THE BEST COMMENTARIES ON MATTHEW

[image error]PMW 2019-006 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

I am working on a commentary on Matt. 21:1–25:46, tentatively titled The Olivet Discourse in Context. As I engage the research, I am investigating a number of commentaries on Matthew (I do not fly by the seat of my pants as some preterist enthusiasts do!). I have found help in many of them, even when they do not hold to a preterist understanding of Olivet. Yet, several commentaries have become absolutely essential in my investigation. And I highly recommend them to my reader.

In this brief article I will recommend some good commentaries for you. If you are interested in the Olivet Discourse in particular (which is also found in Mark and Luke) or the Gospel of Matthew in general, you really need to get hold of these (legally, of course).

Helpful Commentaries

R. V. G. Tasker’s commentary, The Gospel according to St. Matthew (1961) in the Tyndale New Testament Commentaries series is a good, brief commentary. He holds to a preterist approach to Olivet, while recognizing that it begins with AD 70 but ends with Final Judgment. This is essential for understanding Olivet.

Yet Tasker’s treatment of Olivet is quite brief. And I do not believe he makes the break between AD 70 and the Final Judgment at the correct place in the Discourse. So, Tasker is quite helpful, though not essential for studying Olivet. Tasker, I would say, is good.

J. Marcellus Kik, An Eschatology of Victory (1971) is not a commentary on Matthew. It does, however, offer a very helpful commentary on the Olivet Discourse. Kik makes a fairly comprehensive case for a shift in focus from AD 70 to the Second Advent at Matt. 24:36. This in itself makes his work valuable for the preterist. I highly recommend Kik. Whereas Tasker is good, Kik is better. And I even have it on-sale on my website.

Nevertheless, if you are interested in serious, fuller commentaries on the Olivet Discourse, you will want to get the works by David E. Garland, R. T. France, and Jeffrey A. Gibbs. Though Tasker is good and Kik is better, these three scholars are Grrreeeeaaat (as Tony the Tiger would say)!

The sooner you get them, the happier you will be.