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With attention to issues that continue to surface in today’s church, the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series offers pastors, students, and teachers a focused resource for reading, teaching, and preaching the Book of Acts.
Acts highlights (1) the work of God through the exalted Jesus who grants the presence of the Holy Spirit; (2) the significance of Jesus who is Israel’s Messiah and the Savior of the world and who directs the expansion of the church; (3) the work of the Holy Spirit as transforming power present in the lives of the followers of Jesus and their communities; (4) the identity of the church as the community of God, comprised of Jews and Gentiles who are followers of Jesus; (5) the mission of the church whose leaders take the gospel to cities and regions of the Roman Empire in which Jesus has not yet been proclaimed as Messiah and Savior; (6) the historical events and the persons who played a role in the expansion of earliest Christianity.
2207 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 6, 2012
72 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
Eckhard J. Schnabel
41 books17 followersEckhard J. Schnabel (Ph.D., University of Aberdeen) is professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He has taught previously at Freie Theologische Akademie (Giessen, Germany), Wiedenest Bible College (Bergneustadt, Germany) and Asian Theological Seminary (Manila, Philippines).
His books include Early Christian Mission (volumes 1 & 2) and Der erste Brief des Paulus an die Korinther, and he is the author of numerous articles, including "Luke" (with David W. Pao) in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament and contributions in InterVarsity Press's Dictionary of Paul and His Letters and Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments.
His books include Early Christian Mission (volumes 1 & 2) and Der erste Brief des Paulus an die Korinther, and he is the author of numerous articles, including "Luke" (with David W. Pao) in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament and contributions in InterVarsity Press's Dictionary of Paul and His Letters and Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 7, 2016
An excellent commentary.
If you're familiar at all with the ZECNT, you'll know the format. All the usual features of commentaries are present along with a syntactical outline of each pericope (which is present both in English and in untransliterated Greek), a statement of what Schnabel understands to be the passage's big idea, and a careful identification of theological themes and of what, specifically, the text is doing. All of this renders this volume, and the series more generally, exceptionally useful to preachers. There's not a lot of introductory material (some on Luke as an author, some on the trustworthiness of Luke as a historian, some on the textual history of Acts), but I don't consider that a problem or a shortcoming given the goals of the series to which this volume contributes. The closing 20+ pages on the theology of Acts was excellent.
Schnabel has few peers when it comes to knowledge of the world depicted by Acts. When you add his expertise on the missionary work of the early Church and also his extensive experience as a missionary in the Philippines, you get an unusually qualified commentator.
For those who get to preach Acts to the people of God, this would be the first commentary I'd recommend.
If you're familiar at all with the ZECNT, you'll know the format. All the usual features of commentaries are present along with a syntactical outline of each pericope (which is present both in English and in untransliterated Greek), a statement of what Schnabel understands to be the passage's big idea, and a careful identification of theological themes and of what, specifically, the text is doing. All of this renders this volume, and the series more generally, exceptionally useful to preachers. There's not a lot of introductory material (some on Luke as an author, some on the trustworthiness of Luke as a historian, some on the textual history of Acts), but I don't consider that a problem or a shortcoming given the goals of the series to which this volume contributes. The closing 20+ pages on the theology of Acts was excellent.
Schnabel has few peers when it comes to knowledge of the world depicted by Acts. When you add his expertise on the missionary work of the early Church and also his extensive experience as a missionary in the Philippines, you get an unusually qualified commentator.
For those who get to preach Acts to the people of God, this would be the first commentary I'd recommend.
August 29, 2018
My new favorite commentary on Acts. It was my first go-to for the SS class that I taught through Acts. Very helpful outlines, good application considerations at the end of each section. Some good critical analysis without getting bogged down. Very strong.
September 29, 2022
really wanted to like it, really wanted it to be my top of the list commentary when I was preaching through Acts, and it didn't make it to the top 5 even.... there's nothing wrong with it, but equally, there's not much there that would blew me away either. solid but overrated. what was helpful that offered different perspective to mine - baptistic and continuations it, but these points aside, found more to stimulate my thinking in Stott and Peterson.
