Marcus Dods Books: Genesis, John, 1 Corinthians and More
Marcus Dods (1834–1909) was a Scottish minister who pastored Renfield Free Church in Glasgow for twenty-five years and then taught the New Testament at New College, Edinburgh. He wrote and edited many books, from handbooks for Bible classes to translations of Augustine. TheWay Library has five of them, all free to read: a short book of addresses, How to Become Like Christ, and his four volumes in The Expositor's Bible. For his life story, see who was Marcus Dods.
Where to start
If you're new to Dods, start with How to Become Like Christ. It's short and warm, and it shows the pastor behind the scholar.
Then choose a commentary by the book of the Bible you're reading:
- John: two volumes, the best place to begin with his commentaries.
- Genesis: for Abraham, Jacob and Joseph.
- 1 Corinthians: for church life, love and the resurrection.
Addresses
How to Become Like Christ
Six addresses. The title address, on 2 Corinthians 3:18, starts from something most Christians feel: we know likeness to Christ is the highest thing, and we excuse ourselves from aiming at it. Dods answers that Paul says "we all." Then, from the picture of Moses coming down the mountain with a shining face, he shows that the way is simple: as often as we stand before Christ in spirit, think of Him and let Him win our love, we are changed a little more into His likeness.
And He says all that you have to do in order to be like Christ is to carry His image with you in your heart. That is all.
How to Become Like Christ, How to Become Like Christ
Five shorter studies follow: the Transfiguration, a warning that God sometimes grants a request that harms us, Miriam's shame after her sin, Naaman's cure, and the lame man at the temple gate. You can read the whole book in an hour or two. Read How to Become Like Christ.
The Expositor's Bible
The Expositor's Bible was a series of commentaries for preachers and thoughtful general readers, written by leading British preachers and scholars around the end of the nineteenth century. Dods wrote four of its volumes. They don't comment on every word. Each chapter takes a passage, explains it, and then applies it to the reader. Here they are in Bible order.
The Book of Genesis
Thirty-one chapters from creation to Jacob's blessing of the twelve tribes. Dods begins by saying that Genesis isn't a textbook of science. It teaches who made the world and why. Then he moves through the fall, Cain and Abel, Enoch and the flood to the largest part of the book, the life of Abraham: his call, his lapse in Egypt, Lot's choice, the covenant and the sacrifice of Isaac. He closes with Jacob's discipline and Joseph's story as a plot worked out by providence.
We are not in advance of Noah, but behind him, if we cannot speak to God about common things.
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Genesis, chapter 6
He's especially good on character: Jacob's fraud, his dream at Bethel and his wrestling at Peniel. For other older commentaries, see our list of the best classic Bible commentaries. Read Genesis.
The Gospel of St. John, Vol. I
After a short note on why John wrote his Gospel, "that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God," Dods explains how tightly the book is built and then works through chapters 1 to 11 in twenty-four studies. He covers the Incarnation, the first disciples, Cana, the cleansing of the Temple, Nicodemus, the woman of Samaria, the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the man born blind, the Good Shepherd and the raising of Lazarus. A long closing note looks at what Jesus meant by the Father giving and drawing people to Him in John 6.
Christ is needful to us not only as sinners; He is needful to us as men.
The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St. John, Vol. I, chapter 14
Read The Gospel of St. John, Vol. I.
The Gospel of St. John, Vol. II
Twenty-six chapters on John 12 to 21: Mary's anointing at Bethany, the entry into Jerusalem, the corn of wheat that must die, and then the heart of the book, the Upper Room. Dods takes the foot-washing, Judas, "the way, the truth, and the life," the Father seen in Christ, the gift of peace, the vine and the branches, "not servants, but friends," the Spirit's witness, and Christ's prayer in John 17. The last chapters follow Peter's denial, Pilate, Mary at the cross, the resurrection, Thomas, and Peter's restoration by the sea.
In this restoration of Peter our Lord, then, tests not the conduct, but the heart.
The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St. John, Vol. II, chapter 25
If you read only one of his commentaries, make it this one. Read The Gospel of St. John, Vol. II.
The First Epistle to the Corinthians
Twenty-five chapters. Dods opens with Corinth itself, a busy, mixed and immoral seaport, and the young church Paul had planted there. Then he follows the letter in order: the party spirit, the foolishness of preaching the cross, the church as God's field and building, discipline, lawsuits, marriage, liberty and love in eating meat offered to idols, the Lord's Supper, spiritual gifts, the hymn of love in chapter 13, and four chapters on the resurrection of Christ and the spiritual body.
This Epistle is well fitted to disabuse our minds of the idea that the primitive Church was in all respects superior to the Church of our own day.
The Expositor's Bible: The First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 18
His chapters on the resurrection are some of the best in the book; see also our guide to the best Christian books on the resurrection. Read 1 Corinthians.
Why read Dods today
Dods is clear, honest and searching. He knows the scholarship, but he writes for the person in the pew, and he never leaves a passage without asking what it means for your life with Christ. Begin with How to Become Like Christ, then take up his Gospel of John. For his best lines, see our collection of Marcus Dods quotes. All five books are on the Marcus Dods author page.