The Best OT Commentaries (Pt 1)

As promised, here is the OT commentary list. It was generated the same way as the NT list below (if you want to know the procedure, it is explained at the beginning of that post). Let me know what you think. I’ll post the rest in a couple days.

Genesis
1. Wenham, Gordon. Genesis (WBC)
2. Leupold, Herbert. Exposition of Genesis
3. Hamilton, Victor. The Book of Genesis (NICOT)
HM. Kidner, Derek. Genesis (TOTC)
HM. Davis, John. Paradise to Prison: Studies in Genesis

Exodus
1. Childs, B.S. The Book of Exodus: A ... Commentary (OTL)
2. Davis, John. Moses and the Gods of Egypt
3. Bush, George. Notes, Critical and Practical, on the Book of Exodus

Leviticus
1a. Wenham, Gordon. The Book of Leviticus (NICOT)
1b. Bonar, Andrew. A Commentary on the Book of Leviticus
2. Rooker, Mark. Leviticus (NAC)
3. Ross, Alan. Holiness to the Lord.

Numbers
1. Wenham, Gordon. Numbers (TOTC)
2. Bush, George. Notes, Critical ... Book of Numbers
3. Harrison, R.K. Numbers (WEC)

Deuteronomy
1. Craigie, Peter. The Book of Deuteronomy (NICOT)
2. Merrill, Eugene. Deuteronomy (NAC)
3a. Driver, Samuel. A Critical ... on Deuteronomy (ICC)
3b. Reider, Joseph. The Holy Scriptures: Deuteronomy ...

Joshua
1. Woudstra, Marten. The Book of Joshua (NIC)
2. Davis, John. Conquest and Crisis

Judges
1. Moore, George. A Critical ... Commentary on Judges (ICC)
2. Cundall & Morris. Judges and Ruth (TOTC)
3. Bush, George. Notes, Critical and Practical on the Book of Judges

Ruth
1. Hubbard, Robert L. The Book of Ruth (NIC)
2. Campbell, Edward F. Ruth (AB)
3. Atkinson, David. The Message of Ruth (BST)

1 & 2 Samuel
1. Gordon, Robert P. 1 and 2 Samuel: A Commentary
2. Bergen, R.D. 1, 2 Samuel (NAC)
3. Klein, Ralph & Anderson, Arnold. 1 & 2 Samuel (WBC)

1 & 2 Kings
1. Montgomery, James. A Critical ... the Books of Kings (ICC)
2a. Wiseman, Donald. 1 & 2 Kings (TOTC)
2b. House, Paul R. 1, 2 Kings (NAC)

1 & 2 Chronicles
1. Braun, Roddy & Dillard, Ray. 1 & 2 Chronicles (WBC)
2. Wilcock. Michael. The Message of Chronicles (BST)
HM. Selman, Martin. 1 & 2 Chronicles. 2 vols. (TOTC)

Ezra & Nehemiah
1. Kidner, Derek. Ezra and Nehemiah (TOTC)
2. Fensham, F. Charles. The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (NIC)
3. Williamson, H.G.M. Ezra-Nehemiah (WBC)

Esther
1. Baldwin, Joyce G. Esther (TOTC)
2. Whitcomb, John. Esther: Triumph of God’s Sovereignty (EBC)
3a. Breneman, Mervin. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (NAC)
3b. Bush, Frederic. Ruth, Esther (WBC).

Chapter 4, The Enemy Within (Pt 1)

I thank God for this book, and can't wait to read the full version, Overcoming Sin & Temptation.

I think this was the most eye-opening, and most convicting chapter so far.

First, I had to ask myself "Do I hate sin like Captain Ahab hated Moby Dick?" Honestly, I don't think I do. I think at times that sin and I have made a truce. We're like spouses who don't like each other, but have to sleep in the same bed, so we try to make the best of a bad situation. Well, sin is so demanding that doing so means giving sin what it wants so it will shut up.

