1, 2 Timothy, Titus: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture Volume 34

This commentary contains the works of two authors and unfortunately must receive two reviews. The book itself is one of an on-going series. I did a lot of research before I settled on this series to steadily add to my library. I find that it has enough information to satisfy the more serious of students, yet is clear enough that the casual reader can get to the areas that interest them.Thomas Lea did a wonderful job developing his themes and presenting his commentary on the two Pastoral Epistles addressed to Timothy. I tend to struggle with commentaries for their usual dry presentation. However, I found his section to be very interesting and hard to put down. The Bible text is broken in to a well defined outline; each section has the actual New International Version text placed in the reading (while you'll still want your Bible next to you, it makes it more convenient having all of the text in one book). Lea then goes verse by verse, word by word when necessary, to present the historical, contextual, and theological comments.Lea seems to take a very unbiased approach - though he presents strong arguments for his interpretations, he freely identifies alternate ideas that others have defended throughout time. The text contains extensive notes on the bottom of each page allowing the reader to either dig beneathe the surface or concentrate on the main content. Lea also does a good job bringing the original Grrek words into play when appropriate.Sadly, Hayne Griffen doesn't do the chapter on Titus any justice. His commentary pales in comparison to Lea's. Even if it were a stand alone book, it was a poor attempt. It appeared Griffen was more interested in waxing his own theological ideas while he had this opportunity to contribute to the series. Before the first introductory verse is presented, he discussed quite a few tangents that had little to do with the content of Titus. Where Lea kept his commentary to the point, Griffen let his words flow until I was inundated with boredom. While I had to pace myself with Lea's page-turners, I forced myself to get through Griffen's study.The first 2/3 of the book is worth a full 5 stars. The inclusion of a lackluster performance on Titus draws that rating down. The money is well worth it for Timothy alone; and the series is excellant. Though Titus was a scar, I plan to complete the series.