Pastoral Epistles

Word Biblical Commentary #46

by William D. Mounce

The WBC is the best-selling multi-volume commentary series in the market today. WBC authors are all experts in their field and skillfully bring the text to meaning through careful exegesis and exposition. Each WBC contributor creates his own translation based on the best texts and literature available. The WBC has the largest bibliography of any commentary.

Genres: Reference, Christian, Biblical Studies, Theology, New Testament

592 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2000

About the author

William D. Mounce (PhD, Aberdeen University) lives as a writer in Camas, Washington. He is the Vice President of Educational Development at BibleGateway.com and the president of Biblical Training, a nonprofit organization offering the finest in evangelical teaching to the world. See BillMounce.com for more information. Formerly he was the preaching pastor at a church in Spokane, a professor of New Testament and director of the Greek program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a professor of New Testament at Azusa Pacific University. He is the author of the bestselling New Testament Greek resources, Basics of Biblical Greek, and served as the New Testament chair of the English Standard Version translation of the Bible.

Reviews

[Joe Koehler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only read the 95p introduction strait through, in order to get a good idea of themes, structure and
historical context behind the pastoral epistles (PE). Mounce is a refreshingly rational and biblically
conservative scholar of the PE. Critiquing the trend in modern scholarship with zest, Mounce affirms
the Pauline authorship of the PE in a convincing argument. It is evident that he has a good grasp on the text as well as other Pauline texts. This is an enjoyable commentary (which may sound like an oxymoron), and I'm confident that the remaining 650 pages will prove to be an invaluable resource for future study.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Word Bible Commentary (WBC), is a Biblical commentary I had always desired to own. I was introduced to them in my second year of Seminary and found them extremely useful in writing academic papers, in sermon preparation, and in Sunday school preparation.
A few years ago the word bible commentary switch Publishers again, and came under the ownership of Zondervan Publications. Under their leadership this series has seen a rejuvenation of sorts. While the format remains unchanged (providing a phenomenal bibliography, translation, notes trauma study on warm structure and setting, followed by comments and explanation), the binding of the book has changed as well as the addition of revised versions of previously released commentaries.
While the WBC is world renowned for its high academic pursuit of God’s Word, I was pleasantly surprised at its accessibility to the pastor and not just the academically-minded Bible scholar. In the book that I have the privilege of viewing is the 46th volume of this series containing Pastoral Epistles, by William D. Mounce which previously released under a previous publisher, but has a re-release under Zondervan’s leadership.

While reading an assortment of passages in the Pastoral Epistles, I was saddened to see a lack of commentary about each verse with regard to application and contextualisation. Yet on the other hand comments about the Biblical Greek language as well as syntax of each verse are indispensable information that is sorely lacking in almost every modern commentary.

While knowledge of the Biblical Greek language is handy when utilizing this commentary, it is not a necessary requirement for utilization. With that said having a deep knowledge of the Biblical Greek will greatly enhance a readers ability to use this commentary. I highly recommend this commentary to pastors and scholars due to its thorough academic approach combined with its accessibility to academia and the pastorate.

This book was provided to me free of charge from Zondervan Academic Publishers in exchange for an unbiased, honest review.

[W. Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A first-rate commentary by a first-rate scholar. This is perhaps the best commentary on the pastoral epistles from a conservative and a complementarian position. I first read it to prepare for a paper that I had to write on 1 Timothy 2:11-15. Some parts are quite technical but even without a working knowledge of Greek you can still benefit quite substantially from this commentary. Mounce lays out the various interpretations and critiques them fairly before presenting a case for what he thinks is the best interpretation. As many can attest, the main downside of this commentary series is in its awkward formatting which makes reading it a little frustrating.

[Sean McGowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful.

[Jess Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un commentaire très complet mais à la forme assez lourde.

Mounce aime le grec. C'est bien.
Mounce détail les mots. C'est bien.

Le problème c'est que on a plus l'impression d'avoir lu un dictionnaire qu'un commentaire par moment. Alors pour certains passages (on sait tous lesquels) ce mot à mot est nécessaire, voire indispensable.
Pour d'autre ça n'apporte pas grand chose de plus.
Et parfois on manque le "mouvement" du texte à force de faire du mot à mot.
Mais en même temps c'est difficile de faire plus complet à ce niveau.

À noter aussi les très bons excursus (par exemple l'évolution du service chrétien dans la période patristique) et les commentaires de tout âge dans lesquels Mounce puise (il semble beaucoup aimer Chrysostome).

Pour quelqu'un voulant juste le "mouvement" du texte le commentaire de Gordon Fee est amplement suffisant. Pour quelqu'un voulant entrer dans le détail Mounce est indispensable.

Le mieux restant d'avoir les deux.

[Matthew Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not every WBC is worth owning. This one is. Excellent work that covers all necessary exegetical issues without getting bogged down in silly minutiae that is always tempting commentators. Buy it and use it.

[Robert Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fantastic. Mounce does a great having a well-formed opinion, but treating his opponents fairly, over and over again. He is amazingly well-read and his treatment is as exhaustive as it can be in 700 pages. I would highly recommend this for any exegetes shelf, wherever they fall.

[David]

Really a good commentary on the Pastorals