Commentary Resource List
Last year at Bible School we had asked the speakers to provide us with their most used commentaries and extra-biblical resources. Of course it was hard to narrow it down to just one or two for each person, because it depends a lot on what you are studying, the type of study you are doing, the purpose of the study and probably other things. In general though, every Bible student, regardless of his or her attainments has a few books that they consult when faced with a difficult passage. We want to make that list available to you to enhance your own understanding of the Word of God. As learners (disciples) we want to be sure that the authors we are reading from are sound and come well recommended by some one we trust.
Many of the resources are free if you have Bible software. Used book stores are a great place to find good copies of most of these. Quite a few are available in e-reader versions as well.
The following Commentaries were offered by YBS staff in response to a student’s question, “What commentaries should I use?”
- Bible cross references, that is, the Bible itself
- Strongs’ Concordance and Lexicon
- Thayer Concordance
- “Be” books by Warren Weirsbe
- The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
- King James Study Bible
- MacArthur Study Bible
- Ryrie Study Bible
- Brethren Commentary Series by Harold Martin and others
- Matthew Henry
- Wycliffe Bible Commentary
- Jameson Fausset and Brown
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Vincent’s Word Studies
- The Biblical Illustrator
- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
- Vine’s Expository Dictionary of NT Words
- Nave’s Topical Bible
- Unger’s Bible Dictionary
- Bible Overview (by Rose Publishing)
- Thompson Chain Reference Bible (including the extensive resources in the back of the Bible)
- The Amplified Bible Paraphrase
Bible Commentaries are the thoughts, ideas, opinions, studies, observations, musings, and meditations of men on a particular passage or word in the scriptures. They are to be used accordingly. A sermon is a commentary. A book written on a certain Biblical topic is a commentary. The input from your friend at Bible Study is a commentary. You could give any of the commentaries listed below the same weight as the comments of any one of your friends, with this one consideration: some people have more experience in a certain field of study than others. As you use commentaries to aid your understanding of the Word of God, be sure to consider the background, or underlying theological perspective of the author, in much the same way this reality affects the way we listen to our friends: consider who is speaking and weigh their words against what the Bible as a whole teaches.