New Testament Commentaries: Home

"The Africa Bible Commentary is a unique publishing event—the first one-volume Bible commentary produced in Africa by African theologians to meet the needs of African pastors, students, and lay leaders. Interpreting and applying the Bible in the light of African culture and realities, it furnishes powerful and relevant insights into the biblical text that transcend Africa in their significance. The Africa Bible Commentary gives a section-by-section interpretation that provides a contextual, readable, affordable, and immensely useful guide to the entire Bible. Readers around the world will benefit from and appreciate the commentary's fresh insights and direct style that engage both heart and mind." - Zondervan

"One of the daunting challenges facing the New Testament interpreter is achieving familiarity with the immense corpus of related literatures. Scholars and students alike must have a fundamental understanding of the content, provenance, and utility for New Testament interpretation of a wide range of pagan, Jewish, and diversely Christian documents. Now in paperback, this thoroughly revised and significantly expanded edition of Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation examines a vast range of ancient literature, masterfully distilling details of date, language, text, and translation into an eminently usable handbook. Craig Evans evaluates the materials' relevance for interpreting the New Testament and provides essential biographies." - Baker Academic

"Readers of the New Testament often encounter quotes or allusions to Old Testament stories and prophecies that are unfamiliar or obscure. In order to fully understand the teachings of Jesus and his followers, it is important to understand the large body of Scripture that preceded and informed their thinking. Leading evangelical scholars G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson have brought together a distinguished team to provide readers with a comprehensive commentary on Old Testament quotations, allusions, and echoes that appear from Matthew through Revelation. College and seminary students, pastors, scholars, and interested lay readers will want to add this unique commentary to their reference libraries." - Baker Academic

"Since this Companion to the New Testament was first published in 1970, new methods of interpretation and sustained research into the environment of Jesus, and the early church, have combined to correct former misunderstandings and to set old problems in a new light. This fully revised second edition now follows the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) to provide a running commentary on the text of the New Testament while taking account of the findings of recent scholarship. Using no technical language, it aims to set the text in the context of the time and place in which it was written, and to clarify its meaning in the light of modern methods of research and interpretation. Accessible and up-to-date, this work will be invaluable to clergy, students and all who have a serious interest in the New Testament." - CUP

"Although Scripture cannot be reduced to a mere piece of human writing, there is much to gain by paying careful attention to the historical, literary, and theological dimensions of the biblical text. For this reason, The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown is offered to the serious New Testament student who seeks to better understand and share God’s “word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). It thoroughly introduces all twenty-seven New Testament books and closely examines Christ’s incarnation and virgin birth, the heart of His ministry shown so vividly in the Gospels’ Passion Narratives, and the triumphant return of Jesus and our eternal reign with Him as depicted in Revelation. The second edition includes additional information on how to interpret the Gospels and Acts, parables, and epistles, as well as an epilogue on the storyline of Scripture. Bibliographies and footnote documentation are updated throughout." - B&H Publishers

"Studying the New Testament can be an exciting--and intimidating--experience. This readable survey is designed to make the adventure less daunting and more rewarding. Two senior scholars offer a new edition of their award-winning introductory text, now with updated content and a new interior design. Other distinguishing features include abundant images, maps, and charts--all in full color; sidebars that address ethical and theological concerns and provide primary source material; focus boxes isolating key issues; chapter outlines, learning objectives, and summaries; and study questions." - Baker Academic

"The Fortress Commentary on the New Testament presents a balanced synthesis of current scholarship. The contributors bring a rich diversity of perspectives to the task of connecting solid historical critical analysis of Scripture with sensitivity to theological, cultural, and interpretive issues arising in our encounter with the text. The volume includes introductory articles, section introductions, and individual book articles that explore key sense units through three lenses: The Text in Its Ancient Context; The Text in the Interpretive Tradition; The Text in Contemporary Discussion. Comprehensive and useful for preaching, teaching, and research." - Augsburg Fortress Press

"This engaging and up-to-date New Testament introduction has been carefully designed for the classroom. Mark Allan Powell presents disputed and controversial issues fairly, neither dictating conclusions nor privileging skepticism over faith-based perspectives. A recognized expert in New Testament scholarly literature, he nevertheless writes in a lively and lucid style that communicates well to undergraduates. Chapters appear in the book in canonical order but are designed for assignment in any order. Besides helpful teaching aids like sidebars, maps, tables, charts, glossary, diagrams, and suggestions for further reading, this full-color textbook also includes beautiful artwork illustrating the reception of the New Testament through various times and cultures." - Baker Academic Press

