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in Luke 19 is a 'Royal Entry' with the term King specifically added by Luke to the OT quote for theological emphasis. Yet he goes on to say that because Luke omits the palm branches and other aspects of the entry that may point to the Kingdom's presence, that he has in mind only the Kingship of Jesus, but NOT the Kingdom of God. He then draws the conclusion that Luke must believe that the Kingdom is not in mind...and cites Acts 1:6-7 as his proof for this...but I contend that the Kingdom of God's nature was misunderstood by the disciples and that Jesus Christ inaugurated the Kingdom's presence when he arrived...and established it through his death, burial and resurrection even though the disciples thought he was going to overthrow the Romans. So, I do believe that Evans needs to be supplemented with a commentator who has a stronger 'Already/Not Yet' view of the Kingdom of God.
Having said that, he is packs a lot of nuggets into the material he does give. For a fuller treatment of passages see Joel B. Green or if that's not enough try Darrell L. Bock's two volume set. Where Evans gives a page of material Bock gives 14 to 16 pages.
None of these commentaries bring out preachable or exegetical statements on a regular basis like some commentators do on other books in this series (see Achtemeier's Minor Prophets work for a great example of preaching aids mixed into the commentary in this very same series!)
Having said all of this, you can get some very good ideas for further study in a few minutes of reading on a passage. So I do heartily recommend this commentary for all pastors and bible teachers, students of the word and researchers focused on the English text of Luke.
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Recommended for Pastors
I have only just started using this commentary, so this is obviously a limited review.I have been using it while preaching through some of Jesus' parables, and have found the notes to be helpful and easy to access. I think I'll continue to find it useful for study, and for preparing to teach or preach. It's at least moderately easy to read and use, and I don't think it would require an advanced degree to work through (there hasn't been any Greek used in the sections that I've read).Evans goes through the passages in Luke section by section (e.g. Luke 15:1-32 is covered on pages 231-37), with useful commentary covering smaller groups of verses (such as v 1-2, which takes up roughly 1/3rd of a page), and then some additional notes that often interact with other scholarly work or biblical texts (such as in a short section on v 20 where the passage is connected to Gen 29:13, and Talbert's scholarly work, which is just one of seven short notes found on pg 237).It would also be useful for some academic work, as Evans takes time to share and interact with some other scholarly approaches to the text.I have not needed to use the indexes, but they seem fairly expansive, taking up 34 of the book's 397 pages.This commentary is limited in that it's fairly short, and the Gospel of Luke is a long one. This means that Evans had to go through things fairly quickly, and limited the amount of in-depth detail he could go into. From what I've read, it also lacks any in-depth engagement with the Greek and how the original language might expand our modern understanding of Luke.I purchased this commentary because it was recommended by Fee and Stuart in, "How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth," and I will continue to use it throughout my series on the parables, and in any future preaching that I do in the Gospel of Luke. I just wish it were a little longer and went into a bit more detail. That said, I would recommend it - without hesitation - to other pastors to be used as part of their study material.
