Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Philippians Commentaries

After studying Philippians, preaching through it, and writing a basic commentary of my own, here are my thoughts on the available resources.

Philippians is one of the few books that has 3 top-notch, excellent commentaries.

1. The best commentary on Philippians is Walter Hansen's Pillar NT Commentary on Philippians. Readable, pastoral, extensive, helpful, Christ-centered, applicable. Everything you look for in a good commentary.

2. Gordon Fee's NICNT commentary on Philippians is a close second to Hansen's. This is a very good commentary (my favorite in the NICNT series). Fee does a great job outlining passages and keeping the big picture in mind, while at the same time providing rigorous exposition.

3. If you can read Greek, PT O'Brien's NIGTC is excellent.

4. I also like Hawthorne (WBC), but found myself disagreeing with his conclusions more than the others.

5. I was disappointed by Motyer, Silva, and Melick.

6. DA Carson's little book, Basics for Believers, is a great small resource for understanding the main point of each chapter.

7. I think MacArthur's Philippians homeletical commentary might be one of his best.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brother,
In all of your research, did you find any commentaries that focused on "the Day of Christ" as the primary theme of Philippians? Please let me know if you did. I am thinking of writing a commentary with that in mind. Please advise.

pastor justin said...

Fantastic question. No, I didn't find any that emphasized "the Day of Christ" as the main theme. However, clearly that is at the forefront of Paul's mind as he writes.