Robert M. Bowman, Jr

An unusually conservative entry in this academically rigorous commentary series. [Full Review]

Collection of papers from a 2008 conference, examining the epistle using a variety of methods. [Full Review]

Recent commentary by an evangelical scholar. [Full Review]

Standard commentary by preeminent evangelical Pauline scholar. [Full Review]

Essays exploring the epistle from African-American perspectives. [Full Review]

Strong evangelical commentary, originally published 1991. [Full Review]

Standard academic commentary by a renowned Roman Catholic NT scholar. [Full Review]

Massive commentary on Paul’s shortest epistle, by Karl Barth’s son. [Full Review]

Still one of the very best commentaries on Philippians, by a well-known evangelical NT scholar. [Full Review]

tandard liberal Protestant academic commentary. [Full Review]

Arguably the best academic monograph on Philippians 2:6-11, one of the most debated passages in the Bible. [Full Review]

New exegetical commentary by a NT professor at Biola University; presents detailed information about the Greek text alongside important background information [Full Review]

Evangelical commentary in this relatively new series. [Full Review]

Excellent, evangelical commentary. [Full Review]

Brand-new, expanded edition of Lincoln’s standard academic, mainline commentary, first published in 1990 and revised in 2003. [Full Review]

Magnum opus of this influential Dallas Seminary professor; an indispensable reference [Full Review]

Perhaps the best recent commentary on the epistle, by an evangelical scholar well known for his earlier work on Ephesians and Colossians. [Full Review]

Detailed evangelical commentary fully engaging textual and literary-critical issues. [Full Review]

Arguably the best mainline, non-conservative commentary on Mark. [Full Review]

Conservative commentary striking an excellent balance of exegetical and theological engagement with the text. [Full Review]

The standard liberal commentary, bringing a wealth of background information to bear but depreciating the historical nature of the Gospel narrative. [Full Review]

Current, meaty commentary by a leading evangelical scholar on the Gospels, featuring a helpful overview of Markan scholarship and an especially lengthy bibliography of secondary literature on Mark. [Full Review]

Best commentary on the Sermon on the Mount. [Full Review]

Most thorough treatment of Matthew’s cultural context, with numerous citations to background literature from both Jewish and Greco-Roman sources. [Full Review]

Best exegetical and theological commentary, a stand-out especially in its handling of the Olivet Discourse. [Full Review]

Best recent commentary, strong on the historical and cultural contexts. [Full Review]

The best non-evangelical, critical commentary. Both Davies and Allison are renowned scholars on Matthew. [Full Review]

Excellent evangelical commentary by the leading Southern Baptist Pauline scholar. [Full Review]

Essays, generally by liberal and secular scholars, exemplifying rhetorical and socio-historical approaches to NT studies and contemporary academic scholarship on the interpretation of Galatians. [Full Review]

Arguably the best evangelical commentary on Galatians, though Schreiner’s is certainly also worthy. [Full Review]

Standard mainline Protestant commentary, generally reflecting the New Perspective on Paul. [Full Review]

Standard mainline Protestant commentary, interpreting the epistle as an “apocalyptic sermon.” [Full Review]

And now for something completely different: Witherington has written a novel about a Corinthian through whose eyes we come to understand Corinth, in the process illuminating our understanding of Paul’s epistles to the church there. [Full Review]

Massive, philosophically and exegetically sophisticated commentary, notable for its standout, vigorous defense of the materiality of the resurrection body in 1 Corinthians 15. [Full Review]

Just published, but reviews suggest this may now be the best commentary on 2 Corinthians. [Full Review]

Standard academic commentary on 2 Corinthians by a renowned neo-evangelical Pauline scholar. [Full Review]

A commentary that focuses on explaining the historical and cultural references and contexts using numerous quotations from ancient sources as well as photographs and other visual aids. [Full Review]

Exegetical commentary by a scholar especially noted for his close reading of the Greek text. [Full Review]

Massive commentary by an evangelical NT scholar. [Full Review]

