Customer Reviews

Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary: Spreading the Light of God's Word Into Your Life

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have looked at approx. 30 to 40 bible commentaries. They are all basically the same. Finally somebody has done their homework and provided us with an extremely accurate commentary of the entire bible. This commentary is grace orientated and correctly presents the gospel and living the christian life.

I am sometimes leery of depending too much on commentaries in order to extract the meaning of difficult portions of the Bible. I like to come to my own conclusions and then compare that to what the great Bible scholars say. While I enjoy commentaries by Matthew Henry, Adam Clarke and the like, I searched for a commentary that would be a bit more modern in it's approach. By that I mean, it should include aspects of advances in Textual Criticism as well as recent archaeolgical insights and other discoveries.

What I appreciate most about the Nelson commentary (and I use it across several translations) is that it is very fairly balanced, giving the reader, in almost every case, a reasonable representation of differing views. For instance, the Amillenialist vs. Pre-Millenialist vs. Post-Millenialist views are well represented and explained. While the commentary leans towards a Calvinist and dispensationalist bent, it approaches all the doctrinal areas that I've investigated fairly and gives credence to all supportable viewpoints even when it favors one over the other(s). It does not appear to give any credence to views outside the Evangelical Protestant realm and and I believe the editors to be trustworthy expositors of scripture.

Illustrations and charts are very well done and aid much in helping the reader understand the topics and their relevance to ancient as well as modern culture. This is not a "feel good" or "dispensational only" commentary, but one that uses a sound doctrinal approach to illuminate God's purposes and desires for us in His revealed Word. I highly recommend this collaborative effort as one you'll find very useful for study and comparative research. As always though, give what the Word of God says more weight than any human interpretation!

If you like a commentary separate from your Bible, then this will serve you well. However, the few pages that I was able to search using Amazon's "search inside" feature were nearly identical to the study notes in the Nelson Study Bible. I personally like to have Bible text and notes on the same page, and I have no way of knowing how much of this commentary is included in the Nelson Study Bible, which is my personal favorite. The "In Depth" articles, charts, maps and "Word Focus" studies (in the Bible) are excellent tools and whether you choose the commentary or study Bible will depend on your personal preference.

This commentary is basically the study notes included with the Nelson NKJV Study Bible. The difference between the two seems to be the Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary has a few more notes than what is in the bible itself. The reason I purchased this commentary is that I am very happy with my Nelson NKJV Study Bible and wanted to have that same kind of information on some of the verses the Bible did not have references to. Even though there are a few more notes in the commentary there was not quite as much information as I had hoped for.

If you DO NOT have the Nelson NKJV Study Bible, this Commentary will make a really great asset to your library. If you already have the Bible, you might want to consider a different commentary or another of the Nelson biblical reference books.

I have several 1 volume Bible commentaries, and this one is one of the better ones. It is based on the New King James Version (NKJV) and it offers a concise yet helpful commentary on each of the books of the Bible. The editors are all conservative Bible scholars who hold to the complete inerrancy of Scripture. They interpret the prophetic books of Daniel and Revelation in a futurist and literal manner rather than in a figurative sense. In Rev. 20, they do offer different views on the millennium without stating what is their view.

The scholars hold to the Virgin Birth of Christ, the single authorship of the books of Isaiah and Daniel, and fully subscribe to predictive prophecy.

What makes this commentary distinctive is that it contains various different articles such as:

In Focus -- word studies of key Hebrew and Greek words
Insight -- brief background info
In Depth-- longer background or historical info, telling you how and why of biblical incidents
In Life -- Life application principles
In Context -- the cultural factors relevant to the text
In Comparison -- charts and tables that help you compare and contrast
In Person -- Personality profiles of bible characters
In Time -- Timelines for each book

These articles, though brief, are very helpful and insightful.

There is also a helpful appendix at the end which covers the important archaelogical discoveries that relate to the Bible.

What I found most helpful are the comprehensive yet clearly written introductions for each book of the Bible, the simple outline for the book, and the brief yet insightful commentary for each book.

I wished the commentary used colored photographs or illustrations; most of the photographs were in black and white. Also, I prefer the NASB or NIV translation rather than the NKJV, but one cannot have everything.
I have found this to be a helpful resource especially if I want to cut to the chase and get a concise commentary on a Bible passage without having to wallow in a lot of unnecessary and tedious information. It is a worthy addition to your library.

First of all, be aware that this commentary is actually the study notes included with the Nelson NKJ Study Bible. The only difference between the two is that the Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary has a few more notes than what is in the bible itself. But I've found the notes to be more exhaustive than what you will find in the NIV study bible which is very helpful if you're looking for additional information on a particular verse or verses.

The book is very well made with good paper quality. Designed to last you for many years. A great addition to your bible study library!

Years ago, as a Bible College student, I became acquainted with Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary apart from the influences of my educators, and found it reliable and lively, with mature treatment of subject matter without bogging down. Years later I came across The Nelson Study Bible, and also was astounded by its mature treatment of subject matter. If you already own the Nelson Study Bible, pause before buying this work, for it is largely the same book, minus the Biblical text. A side-by-side comparison of the running commentary notes reveals it is about 98% identical, and the same goes for many of the special word-study boxes, chapter introductions and outlines. In other words, an awesome work, but a redundant work for owners of the Nelson Study Bible.

I met this book by the first time when I had to be part of the team that translated it into Spanish. I have a few othe commentaries but none that useful and applicable to day to day life as this.

I have bought several copies at this time and I use it as the first reference for my studies. It also moved me to study Greek, Hebrew and Josephus works.

This is an excellent verse by verse narrative of the Bible. It has additional information about the context, in depth themes, etc. This book is also printed with the Bible intertwined, but I like having this commentary as a separate book (this is over 1700 pages as is). I have several of Nelson's biblical reference books and each one has been money well spent.

This commentary is exactly what I have been looking for. It provides detail comments for each verse. I highly recommend you to have this book for your collection.