The Message of Ephesians

This book was exactly in the condition that the seller promised it would be. It was an older copy of Stott's commentary, but it is what I need for my library.

Stott does a good job of recognizing the larger themes of Ephesians. Many commentators focus too tightly on one or two verses and miss the larger context. Stott usually avoids this mistake. It is not too techincal, although it is not fluffy either. An overall good effort.

Dr. Stott has written a very helpful commentary from the evangelical perspective. This commentary was a very helpful guide to me and another lay leader, as we co-led a church Bible study. Stott primarily uses the NRSV English translation, but also uses Greek when necessary. When he does use Greek, he transliterates into English and explains things clearly to the English reader. Exegetically, Stott correctly identifies the unifying theme of Ephesians as "God's New Society" (i.e., the Church). He organizes his commentary clearly around 4 aspects of this "New Society." Stott helps readers greatly by clearly identifying the Church as the emphasis of Ephesians. With this proper focus, the reader is equipped to understand the text, without forcing themselves to accept every single point that Stott makes. Personally, I found Stott's commentary to be much more helpful than another evangelical commentary that I own (Expositor's Bible Commentary, by Skevington Wood). Stott seems to draw many insights from Markus Barth's commentary on Ephesians from the Anchor Bible commentary.

I purchased this book for a sermon series I'm doing on Ephesians. It was highly recommended by two friends. I am happy with the book, but have to give it a four star rating because I've found some explanations of Greek text, for example the Ephesians 2:1 claim that trespasses and sins were the equivalent of commission/omission do not stand up under scrutiny. The lexicons I checked and the scholars I contacted did not concur with Stott's claim. He provides no support for this popular definition of sins and trespasses. For a commentary dealing with the Greek text, I was a bit disappointed with that. This is the first time I've had this experience with Stott's stuff. The main reason I like his commentaries is that his stuff provides good summaries that preach well. I think overall this commentary is very good, but one must check the scholarship. For Ephesians so far I've found the best on the Greek text is FF Bruce's commentary NICNT. He rightly identifies Eph 2:1 trespasses and sins as synonyms. Out of all the commentaries I've purchased or read for Ephesians I would rate FF Bruce highest, Stott second and O'Brien third.