Customer Reviews

Word Studies from the Greek New Testament (4 volume set)

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Originally in 16 volumes, this is an in depth analysis of the meanings of the original greek that places the original words in their contexts with the idioms placed in their cultural settings. A reliable understanding of the original meaning is gained by the student of the New Testament who uses this excellent work. One does not need an understanding of languages other than English. This provides a clear understanding of the culture, setting and language that gave us the New Testament. Kenneth Wuest's work is superb. Get yourself a copy now.

I really enjoy Wuest's commentary and insights into the Greek nuances. Once I've technically studied the verse out, I use Wuest to help 'flesh the verse out' and have not been disappointed. I think he did a fine job on Romans especially and used him in concert with Newell and Hodge.

This is a great companion to use if you are interested in verse by verse expositional study of the New Testament.

Highly recommended.

Absolutely the Best companion to my study bible and Interlinear. I was given a copy of this 4 volume set by a friend at church who had recently married. They Both had a set from Bible College and they passed one set to me... I had no idea what it was that I had recieved. It was a few nites later that I saw the books on the shelf and decided to see what sort of Treasure it was that I had been given.. I opened the "Expanded Translation" and didnt put it down for several hours... I was totally shocked at what I had been missing. I am no language student. This set gives me insites and meditations that are absolutely vital.. Now If I can just find a set like this on the Old Testament... :-) This set is worth every Penney!!! I recommend also getting a Interlinear Greek/English and Lexicon... and also a Strongs and Vines. You will want them handy later for further studies. ... Grace and Peace Jim

This book is really top notch. Weust does a verse by verse study. He does a great job of explaining the specific meanings of many Greek words. I have a whole new understanding of many verses after reading his book. For those of us who don't read Greek, this is the next best thing. This is a must have for any Christian library.

This set has been very useful in gaining new insights on the text of the New Testament. The biggest & only complaint i have regarding this is that it doesn't cover the entire New Testament. I would still recommend it, though.

These volumes go deeper in the Studies of the New Testament which I have been longing to explore and it is satisfying my hunger and making me want to go deeper still. I highly recommend these books. I showed my friend and she is purchasing them as well.

I must agree with Dr. Caasteel who reviewed this book much earlier. I wish I had read his review before I bought the set. If you are interested in reading a book that offers the reader the author's interpretation and you plan to read it as a consistent text, you might enjoy this work. As a researcher I personally find the set a great disapointment. In my personal work I've read many books attempting to translate New Testament Greek for a purpose of defending a particular viewpoint, and this smacks of being another or this type.

My major complaints are not those that would deter the average lay reader, but I dislike the book not having indeces. There is no general table of contents to tell you where you might find a particular subject. The sectiohns of the book are treated as one text with no consistent pagination, so if you want to find a articular book of the New Testament you must leaf through the whole thing and hope for the best. As others have complained this is a series of books bound together. At best I must say the job of the publisher has not been done well. It is sloppy at best. I can't say anyone should spend this kind of money for this thing.

This is an interesting set of different works by the author. Volume One contains a verse by verse commentary on Mark, Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians. Volume Two does the same for Philippians, Hebrews, 1,2Timothy, Titus, 1,2Peter, 1,2,3 John, and Jude. Volume Three is a collection of various essays, and the last volume is New Testament-OE, which is an "Expanded Translation."

The commentary of the first two volumes is mainly an elaboration of Wuest's translation. It details the reasoning behind his translations. In doing so, he presents word studies on important words and provides abbreviated parsing of words. Also provided are longer exegetical comments. Al of this information can be helpful in studying the NT.

The essays in Volume Three look to be helpful. But to be honest, I have only read a couple of them. It is the last volume that is the most interesting. Wuest's "Expanded Translation" attempts to bring out nuances of the Greek text that are often missed in traditional translations. And such expanded renderings can often be eye-openers to the meanings of passages. However, it can also be overly tedious to read.

For instance, consider 1John 2:6. In the NKJV, it reads, "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." But in Wuest, it reads, "He who is constantly saying that he as a habit of life is living in close fellowship with and dependence upon Him is morally obligated just as that One conducted Himself, also himself in the manner spoken of to be conducting himself."

In Volume Two, Wuest explains the reasons for his "expansions." But most of them in this verse have to do with the verbs being in the present tense, which Wuest is taking as indicating linear or ongoing action. And in this evaluation, Wuest is probably correct.

However, note how awkward the verse is to read. For comparing one verse to a standard translation this is not problematic, but to read the entire Wuest NT would be s tedious. And making it hard to compare just one verse is that Wuest does not number each verse; he just gives the verse number range for each paragraph in the margin.

Moreover, Wuest is using the Critical Text as his Greek textual base. I explain in detail why I prefer the Majority Text to thr Critical Text in my book Differences Between Bible Versions. Wuest is also one of the versions I evaluate in my book.

All that said, when I first got Wuest, I found his "expanded" idea to be intriguing. It is similar to the idea behind the Amplified Bible. However, I think his translation is superior to the Amplified Bible for accuracy, but still, not ideal for the reason indicated.

So that is part of the reason I believed God was leading me to produce my own "expanded" type of translation, but one based on the Majority Text, and thus my Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament: Third Edition (ALT) came to be.

For comparison, 1John 2:6 in my ALT reads, "The one saying [or, claiming] to be abiding in Him just as that [One] walked ought also in the same manner himself to be walking."

Note that my version brings out the ongoing sense of the present tense with the English participle (...ing). This and other ways of bringing out nuances of the Greek tense in my versions is explained in my book Companion Volume to the Analytical-Literal Translation: Third Edition.

All of that said, Wuest's 4 Volume set is helpful for it translation explanations and explanations and for the translation itself. And my ALT and "Companion Volume" will provide similar information.

This is not at all what I thought it would be when I ordered it. I'm trying to learn New Testament Greek; and was looking for a good reference work that I could use to do in-depth word studies. I thought that this would be a systematically organized dictionary of key words from the Greek Bible; with a scholarly analysis of the meaning and usage of each word. It is not.

It is haphazardly organized. This is not a single, coherent work. Rather, it is a collection of 14 short books written over a 15 year period; which have been brought together into a three volume set. The first volume contains word studies and exegetical commentaries for the books of Mark, Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians. The second volume deals with the books of Philippians, Hebrews, The Pastoral Epistles, and I Peter through Jude. The third volume contains miscellaneous word studies and exegetical commentaries; arranged in no discernable order. If you're wanting to do an in-depth study of the meaning of a particular Greek word, rather than the exegesis of a particular passage of scripture; these books are of very little value. The author doesn't bother to explore the full meaning or usage of any Greek word; but only examines how those words ought to be understood in specific passages. (And the Greek script is not used at all in these books: Greek words are always transliterated into the Latin alphabet.)

My final complaint is that the author seemed to be more concerned with advancing a particular interpretation of scripture than with examining how specific Greek words were used and understood in the first century. This is a work of doctrinal exegesis (I might even be tempted to say eisegesis); not of Greek lexicology and semantics.