The Gospel of Matthew (New International Commentary on the New Testament (NICNT))

Good job everyone!! Recommend this book!!

As a pastor who works through books of the bible for exegetical sermons, I find this commentary is not a disappointment. He does deal with the Greek text (which I love), so if you don't read Greek, you will find transliterated Greek mixed into the comments. Actual Greek fonts are used in the footnotes.His summaries of views are succinct, with detail in some cases, but not too much information in trivial issues. I find this commentary gives a lot of exegetical insight to complement your own translation/exegetical efforts.For example, France gives insights into John the Baptist in his section on Matthew 3. Although his cultural background insights do not rival Craig Keener's (get his commentary on Matthew too), his handling of how to interpret phrases and words is a direct aid to exegesis.France gives insights from Qumran and Jewish inter-testamental literature as well as from pagan sources on the literary forms as well as structures within those forms. This commentary is very helpful, with a rapid fire of interesting ideas in condensed form for each section I have studied. It has quickly become my commentary of choice for Matthew.Let me illustrate:Matthew 5 is introduced with an overview on the Sermon on the Mount. He calls it a discourse on discipleship instead of the sermon on the mount. He says it reveals the Messiahs authority. As he gives a survey of the chapters, he then begins into chapter 5 little by little. As he starts into the Beattitudes, his little section on Makarios is indicative of the commentary so let me give a little of this for you to see what I mean.He titles it "The Meaning of Makarios". Makarios is the transliteration of the Greek word that is often translated 'Blessed' or 'Happy'. France gives the Hebrew equivalent 'asre'. He points out that the Hebrew barak is not used, and that 'barak' is normally translated as blessed. As he digs into this term, it becomes clear that there is no English word that equivocates 'Makarios' and so he lands on 'Happy' without the psychological sense of feeling good. It means to be brought to a good place in some cases. The whole page of information is accurate, condensed with good, usable information AND helps the Non Greek /Non-Hebrew reader catch on to the issue with this crucial word in perhaps the most famous part of Matthew. When he is done with this, he then moves on to the structure of the beatitudes and does similar things. Then he compares Matthew's beatitudes to Luke's. Then he gives the OT background elements for the beatitudes. He adds to that the Eschatological Character of the Promises. Each of these is only about 3/4 of a page of information. But if you are preaching on the beatitudes, it is worth reading through to sharpen your mind on the setting and language issues involved with them.Dr. France is to be congratulated for giving the Christian community a wonderful tool for preaching and teaching the gospel of Matthew.I heartily recommend this commentary for Matthew study, research and preaching. Check out Keener on Matthew as well. It's a different kind of commentary, and is extremely useful as well.

Commentaries in my faith tradition have the bad habit of not actually commenting on the Biblical text, but of using this or that line of the text to launch into a doctrinal essay that may or may not ever get back to the text itself. In my effort to stretch beyond that sort of thing, I have been exploring a number of commentaries, both single volumes and entire sets.This volume -- the entire NIC series in general -- has quickly become my favorite commentary. It is scholarly but accessible to someone like me who is generally Biblically literate but who has no background in Greek or the extended debates of earlier interpreters. The content I enjoy best is the frequent pointing to other places in the Bible that seem to be sources drawn on by the author of Matthew -- pointers to the Psalms quoted or paraphrased in the Sermon on the Mount, for example. France makes no overt effort to dictate what I ought to understand theologically from this or that passage (unlike the doctrinal essays of my own church's efforts), but comments on the text *as* a text, leaving me to draw my own theological conclusions, something I greatly appreciate.Surprisingly -- to me, at least -- I am reading this entire volume cover to cover, just as if I were reading a history or a novel or a political science text. It is *that* interesting. I'm also reading the New Testament, but not specifically studying it with the help of this commentary. Even so, I find myself frequently opening the New Testament after having read a section of this volume, to see how my understanding, pleasure, and commitment has been changed by something read in the commentary.I'm not an academic, not a preacher, not anybody with the expertise to review a volume like this with any degree of sophistication. I do know that I am enjoying this commentary, and finding it useful both for my mental understanding and my spiritual development. Whether you are chiefly interested in one or the other, or maybe both, I cheerfully recommend this book to you.

This is a true exegetical commentary (unlike the volume on Luke in the same series). Well balanced, interesting and comprehensive, with some analysis of the Greek but not too much, some discussion of recent controversies but not too much. Always alert to the social, psychological, geographical, historical and cultural context of the people who were there at the time, so we understand what was happening. Leon Morris on Matthew does the same more briefly, and both are excellent.

In the same way that all of the other commentaries in this series are very clear and useful, I have particularly found this one useful in my sermon preparation.

The quality of this is exceptional , it is well presented accurate and thorough. Just what was required for study

Um dos melhores comentários de Mateus, por um dos melhores comentaristas. France faz um brilhante trabalho neste livro, vai fundo no estudo do evangelho segundo Mateus, aborda o grego sem exageros e sua exegese é sempre detalhada e sem delírios de suposições como alguns comentaristas o fazem. À frente deste eu somente colocaria o de Grant Osborne, já mais técnico, mas brilhante também. Compre agora, RT France conseguiu!

France's commentary on the Gospel of Matthew meets two important criteria for the pastor researching for her/his sermon. It is first of all scholarly, based on sound research and background knowledge of the author, who has made a career of this kind of work. Secondly, it is readable. The English is accessible to people whose main reading is not in the academic journals but in the more popular press. An extremely useful tool.