Cultivating Expositional Listening – #2: Invest in a Good Set of Commentaries

(We’re reviewing the six practical ways Thabiti Anyabwile suggests for developing “expositional listening” in his book What is a Healthy Church Member? Read the introduction to this series here.)

The second suggestion the author gives for cultivating expositional listening is to invest in a good set of commentaries.  Study with the likes of John Calvin, Martin Lloyd-Jones, D.A. Carson or James Montgomery Boice, learning from these reliable teachers as you read through a book of the Bible.  To choose wisely among all the commentaries that are available consider purchasing a commentary survey like Tremper Longman’s Old Testament Commentary Survey or D.A. Carson’s New Testament Commentary Survey.

Thoughts
There are not many things that are more exciting to me then opening my mailbox to see the latest commentaries I’ve purchased finally arrive!  I personally follow this approach above, buying commentaries for books of the Bible as I read them. A couple of buying strategies:

- A balance of “classic” and “contemporary” authors is nice if you can afford more than one.
- A commentary at a “popular” or devotional level as well as something a little more technical is also nice (for a challenge…but be sure to check the knowledge of Greek/Hebrew that’s required, unless you know the languages.  The New International Greek Testament Commentary for 1 Corinthians below, for example).
-The best way for members of High Pointe to get commentary recommendations is from Pastor Juan, who regularly gives reading suggestions (a couple included below).

I like to buy study guides along with commentaries.  I go through the questions to test my knowledge of the text.  Some commentaries include study questions but I like this straightforward approach to “quizzing myself” on the text to help with my understanding.

So, go ahead and buy some 1 Corinthians stuff!