Customer Reviews

The Revelation of John: Vol. 2 (The Daily Study Bible Series, Revised Edition)

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The revised edition of Barclay's commentaries on the New Testament was published in the 1970's, replacing the 2nd edition. It was prepared not by William Barclay, but by the Rev. James Martin. According to the introduction, the revised edition renews the printer's type, restyles the books, corrects some errors in the text and removes some references that have become outdated. In addition, Biblical quotations in the revised edition use the Revised Standard Version instead of the King James Version (however Barclay's own translation is retained at the beginning of each daily section).
What the introduction of the revised edition fails to mention is that while the 17 volumes of the previous 2nd edition contains a total of 5,195 pages, the revised edition prepared by Martin has only 4,541 pages, or a reduction of 12.6%. The removal of portions of Barclay's text in the revised edition varies among the 17 volumes, but nowhere is it more pronounced than in the 2 volumes on Revelation. In the 2nd edition, the 2 volumes contain 528 pages, but in the revised edition the 2 volumes only contain 415 pages, a reduction of 113 pages, or 21.4%. One of the worst cases of the removal of portions of Barclay's commentary occurs in the commentary for Revelation 3:1-6 (Sardis: A Lifeless Church). In that particular commentary, well over 50% of the text from the 2nd edition is removed in the revised edition. Repeatedly, key sentences and phrases are deleted from the revised edition. The revised edition is in fact a condensed and inferior version of the commentaries actually written by William Barclay.
However, I do want to make it clear that I found that the 2nd edition (produced in 1950s) of the Daily Study Bible, including the 2 volumes on Revelation, are by far the most insightful and meaningful commentaries that I have ever read on the New Testament, and I cannot recommend them highly enough. Barclay's 2nd edition commentary on Revelation did an outstanding job of explaining the historical background and the meaning of this difficult text. Any serious study of Revelation would benefit tremendously by the use of Barclay's commentary. However, if you want to read all of what Barclay actually said instead of what Martin thought was important enough to leave in, then check with a used book store or do a used book search on the internet to get the 2nd editions of the 2 volumes on Revelation or other volumes in the Daily Study Bible series.
God bless. Mike