1-2 Timothy, Titus, Hebrews

This commentary is volume 17 of a projected 18 volumes on the entire Old and New Testaments. Thus it stands in the tradition of other commentary series such as The Broadman Bible Commentary, The Beacon Bible Commentary, and The Expositor's Bible Commentary in treating multiple books of the Bible in each volume. One should not expect, then, to get a comprehensive treatment of each book of the Bible. Persons looking for a more exhaustive treatment should turn to the more technical commentaries of other series (e.g., Anchor Bible, Hermeneia, New International Commentary, Word Biblical Commmentary). At the same time, though, the commentary gives a remarkably thorough overview for each passage. The commentary series is based on Tyndale's second edition of the New Living Translation, and like its translation seeks to be accessible to the average English reader. The commentary series is geared towards helping "teachers, pastors, students, and laypeople" understand the words and "theological truths" of Scripture (preface). The series is overtly evangelical, drawing from scholars from a wide variety of theological traditions. The format for each book of the Bible is the same. The commentary begins with a modest introduction which deals with the typical introductory issues (author, date, genre, audience etc.) and an outline of the book (the Pastoral Epistles are treated together). Of particular note is its attention to the major theological themes of each book. The commentary proper is divided into passages. Each section begins with the New Living Translation of each passage followed by notes and commentary. The notes deal with the Greek (or Hebrew in the case of the Old Testament) text underlying the English translation, or with textual or contextual matters. The Greek (or Hebrew) is transliterated and is cross-referenced with the Strong's and Goodrick-Kohlenberger numbering systems. Thus a profitable use of the commentary does not require technical skills in the original languages. The commentary is not so much a verse-by-verse treatment, as it is a running exposition for each passage. The commentary on 1 Timothy is authored by Linda Belleville, Professor of New Testament at Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana. Jon Laansma, Associate Professor of Ancient Languages and New Testament at Wheaton College wrote the commentary for 2 Timothy and Titus. Laansma, incidentally, published a major monograph largely dealing with Hebrews ("I Will Give You Rest": The Rest Motif in the New Testament with Special Reference to Mt 11 and Heb 3-4) as well as a number of articles on Hebrews, so I was a little surprised to discover that he is not doing the commentary for Hebrews. Instead, that honor is given to J. Ramsey Michaels, Professor of Religious Studies Emeritus at Missouri State University in Springfield. In the introduction to the Pastoral Epistles, the authors advocate for Pauline authorship. They are impressed by the external (the Patrist

I am not a fan of commentaries. I find very little value in the thoughts of others concerning the words of God. I generally find modern commentaries to be filled mainly with easy going doctrine, with the authors unwilling to take a stand on one side of the issue. Such as Apostasy. Hebrews 6.4-10 is a fine example of where many commentaries loose me; however, the author of this particular work does not hesitate to affirm what the text plainly says. And in doing so, he heightens the image already presented in the NLT with his own descriptive language capturing the original author's intent. In doing so, he does not sidestep the issue, but meets it head on. So, after a few proof text moments, I finally started from the beginning and found myself satisfied with this particular commentary. The binding is modern, with a nice color design, thick paper and over all a good quality construction. My first problem, which is a rather personal one, is that I prefer my commentaries in thick gray or black cloth boards collecting dust and on a shelf somewhere. The type is easy on the eyes and the pages bright. The binding allows the book to lay upon on a flat desk, which is helpful if you are doing book reviews or teaching from the commentary. Teachers should find this commentary series helpful in that while it makes use of the New Living Translation, it does point out more literal renderings. With each section of Scripture, the commentator adds notes, with are more copious than many study bibles that you will find today. In these notes are constant references to the Greek, using both the Strong's system of numbering as well as the new Tyndale system. The Greek is transliterated which is helpful for those of us who can read Greek better than we can pronounce it. Along with the Greek and the literal renderings, the notes contain a plethora of cross references which again, are absent from many bibles today. They make use of chain references, and as is the case in 2nd Timothy 3.10-17, note 11 (page 197), the commentator likes to make use of the original author's thought process. The publishers include a large of amount of extra - needful - material which conforms to conservative evangelical biblical understanding. While exploring the Pastoral Epistles, modern scholarship points us to the assumption that these rather personal and end of life letters from the Apostle Paul could not be his. The Tyndale Commentators take ample time in exploring these theories and presenting a more conservative side. They easily use the Church Fathers as well as explore the internal peculiarities of these epistles to affirm the Pauline authorship. (There are also references to other leaders from other eras such as Martin Luther.) Along with this, the authors take extended time to discuss the date, occasion and audience, which is becoming extremely important to some when exploring what was being said. Further, for both the Pastoral Epistles and Hebrews, they discuss the canonicity and

