If you’re like me, you’ll want to put the new B&H Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament (EGGNT), in your Exegetical subfolder of the Commentaries folder of your personal Accordance Library. Released today for Accordance, the EGGNT stands in the tradition of similar exegetical guides such as The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament by Rogers and Rogers and the classic A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament by Zerwick and Grosvenor.
What sets the EGGNT apart from these other titles? Two words: breadth and depth. Consider that the print versions of the other two titles mentioned above are both almost 800 pages in length. The EGGNT, currently at nine volumes, is less than half completed and already weighs in at over 2,800 pages in the print edition.
Above: The EGGNT compared to the New Linguistic & Exegetical Key. Click/tap the image for a larger view.
Although traditional exegetical guides have been aimed primarily at New Testament Greek students and translators, the EGGNT has specific features that will benefit a much wider audience as stated in the introduction:
Those reading the Greek text for the first time may be content with the assistance with vocabulary, parsing, and translation. Readers with some experience in Greek may want to skip or skim these sections and focus attention on the discussions of grammar. More advanced students may choose to pursue the topics and references to technical works under “For Further Study,” while pastors may be more interested in the movement from grammatical analysis to sermon outline. Teachers may appreciate having a resource that frees them to focus on exegetical details and theological matters.
The EGGNT’s stated goal is “to provide all the necessary information for understanding of the Greek text and, in addition, includes homiletical helps and suggestions for further study.” To do this each volume includes an introduction to the New Testament book being covered, an outline and suggestions of commentaries for further reading. As helpful as that information might be, that’s not where the most substantial treatment can be found. Each book of the New Testament is treated on a paragraph by paragraph basis. This treatment includes the following sections (these descriptions are fleshed out in great detail in the introduction to each volume):
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The Greek text of the passage from the UBS5 Greek New Testament.
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A structural analysis of the passage , including verbal discussion and diagram.
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A discussion of each phrase of the passage with discussion of relevant vocabulary, significant textual variants, and detailed grammatical analysis, including parsing.
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Various Translations of significant words of phrases.
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A list of suggested topics for further study with bibliography for each topic.
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For the preacher or teacher, homiletical suggestions to help move from the Greek text to a sermon outline that reflects careful exegesis.
By way of example, here is an excerpt from the EGGNT’s treatment of Colossians 1:15-20:
Above: Structural analysis including partial diagram for Colossians 1:15-20 in a sample workspace. Note that UBS 5 text and CSB translation are available separately. Click/tap the image for a larger view.
Above: full diagram for Colossians 1:15-20 with discussion. Click/tap image for a larger view.
Above: Colossians 1:15 analyzed phrase by phrase. Click/tap the image for a larger view.
Above For Further Study on Colossians 1:15-20. Click/tap the image for a larger view.
Above: Homiletical Suggestions for Colossians 1:15-20. Click/tap the image for a larger view.
Note in the screenshots above that the EGGNT in Accordance is highly hyperlinked not only to Scripture references, but to grammars, commentaries, lexicons and any work available for Accordance Bible Software. The EGGNT can be placed in parallel with any New Testament text or translation, or it can be placed in a separate zone for access to table of contents and ten separate search fields.
No one who regularly interacts with the Greek New Testament will want to be without the Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament. Nine volumes are available now with later installments added as they are released for a modest upgrade price.
Want to know more? Check out Brian Davidson’s in-depth review, “Exegetical Guide to GNT (9 vols.) in Accordance.”
Individual volumes are also available:
- Matthew by Charles L. Quarles (2017)
- Luke by Alan J. Thompson (2016)
- John by Murray J. Harris (2015)
- Romans by John D. Harvey (2017)
- Ephesians by Benjamin L. Merkle (2016)
- Philippians by Joseph H. Hellerman (2015)
- Colossians & Philemon by Murray J. Harris (2010) (ed. Murray J. Harris)
- James by Chris A. Vlachos (2013) (eds. Murray J. Harris, Andreas J. Köstenberger)
- 1 Peter by Greg W. Forbes (2014)
** Note that the EGGNT requires Accordance 12.0 or above. This product is not yet fully compatible with Accordance Mobile as the structural analysis diagrams are not currently supported.
Exegetical Guide to the GNT (9 Volumes)
Regular Price $199