Bruce B. Barto, et al., Life Application Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Peter and Jude
Gerald Bray, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude
John Calvin, Commentaries on the First Epistle of Peter
Edmund Clowney, The Message of 1 Peter
Peter H. Davids, NICNT, The First Epistle of Peter
John Gill, First General Epistle of Peter
Alexander Nisbet, 1 & 2 Peter
Thomas R. Schreiner, NAC: 1,2 Peter, Jude
Minor Prophets
Daniel to Malachi, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary
Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah, TOTC
John Calvin, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum
John Gill, Ezekiel to Malachi
Hugh Martin, Jonah
Baruch Maoz, Prophet on the Run
James
Gerald Bray, ed. James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, vol. 11 -- Mostly of historical interest.
John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistle of James -- Solid and helpful.
Daniel M. Doriani, James, REC -- Dropped as it lacked significant value academically or homiletically. Evangelical.
John Gill, The General Epistle of James -- Solid and helpful. A bit dry.
Douglas J. Moo, The Letter of James, PNTC -- Became the main commentary in the series. Moo has apparently matured in his understanding of the law to a more historically Reformed rather than Lutheran position. Excellent grammatical and lexicographical help. Moo does not reference the ESV at all.
Ralph Wardlaw, The Lectures on the Epistle of James -- Of value homiletically.
Isaiah
John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Isaiah -- Solid and helpful mediation on the text.
John Gill, The Book of the Prophet Isaiah -- Interesting and edifying.
Martin Luther, Lectures on Isaiah -- Homiletically and historically helpful.
J. Alex Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah -- While not a bad commentary, I was surprised to find myself not using it much. I suspect Motyer has over analyzed the structure and relies too much on his assessment of structure for the meaning rather than the text.
John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, NICOT -- Became the backbone of my sermon series. Oswalt is Arminian, but incredibly helpful. Please also see my review of his The Bible among the Myths: Unique or Just Different?
Romans
Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans -- An interesting attempt to recreate biblical theology inside the confines of modernity. Already passé. Cf. Richard A. Muller, “The Barth Legacy: New Athanasius or Origen Redivivus?” A Response to T. F. Torrance, The Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review; Oct. 1, 1990: 54, 4, 673. See also reviews of Barth's works Evangelical Theology: An Introduction and The Theology of Schleiermacher.
John Calvin, Romans -- Helpful, wholesome, and solid.
C. H. Dodd, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans -- Dodd tells us when he disagrees with Paul and the Holy Spirit. Much of it is tripe.
Charles Hodge, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans -- Reformed, evangelical, helpful.
John Gill, The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans -- Bit dense, but helpful.
Martin Luther, Lectures on Romans -- Written before 1517, Luther shows himself a careful Augustinian. Most helpful for homiletical and historical background.
Douglas Moo, The Epistle to the Romans -- A modern, evangelical, commentary on Romans. I was a bit overwhelmed as to exhausting refutation of modern writers. His view of the law concerns me.
Pelagius, Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans -- Pelagius proves himself Pelagian. (full review)
Thomas Schreiner, Romans -- Wholesome, thoughtful, evangelical.
William G. T. Shedd, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans -- Insightful, technical but a bit dated, always theologically interesting. See also reviews of Shedd's works Theological Essays and Calvinism: Pure and Mixed.
Ecclesiastes
Bonaventure, Commentary on Ecclesiastes (Works, vol. 7) -- A solid biblical exegesis of Ecclesiastes. He does use the Apocrypha, but his biblical theology is sufficient to overcome such deficiencies. Augustinian with minor modifications using Aristotle’s natural philosophy.
Charles Bridges, Ecclesiastes (Geneva Commentary) -- Helpful. Biblical and pastoral.
Duane A. Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon (NAC) -- More balanced than his Proverbs and generally edifying.
John Gill, Ecclesiastes, in Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, vol. 4 -- Solid biblical exegesis informed by ancient and medieval Jewish sources.
Martin Luther, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Last Words of David (Luther’s Works, vol. 15) -- Very helpful mediation on Ecclesiastes. (Luther at one point appears to defend soul sleep.)
Roland Murphy, Ecclesiastes (WBC) -- Highly technical. I did not end up using it sufficiently to comment on its technical value. Extremely low view of Scripture: “The king fiction, which it is generally agreed does not extend beyond chap. 2...” (12).
Second Corinthians
Paul Barnett, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT) -- Somewhat moderate evangelical. Helpful insights into the Greek and cultural context.
John Calvin, Second Corinthians -- Solid. Does a great job summarizing the overall argument of the letter.
John Gill, Second Corinthians -- Solid.
Charles Hodge, 1 and 2 Corinthians -- Interesting and helpful.
Colin G. Kruse, Second Corinthians (TNTC) -- Very helpful overview
Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Letters of Saint Paul to the Corinthians -- Really interesting and often insightful. Please note that portions of the commentary on 1 Corinthians are from Peter of Tarentaise (d. 1175). Published by The Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine.
Judges and Ruth
Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth (NAC) -- Must be handled with care. Caustic reading of Judges and Ruth.
Arthur E. Cundall and Leon Morris, Judges and Ruth -- Competent on the technical issues but finds a sub-Christian ethic in Old Testament law.
Dale Ralph Davis, Judges: Such a Great Salvation -- An incredibly helpful commentary for working with the overall themes of Judges and placing the book in a Christian context. Highly recommended for pastors and devotional reading.
Iain M. Duguid, Esther and Ruth -- Seemed to lack sympathy with the biblical characters.
Andrew Fausset, Judges -- A bit dated technically and some of the suggested applications tend toward allegory.
John R. Franke, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel -- Some helpful insights. Lots of lacunae from lack of historical comment.
John Gill, Deuteronomy to Kings -- Helpful background in rabbinical interpretation. Recommended.
Joshua
James Montgomery Boice, Joshua -- Solid but basically his sermons. Relies heavily on Schaeffer's Joshua and the Flow of Biblical History.
John Calvin, Joshua -- Recommended.
Dale Ralph Davis, Joshua: No Falling Words -- Recommended for devotional reading and for sermon helps for pastors.
John Gill, Deuteronomy to Kings -- Recommended.
Richard S. Hess, Joshua (TOTC) -- Didn't interact with this one enough to recommend or critique.
David Howard, Joshua (NAC) -- Solid but staid.
Marten H. Woudstra, The Book of Joshua (NICOT) -- Very helpful, highly recommended, became the commentary backbone of the series.
