New International Bible Commentary: (Zondervan's Understand the Bible Reference Series)

Enjoy the concise nature that gives more of an overview than the King James, which I also bought and love. One gives details, the other an overview. The combination works.

This is a must for the serious bible student! Just will help you know the bible better and deeper if used properly.

I can't help but review this commentary. It has been a friend to my study for several years. I like the fact it gives enough information to whet my appetite to continue to study deeper. It gives me enough of the Hebrew and Greek for clarity but doesn't tell me exactly what to think. The long and short of it is that this book encourages the one studying and leaves room for the Holy Spirit to do His work.

This is a nice commentary that won't break the bank. I have found others that go into more detial, but they are multi-book commentaries and as such have an increased cost. Yet for a one book commentary, you will find this very handy and easy to use with some nice insight on the scriptures.

This exegetical gem summarizes the key points in plain english for almost any pastor or teacher/student to use. Yet he carefully deals with the exegetical issues so that one gains insight from nuances of the Greek text. For example, in Philippians 3 Bruce gives footnotes for the term translated as refuse or dung in most versions. There are several key points like this for every paragraph throughout the book....but they are always footnoted at the end of each section so it is easy to read the regular comments...actually a joy in comparison to many commentaries which have a lot of technical information on almost every line. It reminds me of Moo's massive work on Romans (NICNT) except much shorter and stripped down to just the meat. He explains the Greek word and demonstrates it's significance in the footnotes for the paragraph. The regular comments are basically free of Greek terminology, so anyone can catch what he's saying. Yet as a pastor who exegetes the Greek NT for sermons on a regular basis I found his comments are as insightful as any other commentary I've read on Philippians. So if one is short of time and unable to read the longer commentaries like Fee or Silva, then this concise volume will help you identify and assess and interpret the key issues for every paragraph. So the way I use this volume is for the exegetical portion of sermon development when I do not have a lot of time. If one is behind in their sermon development he can help you catch up with a minimum of reading (ever been there?). For application, he has many kernals that are good, but his phraseology doesn't preach as well as some other commentators like Thielman or Motyer who seem to provide 'preachable' terminology more frequently in my experience. For more indepth exegetical treatment this volume is a bit scant, so I turn to O'Brien's NIGTC and Fee's NICNT for that...which are both quite a bit more indepth than Bruce. But can one afford to ignore Bruce on a topic? I think not. The right place to use this book is for the exegesis portion of sermon/teaching development only when one is short on time and cannot read the more indepth exegetical works. He handles things objectively and insightfully....and when the other scholars vary from his view, I've learned to think carefully about why because they may not be correct when at odds with this brilliant scholar. For the pastor who doesn't read Greek, this commentary is exceptionally helpful and should be one of the most referred to volumes while working through Philippians. It is a well done and to the point book that I recommend if you are studying Philippians or Paul's life and ministry.