Evaluation of the Commentary:
“The New International Commentary of the New Testament: The Epistles to the Colossians, To Philemon, and to the Ephesians” by F.F. Bruce
The commentary was a very interesting and well done. The commentary starts with an Introduction which starts with a discussion of the cities of the Lycus river valley, the history and geography of this valley. It goes on to discuss the Jewish settlement and Christianity in the Lycus river valley. There is also a section that deals with the “Heresy” at Colossae
This commentary has a translation of the text by the author above his comments which I really enjoyed. I really like having the Bible text on the page for easy reference. This makes it easy to reread the text and then think about the commentators thoughts on a particular passage. Another aspect of this commentary that I enjoyed was the author’s translation of the biblical text. There are many footnotes and in depth notes in this commentary which make it a great resource for those who want to dig deeper into the text of the Bible. This commentary, although it has lots of in depth information is suitable for the average lay person just wanting to get a better understanding of the Biblical text without wanting to get too deep into issues such as textual criticism or the Greek language in general.
There is nothing in this commentary that I didn’t like, although I didn’t agree with the commentator on everything he commented on. I did in fact agree with him for the most part and even those things in which I disagree I was spurred on to think and question what I believed the passage to say.
This commentary was very easy and enjoyable to read and I will make this one of my “go to” references when wanting to research a book or passage of the Bible text in Colossians, Philemon, or Ephesians.
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