Ephesians

Let me recommend this commentary to you if you are planning to preach from the book of Ephesians. This commentary is excellent. There are many great commentaries on Ephesians. This one will not match the level of technical analysis you will find with Hoehner or with Baugh (If you are trying to decide between those - I recommend Hoehner first). When it comes to preaching you don't always need that level of detail (of course, every bit helps). This commentary focuses on what you need to think though if you are going to go about preaching or teaching form Ephesians. It will not give suggestions on how to break it down into 232 sermons. You will need Martyn Lloyd-Jones for that (his written commentaries are just his sermons cleaned up and prepared for publication). Also don't forget to consult Boice and even Chapell to see how they have organized their materials. In this book, you will get a great analysis of the text, verse by verse even, with highlights that come from a solid reflection on the text from many different angles. I can often tell that the author has synthesized ideas from two or three top level commentaries and taken the best bits to offer in their analysis. For each pericope you get a literary structure and theme analysis, an exposition, a theological focus section, a preaching and teaching strategies section (which is quite nice, and very useful for giving those ideas you might need for illustration purposes and to tie things together for a series of messages), and they give discussion questions (if you ever prepare those for small groups or for Sunday school lessons etc.). Each section shows true thought and doesn't feel rushed or manufactured. Sometimes I will want more - but I get what is necessary. With this commentary alone, you would be well prepared to offer a great set of sermon series or teachings from Ephesians. In the preaching and teaching strategies section you will get preaching ideas, contemporary connections and a creativity in presentation section. A suggested sermon outline and/or series suggestions. There are sections included throughout that highlight important topics that don't always fit within the other sections. These include things like translation analysis (for deeper language and linguistic analysis), broader context (for cultural and ancient life ideas), comparisons of various interpretations when there might be multiple ways the text has been understood (they usually conclude with which one they feel is most convincing which is helpful), and even how different OT citations and illusions come into play (for example: Paul's use of Psalm 68 in Ephesians chapter 4). These are all things that the preacher needs to be aware of, and you are provided enough detail to have an accurate grasp of the issue at hand. Overall it is very well done and should be added to your library if you are preaching or teaching through Ephesians. If the other works in the series are like this one I would not hesitate to purchase them.