Today, while I was planting some flowers for my mom I was in our little shed that is behind our house. That is where we keep our, as Arlo Gutherie once sang, "our shovels and rakes and implements of destruction." We also keep some books out there. They are books that we really don't have room for in the house, but we just can't quite bear to part with. For example, my dad's play scripts. He had a couple shelves of them out there.
Evey time I go out to the shed I find myself pulling down a green volume from my dad's collection of Lenksi Intreprations. I'm not sure how many books there are, probably about ten or so. They are biblical commentaries. On my desk by my hand, I have Lensky's book Interpretations of Galatians, Ephesians, and Philipians. I pulled this one down because the last few Sunday's in church our pastors have been doing a preaching series on Philipians. I've read the first couple pages of the Philipians interpreation/commentary, but sadly, I didn't have my Bible, aka the Playbook with me, I was sitting on the porch, so I wasn't able to read the crossreferenced verses Lenski pointed out.
Lenski is easy to read. I have had a little Greek, so I can sort of read the Greek he throws into the writing. I at least can sound it out, I might not know what it means, but he takes care of that for me. I am always a bit cautious about biblical commentaries because I think it is first and foremost the bible reader's job to figure out what the Word is saying to them, not someone else's ideas. However, with that being said, it is good to read what learned people have to say about it, too. It brings a deeper understanding to the Word.
I am a layman, plain and simple. Hopefully, these intrepretations will help in furthering my faith and strengthening it, too.
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