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New Testament

Recommended NT Commentaries

Need to find a good New Testament commentary? See our list of recommended commentaries.

Online NT Commentaries

See the list of commentaries we provide online.

Search or browse online commentaries in Rolfing Search.

Tips for Selecting Commentaries

  • Note the type - Many types of commentaries exist, e.g., expositional, devotional, technical, etc. Therefore, one does well to know what kind of commentary for which he or she is looking. This involves knowing basic information about the various commentary series (below).
  • Note the series - Knowing the series of which a commentary is a part can tell you a lot about what the commentary will be like, e.g., theological persausion, quality, emphases, format, etc.
  • Note the author - When presented with an array of commentaries, knowing something about the available authors provides one with a good place to start.
  • Note the date - By offering some historical perspective, older commentaries posses a unique value. On the other hand, contemporary commentaries often make a practice of engaging with previously proposed interpretations. Thus, the newer commentaries carry a unique value as well.

Resources for Selecting Commentaries

  • Rolfing’s recommended commentary lists - Old Testament; New Testament.

  • Best Commentaries - A site dedicated to providing reviews and rankings for a variety of Biblical resources including commentaries. Offers basic information about each commentary, e.g., author, date, series, and type (technical, pastoral, devotional, Jewish, special).

  • Other seminaries' recommended commentary lists.
  • Ask professors.

Finding Commentaries in the Library

Rolfing Library collects commentaries both for the Main collection and for the Reference collection. Commentaries designated in the Main collection may be checked out; those in Reference are for in-library use only. Whether in Reference or Main, commentaries will be shelved in one of two ways, either in collected commentary sets or with other commentaries and works on the same book(s) of the Bible. Commentaries on Matthew–Revelation run from BS 2575 through BS 2825.

Searching for New Testament Commentaries

To search for commentaries on individual NT books as, for example, Matthew, use Rolfing Search’s Simple Search screen according to this example:

  1. In the search terms field, type the following including periods:

    Bible Matthew Commentaries

  2. In the "Search Type" pull-down menu, select "Subject"
  3. Click on the "Submit" button.

Commentaries on other individual NT books can be searched according to the above example, using the appropriate name of the book for which you want to find a commentary.

To search for commentaries on epistles with 1st’s and 2nd’s, use the following examples:

  • Commentaries on 1st and 2nd Corinthians:

    Bible Corinthians Commentaries

  • Commentaries specific to 1st Corinthians:

    Bible Corinthians, 1st Commentaries

  • Commentaries specific to 2nd Corinthians:

    Bible Corinthians, 2nd Commentaries

To distinguish between commentaries on the epistles of John and the Gospel of John use these subject headings:

  • Bible Epistles of John Commentaries
  • Bible Epistle of John, 1st Commentaries
  • Bible John Commentaries

To search for commentaries on collected parts of the New Testament, use these subject headings:

  • Bible Commentaries
  • Bible Gospels Commentaries
  • Bible Epistles Commentaries
  • Bible Epistles of Paul Commentaries
  • Bible Pastoral Epistles Commentaries
  • Bible Catholic Epistles Commentaries
  • Bible Epistles of John Commentaries

To search for commentaries on specific chapter(s) of NT books or epistles, use these examples with Roman numerals for chapters:

  • Bible Romans VIII Commentaries
  • Bible Corinthians, 1st, XIII Commentaries
  • Bible Romans IX-XI Commentaries
Searching for Commentaries by Specific Authors

To find commentaries by specific authors, as for example, Douglas Moo’s commentary on Romans, choose Advanced Search in Rolfing Search.

  1. In the first search for field, type the following including periods:

    Bible Romans Commentaries

  2. In the pull-down menu, select "Subject"
  3. Leave the default set to the word "AND"
  4. In the second search for field, type the following: Moo
  5. In the pull-down menu, select "Author"
  6. Click on the "Submit" button
Subjects: New Testament