Second, do I think of myself before God saved me as His enemy? Passages like Romans 5:10, Romans 8:7, Colossians 1:17 and James 4:4 make clear that God and I were at war before I was a Christian. Now, though I've been reconciled to God--an experience taken from the family where a broken relationship is restored--and my indwelling sin has been conquered, weakened and mortally wounded, sins "defiant malice smolders in [my] flesh" (45).

Third, I carry this enemy of God with me at all times, and he refuses to be appeased. The only way he shuts up is if I give him what he wants, which is an expression of his hatred for God lived out in my life through my disobedience. Either I'm going to obey God and arouse sin's anger, or I'm going to obey sin and arouse God's discipline, and this is constant.

I agree with Paul "What a wretched man I am! Who will save me from this body of death?" (Rom 7:24), what about you?

The Sin of People-Watching

I overhead a student say tonight that "Disneyland is the best for people-watching," and it reminded me of my once favorite pastime. I used to love people-watching. Growing up in Southern California, there is no end to the people-watching possibilities. One of the best places to people-watch was the beach. I spent most of my summer on the beach, and the one thing we locals resented most was "inlanders." They'd flock to our home, following the "Beach Cities" signs on the 57, and infest them with their pasty white farmer tans and cut-off jeans (with belts) for boardshorts.

But, the best place to people-watch was and still is Disneyland. I agree with my student. I've been there so many times that Disneyland got boring, so I'd just sit there and watch people with friends, especially dazed foreign tourists and overweight people with skimpy clothes. This was the fun within the fun at "the happiest place on earth."

However, when you're people-watching, what're you doing?

I remember chuckling at the German tourists dressed in the most unfashonable clothing. I remember pointing and laughing at the Japanese tourists who would take pictures of EVERYTHING. No matter where I went it was "Hey, look at...," or "Check out the...," or "Did you see...." I laughed a lot, and had a good time, that is, until I realized what I was really doing: I was looking for things to laugh at or make fun of.

Each time I was people-watching, I was really people-mocking. I'd set myself over them as their weight judge, or their fashion police, or their activities director and then mocked them for not being cool...like me. I realized I liked watching people because smacking them down like that penguin above helped me prove how great I was, which by the way is not a lack of self-esteem, but too much self-esteem, or better, too much pride.

Now, I don't think all people-watching is bad, but I wasn't admiring God's creativity if the myriad of people and faces and bodies. Nor was I people-watching like Jesus did who "seeing the people, He felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dispirite like sheep without a shepherd" (Matt 9:36). I want to be that kind of people-watcher.

Chapter 3, The Enemy Within

**NOTICE*** Kris Lundgaard just did a 4-part retreat on The Enemy Within. If you’re interested in the mp3's, simply click here, or on the title "Chapter 3, The Enemy Within" above.

As we approach Halloween, haunted houses are a common sight in my neighborhood. Even next door there's a house decked out with an inflatable Frankenstein, cobwebs, tombstones and large plastic spiders.

Chapter 3 begins by explaining that "the haunted house scares us because it hides something unknown and deadly" (36). We've all seen the movies. Haunted houses are not where sane people want to vacation. You "tempt fate" when you go into one. Everyone knows that inside "the monster lies in wait, licking its chops" (36).

After extolling all the virtues of having nothing to do with haunted houses, he turns the tables on us with "You have a haunted house within you: your heart" (36). What? You just told me how deadly haunted houses are, warned me about the danger, and then say that inside me is one I cannot escape from!!!

In the Bible, the heart refers to our entire being--not just our emotions, but a person's entire mission control center. And, because it is the home of sin, our heart is "deceitful above all things" (Jer 17:9). The greatest poker players in the world are no match for the deceit any person's heart.

“Follow your heart!?!” Maybe we should run from it like the unsuspecting guests in haunted houses? Lundgaard puts it this way: No Hollywood director "could ever design a house as complex as your heart, or gather enough monsters to fill it" (38).

In my case, I am learning that a lot of sin in my life I’ve made a truce with because I don’t actively fight it, and if I’m not fighting it, I’m being killed by it. It does not feel like I’m progressing because I’m not violently warring against sin. I hope Lundgaard gives some practical battle strategies because I know I cut my flesh slack and “watch it regroup and revive’ (40).