June 13, 2017
Really thick and thorough. It is well structured and the feature at the end of each section "Theological application" gives this scholarly technical commentary a spiritually profitable trajectory. The only major strike against it is that he is a continuationist.
11 Commentaries I used cover to cover through an expositional series through the book of Acts. Of course, this ranking doesn't take into account that some that are lower were higher in specific ways, but all of these "made the cut" for me to spend the time each week to read.
1. Peterson, Schnabel, Polhill
2. Bock
3. Bruce
4. Kistemaker
5. Marshall, Stott
6. MacArthur
7. Custer, Kent
11 Commentaries I used cover to cover through an expositional series through the book of Acts. Of course, this ranking doesn't take into account that some that are lower were higher in specific ways, but all of these "made the cut" for me to spend the time each week to read.
1. Peterson, Schnabel, Polhill
2. Bock
3. Bruce
4. Kistemaker
5. Marshall, Stott
6. MacArthur
7. Custer, Kent
May 1, 2013
What an incredible book! Highest possible recommendation! I will go back to this book over and over. Sadly zondervan has not got all these commentaries out for sale yet but this one is amazing! I only scratched the surface I can't wait to reread it next time I teach Acts! Phenomenal!!!
October 3, 2025
My favorite commentary on the book of Acts.
January 9, 2021
A very helpful technical commentary. Schnabel is an authority on the world and times of the early church.
December 15, 2022
Too much repetition, sometimes helpful background information.
December 24, 2022
Schnabel is a top scholar and his resource on Acts is invaluable.
July 31, 2024
If you're a preacher and you only get one technical commentary on Acts, I highly recommend making it this one.
June 16, 2017
If you are looking through and evangelical commentary on the Greek of Acts, Acts, by Eckhard J. Schnabel published by Zondervan Academic is what you are searching for. This commentary is a recent volume in the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament Series edited by Clinton E. Arnold, a series which is synonymous with excellent exegesis and superior application, this volume continues the long legacy. This volume is one of the most articulate and practical modern commentaries on the Acts of the Apostles. While Schnabel is no stranger to Biblical commentaries this is his first foray into this first-rate commentary series.
Acts begins with the typical study into the introductory matters of this book of the Bible, this is common place in Zondervan Exegetical Commentary Series on the New Testament. This works dives into history and recent scholarship, of the book of Acts of the Apostles which always helpful to Pastors, Teachers, and Scholars. This introductory section is one of the longest I have had the privilege of reading and it ranks as one of the best interaction with critical scholarship while giving evangelical conclusions.
In reference to the commentary sections on the text of the Acts of the Apostles, Schnabel, takes great care in carefully showing the original context of passage while applying it directly to the modern day reader. He also uses his own translation of the Greek text, which demonstrates his depth of knowledge of the text itself. The outlines that he provides are also of great use for a pastor looking to preach though the Acts of the Apostles exegetically.
With regard of recommending John to others I would whole heartily recommend this commentary to students of scripture, with one caveat. By this I mean I recommend this work to Pastors, Bible Teachers, Bible College Students, and to a limited extent educated Laymen looking to teach a Sunday school class, there is enough scholarly weight to this work to understand a particular issue in the text while giving aid to pastors in preaching the text. There are many commentaries about the Acts of the Apostles available at this moment but Acts of the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series is a giant leap above all other commentaries on this book of the Bible.
This book was provided to me free of charge from Zondervan Academic in exchange for an unbiased, honest review.
Acts: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament
© 2012 by Eckhard J. Schnabel
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
Page Count: 1168 Pages
ISBN: 978-0310243670
Acts begins with the typical study into the introductory matters of this book of the Bible, this is common place in Zondervan Exegetical Commentary Series on the New Testament. This works dives into history and recent scholarship, of the book of Acts of the Apostles which always helpful to Pastors, Teachers, and Scholars. This introductory section is one of the longest I have had the privilege of reading and it ranks as one of the best interaction with critical scholarship while giving evangelical conclusions.
