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The Letter to the Colossians (New International Commentary on the New Testament
The Letter to the Colossians offers a compelling vision of the Christian life; its claims transcend religion and bring politics, culture, spirituality, power, ethnicity, and more into play. Delving deeply into the message of Colossians, this exegetical and theological commentary by Scot McKnight will be welcomed by preachers, teachers, and students everywhere.
502 pages, Hardcover
Published February 26, 2018
About the author
Scot McKnight
218 books568 followersScot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author or editor of forty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL. Dr. McKnight has given interviews on radios across the nation, has appeared on television, and is regularly speaks at local churches, conferences, colleges, and seminaries in the USA and abroad. Dr. McKnight obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Nottingham (1986).
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 15, 2018
Scot McKnight produced this fine new commentary on Colossians in the well-respected New International Commentary on the New Testament (NICNT) series. This volume replaces the work of F. F. Bruce and complements McKnight’s recently released volume on Philemon in the same series. Additionally, I find this commentary superior to the author’s commentary on James in the NICNT. Experience must help when it comes to commentary writing.
After a substantial bibliography, McKnight gives us an Introduction with vigor and punch. His writing style captivates even in those places that many commentaries slow down to a crawl. Some commentaries, too, bog down in scholarly interaction. He was unusually successful in weaving in other scholar’s opinions while formulating his own. I did not agree with every conclusion he made but found it easy to follow his arguments. I don’t know about you, but that’s what I want from a commentary.
He begins the Introduction with a broad-ranging discussion of the apostle Paul and the situation of the Colossians. He concludes that Paul communicates “as an apostle and missionary and pastor, hence, as a missional, pastoral theologian”. His discussion of authorship interacted with the New Perspective on Paul and provided some great independent thinking. I don’t agree with his final conclusion but found the whole discussion enlightening. He also discusses the authority of Paul, Christology, ecclesiology, eschatology, themes absent in Colossians, and relationships with Ephesians and Philemon. He re-creates the opponents and setting of Colossae with clarity. He arrives at a date for Colossians by pinpointing the imprisonment of Paul and thoroughly discusses all the possible options. He has a large section on Paul’s theology of Colossians with scholarly awareness for our benefit. The final section is on the structure of the book and recapitulates several famous scholars before he provides his own outline of the letter.
The commentary itself is excellent it’s everything you’ve come to expect in this series and manages to give help both to scholars and pastors. This commentary takes its worthy place in this long-standing series 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
After a substantial bibliography, McKnight gives us an Introduction with vigor and punch. His writing style captivates even in those places that many commentaries slow down to a crawl. Some commentaries, too, bog down in scholarly interaction. He was unusually successful in weaving in other scholar’s opinions while formulating his own. I did not agree with every conclusion he made but found it easy to follow his arguments. I don’t know about you, but that’s what I want from a commentary.
He begins the Introduction with a broad-ranging discussion of the apostle Paul and the situation of the Colossians. He concludes that Paul communicates “as an apostle and missionary and pastor, hence, as a missional, pastoral theologian”. His discussion of authorship interacted with the New Perspective on Paul and provided some great independent thinking. I don’t agree with his final conclusion but found the whole discussion enlightening. He also discusses the authority of Paul, Christology, ecclesiology, eschatology, themes absent in Colossians, and relationships with Ephesians and Philemon. He re-creates the opponents and setting of Colossae with clarity. He arrives at a date for Colossians by pinpointing the imprisonment of Paul and thoroughly discusses all the possible options. He has a large section on Paul’s theology of Colossians with scholarly awareness for our benefit. The final section is on the structure of the book and recapitulates several famous scholars before he provides his own outline of the letter.
The commentary itself is excellent it’s everything you’ve come to expect in this series and manages to give help both to scholars and pastors. This commentary takes its worthy place in this long-standing series 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
March 20, 2025
Solid. Sails through the common Scylla and Charybdis commentary wreckers—refrains from proffering outrageous claims just to proffer, but neither does McKnight toe some prefabbed party line for safety’s sake.
May 25, 2018
Not one of the best commentaries that I have read from this series. It is insightful and offers some good dialogue with new scholarship. Yet, doesn’t offer too much apart from much recent scholarship. His main diversion is focusing on how Pauline authorship affects interpreting the letter. This offers an alternative to Dunn’s popular commentary. All in all, it’s a great devotional commentary, but doesn’t extend the academic discussion other than portraying several key scholars today within the theology of the letter.
March 23, 2026
This commentary has a great balance between pastoral and academic concerns. It gives you all the technical and academic discussion that you might need if you are preaching or teaching through the book.
April 26, 2022
Really helpful commentary that isn’t too scholarly that it’s not accessible, but also isn’t so accessible that it neglects the scholarly.
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May 2, 2022One of the best commentaries available on Colossians. I'm just wrapping up a 13 week teaching series and it's been an invaluable resource.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews