Popular New Testament Commentary Bundle

Abbott's Illustrated New Testament

• Authors: John S. C. Abbott, Jacob Abbott
• Publication Date: 1881
• Samples: 1, 2, 3, 4

The actual title of this work is "The Pictorial New Testament (of Our Lord and Savior)" by John S. C. Abbott and Jacob Abbott, revised and adapted to the 'New Version' (i.e., Revised Version of 1881) by Lyman Abbott.
 
This work was published in 1881, the same year as the Revised Version, which it uses as the basis for the notes. This was a major selling point at the time, and considerable emphasis was given to it in the title page and prefaces. (In order to preserve something of this aspect of the original work, BibleSoft has linked all Bible references to the RSV).
 

• Also included: The Revisers' Preface, which the Abbotts' reproduce in print.
• There are around 50 engraved illustrations and maps (see screenshot #1 ).
•  As an appendix they include "Biographies" of the NT authors (and other prominent men and women in the NT), which can also be accessed as a mini-dictionary under Topics (see screenshot #2 )   

Note: This is not the same title as Lyman Abbott's Illustrated NT Commentary, which is a more expansive work, but the two are related.

A prime example of the nuggets of wisdom found throughout this set is the Abbott brothers' comment on King Herod consulting the Sanhedrin to find out where the Messiah would be born (Matthew 1): "That a man, near seventy years of age and just ready to descend into the grave, should deliberately set himself at work to oppose by open violence, designs which he himself recognized as divine, and which had stood so recorded for seven hundred years, shows to what an extent human guilt and infatuation may sometimes proceed..."

The People's New Testament

• Author: Barton W. Johnson
• Publication Date: 1891
• Samples: 1, 2, 3

Barton W. Johnson, after teaching at Bethany College and Oscaloosa College, became primarily a writer and editor, in addition to filling many pulpits. He published THE EVANGELIST, and subsequently the CHRISTIAN-EVANGELIST (St. Louis). Some of his books: The Vision of the Ages, Commentary on John, The People's New Testament, in two octavo volumes, and the successive volumes of the Christian Lesson Commentary.

A good sample of his lucid method of summarizing important passages and then leading the reader to think deeper is shown in this comment on Rev. 4: "Four and twenty elders sitting. These ancients were (1) twenty-four in number; (2) they were clothed in white, the color of victory and purity; (3) on their heads were golden crowns, not the diadem which means a kingly crown, but the golden crown of honor ({Stephanos}). Critics ... disagree as to the significance of the number twenty-four. There were twenty-four courses of priests. There were twelve tribes, and twelve apostles. Possibly the number of the latter was doubled to symbolize the entire church, Jew and Gentile. In a note below I will give my own view of the Twenty-four Elders."

The People's New Testament has endured for over a century as a favorite NT layperson's commentary.

Family Bible Notes (pub. 1851)

• Author: Justin Edwards
• Publication Date: 1851
• Samples: 1, 2

These are the NT notes only. As data for the OT notes becomes available, we will include them in a separate title.

The notes are extracted from: The Family Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, with brief Notes and Instructions, (1851, published in 3 volumes; Vol. 3 is the New Testament)

A sample of Edwards' thinking on I Peter 1:11: "As strangers and pilgrims; there seems to be a double allusion here: first, to their literal dispersion in foreign lands, chap 1 Peter 1:1; secondly, to their being pilgrims and strangers upon earth, which their literal sojourn among foreigners well shadowed forth... From all gratifications which injure the soul, or tend to hinder its salvation, the gospel requires total abstinence."