Most pastors have a bunch of commentaries to consult when it comes to preparing sermons. Here are three mistakes we might make when it comes to consulting commentaries.

Opening commentaries too early

One of the ever-present temptations in sermon prep – particularly on those slightly tricky and weird prophetic OT passages – is to dive straight into the commentaries. I throw my hands up in the air and dive straight into commentaries. They’re bound to tell me what this is going on about!

But as much as you might not be clear on the passage, what are you supposed to do when all the commentators you reference also disagree with each other? If we (rightly) recognise the commentators as fallible people, which fallible person are you supposed to heed? Granted, you may weigh their arguments and determine a ‘best fit’ for the data. But what if they all make compelling arguments that differ over a passage you, frankly, have no idea about?

Moreover, what do you do when you happen to rate one or other of them? How do you stop yourself being compelled by the one you either found easiest to understand or by the author you happen to respect the most? That isn’t to say they are necessarily wrong; it is to say those are not sound reasons to believe they are necessarily right.

At some point, you’ve got to work out what you think it means.

Opening commentaries too late

A secondary problem is when we open commentaries too late. We have done all our work, we have determined whatever we think a passage means, and then we open the commentaries for their approving nod upon whatever it is we have written. Only, when we do, none of them agree with us.

I don’t wish to deny the possibility they might all be wrong – all those seminary professors and academics whose life’s work is dedicated to these particular books – and we, with our study Bible and unaccredited training certificate, are right. I read that back and it reads sarcastically; it isn’t intended – I mean it! You might be right and those in their ivory towers might be wrong (see, I can do cheek both ways!) You just have to reckon with the likelihood that several of them, unrelated to each other, are ALL wrong and you are definitely right. It’s possible, of course it is. But is it likely? There may be times we’re absolutely convinced, but more often it should probably make us reconsider.

If your turned to the commentaries a bit earlier, you might have avoided what you now need to do. Namely, tear up your sermon and start again. You should rightly reach your (broad) view of the passage first. But you don’t want to get a full manuscript written only to find, on reflection, you realise you’ve missed the point entirely.

Not opening commentaries at all

A step on from that is to not bother opening the commentaries at all. All you need is you and your Bible. The Holy Spirit will probably sort out the rest. Again, not impossible. Not utterly improbable. Just not how he tends to work.

If we don’t bother consulting any commentaries at all, we will find the same problems as above. Or, rather, we won’t find them; we’ll just run headlong into them! Opening commentaries late means we might have to re-write our entire sermon as we discover we’ve totally missed the point. Not opening our commentaries at all means we might mislead our entire congregation and either realise it later to our regret or, worse, continue to do so in ignorance.

Infallible oracles?

Of course, commentaries are not infallible. They are, much like us pastors, fallible guides. Like with most people, if they seem to be right on the clear stuff, we have a bit more confidence in their clarity on the less clear stuff. But we don’t consider them to be infallible like the scriptures. We may, with the help of the Holy Spirit, occasionally see things more clearly for whatever reason.

There is also some safety in numbers. If nobody we deem on the money on the totally clear stuff agrees with us, we might want to question whether we have properly understood the less clear stuff. Particularly if most, if not all of them, agree with each other! Even if they disagree amongst themselves, we might want to ask the question if none agree with us despite the range of views on offer.

Nevertheless, we want to come to our own understanding of what the scriptures say on their own terms before consulting the commentaries. We then consult them as guides, not as infallible oracles. Where they all agree with us they should give us great confidence; where they all disagree they should (minimally) give us pause and a need to reconsider and review.