Pastoral Epistles, Volume 46 (46)

Word Biblical Commentary #46

by James W. Watts, John D.W. Watts (Series Editor), Ralph P. Martin (Series Editor)

The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship.


Overview of Commentary Organization



Introduction—covers issues pertaining to the whole book, including context, date, authorship, composition, interpretive issues, purpose, and theology.
Each section of the commentary includes:
Pericope Bibliography—a helpful resource containing the most important works that pertain to each particular pericope.
Translation—the author’s own translation of the biblical text, reflecting the end result of exegesis and attending to Hebrew and Greek idiomatic usage of words, phrases, and tenses, yet in reasonably good English.
Notes—the author’s notes to the translation that address any textual variants, grammatical forms, syntactical constructions, basic meanings of words, and problems of translation.
Form/Structure/Setting—a discussion of redaction, genre, sources, and tradition as they concern the origin of the pericope, its canonical form, and its relation to the biblical and extra-biblical contexts in order to illuminate the structure and character of the pericope. Rhetorical or compositional features important to understanding the passage are also introduced here.
Comment—verse-by-verse interpretation of the text and dialogue with other interpreters, engaging with current opinion and scholarly research.
Explanation—brings together all the results of the discussion in previous sections to expose the meaning and intention of the text at several levels: (1) within the context of the book itself; (2) its meaning in the OT or NT; (3) its place in the entire canon; (4) theological relevance to broader OT or NT issues.

General Bibliography—occurring at the end of each volume, this extensive bibliographycontains all sources used anywhere in the commentary.

Genres: Reference, Christian, Biblical Studies, Theology, New Testament

778 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2000

Reviews

[Joe Koehler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only read the 95p introduction strait through, in order to get a good idea of themes, structure and
historical context behind the pastoral epistles (PE). Mounce is a refreshingly rational and biblically
conservative scholar of the PE. Critiquing the trend in modern scholarship with zest, Mounce affirms
the Pauline authorship of the PE in a convincing argument. It is evident that he has a good grasp on the text as well as other Pauline texts. This is an enjoyable commentary (which may sound like an oxymoron), and I'm confident that the remaining 650 pages will prove to be an invaluable resource for future study.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Word Bible Commentary (WBC), is a Biblical commentary I had always desired to own. I was introduced to them in my second year of Seminary and found them extremely useful in writing academic papers, in sermon preparation, and in Sunday school preparation.
A few years ago the word bible commentary switch Publishers again, and came under the ownership of Zondervan Publications. Under their leadership this series has seen a rejuvenation of sorts. While the format remains unchanged (providing a phenomenal bibliography, translation, notes trauma study on warm structure and setting, followed by comments and explanation), the binding of the book has changed as well as the addition of revised versions of previously released commentaries.
While the WBC is world renowned for its high academic pursuit of God’s Word, I was pleasantly surprised at its accessibility to the pastor and not just the academically-minded Bible scholar. In the book that I have the privilege of viewing is the 46th volume of this series containing Pastoral Epistles, by William D. Mounce which previously released under a previous publisher, but has a re-release under Zondervan’s leadership.

While reading an assortment of passages in the Pastoral Epistles, I was saddened to see a lack of commentary about each verse with regard to application and contextualisation. Yet on the other hand comments about the Biblical Greek language as well as syntax of each verse are indispensable information that is sorely lacking in almost every modern commentary.

While knowledge of the Biblical Greek language is handy when utilizing this commentary, it is not a necessary requirement for utilization. With that said having a deep knowledge of the Biblical Greek will greatly enhance a readers ability to use this commentary. I highly recommend this commentary to pastors and scholars due to its thorough academic approach combined with its accessibility to academia and the pastorate.

This book was provided to me free of charge from Zondervan Academic Publishers in exchange for an unbiased, honest review.

[W. Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A first-rate commentary by a first-rate scholar. This is perhaps the best commentary on the pastoral epistles from a conservative and a complementarian position. I first read it to prepare for a paper that I had to write on 1 Timothy 2:11-15. Some parts are quite technical but even without a working knowledge of Greek you can still benefit quite substantially from this commentary. Mounce lays out the various interpretations and critiques them fairly before presenting a case for what he thinks is the best interpretation. As many can attest, the main downside of this commentary series is in its awkward formatting which makes reading it a little frustrating.

[Sean McGowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful.

[Jess Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un commentaire très complet mais à la forme assez lourde.

Mounce aime le grec. C'est bien.
Mounce détail les mots. C'est bien.

Le problème c'est que on a plus l'impression d'avoir lu un dictionnaire qu'un commentaire par moment. Alors pour certains passages (on sait tous lesquels) ce mot à mot est nécessaire, voire indispensable.
Pour d'autre ça n'apporte pas grand chose de plus.
Et parfois on manque le "mouvement" du texte à force de faire du mot à mot.
Mais en même temps c'est difficile de faire plus complet à ce niveau.

À noter aussi les très bons excursus (par exemple l'évolution du service chrétien dans la période patristique) et les commentaires de tout âge dans lesquels Mounce puise (il semble beaucoup aimer Chrysostome).

Pour quelqu'un voulant juste le "mouvement" du texte le commentaire de Gordon Fee est amplement suffisant. Pour quelqu'un voulant entrer dans le détail Mounce est indispensable.

Le mieux restant d'avoir les deux.

[Matthew Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not every WBC is worth owning. This one is. Excellent work that covers all necessary exegetical issues without getting bogged down in silly minutiae that is always tempting commentators. Buy it and use it.

[Robert Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fantastic. Mounce does a great having a well-formed opinion, but treating his opponents fairly, over and over again. He is amazingly well-read and his treatment is as exhaustive as it can be in 700 pages. I would highly recommend this for any exegetes shelf, wherever they fall.

[David]

Really a good commentary on the Pastorals