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  1. Jimmy Reagan
    Leesville, SC
    Age: 45-54
    Gender: male
    5 Stars Out Of 5
    A Great Commentary!
    March 7, 2017
    Jimmy Reagan
    Leesville, SC
    Age: 45-54
    Gender: male
    Quality: 5
    Value: 5
    Meets Expectations: 5
    With every new title in this Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series that I delve into, I find my appreciation growing. This series is well conceived and this entry by seasoned-commentator David Garland adds to the laurels of the series. In addition to commentaries on a few New Testament epistles, Mr. Garland has already produced a volume on Mark in the NIVAC series. He is equally at ease in either the Gospels or the epistles.

    In his Introduction to Luke, Mr. Garland discusses the authorship of Luke and Acts. In accepting Luke as the author, he strives to dig a little deeper into who Luke actually is. He keeps his discussion of Lukes sources mercifully brief and jumps on into the genre of Luke and Acts. He sees Luke as both an historian and apologist. The next section is called date, provenance, and the readers of Luke-Acts. Unlike some other commentaries Ive read, he discusses those three issues together rather than separately. Theres even in that section some great information that some others might put in the category of structure. He makes some nice, valid points about Lukes purpose in writing this gospel. The only disappointment in the Introduction is that his section on structure is only an outline.

    I found the commentary proper of even more value. Thats not to say I didnt disagree with him on some points. For example, the meaning of the word inn in the birth of Christ is much more conducive to the traditional meaning that Mr. Garland seems to believe. Most other commentators would not agree with him on that one either. Still, the commentary is of extraordinary value. Every passage I surveyed offered the kind of things Im looking for in a commentary.

    Mr. Garland appears comfortable with the ZECNT format. In each passage, he discussed the literary context, stated the main idea, offered his own translation, explain the structure and literary form, and gave an exegetical outline before launching into a detailed explanation of the text. That is followed by a theology in application section that helps preachers bridge the gap between exegetical information and the sermon.

    Having reviewed the volumes on Mark and John, and now reviewing this volume on Luke, Im amazed at the quality this series has given us on these three Gospels. This volume is ideal for pastors. Think of it as being helpful like the NAC series with a little more depth. I warmly recommend it.

    I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255.
  2. The Geeky Calvinist
    5 Stars Out Of 5
    Truly Wonderful
    April 21, 2018
    The Geeky Calvinist
    Quality: 5
    Value: 5
    Meets Expectations: 5
    There are many different types of commentaries, some are more scholarly, some are more devotional in nature. In the end while some are on either extreme, most fall somewhere in the middle, as is the case with Zondervan Exegetical Commetnary on the New Testament series published by Zondervan. One of the newer commentaries in this series is David E. Garland, and it is a master piece. This is common place for a commentary series which is known for excellence in scholarship yet practical in application. This commentary is a mid-level commentary, weighing in at over 1000 pages, Garlands attention to detail of the original meaning makes this commentary a worthwhile read for both the pastor and the laymen, with a slight bent to the laymen.

    A pastor will find that Garlands practical insights extremely helpful in giving application from the text to his congregants, while the laymen will find this commentaries easy to use format and the non-technical format an easy read. It is truly the best of both worlds.

    When looking specifically a this commentary Garland spends about 20 pages on introductory matters. When investigating maters specifically with the text of scripture, Garland takes an interesting approach. When exegeting on Luke he deals mostly with the imagery that the apostle whom Jesus loved wrote in. Yet he does not fall into the trap of many commentators in allegorizing the imagery.

    In the end I would recommend this commentary as in introduction to pastors and Sunday school teachers, that help tremendously with the laymen a pastor will want another commentary to pair with this wonderfully practical commentary on scripture.

    This book was provided to me free of charge from Zondervan Publishing in exchange for an unbiased, honest review.
  3. Abram KJ
    Age: 25-34
    Gender: male
    4 Stars Out Of 5
    Makes some unique contributions
    July 7, 2012
    Abram KJ
    Age: 25-34
    Gender: male
    Quality: 4
    Value: 4
    Meets Expectations: 4
    Garland's commentary on Luke is more than 1,000 pages, but this should not be a surprise, since Luke is the longest Gospel. Like the rest of the ZECNT series, it is "designed for the pastor and Bible teacher." Garland assumes a basic knowledge of Greek, but Greek is not required to understand his commentary. For each passage the commentary gives the broader literary context, the main idea (great for preachers!), an original translation of the Greek and its graphical layout, the structure, an outline, explanation, and "theology in application" section.

