Look Inside: New Beacon Bible Commentary Set

The New Beacon Bible Commentary Set is a Wesleyan commentary based on the NIV. It’s readable, relevant, and above all, academically thorough. Editors Roger Hahn, Alex Varughese, and George Lyons care deeply about equipping the Church to study and teach God’s Word. Want to know what’s inside? Hear from the editors below.

GENERAL EDITOR’S PREFACE

“The purpose of the New Beacon Bible Commentary

…is to make available to pastors and students in the twenty-first century a biblical commentary that reflects the best scholarship in the Wesleyan theological tradition. The commentary project aims to make this scholarship accessible to a wider audience to assist them in their understanding and proclamation of Scripture as God’s Word

Writers of the volumes in this series not only are scholars within the Wesleyan theological tradition and experts in their field but also have special interest in the books assigned to them. Their task is to communicate clearly the critical consensus and the full range of other credible voices who have commented on the Scriptures. Though scholarship and scholarly contribution to the understanding of the Scriptures are key concerns of this series, it is not intended as an academic dialogue within the scholarly community.

Commentators of this series constantly aim to demonstrate in their work the significance of the Bible as the church’s book and the contemporary relevance and application of the biblical message. The project’s overall goal is to make available to the church and for her service the fruits of the labors of scholars who are committed to their Christian faith.

The New International Version (NIV) is the reference version of the Bible used in this series; however, the focus of exegetical study and comments is the biblical text in its original language. When the commentary uses the NIV, it is printed in bold. The text printed in bold italics is the translation of the author. Commentators also refer to other translations where the text may be difficult or ambiguous.

The structure and organization of the commentaries

…in this series seeks to facilitate the study of the biblical text in a systematic and methodical way. Study of each biblical book begins with an Introduction section that gives an overview of authorship, date, provenance, audience, occasion, purpose, sociological/cultural issues, textual history, literary features, hermeneutical issues, and theological themes necessary to understand the book. This section also includes a brief outline of the book and a list of general works and standard commentaries.

The commentary section for each biblical book follows the outline of the book presented in the introduction. In some volumes, readers will find section overviews of large portions of scripture with general comments on their overall literary structure and other literary features. A consistent feature of the commentary is the paragraph-by-paragraph study of biblical texts. This section has three parts: Behind the Text, In the Text, and From the Text.

The goal of the Behind the Text

…section is to provide the reader with all the relevant information necessary to understand the text. This includes specific historical situations reflected in the text, the literary context of the text, sociological and cultural issues, and literary features of the text.

In the Text explores what the text says,

…following its verse-by-verse structure. This section includes a discussion of grammatical details, word studies, and the connectedness of the text to other biblical books/passages or other parts of the book being studied (the canonical relationship). This section provides transliterations of key words in Hebrew and Greek and their literal meanings. The goal here is to explain what the author would have meant and/or what the audience would have understood as the meaning of the text. This is the largest section of the commentary.

The From the Text section examines the text

…in relation to the following areas: theological significance, intertextuality, the history of interpretation, use of the Old Testament scriptures in the New Testament, interpretation in later church history, actualization, and application.

The New Beacon Bible Commentary provides sidebars on topics of interest

…that are important but not necessarily part of an explanation of the biblical text. These topics are informational items and may cover archaeological, historical, literary, cultural, and theological matters that have relevance to the biblical text. Occasionally, longer detailed discussions of special topics are included as excurses.

We offer this series with our hope and prayer that readers will find it a valuable resource for their understanding of God’s Word and an indispensable tool for their critical engagement with the biblical texts.”

HOW IT WORKS

If you’re reading a Bible passage in the main window, this commentary will track with you in the Study Center. The Resource Guide will also tell you when there’s an applicable introduction or outline from this commentary. These features speed up your Bible study AND get you the information you need, without you searching for it.

NEW BEACON BIBLE COMMENTARY

We hope you enjoyed this look inside the New Beacon Bible Commentary. This set contains clear exposition to help you get to the heart of the biblical text. If you want to learn more about this 29-volume set, watch a video on how commentaries work in the app, and more, then just visit our website!