Bible Commentators

[Rico]

So.............it seems like most of you are saying you use commentaries more to get an idea of customs, the historical context, and general help in understanding where society was at the time rather than letting the commentary tell you what God is trying to say. I suppose I can accept that.

[TRFrance]

Originally Posted by Rico

So.............it seems like most of you are saying you use commentaries more to get an idea of customs, the historical context, and general help in understanding where society was at the time rather than letting the commentary tell you what God is trying to say. I suppose I can accept that.

Exactly.
I remember for example, reading the commentary in a Scofield bible (an older edition. It seems they've changed it since)... in which, for his commentary on Matt 28:19, Cyrus Scofield stated that "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the final name of the one true God".

(http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/ScofieldReferenceNotes/srn.cgi?book=mt&chapter=028)

This is utter hogwash, of course, so I just shook my head and ignored it. But who knows, because Scofield was so respected, I'm sure there were many people that took this seriously, and felt like the man was dropping some serious truth on them.

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by TRFrance

Exactly.
I remember for example, reading the commentary in a Scofield bible (an older edition. It seems they've changed it since)... in which, for his commentary on Matt 28:19, Cyrus Scofield stated that "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the final name of the one true God".

(http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/ScofieldReferenceNotes/srn.cgi?book=mt&chapter=028)

This is utter hogwash, of course, so I just shook my head and ignored it. But who knows, because Scofield was so respected, I'm sure there were many people that took this seriously, and felt like the man was dropping some serious truth on them.

I hadn't noticed that Scofield Note before, thanks for the link as well.

I think I can see where Scofield would get into trouble among Trinitrarian absolutists, however. Scofield say of God, "He subsists in a personality which is threefold..."

"Personality" is singular here. Does Scofield intend to say that God is a single Person with a complex nature? He goes on to appear to deny "Personality" to the Holy Spirit by stating that this "name" is a reference to a "mode of being" as opposed to the usual statements about "relationship between the Persons..."