Cornerstone Presbyterian Church
Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)
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“… marked by thorough exposition, clarity of thought, and
uncomplicated style that makes for easy reading.”
—Ronald Scharfe
“…for help to the general reader on the actual meaning of the text,
verse by verse, it takes its place as one of the best commentaries
we have.”
--Everett F. Harrison
New Testament
Commentaries, 12 volumes complete,
By William Hendriksen and Simon Kistemaker. Baker.
While
reviewing the church library’s holdings I noted that it did not have any
multi-volume, “heavy-duty” commentaries at all. We have recently
received one such set which covers the entire New Testament.
It is advertised as being the only complete New Testament commentary
written from a Reformed perspective. It is said to offer students and
pastors a fresh translation of every book, repetition of the text before
each exegetical unit, verse-by-verse comments and applications, critical
notes on the Greek text, and chapter summaries.
These books are thorough. Mathew has 1023 pages, Luke 1136 pages, Romans
544 pages, and so on, and all together they have 10,084 pages. Of course
no one will read them all, but you can look up any passage you are
interested in and find it treated in detail.
Suppose you are interested in Colossians. You will probably want to
start your reading with the comments on the part of Colossians of
concern to you. But the material in the introduction to Colossians and
Philemon (together since they are so closely related) may help too. It
consists of:
Why Should We Study Colossians and Philemon?
The City of Colosse, its geography (with maps) and history
The Church at Colosse
Paul’s Purpose in Writing Colossians and Philemon
The Place and the Time of Writing Colossians and Philemon
The Authorship of Colossians and Philemon (Various arguments that have been made by scholars against Paul’s being the author are demolished.)
An Outline of Colossians
My favorite passage in Colossians is from Chapter 1, here quoted in the King James Version:
21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.
On this, Hendriksen begins:
"With joy of heart the apostle now testifies that the Colossians, too, had become recipients of this marvelous gift of reconciliation, a reconciliation which for men whose hearts receive Christ has a far more beautiful and intimate meaning than it has for the world in general. Paul reminds the Colossians of the great change that has occurred in their lives … ."
-- Dean Brown
William Hendriksen (Th.D., Princeton Theological Seminary) was professor of New Testament literature at Calvin Theological Seminary. He began this project in the 1950’s and continued till his death in 1982.
Simon J. Kistemaker (Ph.D., Free University, Amsterdam) is
professor emeritus of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in
Orlando, Florida. He continued the project after Hendriksen’s death.
Four of the volumes compiled by Kistemaker earned the Gold Medallion
Award (Hebrews, James and 1-3 John, Acts, and 1 Corinthians).
471 Mathews Rd, Boardman, OH 44512 Phone/Fax 330-758-5628
email: info@cornerstonepch.org