"In the last three decades, significant attention has been given to the way in which New Testament texts engage and respond to the imperial world in which they were written. The purpose of the present volume is to introduce students and non-specialists to the growing subfield of New Testament studies known as empire studies. Contributors seek to make readers aware of the significant work that has already been produced, while also pointing them to new ways in which this field is moving forward." - SBL Press

"An Introduction to the New Testament focuses on 'special introduction,' that is historical questions dealing with authorship, date, sources, purpose, destination, and so forth. This approach stands in contrast to recent texts that concentrate more on literary form, rhetorical criticism, and historical parallels—topics the authors don't minimize, but instead think are better given extended treatment in exegesis courses. By refocusing on the essentials, An Introduction to the New Testament ensures that the New Testament books will be accurately understood within historical settings. For each New Testament document, the authors also provide a substantial summary of that book's content, discuss the book's theological contribution to the overall canon, and give an account of current studies on that book, including recent literary and social-science approaches to interpretation. This second edition reflects significant revision and expansion from the original, making this highly acclaimed text even more valuable." - Zondervan Academic

"From the experience of a lifetime of scholarship, preaching, teaching, and writing, Raymond E. Brown covers the entire scope of the New Testament with ease and clarity. He walks readers book by book through the basic content and issues of the New Testament. While a wealth of information is contained in these pages, the work’s most impressive features are the basic summaries of each book, a historical overview of the ancient Greco-Roman world, discussions of key theological issues, and the rich supplementary materials, such as illustrative tables, maps, bibliographies, and appendixes. Using this basic data, Brown answers questions raised by today’s readers, relates the New Testament to our modern world, and responds to controversial issues, such as those raised by the Jesus Seminar." - Yale University Press

Christian interpretation of the Bible is not a simple task. While finding both its beginning and end in the theological claim that Scripture reveals to us “what God has done in Christ,” Christian interpretation demands much more. The interaction between believer and text is also conversation between reader and interpretive community, both ancient and modern. Theological interpretation entails close readings of texts but also a close analysis of contexts—the social and political shape of the Mediterranean world as well as our own. Interpretation requires the interweaving of theology, history, and literature. In Introduction to the New Testament Carl R. Holladay does just that. He roots each of the New Testament’s twenty-seven writings in their historical, literary, and theological contexts. A true “Reference Edition,” Holladay provides thorough, detailed, and exacting overviews, background material, and textual analysis. Holladay leads readers to consider questions of canon, authority, and genre that shape the formation of the text and the text’s formation of the identity, theology, and mission of the church today. This Introduction does not leave its readers stranded in the first century; it also intentionally connects the message of the New Testament to the issues facing its faithful readers today. No stone goes unturned and no issue unexamined—Holladay’s Introduction to the New Testament is an essential text for any serious student of biblical interpretation.

"This New Testament introduction is different.Many introductions zero in on the historical contexts in which the New Testament literature was written. This introduction goes further--to give particular attention to the social, cultural, and rhetorical contexts of the New Testament authors and their writings.Few introductions to the New Testament integrate instruction in exegetical and interpretive strategies with the customary considerations of authorship, dating, audience, and message. This introduction capitalizes on the opportunity, introducing students to a relevant facet of interpretation with each portion of New Testament literature.Rarely do introductions to the New Testament approach their task mindful of students preparing for ministry. This introduction is explicit in doing so, recognizing as it does that the New Testament itself--in its parts and as a whole--is a pastoral resource. Each chapter on the New Testament literature closes with a discussion of implications for ministry formation.These integrative features alone would distinguish this introduction from others. But in addition, its pages brim with maps, photos, points of interest, and aids to learning. Separate chapters explore the historical and cultural environment of the New Testament era, the nature of the Gospels and the quest for the historical Jesus, and the life of Paul." - InterVarsity Press

"This new, concise version maintains the essence and centrist interpretation of the original without tampering with Brown’s perspective, insights, or conclusions. The biblical writings themselves remain the focus, but there are also chapters dealing with the nature, origin, and interpretation of the New Testament texts, as well as chapters concerning the political, social, religious, and philosophical world of antiquity. Furthermore, augmenting Brown’s commentary on the New Testament itself are topics such as the Gospels’ relationship to one another; the form and function of ancient letters; Paul’s thought and life, along with his motivation, legacy, and theology; a reflection on the historical Jesus; and a survey of relevant Jewish and Christian writings." - Yale University Press

This is a two volume work. Vol. 2 (History and Literature of Early Christianity) can be found HERE

The first volume goes through the historical background of the world in which the New Testament was formed while the second volume discuss the New Testament literature proper. Although these are a little more dated than some of the others on this list, they are considered the standard introduction to the New Testament resources in many New Testament programs.

