Commentaries on Hebrews?

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GulfCoast Presbyterian

Puritan Board Senior
Please suggest a few good commentaries on Hebrews. Preferably reformed commentaries. I am not facile with NT Greek, so that is a consideration.

Many thanks!
 
Have you ever used bestcommentaries.com? They have helpful tags that can help you see whether a commentary is evangelical or critical, technical or pastoral or similar categories. It's basically where I start every time I'm looking for commentaries (though it will sometimes not have the old classics or stuff that is newly published that may be quite good).

Glancing at it for Hebrews, it looks like F.F. Bruce's would probably fit the bill of what you're looking for.
 
I agree with John Yap. Gouge and Owen are the Puritan gold standard, but both are also huge. Phillips is great, and don't underestimate the Lectio Continua commentary by McWilliams. I also found Phillip Edgecumbe Hughes to be quite good, as well.
 
John Owen's commentary is personally my favourite on Hebrews (and of course is free online), but if you find the 7 volumes too much to chew, Crossway's one volume edition might be worth the purchase.

Although not a Reformed author (the basis of this commentary became the study notes for Hebrews in the New Oxford Annotated Bible 5th edition), I found "Perseverance in Gratitude: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews" by David deSilva to be incredibly useful when teaching Hebrews in a church bible study (it is fairly academic and some Greek will help). In my opinion, the author seems to clearly see and understand the structure and logic of the rhetoric and arguments in Hebrews, which to me perhaps is the key to unlocking the epistle.
 
Please suggest a few good commentaries on Hebrews. Preferably reformed commentaries. I am not facile with NT Greek, so that is a consideration.

Many thanks!
Keith Mathison, a Reformed Bible teacher and professor of systematic theology at Reformation Bible College in Sanford, Florida, has given to us a list of, in his opinion, the top five commentaries on The Epistle to the Hebrews,

1. William L. Lane, Hebrews 1-8; Hebrews 9-13 (Word Biblical Commentary (1991; 2000).

2. Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, A Commentary on The Epistle to the Hebrews (1977).

3. R. T. France, “Hebrews” in The Expositors Bible Commentary Volume 13 [Hebrews – Revelation], Revised Edition. (2006).

4. Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews (New International Greek Testament Commentary (1993).

5. F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Revised Edition (New International Commentary (1990).

Of these five, I have here in my study all but the commentary by France. Of the other four, the commentary by Paul Ellingworth is by far the most helpful for an academic study of the epistle. However, for those persons who lack a good reading knowledge of Greek, it is unreadable without the frequent use of Bible study aids.

In addition to those listed by Mathison, I would recommend the following,

Cockerill, Gareth - New International Commentary (2012).
Allen, David L. - New American Commentary (2010).
Koester, Craig - Anchor Yale Bible Commentary (2001).

May God Bless your study of His word
 
I feel compelled to mention Guthrie again, for $20 https://www.amazon.com/Hebrews-Tyndale-New-Testament-Commentaries/dp/0830842454 he has a good flow and anticipates questions (at least mine) on the text. It is one of the volumes that would aid any collection of Hebrews because it is the best concise volume, amidst the many rich and lengthy literature on Hebrews.
Donald Guthrie flies at an altitude well below my radar so it did not detect it. However, I have here in my study his commentary on Galatians in “The New Century Bible Commentary” series. For such a brief commentary (a 54 page introduction to the epistle and 98 pages of commentary), it is very good. His annotated bibliography is excellent. His comments on Reformed theology are illuminating. For example, he writes on pages 41-42,

It may well be that one of the most urgent tasks of the modern church is to consider the relevance of the Pauline doctrine of justification by faith as a basis for church unity.

Of particular importance is a study of this epistle in view the increasing modern tendency to discount the work of the reformers. If the doctrine of the reformers is to find no place in modern theology, this epistle will have correspondingly less significance. The whole of its doctrinal argument is so integral to the doctrine of the reformers that it is impossible to retain the epistle while rejecting the doctrine.


It should be noted that “the doctrine of the reformers” that Guthrie is writing about here is the doctrine that Luther and Calvin had in common rather than their own particular doctrines.

As for Guthrie’s commentary of Hebrews, I shall want to read it!
 
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