Study the Passage: The vital step in preparing powerful sermons...Continued from page 4

We’re all indebted to scholars who have spent their lives understanding the biblical languages and cultures. As we read and compare their insights, the biblical author’s flow of thought begins to take definite shape, and our own understanding of the passage crystallizes further.

Good commentaries tend to fall in one of three categories. The first category is what we might call an expositional, or synthesis, commentary. This type of commentary, often an inexpensive paperback, is written for the intelligent English reader. Its goal is to present the flow of thought of the biblical writer, with some attention to individual words and phrases. This kind of commentary is often a good place to start, since it will quickly give you the large units of thought and the lines of argument of the text.

The second category is what we might call an exegetical, or critical, commentary. Usually in more expensive hardback, this type of commentary is the most detailed and scholarly. It focuses on words, phrases, and intricate issues of grammar and syntax and presents long discussions of culture and background. It has the best chance of resolving the study questions you flagged earlier.

The third category is the sermonic, or homiletic, commentary, which is usually a series of sermons that were first preached to a local congregation and then put into print for a wider audience. The value of this type of commentary is that it might spark applications, titles, special phrasings, or even a creative approach to the message. Study thoroughly in the first two categories before you read the third.

If you start with sermonic commentaries, you may be tempted to prematurely conclude, “That’ll preach!” without first determining whether the printed sermon accurately reflects the meaning of the biblical author. Instead, start with the commentaries that have no homiletical axe to grind. Become emotionally wedded to the concepts and flow of the biblical author, and then you’ll be more properly selective in how you benefit from someone else’s sermon.

A wise preacher will budget money to buy these books. Just as the mechanic has to invest in the latest tools to diagnose complex engines, so you must have the best and latest books to keep up with advances in biblical knowledge and to stimulate your mind.

Stay abreast with what’s being published. Two excellent resources are the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society and Bibliotheca Sacra. These two journals not only have consistently helpful articles on biblical passages and topics, but also valuable book reviews of the latest commentaries. Published quarterly, their yearly cost is about the price of a nice

restaurant meal. Other resources for commentary recommendations might be a booklist put out by the professors of a seminary, or a published work by a respected scholar evaluating recent works, or a book exclusively focused on how to build an evangelical theological library.