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BUILDING A NEW TESTAMENT LIBRARY: MATTHEW—ACTS

One of the pivotal responsibilities of every Christian generation is to engage the Scriptures critically, exegetically, and theologically. A number of fine commentaries are available for those who seek to accomplish this task. During the 2003-04 academic year, Catalyst will provide a four-part series discussing the best and more recent contributions to evangelical commentary on the NT writings.

Among the more extensive commentaries now available on the Gospel of Matthew, many students and pastors will want to turn first to C.S. Keener’s A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Wm.B. Eerdmans, 1999). Keener’s work is marked by his special interest in the socio-historical contexts of the First Evangelist and his first-century audience, combined with pericope-by-pericope suggestions regarding the nature of Matthew’s exhortations to his predominately Jewish Christian audience. The result is a widely accessible commentary that is genuinely helpful in illuminating the message of Matthew. Students with Greek will want to consider the massive contribution to the International Critical Commentary (ICC) by W.D. Davies and D.C. Allison Jr. (3 vols.; T. & T. Clark, 1988-97). Davies and Allison are well-known for their dexterity with Jewish literature of the Second Temple Period, and they bring this specialized knowledge to bear on numerous interpretive conundrums within the Gospel and illuminate many well-known texts in fresh ways as well. Although less than half the size of the ICC, the Word Biblical Commentary (WBC) on Matthew (2 vols.; Word, 1993-95), by D.A. Hagner, is the first place to turn for exhaustive bibliography on the First Gospel, and his study is now available in CD-ROM format (along with the rest of the WBC). Otherwise, Hagner’s interpretive interests parallel those of Davies and Allison in terms of historical orientation and Jewish background. This is a historical-critical commentary with a primary emphasis on unveiling “what the text meant in its original setting” (xl). For a traditional approach to Matthean redaction, seminarians may find R. Schnackenburg’s work (Wm.B. Eerdmans, 2002) more manageable; this towering German scholar presses his view that Matthew’s aim was essentially “the proclamation of Christian salvation.”

 Recent years have seen the production of a virtual cornucopia of monographs and special studies on the Gospel of Mark. Moreover, in a welcome reversal of an earlier state of affairs in Markan study, we are now pressed to make actual choices for Markan commentary! Until very recently, the single best commentary on Mark, and the only truly contemporary and critical study of its kind, the WBC on Mark 1:1-8:26 (1989), remained unfinished due to the untimely death of its author, R.A. Guelich. Indeed, his contribution continues to model close attention to exegetical detail in concert with literary and theological sensitivities. Guelich’s work is now partnered with that of C.A. Evans, writing on Mark 8:27-16:20, to complete the WBC (2001). Also written on the Greek text is R.T. France’s work in The New International Greek Testament Commentary (NIGTC; Wm.B. Eerdmans, 2002)—a reliable, verse-by-verse commentary of this “biography,” which France unpacks as a “drama in three acts.” Also of recent vintage, and concerned especially with the text of Mark on its own terms, is J.R. Donahue and D.J. Harrington’s co-authored work in the Sacra Pagina series (SP; Liturgical, 2002), with its dual focus on intratextual (reading Mark as Mark, rather than with reference to its prehistory) and intertextual (how the text of Mark draws on other texts, especially the OT, to interpret the person and mission of Jesus) analysis. Finally, J. Marcus has contributed the first of his projected two volumes in the Anchor Bible (AB; Doubleday, 2000); Marcus situates the Gospel against the apocalyptic backdrop of the Jewish War.

 An impressive assemblage of commentaries is available to the student of the Gospel of Luke. Two are of special interest to those seeking to read Luke as Luke. First, L.T. Johnson’s contribution to the SP series (1991) is focused on literary-theological questions and is oriented around his identification of Jesus as “the prophet” in Luke. The commentary on Luke in the New International Commentary on the New Testament (NICNT; Wm.B. Eerdmans, 1997), by J.B. Green, brings together socio-cultural and narrative concerns so as to allow an extended engagement with Luke’s literary art and his theology, ethics, and spirituality. As with the NICNT more generally, Green’s volume locates work with the Greek text and interaction with other scholars in the footnotes so as to make the text of the commentary itself as readable as possible. The admirable work of F. Bovon, previously available in German and French, has begun to be translated into English (Hermeneia; Fortress, 2002). In his introduction, Bovon lays claim to his theological commitments and ecclesial location as partners in the interpretive enterprise, and it is precisely this combination of commitments, judicious care and trust, that we find in the pages of Bovon’s first volume, Luke 1:1-9:50. Representing a more traditional approach is D.L. Bock in the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (2 vols.; BECNT; Baker, 1994/96); Bock’s commentary serves an encyclopedic role, gathering together in one place the major views of scholars on questions large and small in Lukan study, but is not particularly strong in terms of theological issues, nor does it engage in socio-cultural or narrative considerations relevant to study of the Third Gospel.

For theological exposition of the Gospel of John, the work of H. Ridderbos in The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary (Wm.B. Eerdmans, 1997) is an easy first choice. Ridderbos prefers to explore the significance of the gospel message as found in the Fourth Gospel “as the Christian Church adopted it,” rather than to engage in the range of historical-critical concerns that have occupied most other commentaries; the result is a useful study to be appreciated by preacher and student alike. Students will also want to have the work of G.R. Beasley-Murray in the WBC (2d. ed.; Word, 1999) close at hand. An accomplished NT scholar, Beasley-Murray was first and always a preacher—a perspective that pervades this work.

On the Acts of the Apostles, students will want to be aware of four eminently useful works. The first comes from the pen of B.R. Gaventa in the Abingdon New Testament Commentaries (ANTC; Abingdon, 2003) and combines erudition and accessibility, two attributes not often found in tandem! Her emphasis on Acts as a story of divine activity provides a welcome and engaging, theological reading of this important book. Second is the highly creative and stimulating work of F.S. Spencer in the series Readings (Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), soon to be republished with Hendrickson; relatively short in compass (about 250 pages), it is nonetheless genuinely fresh and often exciting in its engagement with the text of Acts. Students and pastors will be impressed by the canonical perspective and theological interests that distinguish R.W. Wall’s work contribution to The New Interpreter’s Bible ([NIB; ed. Leander E. Keck et al; vol. 10; Abingdon, 2002] 1-368). Finally, L.T. Johnson’s companion to his commentary on Luke, also published in the SP series (1992), is worth consulting not only for its literary acumen but also for the way it elucidates the text of Acts within the socio-historical context of Roman antiquity.

By Joel B. Green, John Wesley Fellow and Elder in the UMC, coauthor of Introducing the New Testament: Its Literature and Theology (Wm.B. Eerdmans, 2001).