Book Notice: R.T. France on Luke

R.T. France

Luke 
Teach the Text Commentary Series
Eds. Mark Strauss and John Walton
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2013.
Available at Amazon.com

The late R.T. France was one of the great British evangelical scholars of the twentieth and twenty-first century. A great commentator especially of the Gospels. His commentaries on Matthew (TNTC and NICNT) and Mark (NIGTC) are very good, so it is wonderful that even posthumously we have his Luke commentary from Baker in the “Teach the Text Commentary Series.”

To be sure, this is very much an Application Commentary, but it has helpful format with:

Big Idea
Key Themes
Understanding the Text (Context, Background, Interpretive Insights, Theological Insights)
Teaching the Text
Illustrating the Text
Plus various inset boxes and pictures.

The exegesis is fairly light on due to the format, however, there are a few interesting parts. Like, for instance, France treats Luke 21 as focused solely on the destruction of Jerusalem. I also found the illustrations very enjoyable. There are quotes and anecdotes from Mother Theresa, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Billy Graham, John Stott, Tim Keller, and more. France appeals to literature, movies, biographies, art, and music to drive the point of the text home. France even quotes from The Princess Bride. On Luke 2:21-40, the Nunc Dimittis, France notes that in Calvin’s Geneva this was sung during Communion. Love to see the pressies bring that back!

For those wanting a commentary to recommend to lay people, or something useful for sermon prep, France’s Luke volume would definitely be one worth considering given its concise exegesis and easy readability.