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New Testament Commentary
New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the Book of Revelation
Created specifically for pastors and serious bible students, a comprehensive look into the book of Revelation offers outlines, fresh translations, exposition and application, critical notes on the Greek texts, and chapter summaries.
656 pages, Hardcover
First published April 5, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 18, 2023
Great commentary as far as I can tell. Helpful.
March 12, 2025
As always, Kistemaker did an excellent job in his commentary on Acts.
February 22, 2017
This is really more of an ongoing read, as I am using it as I go thru a Bible study based on Revelation. What has been worthwhile to me is to understand the type 0f literature that the people to whom the book was written would have been familiar with.
Modern day readers look for writing that is similar, for example, to the detective novel. Situation A occurs. Evidence about how Situation A occurred is gathered. A final resolution or reveal happens at the end of the story, providing the answer to why Situation A occurred. The action is chronological and linear, and builds to a final resolution in the last chapters.
Contrast this with a more ancient style of writing, chiasmus, which uses a criss-crossing structure (the Greek term means "to shape like the letter X") to build tension and interlace stories. Think "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". The plot in that story is not linear, but chiasmic. The peak of the action is not in the final reveal at the end of the book, but at the "cross" of the plots which happens really in the middle of the story. See http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gawain/... for a good overview.
You cannot read "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" like "The Maltese Falcon". And you cannot read "The Maltese Falcon" like "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". Once I understood that, it helped me read Revelation in a much more meaningful way.
Chiastic writing is found in other places in scripture, Ecclesiastes 11:3 - 12:2, Amos 5:4 - 6; Isaiah 1:21 - 26, and many of the Psalms. See also
http://www.bible-discernments.com/jos... for some helpful examples, and also to show how the western view of emphasizing the end as the important point, can show a different perspective when you look at the chiasm to see the point.
More as I continue my ongoing reading!
Modern day readers look for writing that is similar, for example, to the detective novel. Situation A occurs. Evidence about how Situation A occurred is gathered. A final resolution or reveal happens at the end of the story, providing the answer to why Situation A occurred. The action is chronological and linear, and builds to a final resolution in the last chapters.
Contrast this with a more ancient style of writing, chiasmus, which uses a criss-crossing structure (the Greek term means "to shape like the letter X") to build tension and interlace stories. Think "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". The plot in that story is not linear, but chiasmic. The peak of the action is not in the final reveal at the end of the book, but at the "cross" of the plots which happens really in the middle of the story. See http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gawain/... for a good overview.
You cannot read "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" like "The Maltese Falcon". And you cannot read "The Maltese Falcon" like "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". Once I understood that, it helped me read Revelation in a much more meaningful way.
Chiastic writing is found in other places in scripture, Ecclesiastes 11:3 - 12:2, Amos 5:4 - 6; Isaiah 1:21 - 26, and many of the Psalms. See also
http://www.bible-discernments.com/jos... for some helpful examples, and also to show how the western view of emphasizing the end as the important point, can show a different perspective when you look at the chiasm to see the point.
More as I continue my ongoing reading!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews