Customer Reviews

Word Pictures in the New Testament (6 Volumes)

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Everybody knows Robertson's Word Pictures to be an excellent reference for Bible study.

But I was deceived by this edition of his work: no greek, no grammar explained. It is an abridged version !

Maybe I made an error in choosing this edition, but don't make the same, and buy the original version !

Save your money and buy the 6 volume set. Dr. Robertson never intended for this work to be missing his transliteration of the Koine Greek and expected that the scholar would have the W&H text open as the word pictures were being explained. Milk may be good when condensed - this clearly isn't.

You know who A. T. Robertson is. His Greek grammar is the standard against which all other grammars are judged.

In this 6 volume set, Robertson analyzes a key word or phrase from almost every passage of the New Testament. Not only does he give the syntax, but he also gives a good deal of background on each word, such as where else it is found, as well as the connotations of the orginial Greek.

If you are a pastor, this book will be of great help to you in your sermon preparation. It will give you a good amount of material to draw on for sermon illustrations.

This is a standard Bible study tool that is of use to the Greek and non-Greek reader. It was originally published in 1934. Robertson provides short comments on most verses in the NT. Most of the notes are technical in nature, but some are devotional. He often gives the Greek word underlying an English word, parses some Greek words, and at times, provides an alternative translation to the KJV that the work is based on.

Unfortunately, he also supplies some textual notes. I say unfortunately as in his comments he assumes the newer (at his time) Critical Text was more reliable than the Textus Receptus. Personally, I prefer the TR and even more so, the Majority Text. I detail my reasons for preferring the MT in my book Differences Between Bible Versions.

But other than this textual deficiency, Robertson comments are generally helpful. I purchased the hardcopy set years ago and referred to it often in my personal Bible studies. When I started working on my Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament: Third Edition (ALT), I purchased the BibleWorks software program, which contains Robertson. And I often referred to Robertson as I was working on my translation. Its comments were often helpful in deciding how best to translate a passage.

So I recommend this resource.

Upon an initial glance at one passage (immediately after downloading this volume) I find that it is not completely devoid of the Greek, as another review might lead you to believe. However, it is an abridged edition, containing less information than my hardcover 6 volume set. Overall, I expect it to be a handy quick-reference that will give some insight without too much detail.

This work is very good for the casual reader who is wanting to add to their daily Bible study.

This review concerns the 6 volume set as published by the Southern Baptist Convention -- via Baker Book House, with the
ISBN being -- 0-8010-7710-9. They are hardcovers, and are smyth sewn. The paper is not ANSI certified. The text is clearly a poor reprint, as the words are not clear and sharp, however it is still readable.

Robertson is one of the best Greek grammarians of the 20th century. His large grammar will forever remain a standard reference, but this work is marred via his theological views, views which are everywhere injected into his text. Hence it is a very subjective work. If this is kept in mind by each reader, then some good use can be made of the work.

Unfortunately, Robertson skips over many important points, and he seems to dwell on many which seem very minor. For example in volume 1 (Matthew page 78, 79) he discusses the message about the "coming kingdom" which was spoken to Israelites by the apostles. Robertson then declares that this SAME message is
needed TODAY. Many Baptists seem to think that the 1,000 year reign is the next event on God's program, but for us it is the "rapture". The message for today is not just to Israelites, but should be for all peoples!

Baptists are also disturbed with the clear literal meaning of Mark 16:16. As a Baptist, Robertson would rather remove this portion of scripture -- thus his religion influences his commentary in these and many other passages. In Acts 2:38 he seems to throw good grammar out the door in order to support (or try to support) his Baptist consorts.

At times his grammatical skill shines through and benefits the reader, but again one is left to wonder why Robertson even composed this work, it is too theologically motivated and hence disrupts an objective use. Great for support of Baptist doctrines, but poor for objective textual data.
courtest of Mr. Gary S. Dykes