This I do know. If I'm ever going to get a handle on my heart—i.e., find out why I do, think, say, feel what I do, think, say, and feel--I need God, who cannot be deceived, to explain my heart--why I lust, or get angry, or worry, or fear what others will think of me.

Thank God for the hope this chapter ends with! Believers have the Spirit who knows our hearts and “ferrets out the monsters” because “no sin escapes his searching eye” (41) in our haunted hearts.

Alcohol & Hating Truth

In the Confessions, Book VI, chapter 2, Augustine describes the enjoyment of alcohol as a very common barrier to the gospel. While describing his mother's practice of honoring dead saints while drinking wine he commented that her love of wine did not "stimulate her to hate the truth, as it does too many, both male and female." You can read the quote in context by clicking the title of this post above.

His language is so strong, and it even seems he might be shocked by the fact that his mother didn't hate the truth though she loved wine, as if loving wine and hating truth went hand-in-hand in everyone except her. She was an admirable exception to the general rule?

When I think of hindrances to the truth, I think of intellectual or moral barriers (i.e., sex, money, power, etc.), but thanks to Augustine we need to add alcohol to the list of barriers keeping people from embracing the gospel.

As someone who spent many Friday nights out at the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica doing street evangelism, I can concur with Augustine. Alcohol, more often than not, seems to have a deadening effect on the spiritual sensitivities of people whom at other times are quite reasonable. This was true of a guy named Mike who I talked to many times. When he was sober, he'd listen and even came very close to embracing the gospel on night, but when he'd been drinking, he wasn't worth talking to.

Do you have any further insights into what Augustine's saying here? Let me know.

Jesus is NOT your Homeboy

This is another in a long line of examples in our culture that trivialize the least trivial Person, by any standard, who's ever existed. No one needs to debunk Christianity through dialogue and debate anymore. Today, it's simply overlooked as insignificant because it's Founder is no longer seen as the One before whom "every knee should bow" (Phil 2:10) as Lord and King of the Universe. He is just another in a long line of pop culture icons that have their "day in the sun" before being put on the shelf while they wait to be reinvented. No wonder God rests so inconsequentially upon a Christianity who thinks we honor Him when we market Him like a commodity and consume Him like a product. What happened to witnessing with our lips and our lives, not with our t-shirts and tattoos?

Steps to Victory in Evangelism

Evangelism is often completed in stages, as in the life of Augustine (see Confessions, Book VI, chapter 1).

Augustine's mother Monica (the person the city Santa Monica is named after) is famous for praying that God would save him. When he told her that he had left some false teachings (i.e., the Manicheans), he comments that "though I had not yet grasped the truth, I was rescued from falsehood." She had been assured by God that her son would come to faith, which he says is why she was not "agitated with any violent exultation" upon him leaving that heresy.

This episode illustrates an important principle in evangelism: Victory is not just found when someone embraces the gospel--though, of course, that is the goal we pray and work and reason with them for. Just getting someone to disbelieve a lie that was previously a barrier to their coming to salvation is something to exult over too because it is also proof that God is using you in their life.

So, unless God gives you the kind of insight about the person you're trying to evangelize as He gave St. Monica, thank Him for all of the step-by-step victories He gives before bringing a person all the way to saving faith, just like He did with Augustine.

The Best NT Commentaries

While reading 5-10 books that survey and recommend NT commentaries (among these 5-10 are books by D.A. Carson, Doug Moo, James Rosscup, John Glynn and Cyril Barber), I wanted to know which were the overall most and highest recommended. So, I gave each commentary a score based on how the surveyer liked/rated it. I have revised this list when other commentary surveys came out, and/or when previous surveys were revised. After tallying up the scores this is a summary of the results (Note: The titles given for the commentary are either full names with the series in parenthesis, or there is enough info to find it at a bookfinder.com type of website):

Matthew
1. Broadus, John. Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew.
2. Carson, D.A. Matthew (in Expositor's Bible series).

