Product Description

The only available commentary on the entire New Testament written from a Reformed perspective.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #826903 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-01
• Released on: 2002-08-01
• Number of items: 12
• Binding: Hardcover
• 10086 pages

About the Author
William Hendriksen (Th.D., Princeton Theological Seminary) was professor of New Testament literature at Calvin Theological Seminary. Simon J. Kistemaker (Ph.D., Free University, Amsterdam) is professor emeritus of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida.

Customer Reviews

Scholarly yet practical and usable
This set is first rate. It is written from the Reformed perspective. It is scholarly, yet usable for the laymen. Besides great commentary, Dr. Kistemaker provides wonderfully helpful word studies for those who are not fluent in Greek. Add to that his practical and applicational notes, and you have a set on the whole New Testament that for the money is unequalled. (This set is very reasonably priced.)

Thank you Dr. Kistemaker for completing this wonderful work begun by Dr. Hendriksen. And thanks to the folks in our church who gave me this set for Christmas!

Reformed Excellence
This is the first full commentary set that I have purchased for myself. Before turning away, keep in mind that I have used many other sets from libraries (public, academic and church) as well as from other Christians. My beliefs are strongly Reformed (Christian Reformed Church), so this set is one of the few that very closely fit with my beliefs. My prior favorite was the "Interpreter's Bible" set, which has recently been updated (I was using the older versions from local public libraries). Now, this set is my favorite.

The format between the two authors is very similar, intentionally, but I still prefer the newer format (slight improvements in keeping a flowing reading). The text has clearly been proofread very well.

As for content, I prefer Kistemaker's presentation. Part of that may be due to the fact that most of his books are later than Hendrickson's. The changes in society values does not have much impact for me, but the amount of biblical knowledge unearthed in the past 50 years is astounding. However, the impact is mostly felt in just a few chapters, so don't let that deter you. I compiled the list of books with information on book, year, author, and approximate length:

Matthew,1973,Hendricksen,1015
Mark,1975,Hendricksen,700
Luke,1978,Hendricksen,1122
John,1953,Hendricksen,507
Acts,1990,Kistemaker,1010
Romans,1981,Hendricksen,533
1 Corinthians,1993,Kistemaker,649
2 Corinthians,1997,Kistemaker,495
Galatians,1968,Hendricksen,260

Ephesians,1967,Hendricksen,290
Philippians,1962,Hendricksen,218
Colossians,1964,Hendricksen,208
1 Thessalonians,1955,Hendricksen,150
2 Thessalonians,1955,Hendricksen,214
1 Timothy,1957,Hendricksen,215
2 Timothy,1957,Hendricksen,117
Titus,1957,Hendricksen,70
Philemon,1964,Hendricksen,35
Hebrews,1984,Kistemaker,460
James,1986,Kistemaker,190
1-3 John,1986,Kistemaker,235
1-2 Peter,1987,Kistemaker,348
Jude,1987,Kistemaker,70
Revelation,2001,Kistemaker,635

My priorities were 1 Corinthians, Romans, Galatians and Ephesians. The 1 Corinthians volume won an award and it was warranted. Revelation is also appealing, especially from a Reformed perspective, and it also won an award.

A Great Set of Reformed Commentaries
Hendriksen and Kistemaker's set is simply an amazing set to have. It is directed for educated laymen, Bible students, and pastors. Each volume consists of their own translation of the text. Here are what I take to be the nice features of this set:
1. The books contain introductions to each of their commentaries, discussing the who wrote it, where, why, when, etc.
2. The back of the books contain an index that lets you do a search fairly easy if you're not looking something up by the text reference (i.e. you're doing a search under "Pilate" instead of by verse citation).
3. Before gettting to a text, say, Acts 19:21-22, there is a brief statement of what is to come. Quite often, after the exposition of each of the passages, there is a section on the practical considerations for that section; and there is often notes to follow on the greek words, phrases, and constructions. Also, these authors are aware of those certain "problem" passages raised as possible errors or contradictions. Many of these are addressed thoroughly. I have found them to be extremely useful in this area.

In any case, this set is staunchly reformed (paedobaptist, coventant theology, eschatologically it is amillenial), and so it is a really nice set to have, disagreeing with them or not. Both Kistemaker and Hendriksen really know their languages and even demonstrate to be knowledgable when it comes to discussing textual variants and the manuscripts for them. It is nice to see that this set finally has been reprinted. I highly recommend this to the people that this work was made for (noted above)!