Product Description

The WBC is the best-selling multi-volume commentary series in the market today. WBC authors are all experts in their field and skillfully bring the text to meaning through careful exegesis and exposition. Each WBC contributor creates his own translation based on the best texts and literature available. The WBC has the largest bibliography of any commentary.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #92039 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 592 pages

Customer Reviews

One of my favorite commentaries - Despite the Length
Prior to reading this commentary, I had considered the Pastoral Epistles (I & II Timothy and Titus) to be among the few 'boring books' of the New Testament - nice to read every once in a while, but not a lot of interest there. Mounce's commentary changed all that and made the Pastorals very exciting books for me. His knowledge of early Christianity and the social backgrounds of the time is outstanding and he puts these to good use in the commentary, digging out of the text important insights about the early church, its organization and function, and the way these early Christians did life and church together. This commentary is wonderfully written and much more accessible and much more of an easy read (despite its depth and scholarliness) than most other technical commentaries - even ones of one eighth the length. Mounce offers wonderful arguments in favor of the traditional view of the texts' origin - Pauline authorship - and his introduction to the books is overall excellent. He handles difficult passages admirably, covering the various views and the arguments for each. His interpretations of the passages on women are a bit more traditional than how I would be inclined to take them but he provides good evidence for his position and considers opposing views. My only quibble would be that I wish he had spent more time on the perplexing arguments given by Paul in the sections on women in the church, especially on how they are to be interpreted. The discussions on these points were very short and mentioned in passing in larger discussions on the letters' views on women. I had no clearer idea what was going on in these arguments after I read the commentary than before, which is a shame. Other than the points where this happens (which are VERY few), this is an excellent work that I highly recommend for anyone looking for a great, easily accessible (for a scholarly or semi-scholarly commentary, that is) technical commentary on the Pastorals. Sure it's the size of several volumes in one but when you read it you soon forget this as you become immersed in the lives of Paul and the early Christians.

Good, but room for improvement
I'm going to admit right up front that I have not read the entire commentary. There are things that I do and don't like about this massive work by William D. Mounce.

First the good: This book is a pretty good deal when you consider that it includes 3 of the Pastoral Epistles. The author sticks to an orthodox/conservative view on the Pauline authorship of the epistles. He also defends the conservative view on many of the controversial passages in Timothy.

I didn't like the layout of this book. It was harder than usual to find a particular passage. The reading tended to be a little more dense and scholarly that I'm used to. I don't know if a commentary on Timothy is available in the NICNT or Pillar series, but I've found the NICNT and Pillar commentaries to be very illuminating while being significantly easier to read.

If you are looking for one commentary that covers 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus from a conservative point of view, this work by Mounce deserves your consideration. Be forewarned though that the layout is not as nice as that in the NICNT and Pillar series commentaries.

Mounce's Commentary on the Pastorals
This commentary is well written and easy to read. Even the introduction is extremely indepth, but all of the information is interesting and useful; it's not a bunch of scholarly drivel. Knowing/understanding Koine Greek and it's usage makes reading this commentary a little easier. Overall Mounce has done a fantastic job.