Warren Wiersbe is one of the most popular Christian writers and Bible commentators. His “BE” series of short Bible commentaries on each book of the Bible has been very successful. Preachers and laymen have found this series to be of great value. David C. Cook Publishers (which purchased Victor Books who originally published the BE series) compiled the BE series into Old Testament and New Testament sets, which makes up the Bible Exposition Commentary.
I have been blessed by Warren Wiersbe’s books, and his Bible Exposition New Testament Commentary is no exception. Whether you are a pastor preparing sermons and lessons, or you are a Christian who desires to grow in your knowledge of the Bible, then you will enjoy The Bible Exposition New Testament Commentary.
Academic Level
Before you buy a commentary, it’s important that you know what type of academic level it is written at. Some commentaries are written with other scholars in mind. Other commentaries wade into more technical aspects of the original languages. Pastoral commentaries keep the busy pastor in mind by balancing technical interpretations with practical applications. Then there are more devotional commentaries that keep academic jargon to a minimum.
The Bible Exposition New Testament Commentary is a devotional commentary. This doesn’t mean that Mr. Wiersbe doesn’t dig into the text and give accurate interpretations. Rather, he is keeping the popular audience in mind as he comments on each passage. Practical application is found throughout the commentary, making it useful for everyday usage as a devotional. You could easily sit down with your iPad and read this commentary on your Logos app, or pull a volume down from off the bookshelf and enjoy it with a cup of coffee. Mr. Wiersbe is very conversational and easy to read, something I find very enjoyable with all of his writings.
Warren Wiersbe writes from an evangelical conservative viewpoint. He believes in the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, and holds to a literal interpretation.
Layout
If you are a preacher or teacher then you will enjoy Mr. Wiersbe’s outlines for each book of the Bible. There is some alliteration in his outlines, but not much to be distracting. His outlines are succinct and are helpful if you are preparing sermons or lesson plans.
Mr. Wiersbe’s book introductions are helpful as well. Again, he doesn’t deal with varying viewpoints of authorship or dating of the material. He is a conservative evangelical choosing the side of orthodox authorship of letters, and literal interpretation. If you are looking to delve into seeing other arguments concerning authorship of letters, or whether or not a letter should be included into the canon of Scripture I recommend you find more academic commentaries. Mr. Wiersbe intends to take you to the text, explain it, then give you the insight to apply it. Which makes this commentary so accessible to various readers.
This commentary isn’t so much a verse by verse commentary. I would consider it more of a mixture of verse by verse commentary and sectional commentary. What I mean is that each verse of a chapter may not be dealt with in particular. Instead, Mr. Wiersbe will make his comments on each verse within an exposition of a section. I would consider these more in the form of sermons or lessons. Which again is the point of a devotional commentary. Most Christians will be able to sit down and read several pages of this commentary and not feel like they are reading a Bible commentary. The layout feels more like a book, than most commentaries.
Recommendation
I have used this commentary for many years on Logos. It’s a commentary that I refer to time and time again. I also have the complete set of Old and New Testament in hardback on my shelf. As a pastor and teacher I like seeing how other pastors treat the text. Mr. Wiersbe, who pastored Moody Church in Chicago, knew what it was like to study and prepare sermons week in and week out. And what we have in this commentary is a master preacher and writer giving straight-forward biblical exposition.
The Bible Exposition Commentary of the New Testament is a commentary that I consistently reference. I highly recommend that you add it to your library.
You can purchase the Logos version of the The Bible Exposition Commentary of the New Testament on Logos .
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