Mark
1. Cranfield, C.E.B. The Gospel according to St. Mark
2. Lane, William. The Gospel of Mark (NICNT)
3. Hiebert, D.E. The Gospel of Mark

Luke
1. Marshall, I.H. The Gospel of Luke (NIGTC)
2. Plummer, Alfred. A Critical and Exegetical...Luke (ICC)

John
1a. Brown, Raymond. The Gospel According to John (AB)
1b. Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to John (NICNT)
2. Barrett, C.K. The Gospel According to St. John

Acts
1. Bruce, F.F. The Book of Acts (NICNT)
2. Marshall, I.H. The Acts of the Apostles (TNTC)

Romans
1. Cranfield, C.E.B. Romans, 2 vols (ICC)
2. Murray, John. The Epistle to the Romans (NICNT)
3. Moo, Doug. The Epistle to the Romans (NICNT)

1 Corinthians
1. Robertson & Plummer. A Critical...Corinthians (ICC)
2a. Fee, Gordon. The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT)
2b. Barrett, C.K. The First Epistle to the Corinthians (BNTC)

2 Corinthians
1. Hughes, Phillip. Commentary on the Second...Corinthians (NICNT)
2a. Martin, Ralph. 2 Corinthians (WBC)
2b. Barrett, C.K. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (BNTC)

Galatians
1a. Bruce, F.F. A Commentary on...Galatians (NIGTC)
1b. Burton, Ernest. A Critical and Exegetical...Galatians (ICC)
2. Lightfoot, Joseph. The Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians.

Ephesians
1. Hoehner, Harold. Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary
2. O'Brien, Peter. The Letter to the Ephesians (PNTC)
3. Lincoln, Andrew. Ephesians (WBC)

Philippians
1a. Hawthorne, Gerald. Philippians (WBC).
1b. Lightfoot, Joseph. St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians.
2. O'Brien, Peter. The Epistle to the Philippians (NIGTC)

Colossians & Philemon
1. O'Brien, Peter. Colossians, Philemon (WBC).
2. Bruce, F.F. The Epistles to the Colossians...Ephesians (NICNT)
3. Lightfoot, Joseph. St. Paul’s Epistles...Colossians...Philemon.

1 & 2 Thessalonians
1. Bruce, F.F. 1 and 2 Thessalonians (WBC)
2a. Hiebert, D.E. 1 & 2 Thessalonians
2b. Best, Ernst. A Commentary on...Thessalonians (BNTC)

1 & 2 Timothy, and Titus
1. Kelly, J.N.D. The Pastoral Epistles (BNTC)
2a. Mounce, William. The Pastoral Epistles (WBC)
2b. Knight, George. The Pastoral Epistles (NIGTC)

Hebrews
1. Bruce, F.F. The Epistle to the Hebrews (NICNT)
2. Westcott, B.F. The Epistle to the Hebrews
3. Hughes, Philip. A Commentary on...Hebrews (NICNT?)

James
1. Davids, Peter. The Epistle of James (NIGTC)
2. Mayor, Joseph. The Epistle of James.

1 Peter
1. Selwyn, Edward. First Epistle of St. Peter.
2. Kelly, J.N.D. A Commentary on ... of Peter and Jude (BNTC)

2 Peter & Jude
1. Bauckham, Richard. Jude, 2 Peter (WBC)
2. Green, Edward. Second Epistle...Jude (TNTC)
3. Mayor, Joseph. The Epistle of St. Jude and...Peter.

1-3 John
1. Stott, John. The Epistles of John (TNTC).
2. Smalley, Stephen. 1, 2, 3 John (WBC)

Revelation
1. Walvoord, John. The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
2. Beale, G.K. The Book of Revelation (NIGTC)
3a. Swete, H.B. The Apocalypse of St. John.
3b. Thomas, Robert. Revelation, 2 vols (WEC)

Let me know if you have questions, comments, disagreements, or want further details.

Chapter 2, The Enemy Within

Sin works on a powerfully persuasive rewards-punishment system where sin's appeal comes both from the "rewards" it offers, and from the "punishments" you'll avoid--i.e., self-denial, persecution, etc. This system exudes great power over us, which why in our fight against sin the "life of the disciple is not for the timid. Most would rather give in to sin" (31). I know I do, and I hate that I believe sin's lies rather than going "through the painful work of picking up a cross and nailing [my] flesh to it" (31).

