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William Kelly Books: A Reading Guide to All Six and Where to Start

Bible StudyCommentaryProphecyHoly Spirit

William Kelly (1821–1906) was one of the leading teachers of the early Plymouth Brethren, a Greek scholar, the editor of The Bible Treasury for nearly fifty years and the editor of J. N. Darby's collected writings. He wrote on every book of the Bible, and most of his books began as evening lectures. TheWay Library has six of them, all free to read: lectures on Matthew, on Paul's epistles and on Revelation, notes on Daniel, and two series of lectures on the Holy Spirit and the church. For his life story, see who was William Kelly.

Where to start

If you're new to Kelly, start with Lectures on the Gospel of Matthew. It's clear, it covers a book most readers know, and it shows his way of reading a book of the Bible as a whole.

After that, choose by what you're studying:

Kelly wrote from the Brethren standpoint, and that shapes his reading of prophecy and of the church. You'll see it most in the books on Daniel, Revelation and the church.

For his best lines from all six, see our collection of William Kelly quotes. Every quotation below is checked against the book it comes from.

Lectures on the Gospels and Epistles

Lectures on the Gospel of Matthew

Kelly's 1868 lectures, chapter by chapter through Matthew. He reads it as the Gospel of the Messiah presented to Israel, rejected, and the results of that rejection for Jews and Gentiles. He shows that Matthew groups events by their meaning more than by time order, and traces the turning point in chapter 12, the parables of the kingdom of heaven in chapter 13, the first mention of the church in chapter 16, and the Olivet discourse read as prophecy.

God is never confounded; neither, through grace, is he that believes, because he rests upon what God is to him.

Lectures on the Gospel of Matthew, chapter I

Good places to begin are his lectures on Matthew 5 and Matthew 13. Read Lectures on the Gospel of Matthew.

Lectures Introductory to the Study of the Epistles of Paul the Apostle

A lecture on each of Paul's letters, with Hebrews included. For every letter Kelly explains why it was written, traces its argument and shows its place in the whole of Christian truth: Romans and the righteousness of God, Corinthians and church order, Galatians and grace against law, Ephesians and the church as Christ's body, Philippians and Christian experience, Colossians and Christ the Head, Thessalonians and the Lord's coming, the letters to Timothy and Titus, and Hebrews and Christ our High Priest. It's a fine overview before you study any one letter.

All we want is, that the eye of faith be a little open; but it is only Christ before the eye that keeps it open.

Lectures Introductory to the Study of the Epistles of Paul, Philippians

Read the Lectures on Paul's Epistles.

Prophecy

Notes on the Book of Daniel

Kelly's expository notes on Daniel, chapter by chapter, with chapters 10 to 12 taken together. He divides the book into the "moral" chapters about the Gentile powers and God's care for His faithful witnesses (the furnace, Belshazzar's feast, the lions' den) and the visions of the four beasts, the ram and he-goat, the seventy weeks and the last days. He reads the visions as pointing to the future restoration of Israel and the end of the times of the Gentiles.

Nothing is more dangerous, in the things of God, than to stop short in the path of learning His ways.

Notes on the Book of Daniel, chapter II

Read Notes on the Book of Daniel.

Lectures on the Book of Revelation

Kelly's lectures on all twenty-two chapters of Revelation, with his own translation made from the best Greek manuscripts. He reads the letters to the seven churches as real churches of John's day that also picture the course of Christendom to the end. From chapter 4 he sees the church already in heaven, pictured by the elders around the throne, and the seals, trumpets and bowls as judgments to come. He often links Revelation with Daniel 7 and 2 Thessalonians 2.

To appreciate what follows, we must be subject to God's thoughts of Christ; we must go back to what God begins with; we must see and hear the Lamb.

Lectures on the Book of Revelation, chapter V

Kelly had published a critical Greek text of Revelation, and his scholarship shows in this book. It sits well beside the books in our guide to the second coming. Read Lectures on the Book of Revelation.

The Holy Spirit and the church

Lectures on the New Testament Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

Ten lectures given in London and published in 1868. Kelly moves from John's Gospel (the new birth, the well of water, the rivers of living water, the Comforter) through Acts and Paul's letters to Revelation. His main point is to distinguish the Spirit's work in new birth from His personal gift and indwelling, given to every believer after Christ was glorified, and from His baptism that forms believers into one body.

Further, the Spirit of God was given as the indweller to each one that believed.

Lectures on the New Testament Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, Lecture VI

Read the Lectures on the Holy Spirit.

Six Lectures on Fundamental Truths Connected with the Church of God

Kelly's 1865 lectures on the church as the early Brethren taught it: the one body of Christ, the presence of the Spirit in the church, the assembly and its ministry, worship with the breaking of bread and prayer, gifts and local offices such as elders and deacons, and what faithful believers may do when Christendom is in ruins. Whatever your view of church order, it's a clear statement of what the Brethren believed and why.

The true difference is, whether we are gathered to the name of Christians merely, or to the name of Christ.

Six Lectures on Fundamental Truths Connected with the Church of God, Lecture VI

Read the Six Lectures.

A note on these editions

These books were restored from scans of the original printings. Notes on the Book of Daniel still has scattered misread words, and the lectures on Paul's epistles and on the church have a few as well. All are fully readable.

Why read Kelly today

Kelly is for readers who want to understand a book of the Bible as a whole and see how it points to Christ. He's careful and unhurried, and he trusts you to keep up. Begin with Matthew, then take up whichever book of the Bible you're studying. All six books are on the William Kelly author page, and you'll find more commentators in our guide to the best classic Bible commentaries.

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