Believer’s Bible Commentary
William MacDonald
William MacDonald is best remembered as the longtime president of Emmaus Bible College, teacher, Plymouth Brethren theologian and a prolific author of more than 84 books. Born in Massachusetts in 1917, MacDonald graduated from Tufts College in 1938 and received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1940. He worked as a bank investment analyst, then served in the Navy. After World War II he joined the faculty of Emmaus Bible College, becoming president in 1959. Leaving the college in 1965, he led a global Bible teaching ministry and served on the faculty of Discipleship Intern Training Program from 1973 until 1996. He remained in Bible teaching ministry until his death in December of 2007.
Arthur L. Farstad
Arthur L. Farstad served as the Executive Editor of the New King James translation of the Bible. Dr. Farstad was a well-respected Greek scholar and theologian having taught at Dallas Theological Seminary in Greek studies. In addition to the NKJV, he served at consulting editor for the New Scofield Study Bible and co-editor of The New Greek Testament According to the Majority Text and served as Editor for the Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society. Dr. Farstad went to be with our Lord in 1998.
New Testament Message/Bible Study Preparation Guide (NT-BSG) & Training Videos
Do you feel like you need better structure when putting together a Bible study?
Do you want to make sure you’re getting as much as possible from your message preparation?
Or maybe you need a fresh perspective on your study of the Bible.
Here’s a 12 video training guide and book module to help you do just that! These videos and guide will take you through many resources in theWord in order to help you build a message/Bible study.
Product Highlights:
- Uses resources in theWord
- Links to additional resources for theWord
- Practical and tailored to Biblical Greek Studies or to English only studies.
Training series duration: 165 minutes
You will find below a Brief Overview and the First training video for a preview.
Package: BHS5 (Text) || ETCBC (WIVU) (Gloss, Lemma, Morphology, Clausing)
BHS5 Description
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) is known to be the definitive edition of the Hebrew Bible. It is widely regarded as a reliable edition of the Hebrew and Aramaic scriptures and is the most widely used original-language edition among scholars.
ETCBC (WIVU) Description
The ETCBC data is comprised of the text of the BHS5. It provides Lemmas which work in sync with our Hebrew dictionaries. Morphology is provided and explained via the morphology dictionary. An English gloss is provided for a quick overview of a word with pronouns in color. A transliteration is provided for those new to learning Hebrew.
Sentence markers indicate where a sentence begins. Clause markers indicate a start to a clause while also explaining the clause for example: “Type: NominalDomain: NarrativeKind: Nominal”. Likewise with Phrase markers indication of start and explanation is given for example: “Type: NominalDetermination: determinedFunction: Subject” all of these markers are toggled via the F key.
The text contains both Ketiv and Qere variants. Ketiv variants are displayed in brown color, Qere in blue. Qere variants can be toggled on/off with the R key.
Lastly the pointings can be toggled on and off using the V key for those who are interested in reading the consonants with out the distraction of the points.
theWord Features:
- BHS5 Text
- Lemma
- Morphology
- English gloss (on hover over word)
- Transliteration (on hover over word)
- Sentences markers.
- Clauses markers with explanation
- Phrases markers with explanation
- Sentence/Clauses/Phrases. To toggle on/off these use the F key.
- The text is pointed Hebrew. To toggle on/off pointings use the V key.
- The text contains both Ketiv and Qere variants. Ketiv variants are displayed in brown color, Qere in blue. Qere variants can be toggled on/off with the R key.
- Morphology Dictionary (in book view)
⦁ Morphology for the BHS5/ETCBC
⦁ Fully searchable text
⦁ Easy navigation of topics via topics tree display.
The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistles to the Thessalonians
(These are resources that are being developed. There is no release date. Pricing is subject to change.)
The letters of Paul to the newly founded Christian community at Thessalonica hold a special place within the Christian tradition as possibly the earliest extant Christian writings. They are also of special interest not only for their theological value but for their sociological context. Among the communities established by Paul, the church at Thessalonica appears to have been the only one to have suffered serious external oppression. These two important epistles, then, speak uniquely to contemporary Christians living in a society often ideologically, if not politically, opposed to Christian faith.