In reference to the commentary sections on the text of the Acts of the Apostles, Schnabel, takes great care in carefully showing the original context of passage while applying it directly to the modern day reader. He also uses his own translation of the Greek text, which demonstrates his depth of knowledge of the text itself. The outlines that he provides are also of great use for a pastor looking to preach though the Acts of the Apostles exegetically.
With regard of recommending John to others I would whole heartily recommend this commentary to students of scripture, with one caveat. By this I mean I recommend this work to Pastors, Bible Teachers, Bible College Students, and to a limited extent educated Laymen looking to teach a Sunday school class, there is enough scholarly weight to this work to understand a particular issue in the text while giving aid to pastors in preaching the text. There are many commentaries about the Acts of the Apostles available at this moment but Acts of the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series is a giant leap above all other commentaries on this book of the Bible.
This book was provided to me free of charge from Zondervan Academic in exchange for an unbiased, honest review.
Acts: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament
© 2012 by Eckhard J. Schnabel
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
Page Count: 1168 Pages
ISBN: 978-0310243670
March 28, 2017
Eckhard Schnabel’s commentary on Acts in the ZECNT series beautifully lives up to the high standard of this emerging series. Coming in at over 1100 pages, this volume is a major commentary on the book of Acts that ranks near the top of commentaries available today on that book.
The Introduction including the outline is only a little over 50 pages. Though that is briefer than in some other major commentaries, it doesn’t strike me that anything important was missed. He begins his discussion on describing Luke and his readers. He argues against the silly fad of seeing anonymity in Acts or any other book of the New Testament. He finds accepting Luke as the author as totally legitimate. He further discussed the language Luke used, his origins, and the fact that he was a physician. As you might imagine, he discusses the fact that Luke has written two books of the New Testament and he reaches conservative conclusions about the date of those writings.
Many scholars today debate if Luke should be considered a historian, and Mr. Schnabel feels he is a fine one who is actually the first historian of Christianity. He reviews the positions of genre, lists the speeches in Acts, and gives a fine discussion of the purpose of Acts. After discussing the Greek text of Acts, he provides an in-depth chronology of early Christian history that will be a tremendous help in studying the book of Acts. Structure, though, is barely mentioned in the Introduction as he gets plenty of coverage in the commentary itself.
If you are familiar with the design of ZECNT, you will find that this commentary uses it to great advantage. Any Greek that is used has its English counterpart nearby making this commentary accessible to any user. I found his commentary probing, helpful, and better than I’ve seen in many other major commentaries on the book of Acts. I reviewed several passages, and found material that was very helpful to me in every case. This is an outstanding commentary and I highly recommend it.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
The Introduction including the outline is only a little over 50 pages. Though that is briefer than in some other major commentaries, it doesn’t strike me that anything important was missed. He begins his discussion on describing Luke and his readers. He argues against the silly fad of seeing anonymity in Acts or any other book of the New Testament. He finds accepting Luke as the author as totally legitimate. He further discussed the language Luke used, his origins, and the fact that he was a physician. As you might imagine, he discusses the fact that Luke has written two books of the New Testament and he reaches conservative conclusions about the date of those writings.
Many scholars today debate if Luke should be considered a historian, and Mr. Schnabel feels he is a fine one who is actually the first historian of Christianity. He reviews the positions of genre, lists the speeches in Acts, and gives a fine discussion of the purpose of Acts. After discussing the Greek text of Acts, he provides an in-depth chronology of early Christian history that will be a tremendous help in studying the book of Acts. Structure, though, is barely mentioned in the Introduction as he gets plenty of coverage in the commentary itself.
If you are familiar with the design of ZECNT, you will find that this commentary uses it to great advantage. Any Greek that is used has its English counterpart nearby making this commentary accessible to any user. I found his commentary probing, helpful, and better than I’ve seen in many other major commentaries on the book of Acts. I reviewed several passages, and found material that was very helpful to me in every case. This is an outstanding commentary and I highly recommend it.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
August 17, 2017
Very good resource.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews