THE LETTER TO THE HEBREWS
Pillar New Testament Commentary
By Peter T. O’Brien. Apollos. 628 pages. £32.99
ISBN 978-84474-422-0
Peter O’Brien has done it again! Serious students of Hebrews for preaching and teaching are already spoiled with an array of fine commentaries of different kinds. You might ask what need there is of yet another to add to, say, Attridge, Ellingworth, Koester and Lane — as well as the older stalwarts, Bruce and Hughes.
Peter O’Brien’s track record of commentaries on Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians has established him (with Doug Moo) as the premier conservative evangelical exegete of Paul in English. For the last six years he has turned his mind and heart to Hebrews. The result is required reading.
Here are five reasons for those wanting to apply themselves to this magnificent, but forbidding epistle to buy the new Pillar commentary on Hebrews.
1. It analyses the text itself with great balance, objectivity, insight and judiciousness. Peter O’Brien is a great exegete. Reading his work is an education in how to grapple with a biblical text.
2. It interacts helpfully with different commentators and different positions, always fairly, invariably wisely, stating the author’s conclusions but allowing the reader to make his own mind up.
3. It caters for both those who read Greek (mostly via the footnotes) and those who don’t. The first will not be let down, the second will not be overwhelmed with unfamiliar orthography.
4. The introduction summarises the most recent research on issues of authorship, readership, genre and date. It is particularly helpful on the structure of the epistle, utilising the seminal work of George Guthrie. This is most helpful to understanding the unfolding of the argument — a crucial matter if you are preaching a series.
5. The author, himself perhaps a rather understated stylist, quotes some of the choicest parts of the other commentaries to add verve and colour.
The author explains that he has omitted a detailed discussion of the theology of the book. Not because he is uninterested in it but because he plans a second volume entirely on the major theological themes of Hebrews. This leads, perhaps inevitably, to a sense of incompleteness, not least in the author’s treatment of the ‘warning passages’ which is exegetically thorough and persuasive but lacking integration with a wider theology of assurance, perseverance and apostasy. May Volume II therefore not be delayed long!
In summary, this is a simply superb commentary, as good if not better than the author’s other stellar works. You will find here a clear and incisive guide to the text of Hebrews, the parts and the whole, which brings the best of other scholars and adds its own.
For the serious student of Hebrews for preaching or teaching, I would put it at the top of a list of fine works. It made me want to start another sermon series on Hebrews all over again (having finished a long one last summer). But I am not sure the congregation would be enthusiastic, even with Peter O’Brien to hand.
Julian Hardyman,
senior pastor, Eden Baptist Church, Cambridge; also a board member of IVP, the publishers of this volume