    The graphical layout of each passage is a unique contribution that Garland's Luke makes to Luke studies. Even though a narrative book like Luke is easier to follow than some of Paul's detailed arguments, seeing main clauses in bold with subordinate clauses indented under them (plus how they relate back to the main clause) gives the reader a quick, visual grasp of the entire passage at hand. Garland does this well, too.

    Luke has the full Greek text of Luke, verse by verse, and full English translation by Garland (passage by passage in the graphical layout, then again verse by verse next to the Greek). A value for me in using reference works is not having to pull five more reference works off the shelf to use the first reference work! This is about as portable as exegesis of Luke gets. Garland's English translation is a bit wooden at times--just about every kai in the opening narrative of 1:5-25 receives the translation "and," which it shouldn't always.

    Garland's intro is short, but covers what it needs to. He attributes authorship to Luke and holds to Luke-Acts unity, as many scholars do. ("[Luke] is writing not simply about the life of Jesus but what Jesus inaugurated that continued in the deeds of his followers (Acts 1:1-8)" (27).) He understands Luke-Acts as fitting into the genre of "Hellenistic historiography." He treats Luke's potential sources, date of writing, readers, location, purpose, and structural outline. There is an additional "theology of Luke" section at the back of the commentary that complements the introduction. It doesn't cover all the theological themes in Luke (healing/exorcism, for example, is absent), but it doesn't claim to, either.

    Where Garland really shines in this commentary is in his treatment of the Greek words and phrases that comprise the Luke text. He attends to the lexical meaning of given words, how they function in context, and their use in other parts of Scripture. This is helpful especially for parts of Luke where the Greek vocabulary is more obscure or difficult.

    Teachers and preachers especially will appreciate the "Theology in Application" section that concludes each passage. To the pastor wondering how to preach on something like Luke's prologue, Garland writes: "The purpose of the gospel is not to give information but certainty that will change lives. Erudition about Jesus is not the same as insight into Jesus. The history of Jesus is not to be divorced from the proclamation about Jesus, as if the two were somehow incompatible" (58).

    This comes after a detailed exegesis of the first four verses. As someone with preaching experience, I can say this combination of thorough attention to the Greek text with contemporary application is pure gold.

    Inevitably no commentary can say everything about every word in the text, but there are parts of Luke that I thought deserved more attention. For example, in Luke 8:31 the demons known as Legion beg Jesus not to cast them into the Abyss. Garland just offers, "The Abyss is the place of punishment for evil spirits" (358). Although he infers that this verse shows the "eschatological dimension" to exorcisms, nothing more is given about the word "abyss." For a word that appears just once in the Gospels yet multiple times in the Old Testament and Apocrypha, more background on this term would have been useful to the reader. This could, of course, merely reflect a space limitation in the commentary.

    On the other hand, Garland's commentary on the Good Samaritan parable ("merciful" as Garland has it) leaves out just about nothing. To provide needed historical context to the passage, Garland draws on what Josephus said about priests, what Sirach said about helping those in need, and includes an excursus on the "adversarial history" of Jews and Samaritans. Garland compellingly concludes from the parable: "The original Jewish audience must enter the ditch and accept a Samaritan as a savior, helper, and healer. They must experience being touched by this unclean enemy who treats a wounded man as a compatriot" (446).

    Garland seeks to prove right the series claim that "all who strive to understand and teach the New Testament will find these books beneficial," and he succeeds in this. Preachers or students of Luke will want to supplement

    Garland's work with other works on Luke (Bock's two volume set remains the standard), but the graphical layout of each passage and the theology in application sections alone are enough to warrant careful consideration of this volume.

    (I am grateful to Zondervan for the free review copy of this commentary, which was offered to me in exchange for an unbiased review. This review is from abramkj.wordpress.com)
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