In writing this article, I am in no way trying to supplant Charles Spurgeon’s masterful commentary recommendations in his famous article ‘Commenting and Commentaries’ (Click here). Spurgeon masterfully surveys the classic older commentaries on the Bible with his characteristic wit and humour. My aim is much more modest. I wish to recommend useful modern commentaries for devotional purposes, group studies, and sermon preparation. While there are some technical commentaries in my list, most are devotional and practical. You could easily read them cover to cover.
I would say Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, and John Calvin are the best of the older commentators. You can either read them for free online (here) or purchase hardback copies. Matthew Henry comes in six volumes as published by Hendricksen. He is probably the most well-known commentator in history and is famous for his rich and warm evangelical applications. Calvin’s commentaries are published by Baker Books. These are more technical than Henry’s commentaries and are still widely used by scholars today. Matthew Poole comes in three volumes published by Hendricksen. Poole offers very concise and to-the-point exegesis of the text on a verse-by-verse basis. One 19th century commentator you definitely want to read is J. C. Ryle on the Gospels as published by the Banner of Truth. These are warm, devotional, and thoroughly evangelical. Highly recommended.
Of the more contemporary commentaries, The Bible Speaks Today
by IVP is an excellent series edited by John Stott on the New Testament and J. Alec
Motyer on the Old Testament. If you are going to buy a full set of
commentaries, then I would suggest you start here. I would also highly
recommend the Focus on the Bible series by Christian Focus to which Dale
Ralph Davies has contributed his legendary commentaries on the Old Testament.
For devotional purposes, the Welwyn series by Evangelical Press is the
best. Very warm, readable, and reformed, mostly written by evangelical pastors.
A useful devotional series on the New Testament is the Let’s Study set
by the Banner of Truth. These include short devotional expositions of passages
from the New Testament, useful for group settings. For a warm, devotional, and
evangelical commentary, you won’t find anything finer the The Wiersbe Bible
Commentary on the Old and New Testament published by David C. Cook. These
are based on his 50 books in the “BE” series: Be Real, Be Rich, Be Obedient,
Be Mature, Be Joyful, etc.
With respect to more technical commentaries, I would highly recommend The New International Commentaries on the Old and New Testaments by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. These include useful introductions and passage-by-passage commentary. They represent some of the best evangelical scholarship on the Bible. Somewhat more hit-and-miss but still very useful are The NIV Application Commentaries published by Zondervan. These include comments on the original meaning of the text as well as useful applications for contemporary theology and church life. A good all-round set of evangelical scholarship and a reasonably consistent series of commentaries is The Expositors’ Bible Commentary published by Zondervan. The best thing about these technical commentaries is that they can all be downloaded to your kindle.The same is true of the Tyndale Old Testament and New Testament Commentaries published by IVP. These are somewhat more technical than The Bible Speaks Today commentaries – a half-way house between non-technical and specialist. Just the right amount of scholarship, but still readable.
One volume commentaries are of limited use and application, but they can help summarize passages of Scripture effectively and introduce you to the text. The best one volume commentary available from an evangelical point of view is The New Bible Commentary edited by D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, and G. T. Wenham, published by IVP. From a more critical perspective, you may wish to own The Oxford Bible Commentary edited by John Barton and John Muddiman as well as The Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible edited by James D. G. Dunn and John W. Rogerson. In terms of study Bibles, I would recommend The ESV Study Bible by Crossway and The NIV Study Bible by Hodder & Stoughton. Both of these come with excellent introductions to each book of the Bible and verse by verse comments on the text.
In terms of understanding the theology and overall message of the Bible, you will want to read John Goldingay’s Biblical Theology: The God of the Christian Scriptures (2016). A classic text in this field is Geerhardus Vos’ Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments published by the Banner of Truth. Vos is the Godfather of Biblical theology. On the Old Testament, you might wish to try R. W. L. Moberly’s Old Testament Theology: Reading the Hebrew Bible as Christian Scripture (2013). Similarly, for the New Testament, Thomas R. Schreiner’s New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ (2008) is indispensable. A useful summary of the Bible in non-technical language is Steve Levey and Paul Blackham’s Bible Overview (2015). This was the book that got me hooked on reading the Bible in the first place. It is an excellent fast paced summary of Scripture with a Christocentric focus. Another similar book is Vaughn Roberts, God’s Big Picture: A Bible Overview (2009).
On the Pentateuch, you will want to read T. D. Alexander’s excellent overview From Paradise to the Promised Land: An Introduction to the Pentateuch (2002). Useful handbooks on the Old Testament include Victor P. Hamilton’s Handbook on the Pentateuch (2015); Handbook on the Historical Books (2001) by the same author; and Daniel J. Estes, Handbook on the Wisdom Books and Psalms (2010). These are basically very concise commentaries on Scripture. Useful if you are on a tight budget.
In terms of particular commentaries, I can only suggest some highlights. You’ll definitely want J. Alec Motyer on The Prophecy of Isaiah by IVP Academic, Douglas Moo on The Letter to the Romans by Eerdmans, and Don Carson on The Gospel According to John by IVP. These are my top three all-time favourite commentaries and should be on every pastor’s shelf. If you can get them, William Hendriksen's commentaries on the New Testament by the Banner of Truth are also excellent – verse by verse exegesis at its finest. I also shouldn’t miss out John Murray’s epic commentary on The Epistle to the Romans published by Eerdmans. Anything written by Murray is highly recommended, especially the four volume series of his collected works published by the Banner of Truth.
Karl Barth is worth reading on the epistle to the Romans if you can manage his technical style. Karl Adam said this particular work ‘dropped like a bombshell on the playground of theologians’. It represents a decisive ‘No’ to the liberal theology of the 19th century and advocates renewed orthodoxy or neo-orthodoxy as it is now known. On the Pentateuch, there is nothing better than John Currid’s commentaries published by Evangelical Press. Another worthy mention is Geoffrey B. Wilsons New Testament Commentaries published in two volumes by the Banner of Truth. These offer verse by verse exegesis of Paul’s epistles, the epistle to the Hebrews, and the book of Revelation. I found these to be enormously helpful when preparing sermons.
It is my hope and prayer that you find these recommendations
useful for devotional purposes and for preparing sermons. I would challenge you
to read at least one commentary on every book in the Bible – maybe you could
start with the Welwyn series of commentaries published by EP. More than ever,
we need pastors, elders, deacons, and lay folk who are thoroughly educated and
grounded in God’s holy and infallible word. Take up and read.
Honourable Mentions
The NIV Application Commentaries. These are useful for application in preaching. Comments are divided into three sections: original meaning, bridging contexts, and contemporary application. Some commentaries are better than others in this series.
The Pillar New Testament Commentaries. Some of the best evangelical scholarship on the New Testament. Can be a little technical at times and tricky to read.
Allen P. Ross, A Commentary on the Psalms (3 vols) in the Kregel Exegetical Library. This is one of the best commentaries on the psalms. It offers translations and textual variants, material on composition and context, an exegetical outline, and commentary. Expensive, but absolutely priceless.