Jay Sklar, a professor at Covenant Theological Seminary, has a little ritual in his classes.  In his class greeting, he and the class say,

Sklar: Shalom, class.

Class: Shalom, Jay.

Start with the Text…

…not with the commentary.

Context…

…is king.

I once sat in a church where, at the beginning of the sermon, the pastor told his congregation that he’d consulted 20 different commentaries, 13 of which validated his interpretation of the text.  Aside from that being only slightly extreme, I think this pastor missed the point entirely of using commentaries.  He seemed to have started with his own presupposition first and then ran a tally count of people who agreed with him, going to the text last.

Bryan Chapell, former pres. of CTS

Bryan Chapell, in his book, Christ-Centered Preaching, pg. 74, makes the following assertion:

You must think through what Scripture says in order to be able to expound adequately and apply meaningfully what commentators say.  No commentator has room to write down all the implications, insights and truths given in a text.  no distant educator or long-dead scholar knows your situation or your congregation’s concerns.  It is not wise habitually to run to commentaries as the first step of sermon preparation, lest your thoughts start running in a groove carved by one not in touch with what you need to address.

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