Not only is sin a liar, but Lundgaard uses a very jarring illustration to drive home the idea that sin is a traitor when he writes "Indwelling sin is our Judas" who won "the trust of [his] friends and then betray[ed] from the inside" (31). Like Satan in the garden, sin gets us to believe that it's on our side, that it's looking out for our best interest, while at the same time insinuating that God is not generous and kind with His commands, but harsh, oppressive and mean.

Sin at home inside of us...

1. Wears out its welcome -- One of the best and most insightful quotes in the book is in this point: "Wherever you go, whatever you do, the law of sin is with you step for step-in the best you do, in teh worst you do. How often to you think about the fact that your carry around in you a deadly companion?" (32).

2. Doesn't observe a sabbath -- "Do you want to pray? Listen to a sermon? Meditate on the Word? ... This hateful, wicked pest is in your face with a thousand distractions and surprises, making sure you can't perfectly accomplish the good you intend.... It exasperates us" (33). I struggle with this every single minute of every single day, pushing through all the distractions to try and accomplish just half of the good I want to.

3. Does its dirty work with the greatest of ease -- As an insider, sin "easily entangles" us (Heb 12:1) so that there "is no spiritual duty, nothing godly you can set yourself to, in which you won't feel the wind of sin's resistance in your face" (33).

In my daily battle with sin in my heart and life, I am putting so much hope in the idea that the "more you discover the power of indwelling sin, the less you will suffer its effects. ...to the length that you abhor [sin]-and no farther-you will grasp for grace against it" (33-34).

In closing, heed this warning, "if you don't find yourself dodging [sin] day and night in a struggle agaisnt sin, it may be that you've made peace with [it]," and therefore, "you should doubt that you are born of God" (34).

What do you think? Leave a comment.

The True Heart for Evangelism

Spurgeon: "...if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies; and if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay, and not madly to destroy themselves. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for."

When you encounter the lost--in person, in print, on TV, on radio, etc.--are these your thoughts? Is this your heart? Oh how I want this for myself!!!

If you want to read the whole sermon or find the quote in context, click the title above, and then leave a comment.

Sin & Making Fun of People

Have you ever thought about what you're really doing when you make fun of someone?

When you mock someone, you're setting yourself over them as a superior, and then talking down to them in judgment as an inferior. Many would say you're doing that because of an inferiority complex, or because you feel bad about yourself / have low self-esteem so, in order to make yourself feel good, you make others feel bad. Fine, but I think there's an important theological lesson here, too.

When you look down on another person, you have some reason(s) for doing so. There is something good about you that you see as superior, and therefore, these good things give you justifications for elevating yourself above the person you're about to mock. However, don't forget that every single good thing you can point to, you cannot take even an ounce of credit for because "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17).

In other words, when I mock someone I am robbing God of the glory He deserves for every good thing that I am, I am pridefully taking that glory and giving it to myself, all the while conveniently forgetting that if it weren't for God's grace to me, I would be the person I'm making fun of. In the end, the only difference between me and the nerd, the dumb jock, the outcast, the slut, the idiot, the punk kid, the fightin' fundy, the jihadist, and the nihilist is God's grace towards me.

I think we forget and disbelieve that precious truth when we make fun of someone, what about you?

Postmoderns are Pre-Modern

In the middle of the last chapter of the Confessions, Book V, I came across this line as Augustine (354-430 AD) is describing his struggle committing to or leaving the Manicheans: "the method of the Academics—doubting everything and fluctuating between all the options" (V.14:25). [If you want to read the quote in context, click the title above.]

The intelligencia of his day both doubted everything and were a shifting shadow "between all options." Hmm.... Doubting everything...? Waffling among all points of view...? These pre-moderns sound awfully, um, post-modern. Maybe postmodernism isn't all that "post" after all.

What do you think? Leave a comment.

Chapter 1, The Enemy Within

I know sin was serious enough for God to come and die for it, but I live largely unaware and uneffected by its seriousness. Sin is not grave, not compelling, not awful enough to me. I pray that I too will feel "like a whipped puppy" (22) for my inward wickedness and my outward expressions of that wickedness.