"To understand and apply the Bible well, you need two crucial sources of information. One is the Bible itself. The other is an understanding of the cultural background of the passage you're reading.Only with the background can you grasp the author's original concerns and purposes. This unique commentary provides, in verse-by-verse format, the crucial cultural background you need for responsible--and richer--Bible study. It includes a glossary of cultural terms and important historical figures, maps and charts, up-to-date bibliographies, and introductory essays about cultural background information for each book of the New Testament.Based on ten years of in-depth study, this accessible and bestselling commentary is valuable for pastors in sermon preparation, for Sunday-school and other church teachers as they build lessons, for missionaries concerned not to import their own cultural biases into the Bible, for college and seminary students in classroom assignments, and for everyday Bible readers seeking to deepen and enhance their study of Scripture." - IVP Academic

"First published in 2011, The Jewish Annotated New Testament was a groundbreaking work, bringing the New Testament's Jewish background to the attention of students, clergy, and general readers. In this new edition, eighty Jewish scholars bring together unparalleled scholarship to shed new light on the text. This thoroughly revised and greatly expanded second edition brings even more helpful information and new insights to the study of the New Testament.· Introductions to each New Testament book, containing guidance for reading and specific information about how the book relates to the Judaism of the period, have been revised and augmented, and in some cases newly written.· Annotations on the text--some revised, some new to this edition--provide verse-by-verse commentary.· The thirty essays from the first edition are thoroughly updated, and there are twenty-four new essays, on topics such as "Mary in Jewish Tradition," "Christology," and "Messianic Judaism."· For Christian readers The Jewish Annotated New Testament offers a window into the first-century world of Judaism from which the New Testament springs. There are explanations of Jewish concepts such as food laws and rabbinic argumentation. It also provides a much-needed corrective to many centuries of Christian misunderstandings of the Jewish religion.· For Jewish readers, this volume provides the chance to encounter the New Testament--a text of vast importance in Western European and American culture--with no religious agenda and with guidance from Jewish experts in theology, history, and Jewish and Christian thought. It also explains Christian practices, such as the Eucharist.The Jewish Annotated New Testament, Second Edition is an essential volume that places the New Testament writings in a context that will enlighten readers of any faith or none." - OUP

"The New Interpreter's® Dictionary of the Bible (in five volumes) provides the best quality in contemporary biblical scholarship on a comprehensive range of topics from the Old and New Testaments, the Deuterocanonical books, and from contextual studies of the ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman worlds and their literatures. The dictionary contains maps, charts, and illustrations to further clarify the written material. The biblical text used is the NRSV translation. " - Abingdon Press

"This capstone work from widely respected senior evangelical scholar Donald Hagner offers a substantial introduction to the New Testament. Hagner deals with the New Testament both historically and theologically, employing the framework of salvation history. He treats the New Testament as a coherent body of texts and stresses the unity of the New Testament without neglecting its variety. Although the volume covers typical questions of introduction, such as author, date, background, and sources, it focuses primarily on understanding the theological content and meaning of the texts, putting students in a position to understand the origins of Christianity and its canonical writings. Throughout, Hagner delivers balanced conclusions in conversation with classic and current scholarship. The book includes summary tables, diagrams, maps, and extensive bibliographies." - Baker Academic

"The book explores the social contexts of New Testament writings from Acts onward, along with other relevant Jewish and Christian literature. Moving from large to increasingly smaller spheres, the study examines how at each level beliefs and practices related to the gods and the cosmos, the empire, the city, and the household shaped a shifting and context-specific Christian faith and a set of affiliated identities. In each case, the discussion considers intersections with the New Testament and other early Christian and Jewish literature. The introduction discusses theories of canon formation, the history of the Roman Empire relevant to New Testament study, and the concept of lived religion as a means to understand ancient Christianity. Chapter 2 discusses the gods, sacrifices, festivals, divine epithets, temple architecture, magic, neighborhood religion, demonology, pagan and Christian ritual, and Greco-Roman and Jewish views of the cosmos. Chapter 3 examines the empire’s political and administrative structure, urbanization, taxation, nomenclature, patronage, and emperor worship. Chapter 4 treats the organization and governance of cities, liturgies, urban demography, poverty, mortality, economic production, trade associations, and integration of Jews in city life. Chapter 5 considers terms and definitions of the ancient household and family; architecture; domestic rituals; rites of passage; slavery and manumission; expectations of men, women, children, and slaves; funerary practices; and fictive kinship. Chapter 6 discusses the self; the social constitution of identity; physiological understandings of the body; Greco-Roman gender construction; philosophical theories concerning the interrelationship of body, soul, and ethics; and Jewish and early Christian conceptualizations of the self." - OUP