In this innovative commentary Charles A. Wanamaker incorporates what may be called a social science approach to the study of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, taking into full account the social context that gave rise to Paul’s correspondence. While Wanamaker in no way ignores traditional historical-critical, linguistic, literary, and theological approaches to writing a commentary — in fact, at several points he makes a significant contribution to the questions raised by traditional exegesis — at the same time he goes beyond previous commentaries on the Thessalonian correspondence by taking seriously the social dimensions both of Christianity at Thessalonica and of the texts of 1 and 2 Thessalonians themselves. In blending traditional exegetical methods with this newer approach, Wanamaker seeks to understand Pauline Christianity at Thessalonica as a socio-religious movement in the first-century Greco-Roman world and attempts to grasp the social character and functions of Paul’s letters within this context.
The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistle to the Galatians
(These are resources that are being developed. There is no release date. Pricing is subject to change.)
NIV Application Commentary: Ezra & Nehemiah
DESCRIPTION
Ezra-Nehemiah chronicles the return of the exiles to Jerusalem during the Persian Period. Empowered by the Persian authorities, Ezra and Nehemiah came on the scene in Jerusalem to restore the worship of the “God of Heaven” and the sanctity of Zion and His people. God’s sovereignty over temporal powers, confession of sin and repentance, and worship according to Yahweh’s holiness undergird the account. In the face of tremendous odds, opposition and betrayal, both Ezra and Nehemiah displayed selflessness and devotion by following their calling and trusting God’s plan. In the commentary, Donna and Thomas Petter lead us through this narrative of restoration and help us discover how to apply Scripture to our lives today.
Book Summary
The NIV Application Commentary helps readers with the vital task of bringing the ancient message of the Bible into a contemporary context. It gives preachers and teachers the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God’s Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.
About the Book
The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today’s context.
To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today’s context, each passage is treated in three sections:
- Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context.
- Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible.
- Contemporary Significance. This section identifies comparable situations to those faced in the Bible and explores relevant application of the biblical messages. The author alerts the readers of problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved.
This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today’s preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God’s Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.
theWord Features:
- Verse popups
- Verse (span) synchronization
- Fully searchable text
- Footnotes
- Pages links
- Easy navigation of topics via topics tree display.
- Scripture Index
- Subject Index
- Author Index
- Special Text Colors
- Normal: Text
- Hyperlink: Glossary | Gen. 9:8
- Page Number: [pg 21>
- Greek Transliteration: kataskanoo
- Hebrew Transliteration: ’ish ha’elohim
Note: Does not display commentary under Bible text.
NIV Application Commentary: Leviticus & Numbers
DESCRIPTION
In Leviticus, Numbers [NIVAC], Roy Gane explains how Leviticus and Numbers tell of an epic journey to freedom, while illuminating an ancient conception of God and challenging modern distortions of God. Vivid imagery of rituals, laws addressing tough issues, and narratives ranging from exultant to gut-wrenching show what it means to interact with the Lord God Almighty of te covenant and how to live according to his holy principles as part of a redeemed community of faith.
Book Summary
The NIV Application Commentary helps readers with the vital task of bringing the ancient message of the Bible into a contemporary context. It gives preachers and teachers the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God’s Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.
About the Book
The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today’s context.
To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today’s context, each passage is treated in three sections:
- Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context.
- Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible.
- Contemporary Significance. This section identifies comparable situations to those faced in the Bible and explores relevant application of the biblical messages. The author alerts the readers of problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved.
This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today’s preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God’s Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.
theWord Features:
- Verse popups
- Verse (span) synchronization
- Fully searchable text
- Footnotes
- Pages links
- Easy navigation of topics via topics tree display.
- Scripture Index
- Subject Index
- Author Index
- Ancient Literature Index
- Special Text Colors
- Normal: Text
- Hyperlink: Glossary | Gen. 9:8
- Page Number: [pg 21>
- Greek Transliteration: archon
- Greek: εὐδόκησα
- Hebrew: יָרֵךְ
Note: Does not display commentary under Bible text.
