How to Choose a Commentary for Personal Bible Study

I was recently asked some good questions about how I study the Bible and how I prepare to teach books of the Bible. Part of that question involved the tools I use – like commentaries. I thought I’d take a sec to offer a few thoughts about commentaries in general and which ones I use.

A Disclaimer

Let me start by saying that a commentary is NOT necessary to your personal study of the Bible. A Bible commentary can be used to SUPPLEMENT your personal study. It should not be used INSTEAD of personal study. Since the commentary itself is not Scripture, it’s important for the studier to weigh what she reads against other sources, as well as her own Spirit-led pondering. A good commentary represents hundreds and hundreds of hours of painstaking study and research in the original languages. It is certainly to be cherished as the considered opinion/interpretation of scholarly, Jesus-loving men and women. But, it is NOT infallible like the Scripture itself.

Of course, you’re not infallible either so getting the input of others can be helpful. Especially when you read something that is confusing at first glance. Sitting down with your pastor or spiritual mentor can be a form of commentary. That is healthy and good. I’m definitely NOT against commentaries. I just want to always encourage us toward personal study first. God’s Word was intended for the common, everyday person. His desire was to share His heart and reveal His grand story to us. Not to hide things from us or further confuse us! He didn’t make it so tricky that we can’t catch it’s basic meaning by opening it up and just reading it. So, first, try to read it on your own. Sit with your question for a day or three. Pray about it. Speak it aloud when you’re alone in the car. Journal about it. Bounce it off of a friend or group of friends. AFTER you have done that hard work yourself, feel free to go consult a good commentary.

Now, I realize that some of you may be asking, what the heck is a commentary?

To answer that, I’m going to borrow from the gotquestions.org website: “A Bible commentary is a series of notes explaining the meaning of passages of Scripture. A commentary may explain the language used in a section of text. Or it may discuss the historical background. Almost all commentaries attempt to explain the passage in terms of some system of theology. In other words, the commentary is an explanation of how the Bible fits together and what it means. Since a Bible commentary is written by human authors, it will reflect the beliefs and perspective of those writers.”

If you have a study Bible, those little notes in the margins are a form of commentary because they further explain the original text. You can also buy a separate, more in-depth commentary that covers certain sections of the Bible.

How do I decide which commentaries I’ll use?

Commentaries are usually categorized according to their purpose:  technical (for in-depth exegetical study), pastoral (for sermon prep), and devotional (for personal study). There are no points for picking a technical commentary to look smart or scholarly. They’re usually more expensive and most of us just don’t need to go that heady. Rather, the majority of us probably need the devotional or pastoral commentary, not the technical one. I often pick a pastoral one, since I’m preparing to teach.

When I go to teach a book of the Bible, I buy 2-3 individual commentaries.  To choose them, I consult three sources:

1. I ask our pastors at Redemption Chapel. Listen, if I don’t trust these men and their direction on trusted sources, then I shouldn’t be going to this church. We have three godly pastors at our church. They love God’s Word and seek to diligently handle it accurately, so their input on commentaries is invaluable.
2. I check Tim Challies’ blog. He is a pastor who has curated a list of every book of the Bible and has recommended 4 or 5 commentaries for all 66 books of the Bible. He also explains which ones are more technical and which ones are more “readable” for someone (like me) who isn’t a scholar in the original languages of the Bible (Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic).
3. I check the bestcommentaries.com website for recommendations. This helpful website is a little like Challies’ site in that it rates commentaries and provides commentary rankings for each book of the Bible. It’s more extensive and has less prose than Challies’ lists. It also has lists, or “featured libraries,” from pastors and authors.

As a general rule, these sets offer reputable devotional commentaries: NIV Application Commentary, New Bible Commentary, The Bible Speaks Today, God’s Word For You series, and The New Testament for Everyone.

If you’re in doubt, by all means reach out to a mentor or spiritual leader in your life. If you’re a woman at Redemption Chapel, I’m happy to review a resource for you and give you my two cents. I’ll be honest, you truly can’t trust everything you read. Just because it sold well on Amazon doesn’t mean it handles God’s Word accurately! And since commentaries can be expensive, you definitely want to do your homework before you buy something. If you live local, my friend Ann at Logos Bookstore in Kent is always happy to help you order something and often offers a 20% off coupon or two in her quarterly newsletter.

I hope that helps. Happy studying, friends. I pray you will never grow weary of applying yourself to the study of God’s Word.