1-2 Thessalonians

Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

by Jeffrey A.D. Weima

In this addition to the critically acclaimed BECNT series, respected New Testament scholar Jeffrey Weima offers pastors, students, and teachers the most up-to-date and substantive commentary available on 1-2 Thessalonians. Weima, a Thessalonians expert, experienced teacher, and widely traveled speaker, presents well-informed evangelical scholarship at an accessible level to help readers understand the sociological, historical, and theological aspects of these letters. As with all BECNT volumes, this commentary features the author's detailed interaction with the Greek text, extensive research, thoughtful chapter-by-chapter exegesis, and a user-friendly design. It admirably achieves the dual aims of the series--academic sophistication with pastoral sensitivity and accessibility.

Genres: Theology

736 pages, Hardcover

First published November 18, 2014

About the author

Jeffrey A. D. Weima (PhD, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto) is professor of New Testament at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he has taught for more than twenty years. He has taught courses all over the world and is the author of several books and articles.

Reviews

[Pam Larson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thorough exegetical commentary, not for the faint of heart (over 600 pages of commentary). He does cite the original Greek text, but also transliterates when he does so. He often disagrees with "traditional" interpretations, but gives all the major positions, along with the pros and cons of each one. This commentary helped me to clarify my own position on the "rapture".

[Kevin V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though wordy and repetitive, Weima provides a thorough, balanced study of Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians. He is especially helpful in understanding Paul’s use of the epistolary traditions of his time. A helpful resource to have on the shelf.

[Thomas Creedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid and workmanlike. Definitely a solid resource for preachers and I appreciated that Weima always gives a fair hearing to alternative views and then shared his own. Lacked, perhaps ironically, the warmth and heart of Thess. corpus itself - par for the course for technical commentaries but a missed opportunity.

[Andrzej Stelmasiak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weima spent something like 3 decades of his life studying these letters, 2 decades devoted to writing this commentary. And it shows, oh it shows. To read it is like to have all this work distilled, and be presented with mature judgement.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve always like the BECNT commentary series, I find it similar to the Pillar commentary series but slightly more technical. I’ve not covered the whole book yet, but based on what I’ve read, this commentary seems to be able to deliver the goods.

Jeffrey Weima starts off the commentary with an excellent introduction. First he talks about the context of Thessalonica, the history, the cultural and social context. This sets the context for the readers as they read through Thessalonians, Weima also very helpful points out important aspects of Thessalonica that will be important as one tries to understand Thessalonians in it’s context.

Following which Weima brings the readers to each section of the book. He starts by analysing the literary of the text, then moves on the the exegesis and exposition of the text. I found this order helpful as it helps me see the big-picture and flow of the text first, then moves in to the nitty-gritty details of the text itself. All greek words in the commentary has also been transliterated, which will help those who are rusty with their greek. Lastly, Weima also scatters excursuses around in his commentary appropriately, these deals with specific issues with more depth, but those who no interest in the discussion, they can be skipped without affect their understanding of the commentary. (If you have use commentaries by Colin Kruse, it’s similar to the style he uses for the excursuses).

In short, this is a technical commentary, with some knowledge of greek required. I hope this commentary receives wide readership among those who are studying Thessalonians. Pastors who intend to wrestle with the (greek) text rigorously, ought to consider getting this book for consultation. Those doing scholarly work on Thessalonians would see this as a helpful reference tool in their research.

Rating: 4.5 / 5

Disclaimer: I was given this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review