NIV Application Commentary: Deuteronomy
DESCRIPTION
Arranged as a series of sermons given by Moses, the book of Deuteronomy repre- sents the final major segment of the biography of Moses. These sermons review past events described in Genesis through Numbers and challenge Israel to faithful living as they look forward to life in the Promised Land.
Daniel Block highlights the unity between the God depicted in Deuteronomy and Jesus Christ; Jesus is Yahweh incarnate. Christians who understand the covenantal character of God and who live under the grace of Christ will happily receive the revelation of the will of God through Moses and resist the temptation to retreat into interior and subjective understandings of the life of faith so common in Western Christianity.
–from hardback book.
Book Summary
The NIV Application Commentary helps readers with the vital task of bringing the ancient message of the Bible into a contemporary context. It gives preachers and teachers the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God’s Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.
About the Book
The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today’s context.
To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today’s context, each passage is treated in three sections:
- Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context.
- Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible.
- Contemporary Significance. This section identifies comparable situations to those faced in the Bible and explores relevant application of the biblical messages. The author alerts the readers of problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved.
This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today’s preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God’s Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.
theWord Features:
- Verse popups
- Verse (span) synchronization
- Fully searchable text
- Footnotes
- Pages links
- Easy navigation of topics via topics tree display.
- Scripture Index
- Index of Ancient Literature Outside the Biblical Tradition
- Ancient Jewish Sources
- Subject Index
- Author Index
- Special Text Colors
- Normal: Text
- Hyperlink: Glossary | Gen. 9:8
- Page Number: [pg 21>
- Hebrew/Greek Transliteration: haḥarēm
- Greek: εὐδόκησα
- Hebrew: יָרֵךְ
Note: Does not display commentary under Bible text.
Chafer’s Systematic Theology
Written by Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founding president of Dallas Theological Seminary and long-time editor of Bibliotheca Sacra, this is the first dispensational, premillenial systematic theology ever published. It is a complete, unabridged systematic theology meaning it covers a lot of ground that many earlier theologies did not, such as ecclesiology (e.g., the doctrine of the universal church, the church’s rule of life), angelology (e.g., the relationship between Satan and sin), and typology. This is truly one of the heavyweight works of the evangelical movement, very much in demand today.
NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chronicles
DESCRIPTION
The Chronicles are more than a history of ancient Israel under the ascent and rule of the Davidic dynasty. They are a story whose grand theme is hope. Great battles are fought, heroes and tyrants vie for power, Israel splits into rival kingdoms, and the soul of God’s holy nation oscillates between faithlessness and revival. Yet above this tossing sea of human events, God’s covenant promises reign untroubled and supreme.
In 1&2 Chronicles [NIVAC] demonstrates how the revelation of Yahweh moves the purposes of teh divine plan forward in the midst of fallible people. Andrew Hill shows that God has a plan to which he is committed, in the ancient world and therefore also today. God redirects our vision from our circumstances in this turbulent world to the surety of his kingdom and to himself as our source of confidence and peace.
Book Summary
The NIV Application Commentary helps readers with the vital task of bringing the ancient message of the Bible into a contemporary context. It gives preachers and teachers the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God’s Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.
About the Book
The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today’s context.
To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today’s context, each passage is treated in three sections:
- Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context.
- Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible.
- Contemporary Significance. This section identifies comparable situations to those faced in the Bible and explores relevant application of the biblical messages. The author alerts the readers of problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved.
This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today’s preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God’s Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.
theWord Features:
- Verse popups
- Verse (span) synchronization
- Fully searchable text
- Footnotes
- Pages links
- Easy navigation of topics via topics tree display.
- Scripture Index
- Subject Index
- Author Index
- Special Text Colors
- Normal: Text
- Hyperlink: Glossary | Gen. 9:8
- Page Number: [pg 21>
- Hebrew Transliteration: ʾaḥuzzah
Hebrew: יָרֵךְ
Note: Does not display commentary under Bible text.
NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Kings
DESCRIPTION
Readers of 1 and 2 Kings commonly approach these books as a straightforward chronology of post-Davidic Israel: the inauguration of Solomon’s reign, the division of the kingdom following his death, and Israel’s and Judah’s ensuing kings, conflicts, captivities, and overarching spiritual decline. In reality, however, the books of the Kings fall into the collection known as the Former Prophets, and their true story and underlying theme center on such striking personalities as Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, and other divinely appointed spokesmen. It is God’s interaction with his people by way of his prophets and their kings his pleadings, his warnings, and the fulfillment of his words that comes across again and again with forcefulness and clarity. God speaks; now will his people hear, believe, and respond?
In 1&2 Kings August Konkel shows us that these questions and issues remain pertinent for us today. Bridging the centuries Konkel connects past context to contemporary circumstances, helping us grasp the meaning and significance of 1 and 2 Kings and understand how its myriad lessons and circumstances can inform our knowledge of God and decisions to act in today’s world.
Book Summary
The NIV Application Commentary helps readers with the vital task of bringing the ancient message of the Bible into a contemporary context. It gives preachers and teachers the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God’s Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.
About the Book
The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today’s context.
To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today’s context, each passage is treated in three sections:
- Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context.
- Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible.
- Contemporary Significance. This section identifies comparable situations to those faced in the Bible and explores relevant application of the biblical messages. The author alerts the readers of problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved.
This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today’s preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God’s Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.
theWord Features:
- Verse popups
- Verse (span) synchronization
- Fully searchable text
- Footnotes
- Pages links
- Easy navigation of topics via topics tree display.
- Scripture Index
- Subject Index
- Author Index
- Special Text Colors
- Normal: Text
- Hyperlink: Glossary | Gen. 9:8
- Page Number: [pg 21>
- Hebrew Transliteration: sanwērîm
- Hebrew: יָרֵךְ
Note: Does not display commentary under Bible text.
NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah
DESCRIPTION
It seems that every commentary series produces one truly great classic commentary. While the NIVAC series has produced many wonderful volumes, none compares to the over 500 pages of sheer excellance in commentary writing that John Oswalt has produced in Isaiah [NIVAC].
Oswalt, who has written multiple major commentaries on Isaiah, here skillfully sorts through the complex historical details and the timeless prophecies Isaiah made in light of those circumstances, and brilliantly applies them to our world and our lives as those living under reign of the messiah that the prophet could only see from a distance.
Book Summary
The NIV Application Commentary helps readers with the vital task of bringing the ancient message of the Bible into a contemporary context. It gives preachers and teachers the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God’s Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.
About the Book
The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today’s context.
To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today’s context, each passage is treated in three sections:
- Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context.
- Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible.
- Contemporary Significance. This section identifies comparable situations to those faced in the Bible and explores relevant application of the biblical messages. The author alerts the readers of problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved.
This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today’s preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God’s Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.
theWord Features:
- Verse popups
- Verse (span) synchronization
- Fully searchable text
- Footnotes
- Pages links
- Easy navigation of topics via topics tree display.
- Scripture Index
- Subject Index
- Special Text Colors
- Normal: Text
- Hyperlink: Glossary | Gen. 9:8
- Page Number: [pg 21>
- Greek Transliteration: moreyka
- Greek: μετανοέω
- Hebrew Transliteration: torah
- Hebrew: יָרֵךְ
Note: Does not display commentary under Bible text.
NIV Application Commentary: Proverbs
DESCRIPTION
From the Back Cover
Book Summary
The NIV Application Commentary helps readers with the vital task of bringing the ancient message of the Bible into a contemporary context. It gives preachers and teachers the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God’s Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.
About the Book
The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today’s context.
To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today’s world, each passage is treated in three sections:
- Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context.
- Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible.
- Contemporary Significance. This section identifies comparable situations to those faced in the Bible and explores relevant application of the biblical messages. The author alerts the readers of problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved.
This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today’s preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God’s Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.
theWord Features:
- Verse popups
- Verse synchronization
- Fully searchable text
- Footnotes
- Pages Links
- Subject Index
- Scripture and Apocrypha Index
- Easy navigation of topics via topics tree display.
- Special Text Colors
Normal: Text
Hyperlink: Glossary | Gen. 9:8
Page Number: [p21>
Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית
Note: Does not display commentary under Bible text.
