New Interpreter

[Daniel Francis]

New Interpreter’s Bible One-Volume Commentary is available for purchase, just wanted to let those here in the forums know in case they are not on Accordances email list. One Volume down, 12 volume set to go...

 

-Dan

Edited January 14, 2014 by Dan Francis

[Abram K-J]

Dan and others who are familiar with this resource--how does its quality and strength of contributors rate compared to the (what I think is excellent) NIB Dictionary?

[Daniel Francis]

Like any commentary (especially a one volume) it has strengths and weaknesses, I would say however that it is one of the stronger one volume commentaries out there. Many of the same contributors to the 12 volume set were involved with the one volume. An Example might be one of the best ways to help you evaluate the commentary. I randomly chose Genesis 2:4–25 as it was my last night devotional study (it also seems to be a good example of the insight you may find while showing you the obvious limitations of a one volume).

 

2:4-25. The Second Creation Story—The Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:4 contains a recurring formulaic sentence that marks the beginning of new sections throughout Genesis: “These are the generations of”(sometimes translated as “these are the stories of”or “these are the descendants of”: Gen 2:4; 6:9; 10:1; 11:27; 25:19; 37:2). Here it marks the beginning of a second creation story that has its own additional heading: “In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens”(cf. Gen 1:1).

This second creation account begins with the image of a dry desert or wilderness. Like the waters of chaos that began the creation story in Gen 1, the wilderness is a frequent biblical image of a fearful place of chaos, evil, and death (Isa 21:1-3; 43:15-21). Two things are required to turn this dry desert into a flourishing garden of life: water and someone to till the ground. A stream appears and waters the ground (2:6). Meanwhile, the Lord God “forms”a man (}adam) from the dust of the ground (}adamah). The verb “forms”is a verb used of a potter who molds clay and portrays God’s intimate involvement in the creative process. The Hebrew word play between “man”(}adam) and [p. 5] “ground”(}adamah) signifies the bond between the earth and the human earth creature who was created from the dust and who, in death, will return to dust (Gen 3:19). What distinguishes the human is that God breathes into the human lump of clay “the breath (ruakh) of life,”and only then does the human become “a living being.”Life is an intimately given divine gift with every human breath a reminder of the giftedness of life.

God’s hands-on interaction continues in Gen 2:8-9 with God planting a lush garden of beauty and bounty in Eden. Two fruit trees stand at the center of the garden, the “tree of life”and the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”These two trees will come into play later in the narrative (Gen 2:17; 3:1-7, 22-24). The garden of Eden is not a vacation resort for the human but a workplace in which the human exercises a vocation: to “till and keep”the garden (2:15). Alongside this vocational responsibility is also freedom (“you may freely eat of every tree”-2:16) mixed with one limiting prohibition (“but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall [the Hebrew is emphatic—add ‘surely’] die”-2:17). This combination of positive responsibilities, negative limits, and wide freedoms sets the stage both for the exuberant joys as well as the deep tragedies of human existence, “the knowledge of good”and “the knowledge of evil.”

The Lord God evaluates the garden and its human caretaker and realizes that something is lacking. “It is not good that the man should be alone.”God recognizes that the human is an inherently social creature, in need of “a helper as his partner”(2:18). The Hebrew word for “helper”(}ezer) does not imply one of lower status or an inferior assistant. Rather, the “helper”in the Old Testament is often someone of an equal or higher status in comparison to the one being helped. God is often called a “helper”to those in need elsewhere in Scripture (Ps 10:14; 54:4).

God begins by creating all the animals and inviting the human to name them and thereby define their essence or character (2:18-20). God welcomes the human as a co-creator with God. However, the animals fail to address fully the human yearning for community. As a result, God tries another strategy. God puts the human to sleep, takes out one of the human’s ribs, and forms the rib into a second human being, a woman (2:21-22). Instantly, the man recognizes in the woman the fulfillment of the deep yearning for relationship as he joyfully proclaims: “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh . . . she shall be called Woman (}ishshah) because she was taken out of Man (}ish)”(2:23). Bound together in an intimate and trusting relationship, the two humans “become one flesh,”naked, open, vulnerable, trusting, and “not ashamed”(2:24-25). --DENNIS T. OLSON, New Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary on the Bible

Edited July 31, 2014 by Dan Francis

[accord]

Many of the same contributors to the 12 volume set were involved with the one volume.

Dan, in this one volume commentary who authored Romans? Thanks.

[Daniel Francis]

Dan, in this one volume commentary who authored Romans? Thanks.

CHARLES B. COUSAR, Columbia Theological Seminary

[Joe Weaks]

Dan, in this one volume commentary who authored Romans? Thanks.

