The Pulpit Commentary: A Comprehensive Reference for Sermons and Study

The Pulpit Commentary is a late-19th-century, multivolume commentary offering verse-by-verse exposition and homiletic material. Still used for sermon preparation and study, it is widely available in print and online. Its exhaustive, practical format is valuable, but readers should supplement it with modern scholarship because of its Victorian-era assumptions.

What the Pulpit Commentary is

The Pulpit Commentary is a multivolume, verse-by-verse reference work designed to help preachers and students unpack the Bible. Compiled in the late 19th century, it collects exposition, homiletic suggestions, historical notes, and many possible interpretations of passages so readers can approach difficult texts with context and options.

How ministers and students use it

Pastors and Bible teachers have long used the Pulpit Commentary for sermon preparation and lesson planning. Its format - short expositions followed by homiletic headings - makes it easy to scan for sermon illustrations, interpretive possibilities, and historical background. It remains useful as a starting point for preparing a sermon or for seeing how Victorian-era scholarship read a passage.

Access today: print and digital

Because the Pulpit Commentary is an older work, it has been reprinted in modern editions and made available widely online and in Bible-study apps. Many churches and individual pastors rely on digital editions for quick searching and cross-referencing. The commentary is often bundled or offered as a free public-domain resource on several Bible-study websites and in some desktop/mobile Bible tools. ¹

Strengths and limits

Strengths: the Pulpit Commentary is exhaustive in scope, covering the entire Bible with careful attention to exposition and sermon application. Its homiletic focus helps bridge interpretation and proclamation.

Limits: its language and some assumptions reflect Victorian theology and 19th-century scholarship. It does not incorporate archaeological discoveries, manuscript studies, or contemporary critical methods developed in the 20th and 21st centuries. For balanced study, use it alongside recent commentaries and current scholarship.

Practical tips

• Use it as a starting place for ideas, historical notes, and sermon structure.

• Cross-check theological or textual claims with up-to-date commentaries or critical studies.

• When using digital editions, verify the edition and any editorial notes added in modern reprints.

Conclusion

The Pulpit Commentary remains a valuable historic resource for sermon preparation and Bible study. Its exhaustive, practical approach to exposition makes it a helpful companion, especially when read with awareness of its historical context and supplemented by recent scholarship.

1. Confirm the exact editors credited for the original Pulpit Commentary (commonly cited names include Joseph S. Exell and H. D. M. Spence).
2. Verify the original publication dates (late 19th century) and full publication history.
3. Confirm the public-domain / availability status and list of major platforms that host it (verify which Bible-study websites and apps currently include it).