Bible Knowledge Key Word Study: The Gospels, The

The Bible Knowledge Key Word Study: The Gospels. Edited by Darrell L. Bock. Bible Knowledge Series. Colorado Springs: Cook Communications Ministries, 2002, 430 pp., $44.99.

The Bible Knowledge Key Word Study: The Gospels (KWS-G) is the inaugural volume in a series apparently intended as an augment to the popular Bible Knowledge Commentary written and edited by faculty members of Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), though the precise relationship between the aforementioned volumes is stated only in passing (p. 13). In the preface, the series editor, Darrell L. Bock, Research Professor of New Testament Studies at DTS, indicates that the AWS volumes are "designed for lay people and pastors who want a ready reference to the basic meaning of certain key words in their individual content" (p. 13). Bock further describes it as a tool that can be kept to one side and used for reference as one reads through Scripture.

The volume opens with Bock's discussion of method in word studies, including fundamental rules, the types of meanings involved, the difference between diachronic and synchronie analysis, and a brief list of word fallacies, followed by endnotes on pp. 25-28, which provide further bibliographic details. This portion is clearly presented and will likely benefit the busy pastor in need of a quick refresher but will be especially helpful for laypersons largely unfamiliar with such matters.

Following the preface there is a brief four-page selection of abbreviations and ancient sources combined together, followed by a transliteration page. The explanations that are provided of the ancient sources are brief but informative (e.g. Josephus [p. 32] and Philo [p. 33], though the abbreviations are not always consistently applied throughout the volume: e.g. MM [p. 33] vs. M/M [p. 229]). The content of the KWS-G proper is divided into four segments. David K. Lowery of DTS is the author of the section on Matthew (74 pp.), Joel F. Williams of Columbia International University is responsible for Mark (63 pp.), Darrell Bock, as one might anticipate, does Luke (83 pp.), and W. Hall Harris of DTS contributes the segment on John, the longest of the entries in the volume (128 pp.). Two indices round out the volume: an English index, with English entries and accompanying scriptural references, followed by a Greek transliteration index, laid out similarly to the previous index.

The success of the volume must obviously be judged by its usefulness in treating key words and phrases in the four canonical Gospels. In this regard, the KWS-G evinces a number of strengths, for the individual contributors exemplifying careful research combined with the laudable ability to present the details of their research in accessible prose. Controversial interpretive issues are frequently dealt with competently and concisely: e.g. Matt 1:17, where a gematria explanation is offered for the thrice-repeated number fourteen (p. 40); Matt 1:23, where Jesus is interpreted to be the "greater fulfillment" of the Isaianic Immanuel prophecy (p. 41); Matt 3:2 (p. 44); 6:10 (pp. 58-59); and 12:28 (p. 74), where the concept of the kingdom is judicially discussed. Important, difficult, and controversial passages helpfully treated include, inter alia, Matt 10:23 (p. 69); 16:18 (p. 79); and 27:52 (p. 110); Mark 1:1 (p. 113); 1:15 (pp. 116-17); 10:45 (p. 150); 11:13 (p. 152); Luke 2:1 (p. 187); and John 1:1 (p. 261), 12 (pp. 263-64), 14 (p. 264), 18 (p. 266), 29 (pp. 268-69); 14:2 (pp. 347-48); and 14:15 (pp. 349-50). Occasionally one sees differences in the treatments of the same incident in the triple tradition, as when Lowery (p. 91) and Williams (pp. 152-53) describe "making a profit" and "swindling" (respectively) as a motivation behind Jesus' temple action, whereas Bock, more plausibly, sees the point at issue to be a violation of temple space (p. 241: "The money-changers were not price gouging, but had just moved into the temple area to sell these items"). Some issues may well have been worthy of fuller comment than the attention given, such as the meaning of the historically controversial "procession" of the Holy Spirit in John 15:26 (p. 357).

In addition to the evident strengths of the volume there are also some potential weaknesses. One of the key factors in word study, as Bock rightly stresses in his introduction to word studies (p. 16), is context. The KWS-G by the nature of its layout and focus provides comments only on isolated words and phrases. At points, moreover, the English translation and the Greek transliteration do not fully correspond (e.g. three instances on p. 177). Another issue, one that Bock candidly admits in the preface (pp. 13-14), is that there is at times a good deal of interpretation involved in treating some of the words and phrases selected. Perceptive readers will notice this particularly in the largely futurist interpretations of some of the key words and phrases in Matthew 24 (e.g. pp. 99-100), Mark 13 (e.g. pp. 159-60), and Luke 21 (e.g. p. 241). The treatment of the two longest text-critical issues in the Gospels is inconsistent. Williams alerts his reader to the textual problem of Mark 16:9-20 on p. 174 (though it might have been useful for general readers had he explained what manuscripts Aleph and B mean), while Harris bypasses comment on the even bigger question of John 7:53-8:11 (pp. 311-12).