Best commentary representing mainstream critical scholarship, by a renowned Roman Catholic scholar. [Full Review]

Magisterial commentary by the premier Pentecostal New Testament scholar. [Full Review]

Perhaps the best overall, up-to-date commentary on 1 Corinthians. [Full Review]

Evangelical exegetical and theological commentary that is critical of the approach taken by Dunn and other scholars. [Full Review]

Excellent scholarly commentary by an evangelical scholar, sensitive to theological issues. [Full Review]

One of the very best and most recent commentaries on Romans, critiquing the New Perspective. [Full Review]

Standard liberal commentary, a massive work drawing heavily on ancient literature, making full use of new critical methods, and treating Romans more culturally and ideologically than theologically. [Full Review]

Controversial, stimulating commentary by a neo-evangelical theologian who supports the unconventional view (known as the New Perspective on Paul) of Paul’s critique of first-century Judaism. [Full Review]

Detailed commentary by a Jesuit scholar that supports at crucial points the correctness of the Protestant interpretation. [Full Review]

Excellent recent evangelical commentary providing close exegesis of the Greek text. [Full Review]

Probably the most popular commentary on James, by a scholar even better known for his commentary on Romans; solidly evangelical. [Full Review]

Commentary by a moderate, independently-minded Roman Catholic scholar. Argues for the unity of the epistle, its early date and authorship by the historical James, and against the claim that James and Paul conflicted over faith and works. [Full Review]

Good evangelical commentary; Blomberg has written extensively on New Testament teachings about the rich and the poor, a major theme of the epistle. [Full Review]

Allison, a liberal scholar best known for his work on Matthew, interprets James as a second-century pseudepigraphal text that was critical of Paul. [Full Review]

Following a thorough introduction, noted Southern Baptist NT scholar Schreiner gives a detailed commentary and then concludes with a rich study of the biblical and theological themes in Hebrews. First volume released in a promising new commentary series. [Full Review]

Standard academic reference from a liberal/secular perspective. [Full Review]

“A classical Arminian view” (Grant R. Osborne); “A classical Reformed view” (Buist M. Fanning); “A Wesleyan Arminian view” (Gareth Lee Cockerill); and “A moderate Reformed view” (Randall C. Gleason); conclusion by George H. Guthrie. [Full Review]

Numerous helpful charts regarding the different views on the authorship of the book, historical and religious backgrounds, various interpretive issues, and the like; evangelical. [Full Review]

Towner, an evangelical scholar and leading expert on the Pastoral Epistles, defends Paul’s authorship and exegetes the epistles in detailed engagement with modern scholarship in what may be the longest commentary on the Pastoral Epistles in print. [Full Review]

Not a commentary, but a kind of handbook on interpretation using the Pastoral Epistles as examples; covers the genre of the letters, textual criticism, translation, historical and critical issues, grammatical and lexical study, analyzing the argument, and interpreting the epistles’ theology. [Full Review]

Offers a helpful non-Western perspective on the church issues addressed in the Pastoral Epistles. [Full Review]

Excellent commentary by the moderately evangelical, eminent British NT scholar Marshall, in collaboration with one of the top scholars on the Pastoral Epistles. [Full Review]

Evangelical scholarly essays engaging current issues in the criticism and interpretation of the Pastoral Epistles. [Full Review]

Still one of the very best evangelical commentaries on the epistles, by a Reformed scholar. Defends Pauline authorship while arguing that Luke may have been Paul’s amanuensis. [Full Review]

Jesuit biblical scholar gives a contemporary Roman Catholic scholarly and pastoral perspective on the Pastoral Epistles. [Full Review]

Moderate Roman Catholic scholar expounding the Pastoral Epistles from within the conventional critical view that they were post-Pauline compositions. [Full Review]

Exhaustive, recent evangelical commentary. [Full Review]

A “reception history” commentary, exploring how the epistles impacted religion and culture and in turn how such developments affected contemporary interpretation of the epistles. Note: This commentary is simply too expensive! [Full Review]

