Customer Reviews

Textual Commentary Greek NT

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This volume provides an insightful commentary on the Greek text of the United Bible Societies' 4th edition Greek New Testament. In producing a copy of the Greek New Testament many variant readings have to be analyzed and decided upon. Metzger has provided in this commentary an answer as to why one reading was chosen over another. In doing so he seeks to highlight the problem(s) involved with each set of alternative readings and also provides an explanation of the Bible Committee's evaluation and resolution of those problems.

A helpful introduction is provided wherein the history and basic rules of textual criticism are canvassed in order to show how the committee made their decisions. Metzger provides a brief introduction to the art and science of textual criticism. He provides an "outline of criteria" which was used by the committee. External evidence evaluates such things as the date of the textual witnesses, the geographical distribution of the manuscripts, the relationship of text families, and the understanding that witnesses should be weighed not counted. Under the internal evidence he highlights that the more difficult and shorter reading is to be preferred and that there needs to be a consideration of the context of each author and what they probably would have written.

The commentary itself follows a verse-by-verse canonical approach and provides a comment on the many textual variants found in the UBS4. About 30% (225 pages) of the commentary is on the book of Acts given the difficulty of the two differing text types in early circulation (Western and Alexandrian). Helpful discussion is also provided on such controversial passages as the ending of Mark's Gospel and 1 John 5:7.

The art and science of textual criticism is an important task for both scholars and preachers in seeking to establish the text of the New Testament. This tool will help aid that task immensely. However it should not be used as a substitute for doing the hard work first. This tool should be used as a check in confirming one's own work. Nevertheless this tool provides the "voice" of many scholars in how they decided one text over another - a gift for the student of the Greek New Testament.

This textual commentary is designed to be used in conjunction with the United Bible Societies' (UBS) Greek New Testament 4th ed. and its greatest utility will be found within that scope of use. Nevertheless, there are uses for others, even non-greek readers; however, the utility will obviously be less as this book was not written with you in mind. The pupose of this commentary is best given through a quote from the book's introduction:

"Most commentaries on the Bible seek to explain the meaning of words, phrases, and ideas of the scriptural text in their nearer and wider context; a textual commentary, however, is concerned with the prior question, What is the original text of the passage? That such a question must be asked - and answered! - before one explains the meaning of the text arises from two circumstances: (a) none of the original documents of the Bible is extant today, and (b) the existing copies differ from one another."

The commentary is basically a verse-by-verse list of the all of the verse's identified by UBS as having variant readings in the Greek texts from which the 4th ed was compiled. Without such a tool we are left to look at the readings which were chosen, perhaps the variants which were provided, and guess why UBS made the decision that was made. Looking at variant readings in both English and Greek texts one has very little indication of what sort of weight which variant carries. So, the commentary is basically a verse-by-verse, variant-by-variant list of variant readings along with the determination made by UBS along with the the following categories regarding the certainty of the reading which has been chosen:
A: The text is certain
B: The text is almost certain
C: The committee had difficulty in deciding which variant reading to place in the text

Each decision is accompanied by a paragraph-form (often many paragraphs) explanation of why the committee's determination was made in the way it was making great use of major texts and transmission lines.

This commentary has proven very useful to me. In my opinion the introduction alone, explaining textual transmission and the issues at hand, is worth the purchase price alone, but once you purchase this commentary and realize its usefulness, it will likely become an oft-referred to member of your library.

The only thing keeping me from offering 5 stars to the book is that the only book with a thorough textual transmission introduction is Acts. This is extremely helpful and deals with issues which are only superficially, ignorantly, or inadequately dealt with in other commentaries. I am very greatful for the work of Metzger and UBS for writing it. However, I think that if an intro were available for the rest of the books, the commentary would be very well rounded. Nevertheless, the Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament accomplishes its stated purposes very well and has proven extremely useful to me.
-Jacob Hantla

If you find learning all of the details associated with manuscripts and text transmission difficult and too time-consuming to master, this work will give you a quick overview of arguments pro and con on the major variant readings of the New Testament. It is a very helpful quick resource. You may not use it everyday, but it will be a great helper when you need it.

As a pastor who is not a scholar...but who has had enough Greek to use Greek NT Software tools in sermon exegesis, I found this book extremely valuable. I completely disagree with the reviewers who say you must be a scholar to use this tool. I don't even have a masters degree.

In Gordon Fee's excellent NT Exegesis book he recommends consulting this book as part of the normal exegesis process for sermon or paper development. When attempting to translate the text, one needs to ascertain the text. If you've ever had the experience I have had of looking at the critical apparatus in the GNT and wondering how to decipher it, then this book will help you. It gives some background on each decision for the options.

For example, a verse may have variations in the manuscripts. The committee who determined which manuscripts to follow made their decisions on the basis of some general rules for Textual Criticism. The actual basis for each decision in general is explained...usually in a sentence or two...for every single decision that appears in the apparatus for the GNT. So if you want to know the gist of what's going on with the ratings for each rating in the apparatus, you need this book. From that perspective it is a veritable gold mine. If you take time to verify the text before doing exegesis for either a sermon or a paper, then you cannot afford to ignore this volume.

This book is great! I constantly use at as a reference when studying my interlinears and the UBS4. If you want to know why one variant reading was used over another, the critical apparatus in the UBS4/NA27 can only tell you so much, Metzger fills in the gaps and brings more clarity on why the committee chose this or that reading over the other one.

There is no equal to this book for a serious student of the greek text.

Rest assured, Metzger is one of the two finest (Kurt Aland) textual critics of the 20th century.

This book is great, to be used along with a couple interlinears (McReynold's & Comfort are good ones) and Metzger and Aland's books (each labeled TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT), ofcourse you'll also need "the greek new testament - United Bible Societies (aka UBS4) or "Nestle-Aland" [Grace Novem Testumentum] The text of the UBS4 and NA27 are the same, the critical apparatus and punctuation differ however. Generally the NA is used for students, and the UBS for translators (however I have the UBS and love it).

-- Also the best Greek-English Lexicon on the market is by Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, Danker (aka BAGD) -- This is pricy, so I have a poor mans substitute (Zodhiates Dictionary).

Get the books listed above and you will have some GREAT resources for studying the new testament!!!

Eric

This book is actually very easy to understand. Even if you don't really understand Greek and are just curious about the variant readings and which one was chosen and why, even the layman can pretty much understand what's going on. You can virtually read this book stand-alone, with only an English bible as a companion, but you will need a Greek Lexicon to understand every argument made. The serious student will of course read it in conjunction with a Greek New Testament. The size of the book is almost exactly the same as "Novum Testamentum Graece" (aka NA27) (The Greek New Testament) by Nestle Aland, with similar but not identical binding. You should ideally own NA27 if you want to have full information about external evidence. The UBS version "The Greek New Testament", is not adequate in this respect.

Regarding Gary F. Zeolla's strong advocacy of the Majority Text: I have to violently disagree. Space does not permit to elaborate, but suffice to say that the primary theory of the MT researchers is NOT a majority reading, but an analysis of the origins and transmission of various mss. In the places where the MT researchers have had time to actually do this research (John 8, and Revelation), in a quite large percentage it is NOT the majority reading. So much for the Majority text, and so much for the Majority Text theory of transmission. That's why I believe Metzger's work in this book is the correct approach.

[...]

The Reviews by Turner, Bohiken, Tucker, Glaaser, and Bielby are excellent and explain in some detail why this book is essential If you are a student or user of the New Testament.

It helps to know Greek. But if you can distinguish Greek letters you can literally see how words vary and you can take Metzger's word for what they mean.

This book is essential for study of the UBS4: The New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament (Personal Size).

We have here a 733 page book which requires basic understanding of the Greek alphabet. A reading of the introduction is a must for understanding the material which follows. It is what it says it is, a commentary which is centered on the variants (words) found in different New Testament texts preserved for us since they were written and copied by subsequent generations. It is also to be used in conjunction with the UBS (United Bible Societies) text. This text is esp usful for those who are trying to discern the original text, however subjective the art, the various meanings brought out by textual criticism can be useful in discerning the meaning of what God has spoken. Just be careful, and humble enough to learn from those who have gone before.

This is an excellant comparision of Common Text variants. It tends to rate some variants at an higher level than some scholars are comfortable with, but at the very least this serves as an excellant analysis of the possibile readings and the probablity of each.

Hay edición en español publicada por las Sociedades Bíblicas Unidas, titulada «Un comentario textual al Nuevo Testamento griego». ISBN 978-3-438-06014-3. Si no la encuentra aquí busque en otra parte.