I am a Sunday School teacher for an adult class that engages in in-depth Bible study. My review is written from this perspective. I think the most interesting way to review my experience with this commentary is to simply describe how I got familiar with it. The first thing I did was thumb through it to see if how quickly I could figure out how it was organized. I was extremely impressed (and somewhat surprised, actually) with how easy it was to figure out how the book was laid out, without consulting the table of contents. The top of the each page indicates what passage of scripture is being discussed. The main portion includes the scripture text (NLT), followed by several brief notes, followed by the commentary. Additionally, there are two good introductory articles: one for the pastoral epistles (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus) and one for Hebrews. These articles are similar to introductions to books you find in many study Bibles, but with much more depth. All in all, the layout of this book is great -- it's very easy to find a passage you want to look at. After getting a good overview of how this commentary was laid out, I settled in to look more closely at the content. Immediately, I enjoyed one of the advantages of using a multi-volume commentary: the scripture text is in the same book as the commentary. I also appreciated the way it is presented. Normally, I am not a fan of double-column text, so when I noticed that the scripture was double-column (the notes and commentary are single-column), I was a little put off. However, I have changed my mind on that point in this instance. Because the amount of scripture presented at any given instance is fairly small (4-10 verses seems to be the norm), it doesn't get tiring to read the double-column format. Combined with the fact that the scripture is in bold text, it also has the advantage of visually breaking up the page, making it easier to separate the scripture from the notes and commentary. After the scripture, there is a section of notes. These notes are about the text itself: words, phrases, grammar, etc. They often include key numbers for words being discussed so that you can use a key numbering system to link the translation back to the original Greek. I especially like how the notes provide more detail to the particular language used in the original scripture. For example, the NLT translates 2 Timothy 4:1 as "I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom". There is a note on "will someday": The Greek phrasing... can mean that something is going to happen (without implying how soon), is about to happen (implying imminency), or is destined to happen (inevitability)." If you are looking for a better understanding of the original language behind the translation, these notes appear to be a great resource. Finally, after the notes, comes the commentary. Each section typically runs between 3 to 10 page

Let me begin this review by saying that I had a bias against this commentary series before it came in the mail for a couple of reasons. I had a hard time taking seriously a commentary that covered 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus AND Hebrews in only 476 pages. I have commentaries larger than this just covering the book of Hebrews. The New International Commentary on the New Testament (NICNT) on Hebrews is about the same amount of pages. So I did not believe that the Cornerstone Biblical Commentaries could do an adequate job in dealing with the issues of these books of the Bible. I had seen these commentaries in Christian bookstores and had thumbed through them quickly. But they simply looked too small to be valuable. I was also concerned about a commentary series relying on the NLT as its text. While I am growing to appreciate the NLT, I had a hard time thinking that using a very dynamic translation like the NLT as the basis for a commentary was a good idea. Format Each section begins with a portion of scripture using the New Living Translation (NLT). The next section is called "Notes." The general editor's preface states that the purpose of the notes section is how "the commentator helps the reader understand the Hebrew or Greek behind the English of the NLT, interacts with other scholars on important interpretative issues, and points the reader to significant textual and contextual matters." One thing that I think is very important is the willingness of the commentator to correct any places where he or she feels that the NLT misses the point of the text. For example, in Hebrews 8:7-13 one of the notes reads for verse 8: The day is coming. Rather, "days are coming." The text is not looking at one catastrophic "day of the Lord" but at a new era, a new order of society, and a new way of worship. Therefore, a teacher who has reservations about a commentary built upon the NLT can rest assured that the commentator will point out places where a more literal rendering is more useful or required. Much of the technical arguments are contained in the notes section and do not find their way into the commentary section. Even those who are not very familiar with Greek or Hebrew will find the notes section useful because these notes are not overly technical. All Greek and Hebrew words are placed next to the English word or phrase so those without Greek and Hebrew knowledge are able to follow along quite easily. The notes are not overly deep. If someone is looking for all the interpretative possibilities over a given Greek or Hebrew word, one will not find such material in the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary. But the notes are quite useful and will give the student what he or she needs to know in a quick and concise way. For me, I found the notes section to be quite refreshing. As an evangelist, I need books to get to the point. I do not have the time (and not always the interest) to go into all of the details of a Greek or Hebrew word. If I need that, I will