New International Commentary: The Gospel of Matthew
PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS:
- Verse-by-verse commentary
- In-depth discussion of textual and critical matters
- Introductions to each book’s authorship, date, purpose, structure, and theology
- Detailed bibliography
DESCRIPTION
“It is a special pleasure to introduce R. T. (Dick) France’s commentary to the pastoral and scholarly community, who should find it a truly exceptional—and helpful—volume.” So says Gordon Fee in his preface to this work. France’s masterful commentary on Matthew focuses on exegesis of Matthew’s text as it stands rather than on the prehistory of the material or details of Synoptic comparison. The exegesis of each section is part of a planned literary whole supplemented, rather than controlled, by verse-by-verse commentary, allowing the text as a complete story to come into brilliant focus.
Rather than being a “commentary on commentaries,” The Gospel of Matthew is concerned throughout with what Matthew himself meant to convey about Jesus and how he set about doing so within the cultural and historical context of first-century Palestine. France frequently draws attention to the distinctive nature of the province of Galilee and the social dynamics involved when a Galilean prophet presents himself in Jerusalem as the Messiah.
The English translation at the beginning of each section is France’s own, designed to provide the basis for the commentary. This adept translation uses contemporary idioms and, where necessary, gives priority to clarity over literary elegance.
Amid the wide array of Matthew commentaries available today, France’s world-class stature, his clear focus on Matthew and Jesus, his careful methodology, and his user-friendly style promise to make this volume an enduring standard for years to come.
….
New International Commentary: The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 25–48
PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS:
- Verse-by-verse commentary
- In-depth discussion of textual and critical matters
- Introductions to each book’s authorship, date, purpose, structure, and theology
- Detailed bibliography
DESCRIPTION
To many modern readers the prophecies of Ezekiel are a mystery. This commentary by Daniel Block—which completes his two-volume study of the whole book of Ezekiel—seeks to answer the questions that contemporary readers bring to the text by examining the language, the message, and the methods of this obscure and often misunderstood Hebrew prophet. The result of twelve years of study, this volume, like the one on chapters 1–24, provides an excellent discussion of the background of Ezekiel and offers a verse-by-verse exposition of each literary/prophetic unit in Ezekiel 25–48 that not only makes clear the prophet’s message to his original readers but also shows that Ezekiel’s ancient wisdom and vision are still very much needed by the church in the twenty-first century.
….
New International Commentary: The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24
PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS:
- Verse-by-verse commentary
- In-depth discussion of textual and critical matters
- Introductions to each book’s authorship, date, purpose, structure, and theology
- Detailed bibliography
DESCRIPTION
To many modern readers the prophecies of Ezekiel are a mystery. This commentary by Daniel Block—Part I of his two-volume study of the whole book of Ezekiel—seeks to answer the questions that contemporary readers bring to the text by examining the language, the message, and the methods of this obscure and often misunderstood Hebrew prophet. The result of twelve years of study, this volume provides an excellent discussion of the background of Ezekiel and offers a verse-by-verse exposition of each literary/prophetic unit in Ezekiel 1–24 that not only makes clear the prophet’s message to his original readers but also shows that Ezekiel’s ancient wisdom and vision are still very much needed by the church in the twenty-first century.
….
Jon Courson’s Application Commentary, New Testament
In a unique blend of pertinent information and inspiration, Jon Courson sheds light in a fresh way on the timeless truths of God’s Word. He has amassed a wealth of interesting topics in a very readable and comfortable expositional style. He combines thorough and comprehensive teaching of every paragraph of Scripture in the New Testament along with practical in-depth topical studies.
He has a unique ability to articulate the Bible’s truths with insight, focusing on valid life applications. This commentary is very useful for laymen as well as ministers of the gospel.
About the Author:
Jon Courson is one of the most exhilarating ministers today. In his unique style, Pastor Jon has written an Old Testament commentary that is a scholarly work, but is easy to read and makes practical applications for us in our daily walk with Jesus. This volume begins Jon Courson’s verse-by-verse commentary on the Old Testament. It is your opportunity to study the Bible with one of the great Bible teachers of our time.
See the excellent review below by DoctorDaveT