The Acts of the Apostles

by I. Howard Marshall

Book Overview

Providing an accurate, balanced and holistic picture of the church's monumental first years as told in the book of Acts, I. Howard Marshall focuses on Luke's role as a historian, literary artist and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802814239
• ISBN13: 9780802814234
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
• Length: 427 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.2" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Careful of what edition is being sold!

This is a great book, I just want to warn those who are looking at the 1980 edition. The pictures on this page are incorrect. The cover is different and much older. I made the mistake of missing this and got a much later edition than I had assumed I would.

Excellent exposition by a great NT scholar

This commentary by I. Howard Marshall was a required textbook when I was in seminary in the late 80's. I've found it to be a very biblically solid and insightful commentary. Marshall is an outstanding N.T. scholar and this commentary was very helpful in my study and teaching of the book of Acts for church and for Bible college. As an example of the helpful points he makes in evaluating Acts, Marshall offers the following aspects of the theology of Acts in the Introduction: 1) The continuation of God's purpose in history 2) The mission and the message 3) Progress despite opposition 4) The inclusion of the Gentiles in the people of God 5) The life and organization of the church Marshall's commentary is concise but he brings out a lot of rich content. It is one of the best in the Tyndale N.T. series. I use this commentary alongside other excellent commentaries on Acts from F.F. Bruce, Ajith Fernando, John Polhill, and John Stott. It is also very reasonably priced, which is a plus in these economic times. Highly recommended.

Another Solid Commentary from the Tyndale Series

Marshall's command of Scripture and of the scholarship on Acts makes itself known on every page. Critics may take issue with some of the principles underlying the book, but they can hardly insult Marshall's learned thoroughness. This is not to say that Marshall gives a comprehensive history of criticism on the Book of Acts, which would behond the scope of a book intended for a more lay audience, but that he rarely fails to mention the most widely accepted views and the most compelling arguments. In this way, the commentary is, as other reviewers have noted, indeed "conservative" (although this term begs many questions and has very strong political overtones attached to it in the United States). It would be better to say that this commentary falls within the mainstream of classic Christianity, as it has been understood for the last two thousand years. Those who desire to be titillated by new theories which have interesting implications but a questionable basis in fact may seek gratification elsewhere. If you desire to understand the message of Acts as it has been interpreted throughout church history and is still interpreted in evangelical churches today, this is the place to look. I must also mention that I have been reading Marshall's commentary alongside those of F. F. Bruce and John Stott (both of which are excellent also). I am continually amazed at some of the commonsense observations Marshall makes which are absent from Bruce and Stott. This aspect of the commentary makes it all the more valuable in my opinion.

One of my better commentaries on Acts

Honestly I have been surprised at the lack of great commentaries on the book of Acts. Maybe I've looked in the wrong places, but it seems that most of the works I've read so far are average to below average compared to the commentaries I have on other books of the bible (say Romans or 1 Corinthians). Even my commentaries on Luke, the first book in this 2 volume set, (Luke-Acts) far outstrip my Acts commentaries. I said all of that to show that when I came to Marshall's stuff on Acts, I was pleasantly surprised that he offered lots of useful insights on every verse. His commentary is one that I will pick up over and over again. For example, on Acts 1:8 he gives a quick review of the position that many hold regarding the term 'end of the earth' to mean something like all roads lead to Rome. This interpretation of Acts 1:8 then enables 1:8 to be a thesis within a story...a stroke of brilliance if that is what Luke is doing. But Marshall rejects this popular view because of the influence of Luke 24 (Acts 1 recapitulates part of Luke 24). So the overlap of the end of volume 1 is correctly seen to influence the exegesis of the opening of Volume 2. Simply put, 'end of the earth' cannot mean Rome in Acts 1:8 because of Luke 24:46ff..that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. So Marshall basically says in so many words that the Rome theory does fit with the general outline of Acts, but because it doesn't fit with Luke 24's focus on all nations he cannot agree with that view. He's really pretty good. Witherington has a massive work on Acts that is worth reading, but for preaching and exegetical notes I have found Marshall's shorter volume on Acts to be more helpful. When Bock's work comes out through Baker Exegetical Commentaries (if it is at all like his Luke work), then I suspect it will surpass everything I have in my library. But that is not for a few more months-and I will be finished with my Acts series by then. So for now, Marshall is the best thing I can recommend for Acts studies.

Excellent Commentary!!!

I. Howard Marshall does an absolutely amazing piece of scholarly work and wisdom in this commentary. This book has some detailed analysis of the text, however, if you do not know Greek, you won't be lost (if you do know Greek it will be helpful though). His commentary defends much of what has been called a "conservative view" of the book of Acts (however, he does offer some innovative (and good) interpretations himself). This is an invaluable tool, not just because of the scholarship of Marshall, but also because of the scholarship Marshall engages in. His main academic task is to engage the influential liberal commentary on Acts recently published by Ernst Haenechen. This interaction is not only academically important, but as one can see, it is also vitally important to application. The background study material is excellent (even if you disagree with his conclusions), and his verse by verse discussion is probably the best work on the book of Acts in the last 15 years. I recommend this to anyone who wants to have a great resource for understanding the book of Acts.