Lundgaard says "the reason for this book is that the first step to fighting this enemy [sin] is to know it--and to know it well" (22). To that end, he teaches us about sin from Paul's experience as described in Romans 7:21, "So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me."

First, sin living in us is a "law." -- Just like the law of gravity, the law of sin "impels us to fulfill its demands, and...brings a force to bear on us to bow us into submission" (24). Sin entices us, threatens us and even bullies us into obedience. Hope: Jesus is so beautiful because He has "overthrown [sin's] rule, weakened its power, and even killed its root so that it cannot bear the fruit of eternal death in a believer" (24).

Second, we find this law inside us. -- I thank God that this book and Piper's messages about the joy in God that I struggle to have have awakened in me a deep sense of my sin, and therefore my frenzied need for Jesus and His gospel and God's grace like never before. Lundgaard is right when he writes "the believer...swims upstream--he meets sin head-on and strains under its strength" (25). So true!

Third, we find this law when we're at our best -- I see this. When I want to serve God most purely and humbly and with the most self-denial, sin is right there seeking to make me impure, arrogent and self-centered.

Fourth, this law never rests. -- The enticing, threatening, bullying, compelling nature of sin to get us to obey never ever lets up so that beleivers are "in a constant tug of war against [our] overall desire to please God...making [us] drowsy or distracted when [we] would pray [or read our Bibles], or stingy and ambitious when [we] should tithe" (26), or scared and self-conscious when we should witness, or weak and fearful when we should fight temptation. Hope: Like sin, "He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep," (Ps 121:4), Jesus is with us always even to the end of the age (Matt 28:20), and God will never leave us and never forsake us (Deut 31:6, 8; Josh 1:5; Heb 13:5).

The chapter ends with this warning: "If we are not spiritually wise in managing our souls, how can we help making a wreck of ourselves?" (27).

Lord, make us watchful of our souls. Please grant to us the words of this prayer in hymn form by Charles Wesley:

I want a principle within of watchful, godly fear.
A sensibility to sin, a pain to feel it near.
Help me the first approach to feel of pride or wrong desire,
To catch the wandering of my will and quench the kindling fire.
From Thee, that I no more may stray, no more Thy goodness grieve,
Grant me the filial awe, I pray, the tender conscience give.

Preface, The Enemy Within

To the above end, we will be blogging through Kris Lundgaard's little, but life-transforming book, The Enemy Within.

To begin, the "impotence of my sanctification" (13) has tormented me all 11 years that I've been a Christian. I can go back to my early journals and see the same struggles and disappointments that still mark my life to this day. I hate that, and it has to change. That is why I thank God for sending His Son, saving me and crossing my path with this book. If by some fluke of providence Mr. Lundgaard were to ever find this site, I want him to know how grateful I am for his struggles though Owen (13) and his desire to share the fruit of his labors (14) with people like me who need hope in the midst of the battle.

My prayer during this exercise is that I too may change through sincerely owning mortification of sin and universal holiness so that God, His Word, His gospel and His Son will be "adorned in all things" (15) and no longer inconsequential in my own heart and life.

Welcome to this Blog

This blog is devoted to fighting the enemy within, to examining every detail of our lives in light of God's truth, the Bible, so that sin in all it's expressions can be fought. We do this through studying the Scriptures, prayer, reading and examining good books, and interacting with each other in the comments.

If you'd like to join the conversation, email me at counterculture3@hotmail.com. We'll get you up to speed, and off you go.

Sadly, I think the quote above is true. It's not acceptable that God, His Word, His gospel, His Son rest too inconsequentially on Christianity today because the last thing God, His Word, His gospel and His Son are are inconsequential. I want that to end.

Worst of all, I can see that all those things are inconsequential in me, and I hate it.

Personally, I hope this blog will help change that in me, and I think this change starts by the power of the Spirit in individuals who are infected by a high view of God, and then spread that "virus" until the prayers of the psalmists are answered and God's glory is over all the earth (Psa 57:5, 11; 72:19; 108:5).