A Brief Review of Ephesians by Bryan Chappell: Some Pastoral Reflections

Ephesians (Reformed Expository Commentary)

Publisher: P and R Publishing Company
Author: Chapell, Bryan
Binding: Hardcover
List Price: $29.99

The Reformed Expository Commentary Series says that the series sets about to provide “exposition that gives careful attention to the biblical text, is doctrinally Reformed, focuses on Christ through the lens of redemptive history, and applies the Bible to our contemporary setting.”  Chappell delivers on this promise in his contribution to this series on the commentary of Ephesians.

Adapted from a series of 21 sermons on the book of Ephesians, the book is very reminiscent of R. Kent Hughes’ commentary on Ephesians in the “Preaching the Word” series, a commentary that also was an adaptation of Hughes’ sermon series through the book of Ephesians.  I find the addition of practical, exposition-focused commentaries on the market to be refreshing.  Chappell is always driving the text not only toward “our contemporary setting” but toward the church.  He does a good job of staying about Paul’s task, which considers the individual, but is always driven primarily by the task of the church at large in response to the nature of God.

That said, I think the commentary has some weaknesses that should give one pause before considering it a necessary addition to one’s commentary library.  First, while Chappell  occasionally makes use of footnotes, I think the book would have been much strengthened if he would have added another 30-50 pages of footnotes.  As any preacher does, Chappell makes decisions on the division of the text, on what he considers the main and ancillary points, on translation, etc.  Chappell is not to be critiqued for not carrying these discussions out in the context of his sermon (in fact, he’s to be commended!), but there were multiple times when he took a position that was I either was confused about, disagreed with, or it was a minority position.  And almost always, there was little or no explanation about why he had made that decision.  For fellow preachers, such silence can leave the commentary a bit toothless.  Even if you want to be convinced by Chappell’s perspective, he doesn’t give you the tools to get there.

Second, I wasn’t always convinced by the coherence of the illustrations and the exposition.  As any preacher knows, utilizing illustrations that track with the text and don’t set the message on a different trajectory is a very difficult task.  And for many of us, Chappell himself has helped shaped how we are to set about this task (thanks to his indispensible Christ-Centered Preaching).  But Chappell doesn’t help teach the preacher about this task in the course of this commentary.  He never gives explanation (as far as I could tell) for why he believes his illustrations cohere with the text or perhaps why even though they may not emphasize the text’s main point such an illustration was appropriate in his context.

All told, Chappell’s Ephesians is a fine commentary, and a good addition to any preacher’s library.  But it’s not without its flaws, and there are certainly other Ephesians commentaries I would recommend first.

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