Revelation (Teach the Text Commentary Series) by J. Scott Duvall

Teach the Text Commentary

by J. Scott Duvall

To craft informed sermons, pastors scour commentaries that often deal more with minutia than the main point. Or they turn to devotional commentaries, which may contain exegetical weaknesses. The Teach the Text Commentary Series bridges this gap by utilizing the best of biblical scholarship and providing the information a pastor needs to communicate the text effectively. By keeping the discussion of each carefully selected preaching unit to six pages of focused commentary, the volumes in this series allow pastors to quickly grasp the big idea and key themes of each passage of Scripture. Each unit of the commentary includes the big idea and key themes of the passage; sections dedicated to understanding, teaching, and illustrating the text; and full-color illustrations, maps, and photos.

Hardcover

First published October 14, 2014

About the author

J. Scott Duvall (PhD. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is professor of New Testament at Ouachita Baptist University. He is the coauthor with George H. Guthrie of Biblical Greek Exegesis: A Graded Approach to Learning Intermediate and Advanced Greek and with Terry G. Carter and J. Daniel Hays of the textbook Preaching God's Word: A Hands on Approach to Preparing, Developing and Delivering the Sermon.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this commentary series and am disappointed it has been discontinued. I got this book to help me preach through Revelation and frequently found it helpful. This series is short and not focused on diving into every single detail nor presenting every single possible interpretation. It is focused on finding the main point of the passage and how one can teach it for application.

It will only point out details or background information that is directly needed or helpful to teach the passage. This will probably frustrate those who want in-depth or who only want one commentary to cover each issue. I found this one helpful for trying to figure out how in the world I was supposed to preach some of the sections in the book. I would recommend this to those who would like help in discerning the primary idea of a section.

[James Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical Commentary for Teachers of Scripture

Written by preacher/academicians for preachers. Duvall has produced a well illustrated, thoughtfully arranged, homiletical guide to the Revelation of Jesus to John.

[Terry Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book to help Bible teachers/preachers to prepare messages to deliver about the book of Revelation. It is designed as an easy to read commentary, with suggestions and ideas for sermons at the end of each chapter. It is a great concept, and I found some of the suggestions very helpful.

My biggest reason for not rating the book higher is their basic concept of making most of Revelation allegorical or symbolic. Looking at Revelation with this philosophy makes it very hard to understand, and leaves it open to many different interpretations that I think were never intended by the author. The preferred method of interpretation is to take it literally unless the text calls it an allegory, or says it is symbolic. Many times in Revelation there is some strange vision, that is later interpreted saying "this means that". Taking a much narrower look gives a much better interpretation and makes Revelation actually readable and understandable.

I give the author credit for saying there are multiple ways of looking at the book of Revelation, including the literal interpretation. I wish they would have written the book from that viewpoint. The notes and suggestions were helpful at the end of each chapter, but overall, I was not overly impressed with the scholarship.

I would recommend the book as an additional resource, but not as a primary resource for someone teaching a class on Revelation.

[Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This commentary is OK. It's largely a digest of more academic works like Beale and others. The application points are excellent for teaching, but there's not much here that is said elsewhere.