Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (review)

The use of the Hebrew Bible within the Christian Scriptures is a rich field in which there has already been much study. The difference between those studies and this commentary, the editors explain, is that while those studies could enlist only a small fraction of the textual evidence, this work entails a “reasonably comprehensive” (xxiii) investigation. Among the benefits of this approach is that the reader can gain an appreciation for how a particular New Testament author habitually uses the HB, as well as how certain HB texts recur throughout the NT (vii). The overall purpose of this commentary, however, is much broader and, notably, not strictly academic. As the preface explains, their goal is to help “scholars and preachers to think more coherently about the Bible and teach ‘the whole counsel of God’ with greater understanding, depth, reverence, and edification for fellow believers” (viii).

To accomplish this, the contributors proceed through the HB references in each NT book asking six primary questions: What is the NT context of the reference? What is the context of the HB source text? How is that HB text treated in other extra-biblical literature? What textual factors are there? How is the NT author using the HB text? What theological purpose does the reference serve? If all of that sounds like a lot to fit into a mere 1239 pages, it is helped by the fact that some contributors write more freely and discursively, rather than taking each question in turn, and the number of references is limited to those the editors deemed to be “probable allusions” (xxiii).

What can we say about the results? I read samples from the various NT books and then the entirety of my own subject of research: the epistle of James (written by Carson). The text is well laid out in dual columns. There are no footnotes and surprisingly few parenthetical notes, but each book ends with its own bibliography. The exegetical discussion proceeds in the historical-critical/literary style that has become common today, and relevant Greek terms are often highlighted, though only in transliteration. For James, Carson considered fourteen references and his treatment is, for the most part, even-handed. In 1:1, for example, he appears open to considering a literal interpretation for “the twelve tribes of the dispersion,” rather than the traditional metaphor for the Christian Church. For most of the debatable issues, Carson, like the other contributors I read, took care to lay out the competing options. On some occasions however, he appears oddly narrow-sighted. In his discussion of 4:5, for example, he still argues that phthonos could be interpreted positively and applied to God, whereas recent studies have disproved that old theory almost beyond doubt (see, for example, Johnson’s AB commentary). The larger problem with 4:5, of course, is the difficulty in determining the source text. Rather than discuss some of the alternate theories, however such as a textual conjecture, Carson simply concludes that there is in fact no HB citation in the verse. Overall, however, Carson’s handling of the texts, like that of the other contributors, seems fair and balanced.

Is the volume worth buying then? Would the US$54.99 be an investment that paid dividends, or the one-time purchase of another over-priced paperweight? The answer depends, of course, on who you are and what you want to use it for. The editors and contributors are predominantly Evangelicals, and while they mostly succeed at giving a balanced handling of the texts, their theological convictions do ultimately influence their conclusions. This is evident not only in their opening intention to help preachers teach the whole counsel of God for the edification of fellow believers, but also in the assumptions that underlie their consideration of the textual issues. The introduction, for example, points to how an apple seed “contains...