"The New Testament in Antiquity is a textbook for college and seminary students penned by three evangelical scholars with over fifty years of combined experience in the classroom. Their challenge was to build a text that would be engaging, academically robust, richly illustrated, and relevant to the modern student. This book strikes a balance between being accessible to all students and challenging them to explore the depths of the New Testament within its cultural worlds. The New Testament in Antiquity carefully develops how Jewish and Hellenistic cultures formed the essential environment in which the New Testament authors wrote their books and letters. It argues that knowing the land, history, and culture of this world brings remarkable new insights into how we read the New Testament itself. Numerous sidebars provide windows into the Jewish, Hellenistic, and Roman worlds and integrate this material directly with the interpretation of the literature of the New Testament. This is an ideal introductory text for classroom use, with ample discussion questions and bibliographies." - HarperCollins

This also includes a workbook HERE
"Finally: an introduction that captures the excitement of the early Christians, helping today's readers to think like a first-century believer while reading the text responsibly for today. The New Testament in Its World is your passageway from the twenty-first century to the era of Jesus and the first Christians. A highly-readable, one-volume introduction placing the entire New Testament and early Christianity in its original context, it is the only such work by distinguished scholar and author N. T. (Tom) Wright. An ideal guide for students, The New Testament in Its World addresses the many difficult questions faced by those studying early Christianity. Both large and small, these questions include: What is the purpose of the New Testament? What was the first-century understanding of the kingdom? What is the real meaning of the resurrection in its original context? What really were the Gospels? Who was Paul and why are his letters so controversial? As twenty-first-century people, how do we recover the excitement of what it was like to live as Christians in the first or second centuries?" - HarperCollins

"An introduction to the writings of the NT, written by a prominent scholar who is able to communicate the main ideas and results with a clear and simple style. This third edition, although leaving intact the structure of the book, has been rewritten extensively, updating the information and adding the results of new biblical approaches and research. Includes new maps and illustrations." - Paulist Press

"As part of the Christian canon of scripture, the New Testament is one of the most influential works in history. Its impact can be seen in many different fields, but without an awareness of the historical, cultural, social, and intellectual context of early Christianity, it can be difficult for modern-day readers to fully understand what the first-century authors were trying to say and how the first readers of the New Testament would have understood these ideas." - Routledge

Ladd's magisterial work on New Testament theology has well served thousands of seminary students since its publication in 1974. Enhanced and updated here by Donald A Hagner, this comprehensive, standard evangelical text now features augmented bibliographies and two completely new chapters on subjects that Ladd himself wanted to treat in a revised edition, the theology of each of the Synoptic Evangelists and the issue of unity and diversity in the New Testament.

"Includes all the people mentioned by name in the New Testament as well as some who remain unnamed like the centurions at Capernaum and Calvary, together with certain political and religious groups, such as the Sadducees and the Essenes. Contains comprehensive historical, geographical and archaeological background on each entry and full interpretive analysis of the varying versions of the Gospels." - Routledge

"In the critically acclaimed best-seller, Women's Bible Commentary, an outstanding group of women scholars introduced and summarized each book of the Bible and commented on those sections of each book that have particular relevence to women, focusing on female charecters, symbols, life situations such as marriage and family, the legal status of women, and religious principles that affect relationships of women and men. Now, this expanded edition provides similar insights on the Apocrypha, presenting a significant view of the lives and religious experiences of women as well as attitudes toward women in the Second Temple period. This expanded edition sets a new standard for women's and biblical studies." - WJK Press

"This volume addresses the most important issues related to the study of New Testament writings. Two respected senior scholars have brought together a team of distinguished specialists to introduce the Jewish, Hellenistic, and Roman backgrounds necessary for understanding the New Testament and the early church. Contributors include renowned scholars such as Lynn H. Cohick, David A. deSilva, James D. G. Dunn, and Ben Witherington III. The book includes seventy-five photographs, fifteen maps, numerous tables and charts, illustrations, and bibliographies. All students of the New Testament will value this reliable, up-to-date, comprehensive textbook and reference volume on the New Testament world." - Baker Academic