Paul

 

 

 

 

(sorry)

[accord]

Paul

 

 

 

 

(sorry)

Thanks Joe

 

CHARLES B. COUSAR, Columbia Theological Seminary

 

Thanks Dan. (I was hoping for N. T. Wright)

[Daniel Francis]

I thought you likely were likely hoping for Wright, he did a wonderful job in NIB.... here is a sample from the beginning of Romans for you to get a feel for his take.

 

I. Introduction (1:1-17)

The opening of Romans formally resembles Paul’s other letters, beginning as it does with a salutation (1:1-7), followed by a prayer of thanksgiving (1:8-15), and a section commonly referred to as the theme of the letter (1:16-17, although the theme is only fully explained in 1:18-3:20 and then expanded upon throughout the letter).

Several features stand out in these opening lines. First is the length of the salutation. Presumably because this letter is Paul’s first occasion for addressing the Romans, he offers a more extended identification of himself. He is a “servant”(literally, a “slave”) of Jesus Christ, he is “an apostle,”he is “set apart for the gospel of God”(v. 1). This reference to the gospel is unpacked in vv. 2-4, as Paul sets forth clearly the content of the gospel he preaches. Verse 2 connects the gospel with God’s promises in Scripture, a comment that seems to anticipate the body of the letter, with its extensive engagement with Scripture. Several features of vv. 3-4prompt scholars to conjecture that Paul is employing an early confession of some sort, possibly one already known to his Roman readers. Two parallel statements specify what is to be said about “his Son”:

“who was descended from David according to the flesh.”(1:3)

“who was declared Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead.”(1:4)

The first statement firmly connects Jesus to Israel by Davidic descent (cf. 9:5), and the second asserts that this particular son of David was established into the office of the Son of God on the basis of his being raised from the dead (see Acts 13:26-40).

With v. 5 Paul moves from a summary of the gospel’s content to the mission generated by the gospel. It is from Jesus that “we”received “grace and apostleship”to bring about “obedience of faith among all the Gentiles”(1:5, NRSV). The REB unfortunately separates the phrase into two distinct results: “obedience and faith,”whereas the NIV more correctly reads “the obedience that comes from faith,”or “the obedience that consists in faith.”

Verses 6-7 at last identify the recipients of the letter as those “called to belong to Jesus,”“God’s beloved in Rome,”and “called to be saints.”As elsewhere in Paul’s letters (e.g., 1 Cor 1:2), it is not only the apostles who are called into service. Paul understands all believers to be such by virtue of God’s calling to them.

The thanksgiving (vv. 8-15) acknowledges that the existence of the Roman churches is known throughout the world, and includes a typical statement about his constant prayers for them (v. 9; cf. e.g., 1 Thess 1:2-3). Also here Paul announces his [p. 771] long-standing desire to be in Rome and his hope that he is soon to be able to do so. Few details help readers to understand either why Paul wishes to be in Rome in particular or what circumstances have prevented his journey. He announces that he wants to “reap some harvest”there, which could mean either his hope for extending the gospel’s message further into the populace of Rome, or it could refer to the support of Roman Christians for his planned mission to Spain (see 15:24, 28-29).

What is clear is Paul’s sense of obligation to preach the gospel to all people. “To Greek and to barbarians”seems peculiar, given that he is writing to Rome rather than to a Greek city, but this phrase reflects the dominance of Greek culture. One way of dividing the human world was between those who would speak Greek and the “barbarians”who could not. All people, whether Greek-speaking or not, whether “wise”or “foolish”are intended to hear the gospel.

Verses 16-17, surely among the best known of all Paul’s statements, constitute an announcement of the thesis of the letter. It begins with the claim that “I am not ashamed of the gospel”which is probably an example of litotes, a rhetorical use of understatement intended to affirm the positive side of a statement (as in Acts 20:12; 26:26). It could be rendered “I have complete confidence in the gospel.”The gospel is “the power of God for salvation”(1:16). The gospel is not simply verbal, it actually consists of God’s own power (cf. 1 Thess 1:4-5). Here Paul’s apocalyptic perspective comes to the fore in that he writes about the gospel using the language of power (see below). Paul understands the tyranny under which human beings live and from which they needed to be freed (as he will make clear in chs. 5-7.

Having said in vv. 14-15 that his own preaching is for all people (Greeks and barbarian, wise and foolish), Paul reiterates that point here in a slightly different way. This saving power of God is available to “everyone who has faith,”but it is to “the Jew first and also to the Greek.”While Paul argues for the inclusion of the Gentiles among the people of God, he does not want the Gentiles to forget that there is a certain divine precedence in the order of things. Later in the letter, he speaks of the advantages of being a Jew (3:2), the promises to Abraham (4:13), and the gifts of God to Israel (9:4-5). He also reminds the Gentile readers, who might be tempted to gloat over their status, that they are to “remember that it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you”(Rom 11:18).

