Comments on: O’Brien on Hebrews

By: Barry

Barry — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:41:16 +0000

I do believe I’ll give it a try. Thank you for sharing David. I’m quite anxious to dig in & ‘start chewing’! God bless-

By: David

David — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:05:46 +0000

Barry,

I preached through the entire book of Ephesians and used O’Brien’s commentary as one of my key resources. I found reading it to be a worshipful experience and expect no less from his Hebrews commentary. I admit I have a JD and MDiv, but I think that anyone with a college degree should have an easy go of it, though it might require some chewing to get the full flavor of every morsel.

By: Barry

Barry — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:52:49 +0000

Brother~ Tks much for your impressions! Maybe i’ll wait to examine it firsthand, or wait till Moo or Carson bring their’s out. Thank you- BP

By: Saint and Sinner

Saint and Sinner — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:33:59 +0000

Barry,

The Pillar New Testament Commentary series is a mid-level commentary series. It usually keeps issues related to the Greek text in the footnotes.

After reading part of O’Brien’s Ephesians commentary, however, he does tend to use dense sentences (i.e. profound ideas in few words) which means that you sometimes have to read them a couple times before you ‘get it.’ This is unlike Doug Moo who can say a lot in very simple sentences. (Or that’s the impression that I got from reading both of them.)

By: Barry

Barry — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:12:17 +0000

Can someone help me: I have Heb. comms by D. Guthrie & Lane; the later is way too technical for me, and the former just doesn’t ‘fill my cup’ at all. Before spending the $$ I’d like to hear from more satisfied O’Brien reviewers.
Altho it does sound like some are content w\this author’s previous books.

By: David

David — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:30:00 +0000

Thanks!!! I have been waiting for this to come out for years. I just ordered it and cannot wait to read it.

By: Daniel Schreiner

Daniel Schreiner — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:19:32 +0000

Just so you know, the link in this post goes to an ESV Study Bible. The link to the commentary is: http://tinyurl.com/ylnwtro

By: Mark Heath

Mark Heath — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:40:48 +0000

It’s a shame that WTS Books don’t ship internationally. I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on this commentary. I agree that Moo, Carson & O’Brien are something of a NT commentary dream team (I would add in Fee as well).

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:30:25 +0000

Thanks for the recommendation! I always find your blog to be useful. On multiple occasions I have found old posts coming back to my memory months later and serving me and others.

Anyways, I just wanted to point out a typo: You said that you “excepted” the material to be top-notch. Instead, it seems you wanted the word “expected.” I don’t mean to nit-pick, but it seemed worth pointing out.

By: Saint and Sinner

Saint and Sinner — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:19:02 +0000

Owen is a bit dated would be my guess. After reading much of O’Brien’s Ephesians commentary, he didn’t interact with much outside of modern New Testament scholarship (unlike Doug Moo who interacted with just about everyone who ever wrote on Romans).

By: Russ

Russ — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:15:32 +0000

Thanks for this. I agree with your buying guide; carson, moo, and O’Brien are always home runs.

By: chris taylor

chris taylor — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:43:39 +0000

I’d be curious to know why P.T. O’Brien doesn’t mention John Owen’s massive work on Hebrews. Is Owen really that unhelpful?