We are pleased to announced the immediate availability of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary for the Accordance Bible Software Library. Introductory discounted pricing is available for a limited time.
From the publisher: Edited by David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, this new commentary series, projected to be 48 volumes, takes a Christ-centered approach to expositing each book of the Bible. Rather than a verse-by-verse approach, the authors have crafted chapters that explain and apply key passages in their assigned Bible books. Readers will learn to see Christ in all aspects of Scripture, and they will be encouraged by the devotional nature of each exposition.
Years ago, when I took my MDiv-level Old Testament Intro course under John D. W. Watts, I was faced with what I considered at the time to be a difficult task. Dr. Watts required my fellow students and me to write an exegesis paper on an Old Testament passage, and we weren’t allowed to make any mention of or connection to the New Testament. That kind of assignment is actually fairly common among Christian seminaries I would later learn, with the goal to understand “original” meaning without the layers of interpretation added over the centuries. But after attending Sunday School classes since before I could read, I’m not certain I ever knew the Old Testament without a connection to the New Testament.
Seeing Jesus Christ in the pages of the Old Testament is as old as the events behind the New Testament itself. We read in Luke 24:27, “Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures” (CSB). Not only did Jesus do this himself, the Gospel writers, the author of Hebrews, and—for that matter—all the New Testament writers read the Hebrew Scriptures this way. In the second century, Irenaeus wrote that “the treasure hid in the Scriptures is Christ” (Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 4, 26:1), referring specifically to the Old Testament. And this kind of reading of the Old Testament from a Christian perspective has gone on ever since.
Not all modern Bible commentaries include Christocentric readings of the Old Testament, even though this type of interpretation is still taught in churches through Bible studies and sermons. To this end, the editors and writers of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (CCEC) “affirm that the Bible is a Christ-centered book” with a “Christ-centered trajectory that runs from Genesis 1 through Revelation 22″ (Series Introduction).
CCEC has four characteristics: (1) exegetical accuracy with the admonition of James 3:1 in mind; (2) pastors as a target audience with the hope that parents, teachers, small-group leaders, and student ministers will also gain from the series; (3) inclusion of helpful illustrations and theologically-driven applications; and (4) the goal “to exalt Jesus from every book of the Bible.”
Not all volumes are published yet, but the 25 volumes currently available for Accordance cover 39 of 66 books of the Protestant canon, with the remaining volumes in the works. Earlier volumes are based on the Holman Christian Standard Bible, but installments released in 2017 (Proverbs, Isaiah, Daniel, Acts, and Hebrews) shift over to the newly updated Christian Standard Bible (the CCES is the first commentary series I’ve seen to use the 2017 CSB as its base).
Each volume in the CCES includes an introduction to the book covered with content broken into appropriate sections. Review questions can be found at the end of each section which would be suitable for a reader’s private reflection or to be discussed in a group setting.
The editors state that the CCEC “is not academic in nature. Our aim is to present a readable and pastoral style of commentaries.” From what I read, this is mostly true, but occasionally, some writers give attention to more scholarly interests such as literary or linguistic characteristics. Occasional references to original languages are almost always transliterated. The series, overall, will be accessible to most readers and is appropriate not just to those who are communicating the message of the Bible but also those who simply want to study for themselves.
Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (25 Volumes)
List Price $374.75
Regular Price $199
Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary: Old Testament (13 Volumes)
Regular Price $119
Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary: New Testament (12 Volumes)
Regular Price $109
Individual Volumes Are Also Available
List Price $14.90
Regular Price $9.90