Best Classic Bible Commentaries: 14 You Can Read Free Online
If you want one classic commentary to start with, read J. C. Ryle's Expository Thoughts on Matthew. Ryle wrote it for family prayers and private reading, not for scholars, so each short passage comes with two or three plain lessons you can take into your day. For the Psalms, go to Spurgeon's Treasury of David.
What makes the old commentaries worth reading? Most were written by pastors, not professors. They treated the Bible as God's Word, read every verse in the light of Christ, and wrote to change the reader as well as to explain the text. Many grew out of sermons or weekly lectures to a congregation. They won't give you the latest archaeology, but they will often give you something better: a seasoned Christian's sense of what a verse means for your soul.
There are two kinds below. Devotional commentaries move quickly and apply the text; read them a passage a day. Fuller expositions go verse by verse and argue the meaning; keep them beside your Bible when you study a book. Here are fourteen of the best in TheWay Library, all free to read.
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1. Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, by J. C. Ryle
Ryle goes through all four Gospels in short sections of a few verses, with plain points under each. Start with Matthew or Mark. The John volumes (1, 2, 3) add long notes for deeper study, and Luke, volume 1 covers chapters 1 to 10.
True faith in Christ, though it be but a day old, justifies a man before God as completely as the faith of him who has followed Christ for fifty years.
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew, Matthew 20
See Who Was J. C. Ryle? and our guide to J. C. Ryle's books.
2. The Treasury of David, by C. H. Spurgeon
Spurgeon spent some twenty years on the Psalms. For each psalm he gives his own exposition verse by verse, then a feast of quotations from older writers, then hints for preachers. Begin with volume 2, Psalms 27 to 57, which holds Psalms 32, 46 and 51.
To fret is to worry, to have the heart-burn, to fume, to become vexed.
The Treasury of David, Volume 2, Psalm XXXVII
The set continues in volume 3, volume 4, volume 5 (all of Psalm 119) and volume 6, with the Songs of Degrees.
3. Christian Workers' Commentary, by James M. Gray
If you want one book that covers the whole Bible, this is it. Gray of the Moody Bible Institute spent eight years on it, and it walks through every book in order, briefly and clearly. Good for a first read through the Bible.
One of the greatest marvels and most convincing evidences of the Divinity of the Bible is its unity.
Christian Workers' Commentary, Author's Explanation
Read the Christian Workers' Commentary.
The gospel at the center
4. An Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, by Robert Haldane
Haldane's three volumes follow Paul's argument closely, verse by verse. It grew out of Haldane's Bible studies with theology students in Geneva in 1816 and 1817, which helped start a revival there. Start with volume 1, Romans 1 to 5.
To believe for salvation, we must believe not in God absolutely, but in God as the raiser of Jesus Christ.
An Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, Volume 1, chapter 4
5. The Epistle to the Romans, by H. C. G. Moule
A shorter, warmer guide to Romans from the Expositor's Bible, by a bishop who joined scholarship to devotion. If Haldane feels like a lot, read Moule first.
our justification is not an end in itself, but a means to an end.
The Expositor's Bible: Romans, chapter 14
6. A Practical Commentary on the Epistle of James, by Thomas Manton
A massive Puritan commentary first given as weekly lectures. Manton chose James because it corrects a careless, merely notional faith, and he shows how James and Paul agree on justification. Read Manton on James.
The Old Testament
7. Notes on the Pentateuch, by C. H. Mackintosh
Mackintosh's devotional notes on the five books of Moses look for Christ on every page: Abel's lamb, the Passover, the offerings, the wilderness. They are much loved and easy to read. Start with Genesis or Exodus, then go on to Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
He was not saved by his interest in, or his thoughts about, the blood, but simply by the blood.
Notes on the Book of Exodus, Chapter XII
8. The Book of Genesis, by Marcus Dods
Dods's Expositor's Bible volume moves from creation and the fall through Abraham, Jacob and Joseph, with a strong eye on God's grace and providence.
God's favour is always a matter of grace, it is favour conferred on the undeserving; it is never a matter of debt, it is never favour conferred because it has been won.
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Genesis, chapter 11
9. The Psalms, by Alexander Maclaren
Maclaren's three Expositor's Bible volumes take each psalm with a fresh translation and a clear account of its flow of thought. They sit between Spurgeon's devotion and a technical commentary. Start with volume 1. His sermon volume on the Psalms is good too, and see Alexander Maclaren's books for the rest of his Expositions of Holy Scripture.
If a life be rooted in God and a heart delight in His law, that life will be prosperous and that heart will be at rest.
The Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, Vol. 1, Psalm I
10. Christ and His Church in the Book of Psalms, by Andrew A. Bonar
All 150 psalms, each read as the voice of Christ, of His church or of the believer in Him. Short and warm, and a good companion for reading a psalm a day. Read Bonar on the Psalms.
11. Exposition of Psalm 119, by Charles Bridges
Verse by verse through the longest psalm, as a portrait of the believer's life with God's Word. Bridges was a pastor, and it shows. Read one of the twenty-two stanzas a day for a few weeks. Read Bridges on Psalm 119.
12. Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, by William Arnot
About 130 short chapters on Proverbs, a verse or two at a time, applied to work, money, family, speech and friends, with vivid illustrations. It reads like a practical book as much as a commentary. Read Laws from Heaven.
13. The Prophet Jonah, by Hugh Martin
A full and searching exposition of a short book. Martin deals with Jonah's flight and why he ran, the storm, the fish as a sign of Christ, and Nineveh's repentance.
For the cross of Christ is God's work of infinite love and God's work of infinite judgment too.
The Prophet Jonah, Jonah's Flight: Its Lessons
The parables and prophecy
14. The Parables of Our Lord, by William Arnot, and Gaebelein on Revelation
Arnot takes about thirty of Christ's parables in Gospel order, explains each plainly and presses it home.
As there is no sin so great that the blood of Christ cannot blot it out, so there is no sin so small that it cannot destroy a soul.
The Parables of Our Lord, The Mustard Seed
Read The Parables of Our Lord. For the last book of the Bible, Arno C. Gaebelein's short The Revelation gives an outline and exposition from a premillennial view. Our guide to Christian books on the Second Coming has more.
How to use a commentary
Read the Bible passage first, more than once, and ask your own questions. Then open the commentary. Use a devotional one, like Ryle, Mackintosh or Bonar, for daily reading, and a fuller one, like Haldane, Manton or Maclaren, when you study a book or prepare to teach. Don't read a commentary instead of the Bible; read it to see the Bible better. More are listed on the Commentary topic page.