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Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary

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I purchased Hoehner's commentary on Ephesians with reservation. I knew he'd be a solid, evangelical scholar (he's a distinguished prof at Dallas); I knew this would be a solid, thorough treatment of Ephesians. The thing is over 900 pages long, after all. But I wanted a commentary that would "preach." All too many scholarly commentaries are dry-as-dust, verse-by-verse affairs that frankly don't help a pastor put together a sermon.
This commentary by Dr. Hoehner was a wonderful surprise. Hoehner provides an outline of each unit of text which is built right into his commentary section. And he provides summaries and conclusions which contain the "Big Idea" (or Central Truth, or whatever you prefer to call it)of that unit of text. Why don't more scholars do this in commentaries?
And Dr. Hoehner helps you swim through the Greek like a duck through water; he provides his own translation, and he constantly provides necessary parsing for the reader. But most important of all, he has the best discussion of grammatical categories that I have ever seen, translating a phrase as it would be if it were instrumental, or cause, or sphere, etc., so that you can follow his argument. He lovingly mines the Greek text for everything it can yield, and he actually brings his reader right along with him!
I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this commentary. This is the fruit of an outstanding scholar who has prayed and studied and labored over Ephesians for years.

This is an outstanding commentary on Ephesians, and ranks as 2nd best in my judgment. Hoehner's real contributions are his clarity and his thoroughness. His handling of the Greek text is thorough, and his weighing of different interpretive options is usually pretty even-handed and fair (though occasionally I think he falls down on the wrong side of an issue or is overly dogmatic). His organization is exceptional, as he breaks everything down into easy to follow, logical outlines. For a critical commentary, this is amazingly helpful homiletically! His writing style is lucid and clear (I love how he regularly summarizes his arguments and position in the final paragraph on a pericope). His theological stance is Evangelical and conservative, although sometimes a bit one-dimensional (especially when he pigeon-holes a passage into his theological system - dispensationalism. But this doesn't interfere with the quality of the commentary very often). Hoehner also probably gives the most robust defense of Pauline authorship of Ephesians of any commentary (over 100 pages!). This is a lengthy commentary on Ephesians (over 900 pages), but well worth the purchase. As I've preached through Ephesians over the past two years, I've benefited from Hoehner in many ways, and have read almost all of the book. I would easily recommend him as one of the top three commentators on the book, though I'd slightly prefer Peter O'Brien, who writes with more depth with a keen eye for biblical theology. Really, the two commentaries complement one another and should be read together. All in all, this commentary is outstanding! Anyone preaching through Ephesians expositionally will definitely want to purchase it.

This is the only book that has so thoroughly exceeded my expectations and publishing hype that it deserves a greater-than-5 star-rating.

Dr. Harold Hoehner received his PhD from Cambridge University, and taught NT Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary for over 30 years.

Dr. Hoehner begins with a detailed introduction (131 pages) treating the authorship, history, purpose and theology. He then gives a comprehensive bibliography of authorship that provides sources for both conservative and liberal thought. This discussion of both conservative and liberal theologies continues throughout the work.

The book is set up to deal with each verse, and sometime phrase, individually, and in detail. The phrase 'no stone unturned' comes to mind. Each verse is given in NA27 or UBS4 (vast majority NA27) and then translated. His reliance on Scripture is wide-ranging and not restricted to a single translation. An understanding of Greek is needed to fully benefit from this writing, as the Greek is not rendered in cognates. Throughout the book are eight 'Excurses' dealing more topically, yet more in depth with specific issues in Ephesians such as: the textual issues of Eph 1:1, 'In Christ,' Election, and rules of Christian households. These deal with the full theological context of Scripture rather than dealing solely with Ephesians, and help to give more understanding for some of the more important ideas in this book. Two indices round out the book: an author index and a Scripture index.

Dr. Hoehner reaches into all of Scripture to discuss Ephesians in depth. His conclusions reflect conservative, evangelical teaching, with solid, thorough evidence and theological scholarship. Another aspect of his writing is inclusion of theology discussed by the early church fathers such as Ignatius and Clement, although he only uses instances where these authors support Scripture.

This commentary should reside on the shelves of all theologians, exegetical pastors and seminary students. This book is not directed towards lay-persons, unless a full understanding of Greek is present. Dr. Hoehner writing is supremely valuable, enveloping modern scholarship, full disclosure of major theological arguments and solid, conservative evangelicalism. I wish all the commentaries on my shelf were this well written and researched.

A very strong and solid exegetical treatment of Ephesians. Mostly based upon my own theological presuppositions verses Hoehner's, I cannot agree with all of his hermeneutical movements from text to theology (e.g., I do not agree with his overall ecclesiology - especially in his readings of Ephesians 1). It is most beneficial to read this along with W. Klein's "The New Chosen People" for a more rounded approach to understanding election as a corporate concept. That is to say that one may or may not take election to mean predestination (decide for yourself), but Paul does not seem to be addressing that issue in the context of a community letter written to discuss community identity and practice.

