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★★★★★ 5
Pastoral Use of Beale's and Carson's Commentary
Format: Hardcover
This book was properly NOT entitled "Commentary on the New Testament Exegesis of the Old Testament." It is a well studied and scholarly look at how the New Testament writers made USE of the Old Testament Scriptures. And they did make use of those Scriptures is varied and instructive ways.
Beale and Carson have compiled and edited articles from numerous trustworthy believing scholars which explain where, how, and why specific passages of Old Testament texts were employed by NT authors. These articles are careful to cite OT and NT contexts, predominant Middle Eastern scholastic thought prior to the 1st Century, and provide an analysis of what style was likely being used by the NT author (for example: typology, compare / contrast, poetic / emotive, prophetic fulfillment, simile, and at times even exegetical / interpretive).
Such varied approaches by the NT authors to acquiring and working with OT passages begs the question of whether we ought to handle the OT in the same manner as did they. This commentary fairly well states that the answer is, "Yes...but." Yes, if we were to be as careful as they in understanding that we are not always merely quoting and interpreting the OT nor making absurd allegories of the OT texts but using them as instructive examples, poetic bursts of emotion, and historical typographic illustrations then we should indeed use the OT in the same way.
Often the articles and entries in the commentary are long. This is not a dictionary and does not lend itself to quick reference lookups. Such attention to detail and depth enhances the experience of using this volume as it unearths elements and aspects of the Old Testament references that we rarely attempt to see from a 1st Century perspective today.
Its overall format is rather straightforward. Identify a NT passage and look it up in the commentary in the passage's traditional Protestant biblical order. Generally only OT passages that are directly quoted, paraphrased, alluded to, or cited by the NT are expanded upon in the commentary. If an OT passage is merely somewhat similar to or has only surface resemblances with an OT passage (giving one the feeling that it is being brought to mind for evocative or emotive reasons alone) then the commentary may not touch on it.
In general this is a very useful collection of articles. Its heart is not on being a commentary on the entire New Testament but is focused most narrowly on how the New Testament writers put the Old Testament to work to illustrate Jesus as the Christ, the evils of rebellion and sin, and the complex intricacies of God's epic sweeping salvific plan for humanity.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2012
