New Testament

Greek Text Commentary on Ephesians by John Owen Farquhar Murray

John Owen Farquhar Murray [1858-1944], editor, The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians with Notes and IntroductionThe  Rev J.O.F. Murray [1858-1944] wrote this commentary on the Greek text of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians as part of a series intended for use in the schools and colleges of his day. He was Master of the Selwyn College, Cambridge and Honorary Canon of Ely Cathedral.

This copy of his book was kindly provided by Book Aid and is in the public domain.

John Owen Farquhar Murray [1858-1944], editor, The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians with Notes and Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1914. Hbk. pp.151. [Click to visit the download page]

Table of Contents

Introduction:

  • Authorship
  • The Recipients
  • Time and Place of Writing
  • The Effect of te Epistle
  • Notes
  • Additional Notes
  • List of Words
  • Indices

Murray also wrote this article on the resurrection:

John Owen Farquhar Murray [1858-1944], “The Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute 54 (1922): 144-159. [Click to view in PDF]

He was a regular contributor to both The Expositor and the The Expository Times.

Preface

When five and twenty years ago I first had to prepare a course of public lectures on the Epistle to the Ephesians, I had access, in addition to the generally accessible sources of information, to the notes taken by a College friend at a course of lectures given some years previously in the University by Professor Lightfoot. I asked and obtained permission from him, he was then Bishop of Durham, to make free use of these notes. They are my authority for the views attributed in this edition to ‘ L’ when the reference is not derived from his published works. I owed a great deal at that time to what I learnt both at first and at second hand from him. I trust I have not made him responsible for any opinions which he would have disowned….

John Calvin’s Commentary on Romans

John CalvinThis is the 1849 edition of John Calvin’s Commentary on Paul’s letter to the Romans, published by the Calvin Translation Society, translated by the Rev. John Owen. I need to be careful to distinguish it from more recent translations, which may still be in copyright.

My thanks to Book Aid for providing a copy of this book for digitisation. This title is in the public domain.

John Calvin, Translated edited by Rev John Owen, Commentaries on the Epistle of Paul to the Romans. Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1849. Hbk. pp.592. [Click to visit the download page]

Table of Contents

  • Translator’s Preface
  • Commentary
  • Indices

The Argument

With regard to the excellency of this Epistle, I know not whether it would be well for me to dwell long on the subject; for I fear, lest through my recommendations falling far short of what they ought to be, I should do nothing but obscure its merits: besides, the Epistle itself, at its very beginning, explains itself in a much better way than can be done by any words which I can use. It will then be better for me to pass on to the Argument, or the contents of the Epistle; and it will hence appear beyond all controversy, that besides other excellencies, and those remarkable, this can with truth be said of it, and it is what can never be sufficiently appreciated – that when any one gains a knowledge of this Epistle, he has an entrance opened to him to all the most hidden treasures of Scripture….

Click here to find more commentaries on the letter to the Romans.

Lightfoot’s Commentary on Galatians

Joseph Barber Lightfoot [1828-1889], Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians.

I recently digitised a hard-to-find article by F.F. Bruce:

F.F. Bruce, “Bishop Westcott and the Classical Tradition,” Spectrum 11 (September 1978): 19-21. [Click to download this article in PDF]

Bruce’s thesis in this article is that training in the Classical tradition (typically that of the old Public School in the UK) is essential if one is to become truly competent in New Testament Greek. I have grave reservations about this idea – and I think the recent history of both linguistics and biblical studies in general have proved him wrong. I guess that Bruce is not alone in thinking his our own training was “the best” for his particular field. Nevertheless, I think that this article is helpful for its discussion of three of the greats of Nineteenth Century New Testament scholarship, Westcott, Hort and Lightfoot. I was therefore delighted to find a number of their commentaries at Book Aid recently. The first to be uploaded is J.B. Lightfoot commentary on Galatians.

Joseph Barber Lightfoot [1828-1889], Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. A revised text with introduction, Notes and Dissertations. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1896. Hbk. pp.384. [Click to visit the download page]

I would be interested to hear what others think about Bruce’s thesis. Is a classical education a help or a hindrance to being a proficient student of New Testament Greek?