Ephesians, Volume 42

Word Biblical Commentary #42

by Andrew Lincoln, Bruce M. Metzger, David Allen Hubbard (Editor)

The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship.

Overview of Commentary Organization

Introduction—covers issues pertaining to the whole book, including context, date, authorship, composition, interpretive issues, purpose, and theology. Each section of the commentary includes: Pericope Bibliography—a helpful resource containing the most important works that pertain to each particular pericope. Translation—the author’s own translation of the biblical text, reflecting the end result of exegesis and attending to Hebrew and Greek idiomatic usage of words, phrases, and tenses, yet in reasonably good English. Notes—the author’s notes to the translation that address any textual variants, grammatical forms, syntactical constructions, basic meanings of words, and problems of translation. Form/Structure/Setting—a discussion of redaction, genre, sources, and tradition as they concern the origin of the pericope, its canonical form, and its relation to the biblical and extra-biblical contexts in order to illuminate the structure and character of the pericope. Rhetorical or compositional features important to understanding the passage are also introduced here. Comment—verse-by-verse interpretation of the text and dialogue with other interpreters, engaging with current opinion and scholarly research. Explanation—brings together all the results of the discussion in previous sections to expose the meaning and intention of the text at several levels: (1) within the context of the book itself; (2) its meaning in the OT or NT; (3) its place in the entire canon; (4) theological relevance to broader OT or NT issues. General Bibliography—occurring at the end of each volume, this extensive bibliographycontains all sources used anywhere in the commentary.

Genres: Reference, Biblical Studies, Christian, Theology

566 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 6, 1990

About the author

Andrew T. Lincoln is the Portland Professor of New Testament at the University of Gloucestershire.

Reviews

[Ryan Rench · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everyone loves this book, and it's ranked super highly, but it was not for me. In fact, I put it last among Cohick, O'Brien, and Bruce. I remained unconvinced even after reading his entire introduction on the non-Pauline authorship, and throughout the book, its technicalities rarely enhanced the actual message of Scripture for me. Thoroughly researched—I can't say otherwise—but not for me. My low rating would almost entirely be on my reception of the book and not necessarily on the work itself.
All my typical Independent Baptist disagreements still stand, but this was helpful in my sermon series through Ephesians.

[Taylor Sines · Rating 4 out of 5]

If he was not arguing that Ephesians was written by a follower of Paul, this would have five stars. Really excellent and exhaustive commentary other than his position on authorship.

[David Goetz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid commentary: shrewd observations, clear and mostly persuasive judgments, strong theology. Lots of detail but rarely too much.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Word Biblical Commentary (WBC), has been a Biblical commentary series I had always desired to own more of. 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 Biblical Commentary switched 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 42nd volume of this series covering Epehsians, by Andrew T. Lincon. This work encompasses interaction with new critical scholarship as well as updated information with regards to conservative scholarship as well.

While reading an assortment of passages on many Ephesians I was saddened by his view of non-Pauline authorship. Yet his conclusions are pretty conservative nonetheless.  Furthermore knowledge of the Hebrew language is handy when utilizing this commentary, it is not a necessary requirement for utilization. With that said having a deep knowledge of the Hebrew 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.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lincoln remains a model for clarity and insight, making excellent and accessible use of the Word commentary format that moves from pericope to pericope covering form/structure/setting (about context), comment (detail verse by verse), and explanation (narrative explanation). Great at all levels providing deep insight into Christian identity and the nature of the church. Argues against Pauline authorship and this does make for some awkward and tiresome grammatical constructions when discussing the author of Ephesians.

[Eric Sauder · Rating 3 out of 5]

lot's of good stuff here, but his argument against Pauline authorship is incredibly weak.

[Steve Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lincoln provides interesting insights gleaned from thorough exegesis and interaction with other scholars, but the format of the Word Biblical Commentary series is cumbersome, which makes reading a bit of a drudgery.