I, Peter (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries) by I. Howard Marshall

IVP New Testament Commentary #17

by I. Howard Marshall

Recipient of a Christianity Today 1992 Critics' Choice Award!As a young church in a hostile environment, Peter's first readers found in his letter encouragement, not just for facing suffering, but for living responsibly in the world as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. Christians today will also find in Peter's letter a wealth of practical counsel on how to conduct themselves in family and social life, as well as in relation to a society that makes it tough to follow Jesus Christ.In this invigorating volume from one of today's leading evangelical scholars, readers will find an introduction that discusses the letter's form, authorship, destination and primary theological themes, followed by a passage-by-passage commentary that always seeks to answer the question of what the text means for us today as well as what it meant for its original hearers.Students, pastors, Bible teachers and everyone who wants to understand Peter's message for the church will benefit from this excellent resource.

Genres: Reference

Unknown Binding

First published March 5, 1991

About the author

Ian Howard Marshall (12 January 1934 – 12 December 2015) was a Scottish New Testament scholar.[1] He was Professor Emeritus of New Testament Exegesis at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He was formerly the chair of the Tyndale Fellowship for Biblical and Theological Research; he was also president of the British New Testament Society and chair of the Fellowship of European Evangelical Theologians. Marshall identified as an Evangelical Methodist. He was the author of numerous publications, including 2005 Gold Medallion Book Award winner New Testament Theology.[2] He died of pancreatic cancer in 2015.[3]

Reviews

[Ryan Linkous · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gearing up for a sermon series on 1 Peter, and read this as more of an intro and to get the lay of the land.

Marshall writes clearly and does a very solid exposition of the text. I would recommend this especially to people wondering (1) what exposition looks like and (2) for a Bible study leader without academic training.

You can tell bridging the context to modern life makes him a bit uneasy in a few places, but he’s working at it.

Marshall is a New Testament scholar proper. This means he is very good on intertextual references and allusions to other parts of the NT. However, his OT and biblical theology game were less strong. He mainly handles OT references, but doesn’t pull in much of Israel’s story or every use them as examples of sacred history.

[J.E. Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps my one regret in this series through 1 Peter was that I seldom had time to consult my second-tier references (like this one) more frequently, and I'm sure I missed out on some keen insights and strong application points because of it. Marshall is a scholar that I respect highly, even though he doesn't come to mind as readily as others, and his work on 1 Peter is very solid. This volume strikes at a level somewhere between the more technical (like Davids, Goppelt, Green, and Jobes) and the more lay-level; it's sort of a "preacher's commentary" in the sense that so much of the content would approximate what you would expect to hear in a good sermon — which also makes this kind of commentary dangerous, in a way, because of the temptation to slack off on the hard work of crafting your own sermon. I probably picked up Marshall six or eight times, but given more prep time I might have doubled that.

[Last Word · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed studying I Peter with this commentary by my side. To be frank, I wanted to avoid the dry-as-dust commentaries full of rabbit trails and holes that a seminarian can waste time on but which a layperson (or a minister with a pastoral heart) would find little profit.

So Marshall's commentary was exactly to my taste: well-researched, helpful, and meticulous without pointless trivialities. I came away from this study with a deeper appreciation of Peter's "heart," his concern for "genuine love" and encouragement for the persecuted and suffering church. I have no doubt I will be reaching for this commentary when next I re-read I Peter.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my second favorite commentary I used when I preached through 1 Peter. It is a popular level commentary written more for the average layman. If you don't like large technical commentaries, this would be the one I recommend.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well rounded commentary.

[Michael Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as scholarly as NICNT, but has added practical applications for passages. A very helpful series. Read as I preached through 1 Peter.

[Benjamin Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good mix of digestible material, scholarly nuggets, and application points.

[Nicole]

Bible study for Summer 2018.