Top 13 Best Bible Commentary Books Updated 04 /2024

It's been a question for as long as anyone can remember: "Which Bible commentary is the best?" If you love and use commentaries, you'll want to read a lot of books about commentaries, too.

We won't try to read all of the best exegetical Bible commentaries or even all of the best exegetical Bible commentaries in one place. So that you can see them all in just a few minutes, we've chosen just seven of the best.

But first, what is an exegetical commentary, and what does it do? A quick look at some of these Bible study tools:

Between critical commentaries and those that explain, exegetical commentaries fill in the gaps between them. Most of the time, they go through a passage verse by verse. They still talk about important things, but only a few of them. People who write exegetical commentaries usually start with observations and then go on to explain them. You'll read original language observations. A good example of this will come up in the seventh comment.

Seven of the best exegetical Bible commentaries, chosen because they are popular and well-known, are...

Expositor’s Bible Commentary (EBC)

You should read Jim M's review of the EBC first.

The text is well-written, has a lot of good ideas, is scholarly but not dry, and is very easy to read and understand. It is so easy to read and keep your attention that reading it is more like reading a nonfiction book than a reference book. I find that I usually read more than I planned to.

Over two million copies have been sold. It also won the prestigious Gold Medallion Book Award because it had a lot of good Christian content. The series was first published in 1976. It has become a standard tool for pastors and Bible students to use.

The REBC version of the popular commentary series was updated in 2012. It includes an analysis of each book of the Bible, as well as an introduction, outline, and bibliography.

Craig Keener says that the REBC has "a lot of good research from many of the most well-known and careful evangelical biblical scholars today." A group of 50 well-known authors worked together to write the book. Each of them had well-researched opinions, but they also tried to be fair to people who disagreed with them.

Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (BECNT)

A lot of people use the BECNT as an exegetical commentary because it's both well-researched and easy to read.

A wide range of scholars from different theological backgrounds contributed, giving the book a wide range of scholarly knowledge. The BECNT gives an authoritative view of each study passage by looking at a variety of perspectives while still adhering to biblical truth.

There are 18 volumes, and eight of them have been ranked 3 or above on bestcommentaries.com. Seminary professors also love it:

There is a new standard for readability in this series because it looks good and gives detailed exegetical comment on the Greek text while making it easy for people who don't know much about the New Testament to understand.

 

The former professor of New Testament interpretation at the University of Aberdeen, I. Howard Marshall, has died.

Exegesis done by experienced scholars who have a strong religious faith. This is also one of the best-designed, easy-to-read series because it starts with some important things, then each commentator's translation, commentary, and textual notes for every single passage. It's very safe.

There is a person named Bruce Riley Ashford who is the provost and dean of staff at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (ZECNT)

Teachers and preachers who teach the Bible will love this book: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (ZECNT). It looks at both what the text means and how it can be used now.

During each of its 10 volumes, you'll get an outline of the Bible's text with verse-by-verse explanations. It reads scholarly literature, but it doesn't get bogged down in technical terms. The series' goal isn't to look at and critique every possible interpretation of a passage.

Instead, the goal is to explain each verse of Scripture quickly and clearly in its grammatical and historical context. Interpretation: Each passage is looked at in light of its biblical setting, paying attention to grammatical detail, the flow of biblical argument, the historical setting, and the way the text is written.

Many pastors use the ZECNT as their main text. Here's why, according to Brett K.:

I get sad when I talk about a book that hasn't had a ZECNT commentary yet. I love that this series is only for pastors, which makes it even better. People who have some knowledge of Greek can use this work, but you don't need them to understand it. As a bonus, I like that there is a Semantic diagram in English that shows how the author thought about the text. Each comment is very short, so you don't have to read more than you need to. That's what I think. I think they want to help pastors and teachers instead of having academic debates about things like the Bible.

New International Greek Testament Commentary (NIGTC)

This five-star commentary helps students of the Bible understand the historical, linguistic, and textual context of the Bible's words. Even if you're not very good at Greek, you can learn a lot from detailed verse-by-verse commentary and insightful comments about each part of the text.

If you were to look through the reviews of NIGTC's 13-volume collection, you'd see things like this one from The Expository Times: "Massive learning is combined with an easy style. This is a great collection." "Students who pay attention to this commentary and the Greek New Testament will learn a lot."

And NIGTC volumes have won a lot of awards.

The Academy of Parish Clergy has chosen the top ten books of the year to read (2001) 1 Corinthians is a letter written by Paul to the

Award: Gold Medallion from the Christian Publishers Association (1983) Galatians

The Academy of Parish Clergy is where you go to learn about how to be a parish The Top Ten Books of the Year – with a few extra honors (1997) For Colossians & Philemon:

In 1994, Christianity Today ranked Hebrews as the third best commentaries of the year.

Evangelical Christian Publishers Association: a finalist for the Gold Medallion in Reference/Commentary (2001) 1 Corinthians is a letter written by Paul to the

You can see why the NIGTC's The Gospel of Mark and Philippians and the books of the Revelation are ranked number one at bestcommentaries.com.

Pillar New Testament Commentary (PNTC)

The PNTC is loved because it is a good mix of in-depth study and real-world application. It's for both serious Bible students and people who just want to read the Bible. It's one of the best-selling commentaries on logos.com.

These books don't go into too much detail, but they talk about the most important issues of the day. Contributing scholars are very interested in a new fight with the text. They want to "loosen the Bible from its pages" so that readers can understand what the text says and how to use it.

D. A. Carson, the author of The Letters of John, talks about how the other authors see things:

It is the goal of the writers of this series to be as even-handed as possible when they read the text. This is the best kind of "objectivity."

If the text is from God, we should show reverence, a certain fear, a holy joy, and a desire to obey. These values should show up in the way that Christians write, too. With these values in place, the Pillar commentaries will be welcomed not only by pastors, teachers, and students, but also by people who read the Bible on their own.

To make Bible study more complete, each book's author, date, purpose, structure, and theology are included. No wonder PNTC's The Letters of John, The Letters of James, Ephesians, and The Gospel According to John are all at the top of the list at bestcommentaries.com: They are all very good.

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