Recent, well-done commentary on the epistles by an evangelical scholar teaching in Costa Rica. [Full Review]

Noteworthy commentary by a mainline scholar known for his skill in placing NT writings in the context of classic Greco-Roman literature. This commentary builds on earlier work that Malherbe had done on Thessalonians. [Full Review]

One of the best evangelical commentaries on the epistles. [Full Review]

Evangelical commentary that is generally strong in exegesis but weak in engaging critical scholarship on the epistles [Full Review]

Noteworthy in-depth evangelical commentary. [Full Review]

Mainstream scholarly commentary, dissociating the epistles from the Gospel of John. [Full Review]

Most up-to-date evangelical commentary on the epistles. [Full Review]

Collection of essays representing current mainline/liberal scholarship on the epistles. [Full Review]

Massive commentary (over 800 pages) by the most influential Roman Catholic biblical scholar of the twentieth century (taking a moderately critical approach). [Full Review]

Moderately critical Roman Catholic scholar’s commentary on the epistles. [Full Review]

One of the best recent evangelical commentaries on the epistles; recommended by both Bauckham and Davids. [Full Review]

Perhaps the most popular academic commentary on the epistles; recommended by Clint Arnold, Jerome Neyrey, Seyoon Kim, and Ralph P. Martin. [Full Review]

Moderately conservative study exploring the connections between the epistle of Jude and the historical Jesus. [Full Review]

One of the most often-cited commentaries on the epistles, and justly so; worthy of being on this list although it is now somewhat dated. [Full Review]

The most thorough recent monograph on what may be the most controversial passage in the New Testament, offering a careful review of the relevant ancient literature. [Full Review]

Excellent commentary by an evangelical scholar whose work deserves to be better known. [Full Review]

Recent commentary by an Australian evangelical scholar focused on the exegesis of the Greek text. [Full Review]

Nearly a thousand pages long commentary by the premiere modern Petrine scholar, a Lutheran who taught for decades at the Jesuit-run University of San Francisco. Even though it is older than the excellent commentaries by Forbes and Jobes, this one remains an absolute must for serious exegetical study of the epistle [Full Review]

Well-done but now somewhat dated commentary reflecting standard mainline/liberal approach to the epistle. [Full Review]

Extremely useful information relevant to Revelation presented in a very accessible way, covering such topics as views on the author, date, genres, and structure of the book; thematic parallels to other NT books and to 4 Ezra; symbols, colors, numbers, and angels in Revelation; and much more. [Full Review]

Dispensational premillennial (futurist); perhaps the best commentary from this perspective. [Full Review]

Idealist, amillennial introduction (not an exhaustive exegetical commentary), arguing that Revelation is meant to be understood even (or especially) by non-scholars. [Full Review]

Historic premillennial, eclectic approach (moderately futurist). Comparable theologically to the older (and still excellent) commentary by George Eldon Ladd. [Full Review]

Studies in how Revelation has been interpreted in the past three centuries, with special attention to Adventism and Koresh. [Full Review]

Evangelical commentary emphasizing application to the church’s contemporary context and concerns, by a scholar intimately familiar with the Jewish and Greco-Roman literature and cultural backgrounds. One of the best commentaries occupying the middle ground between academic exegetical references and popular expositions, and therefore of special interest to pastors. [Full Review]

For no other book of the Bible is its reception history of importance in approaching its interpretation today than in the case of the book of Revelation. This book reviews the history of how Revelation was interpreted up through 1700. [Full Review]

Four separate passage-by-passage commentaries on Revelation, all written by Gregg though including excerpts from other commentaries, to represent the four major approaches to the book, placed in parallel columns for ease of comparison. [Full Review]

Generally well-done, cordial discussion by three NT scholars defending and responding to postmillennialism (Kenneth L. Gentry Jr.), premillennialism (Craig A. Blaising), and amillennialism (Robert B. Strimple). [Full Review]

New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999. Masterful analysis from an idealist, amillennial perspective, especially strong in relating Revelation to the OT. [Full Review]