Technically challenging on many linguistic-textual aspects, yet a good research commentary. Each section is very well outlined and presented with a clear translation by the author (most of which are quite agreeable, some wording and phrasing perhaps questionable), and bears the marks of a scholar at the top of his game. This is a commentary many years in the making and shows a command of Paul's letter and overall theology. Background and historical issues are presented appropriately and coherently as well.

As a "top tier" work, this is a must-have for those interested in Ephesians.

The author has put a lot of effort into his format and the way he presents his material. It is one thing to have correct interpretations, but he is also a master at presenting detailed material. This book is so enjoyable to read. And I have to applaud Baker Academic for allowing the author to include the Greek text the way they did. I suspect that including the Greek the way they did was no small task, plus all the other details presented in various ways - very impressive. While reading you get a refresher in Greek while listening to a professional at work. For people who do not know Greek, I would say they would still profit greatly from this commentary.

This book is a real treat. I love the way the author presents the Greek text, gives the translation, gives the usage and meaning of each word (from the LXX, and the NT), shows the usage and meaning of each phrase (again from the LXX, and the NT), shows possible interpretations and then finally shows what he believes to be the correct interpretation. He is very good at breaking down his points. For example, he will say there are 3 views and he will clearly spell out the 3 views so you don't have to hunt for them. This makes it very nice for referring back to later. This book is like having several books in one. He is so meticulous that you feel you have gotten training in several areas all at once. One thing that is very helpful is the way the author will give a summary of what he has just covered. He summarizes often as the he goes through each paragraph. This is a big book, but I have a hard time wanting to skip anything. His footnotes and Excursions are great.

Like others have said, his outlines and headings are very nice. They will make for a great aid to any Bible teacher, preacher or student. I also have Ephesians by Peter O'Brien and plan to read that one as well.

This is a classic - it is like nothing I have seen in a long time.

If you want to know everything about the book of Ephesians; if you want to know almost everything of significance others have said about each verse in the book of Ephesians - this is the commentary for you. At least some knowledge of Greek is needed to follow all that is said - but even without it there is much to be gained in the use of this commentary. He lays out the various views of each word or phrase and then gives the reason why he takes the view that he does. Hoehner writes in clear modern English and is easy to follow especially for such a technical work as this.

There is no question about it. This is simply the best on Ephesians, especially on chapter 3. Well worth every cent. It is impressive, detailed, and extremely helpful to any student of this great epistle. It will be the standard for years to come. It will be the standard not only for its impressive work into the text, but also for its practical use. It is truely a book that both scholars and pastors can us. The author has blended the two sides well. He is fair, balance, detailed, but completely readable and understandable. It is a must for any Bible student's library.

H. Hoehner commentary on Ephesians is probably the best out there right now. Author does really good job combining all posible veiws on certain passage and points to the correct veiw. It is real BIBLICAL commentary. If anybody wants to study epistly to Ephesians Hoehner's commentary would be the best.

Dr. Harold Hoehner (Th.D., Ph.D) has written the best commentary on Ephesians in English. His work is thoroughly exegetical and exhaustively detailed. His text critical notes (from a "reasoned eclecticism" perspective) are well-balanced and fair (i.e., his conclusions are not overly-dogmatic). His excurses are a mine of information (e.g., on the text critical problem in Eph 1.1 and on the Haustafel [Household Code]). Hoehner's commentary has set a new standard in thoroughness. It is also reasonably affordable in light of its size (approx. 900 pages), especially when one compares it with the works of Best (ICC [although now see the new paperback edition]) and Barth (2 vols. AB). Definitely a best buy! The works by A. T. Lincoln (WBC) and P. T. O'Brien (Pillar) are comparable (esp. O'Brien). Overall, however, Hoehner's work should be considered the best all-around commentary on Ephesians available.

Hoehner's commentary on Ephesians is fantastic. I researched quite a bit before purchasing this commentary, as I wanted to make certain that I purchased a commentary that was truly exegetical. This commentary surpassed my expectations. Hoehner's comprehensive discussions on each passage provide the student with thorough and theologically rich commentary.

Especially helpful is that Hoehner discusses a number of facets of each passage, such as the following:

1. Translation issues (why one is choosing one English gloss over another)
2. Background issues
3. Lexemic Issues
4. Textual Variants
5. Relationship to previous portions of book, which is extremely helpful given the longer Greek sentences that are present
6. Theological Issues

If I could have one book on Ephesians, this would be the one. Those with an introductory knowledge of Greek should be able to follow most of the discussions, but those who have not had Biblical Greek may want to consider O'Bryant's commentary from the Pillar Series.