Verse 17 continues the announcement about the gospel with the claim that it reveals “the righteousness of God.”This phrase appears often in Romans (1:17; 3:5, 21, 22, 25, 26; 10:3) and has been interpreted in at least three distinct ways. First, it has been thought of as denoting a moral attribute, a characteristic of God (as in the declaration that “Mother Teresa was a person of righteousness”), so that the gospel’s role is to reveal knowledge about God’s inherent goodness. A second interpretation imagines that the “righteousness of God”is language that finds its proper home in the courtroom, that the phrase denotes the favorable decision a defendant receives from a judge. Thus when Paul speaks of the “revelation of righteousness,”he refers to the favorable verdict pronounced over the individual, declaring that the defendant’s sins are forgiven. A third interpretation locates the “righteousness of God”in apocalyptic thinking and understands it as God’s salvation-creating power that is at work in the world in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This third interpretation involves both the subjective righteousness that belongs to God and its objective action in saving humankind, and it best accounts for the argument that unfolds in the chapters that follow. It is God’s own righteouness, not in and of itself (as in moral righteousness) but in its action for human beings, indeed for the whole of the cosmos. The revelation of this righteousness is a cosmic event that stands at the beginning of a new era.

Paul concludes the introduction with the affirmation that God rectifies “through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith’”(quoting Hab. 2:4; cf. Gal 3:11). But of whose faith does Paul speak here? Is this human faith that somehow of its own reveals God’s righteousness? Or is it the faithfulness of God or of Jesus Christ? The Greek word pistis can bear either interpretation, either as human faith (in the sense of humanity’s belief or trust in God) or as faithfulness (in the sense of God’s own trustworthiness, God’s reliability). The context emphasizes God’s own action, and the chapters that follow underscore this point, making it likely that the [p. 772] revelation of God’s righteousness “from faith to faith”means that “the saving promises of God are declared from the faithfulness of God in Christ to the responding faith of believers.”God’s revelation of righteousness comes through the divine faithfulness and not through human achievement. --CHARLES B. COUSAR, New Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary on the Bible

Edited July 31, 2014 by Dan Francis

[accord]

Thank you Dan!

[Daniel Francis]

Hello, thanks for the update.... on the NIB One Volume. but as you see....

 

God’s “wind” (ruakh), which can also mean “spirit” or “breath,” enters into this dark and empty chaos, joined with a divine word of command, “Let there be light” (v. 1). This “spirit/wind” coupled with God’s command begins to create out of the earlier chaos an ordered, interdependent, and organic system that sustains life, goodness, and a balance of work and rest. Creation happens in Gen 1 within the framework and structure of a seven-day week. During the first three days of creation, God creates three broad regions into which God will later place their proper inhabitants: light/darkness, sky/sea, and dry land (1:3–13). God then creates the occupants of each region. The sun, moon, and stars inhabit and “rule over” the regions of light and dark (Day Four). Sea creatures (including “the great sea monsters”) and birds inhabit the sea and sky (Day Five). Animals and humans occupy the dry land (1:14–31).

The creation story slows down and spends some time on the creation of the human, providing [p. 4] important insights into the nature and vocation of the human within God’s creation. First of all, God commands, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness” (1:26). God is speaking here to other heavenly beings, reflecting the ancient motif of a heavenly community of divine beings (1 Kgs 22, Job 1, Ps 82, Isa 6). God’s motivation for creation is not because God is lonely in the universe. Rather, creation involves God’s desire for deepening and broadening the community of relationships that already exists in the divine realm. In creation, God’s pre-existing experience of community spills over into a new arena and dimension, the realm of time (created by the alternation of light and dark, day and night) and space (the various ordered regions of sky, sea, and land).

Second, the human is created in God’s “image” or “likeness” (1:26), reflecting a practice among ancient Near Eastern kings who erected stone statues or images of themselves throughout their realm as an extension and reminder of the king’s dominion over

Dennis T. Olson, Genesis, The New Interpreter’s Bible. Accordance electronic ed. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2010), 3-4.

I was expecting to see the One-Volume label i.e..:New Interpreter’s Bible (One-Volume)

The New Interpreter’s Bible: One-Volume Commentary (NIB One Volume)

Edited by: Beverly Roberts Gaventa and David Petersen

Copyright © 2010 by Abingdon Press

All rights reserved.

Accordance edition hypertexted and formatted by OakTree Software, Inc.

Version 1.1

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Now this is only a tiny oversight but I wanted to point it out since you have worked so hard to make it a highly useful reference to cite.

-Dan

Edited July 31, 2014 by Dan Francis