Robert N. Wilkin - The Grace New Testament Commentary: Revised Edition

The Grace
New Testament Commentary

REVISED edition

Based on the New King James Version

Editor
Robert N. Wilkin

Grace Evangelical Society
Denton, TX

The Grace New Testament Commentary, Revised Edition

Copyright 2019 by Grace Evangelical Society.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The New King James Version, Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Book Design: Shawn Lazar

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Grace Evangelical Society

PO Box 1308

Denton, TX 76202

For more information about our books, magazines, podcasts, conferences, and blogs, go to www.faithalone.org

ISBN:978-1-943399-30-7 (paperback)

978-1-943399-31-4 (hardcover)

Contents

Abbreviations

Common Abbreviations

c. circa

chap(s).chapter(s)

cf. compare

e.g., ( exempli gratia for example)

Gk. or Heb.used for Greek or Hebrew within a parenthetical expression

i.e., ( id est that is)

lit.,literally

v verse

vv verses

Biblical and Textual Abbreviations

CTCritical Text

OT Old Testament

LXX Septuagint

MT Majority Text

NT New Testament

TRTextus Receptus

Abbreviations of Books of the Bible

OT: Gen, Exod, Lev, Num, Deut, Josh, Judg, Ruth, 1-2 Sam, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chr, Ezra, Neh, Esth, Job, Ps(s), Prov, Eccl, Song, Isa, Jer, Lam, Ezek, Dan, Hos, Joel, Amos, Obad, Jonah, Mic, Nah, Hab, Zeph, Hag, Zech, Mal. NT: Matt, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Rom, 1-2 Cor, Gal, Eph, Phil, Col, 1-2 Thess, 1-2 Tim, Titus, Phlm, Heb, Jas, 1-2 Pet, 1-3 John, Jude, Rev.

Abbreviation of Bible Translations

KJVKing James Version

NASBNew American Standard Bible

NETNET Bible

NIVNew International Version

NKJVNew King James Version

Preface to
the Revised Edition

robert n. wilkin

The year was 1990. The GES board decided that we needed to write a one-volume commentary on the New Testament. It would be under 1,000 pages, like the Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) commentary: The Bible Knowledge Commentary.

Our target date for completion was 1995.

It took a little over a year to lay out the project. We had to determine how many words each book would receive, how much each author would be paid, how to write contracts, who would be the editors, and who would be the authors for each book.

By 1992 the assignments were given. I took Johns Gospel and like the others, I had one year in which to complete a first draft. I remember going to DTS daily to study and write. In those days I wrote on a yellow legal pad. I completed the commentary on John in a year. Fran Stilwell typed it all into the computer. She even had to type a few chapters twice due to a computer glitch.

One year later, little was done. Authors had to submit one chapter every month or so. Zane Hodges was serving as the editor. He ended up rejecting the work of three different board members.

We decided to publish one stand-alone commentary. Zane Hodges had been assigned the epistle of James. We published his commentary on James in 1994.

The good news was that it was a great commentary. We could cut this commentary down to be used in the one-volume commentary.

The bad news was that the commentary was so outstanding that we realized it would take a long time to get twenty-six more commentaries that were that good.

By 1995, only James was in final form (though it was too long and would later need to be condensed greatly). The first draft of my commentary on John was completed. And that was about it.

Our new plan was to keep working on the project, but since it might take until the year 2,000 or beyond, we made it our aim to come out with more stand-alone commentaries.

Zane Hodges next wrote a commentary for us on 1-3 John. It too was outstanding. We published it in 1999 in hardback.

In 2004 the board mandated that we get this commentary project finished. We set up a commentary fund and raised nearly $100,000 over the next six years. (The cost of printing 5,000 commentary sets was $62,000. Also, we paid the authors over $50,000 for their writing.)

By 2009 we were finally in the proofing stage. Quite a few of the commentaries ended up being reassigned. Some of the commentaries were completely written (and paid for) before we decided they wouldnt work. In the typesetting process, it became clear that wed have to have two volumes. We felt that 1,334 pages would be too big for a one-volume work.

The 5,000 copies we printed lasted from 2010 until the end of 2018. But we finally ran out.

For this revised edition, Shawn re-typeset the entire commentary with a new font and a slightly smaller font size. He expanded the size of each page from 6 inches by 9 inches to 8 inches by 10 inches, which is almost 50% more square inches per page (80 to 54). What was 1,334 pages in the 6 X 9 format was reduced to 610 pages in the 8 X 10 format.

His goal was to be able to print the commentary on Amazon. But Amazon wont print a book over 828 pages. But with a slightly smaller font size and larger pages, he was able to do it. This means that people around the world can order it without overseas shipping since Amazon prints in many different countries.

One major change was that the board decided that in this revised edition we would put in a condensed version of the Romans commentary done by Zane Hodges. This required Ken Yates and me to condense that commentary to reduce it to about one-fourth its original size. It was not an easy task. But now our one-volume commentary has commentaries by Zane Hodges on Romans, James, 2 Peter, and 1-3 John.

Another major change is that hundreds of typos found in the first editions were corrected. Also, in some cases, authors slightly revised what they had written.

We believe this revised edition will be well received. We hope that it continues to help believers around the world understand the New Testament better. Having a commentary that presents a Free Grace understanding of each verse is a dream come true. This revised edition is being released almost thirty years to the day from the start of the commentary project.

Robert N. Wilkin, PhD

Editor

July 26, 2019

Preface

robert n. wilkin

T he Grace New Testament Commentary began in 1990 with the goal of producing a one-volume NT commentary from a Free Grace perspective.

This commentary is unique because it consistently presents both a Free Grace perspective and a classic Dispensational viewpoint.

We selected the New King James Version on which to base this commentary. To aid the reader in seeing the words being discussed, the first exact reference to words found in the NKJV appears in bold. Subsequent references appear in italics. Text in bold italics means that the NKJV had italics in its text. When a commentary author quotes a portion of Scripture not from the verse(s) under discussion, he put that in quotes. Bolded material in quotes means that words quoted appeared within quotation marks in the NKJV.

The introductions to each book have purposely been kept short. Readers are encouraged to see stand-alone commentaries for a fuller treatment of introductory issues. In addition, bibliographies were omitted for space considerations. Readers can find excellent bibliographies in stand-alone commentaries.

While Greek has been kept to a minimum (provided only when necessary to make a point), the comments are based on the original language. Writers considered grammar, textual criticism, history, geography, and biblical customs in their exegesis.

All but two of our authors hold a Master of Theology (Th.M.) degree, a degree requiring four years of graduate work. Almost half of them also hold doctorates (in OT, NT, Bible, or Pastoral Ministry). Over half are or have been pastors.