Have you ever heard of the Puritans? Most of us hear them slandered at some point early in our gradeschool studies of American History. If you are a Christian, you need to know that the Puritans in actuality have a lot to teach us...even if we've sometimes gasped at the strictness of their piety.
A couple of great resources you might want to check out are:
The Valley of Vision - This resource is basically a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions. Arthur Bennet put them together after combing through the writings and journals of people like John Bunyan, Thomas Watson, Richard Baxter, Isaac Watts, Charles Spurgeon, and others.
A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life by J.I. Packer.
Also noteworthy:
Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were by Leland Ryken.
The Devoted Life: An Invitation to the Puritan Classics. This title says it all.
I'll give you an example of a Puritan prayer from Valley of Vision entitled "Spiritual Growth"
O THOU MOST HIGH,
In the way of thy appointment I am waiting for thee,
My desire is to thy name,
My mind to remembrance of thee.
I am a sinner, but not insensible of my state.
My iniquities are great and numberless,
but thou art adequate to my relief,
for thou art rich in mercy;
the blood of thy Son can cleanse from all sin;
the agency of thy Spirit can subdue
my most powerful lusts.
Give me a tender, wakeful conscience
that can smite and torment me when I sin.
May I be consistent in conversation and conduct,
the same alone as in company,
in prosperity and adversity,
accepting all thy commandments as right,
and hating every false way.
May I never be satisfied with my present spiritual progress,
but to faith add virtue, knowledge, temperance,
godliness, brotherly kindness, charity.
May I never neglect
what is necessary to constitute Christian character,
and needful to complete it.
May I cultivate the expedient,
develop the lovely, adorn the gospel,
recommend the religion of Jesus,
accomodate myself to thy providence.
Keep me from sinking or sinning in the evil day;
Help me to carry into ordinary life
portions of divine truth
and use them on suitable occasions, so that
its doctrines may inform,
its warnings caution,
its rules guide,
its promises comfort me.
The language and word choices may not be all that current for our context today; but surely the heart of the prayer is as relevant and appropriate for our context today as ever.
-RCW
- First, be aware that there are different types of commentaries. The basic types are: devotional commentaries, homiletical commentaries, and critical commentaries. I favor the critical ones, but sometimes more practical pastors of the less geeky bent will favor a homiletical commentary of some type. (Homiletics is the fancy word for preaching and preparing sermons.) Even more practical and therefore perhaps more "average-Joe-friendly" are the devotional commentaries which in some ways are only one step away from a study Bible. P.S. - "Critical" commentaries aren't necessarily commentaries that are "critical" of the Bible. It simply means that they are more technical and apply rigorous study, reason, and explanation in their treatment of a text. They can sometimes be heavily footnoted and can leave Greek & Hebrew words completely un-transliterated for the English reader. Looking for an example of each?
- Warren Wiersbe's Be Series is something I would probably consider a devotional commentary.
- Matthew Henry's Commentary is an age old classic homiletical commentary.
- One of my favorite series of critical commentaries is the NICNT series
such as the Bible Backgrounds commentaries done by IVP and Zondervan. (Both of
which relied on one of my favorite professors during my time at Wheaton...John Walton.)
I expect that many different types of commentaries will continue to come into existence.
as to ask your pastor or education pastor at your local church what kind of commentaries
are worth consulting and which ones aren't. Sometimes people write commentaries
who are actually coming to the text with a foundational worldview that is entirely different
than what one might consider Christian. You could very easily find commentaries on the
Bible written by those that seek to undermine the Bible's authority or credibility in their
research. There are great resources and reviews to consult as well such as those by DA
Carson (NT) and Tremper Longman III (OT). This relatively new website seems fairly
interesting too.
a great deal for yourself. I can't stress this enough. Use the commentaries to check your
work, not to do all your work.
If you teach a Sunday school class, chances are there's probably no need to invest
that much money into a complete critical commentary series. Besides, it is much wiser
to buy individual commentaries on each book than purchasing an entire set. If you are a
layman, a quality one-volume Bible commentary should suffice, but if you simply must
have a complete set, perhaps the Tyndale Series is best.
5. Finally, remember that you might be able to acquire 2 or 3 commentary sets just by
purchasing Bible software. They may not be that great, but they might be all you need.
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