The New Testament is a fascinating collection of documents that illuminate the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It contains an amazing number of details in its texts that can easily be lost on the modern mind. This means that the full impact can pass by the reader, yet sometimes that snippet of information has major consequences for the meaning of the passage.

Commentaries are of some use, they cannot always pause long enough to develop the detail as they explain the main teaching of the passage. Bible dictionaries are helpful, but they are more interested in expressing the meaning of words rather than the significance of situations.

Harold Mare has helped the modern reader by combing the best elements of both in his New Testament Background Commentary. It is both a commentary and a dictionary of words, phrases and situations that shed light on the point the writer is trying to make. He accomplishes this by placing the explanations in Bible order so that it is easy to access the background comments of this book as you read through the Bible passage.

It is an invaluable companion to any reading of the New Testament. It is such a helpful tool you will wonder how you managed without one before!

W. Harold Mare (1918-2004) was a founding trustee of Covenant Theological Seminary, St Louis, Missouri in 1963 and served as Professor of New Testament until his retirement in 1984. After his retirement, Dr. Mare continued to teach as an emeritus professor at Covenant Seminary until his death in 2004 while doing archaeological excavations in Jordan.