[Cf. besides the works
mentioned in § 2, the
Commentaries on the New
Testament as a whole, which
usually pay particular
attention to questions of
Introduction. Special
mention must be made,
however, of those edited by
H. A. W. Meyer and by H.
Holtzmann. The
ʽKritisch-exegetisches
Commentar über das Neue
Testamentʼ of the former
appeared in 1882 in 16
vols., in which 1. and 2.
Thess. and Hebrews were
undertaken by G. K. G.
Lünemann, 1. and 2. Tim.,
Titus and the Catholic
Epistles by J. E. Hüther,
Revelation by F. Düsterdieck
and the rest by the Editor.
The more recent editions
have been entrusted to
others; B. Weiss has
undertaken the greater part
of the work, but several
sections have already been
re-edited twice over. We
shall mention the newest
editions at the head of each
of our §§, under the title
of H. A. W. Meyer. But as
the original unity of
design, tone and scale has
disappeared, so the value of
the different vols. is by
this time very unequal; all,
however, have a tendency,
while professing to examine
the evidence impartially, to
concede as little as
possible to ʽnegativeʼ
criticism and to make the
New Testament writers appear
as the representatives of
the authorʼs own moderate
Protestant orthodoxy. A
typical example of this is
afforded by Siefferʼs
commentary on the Epistle to
the Galatians. The abundant
criticism at first applied
to older
commentators—undertaken on
no very clear principles and
from differing points of
view—has been to an
increasing extent abandoned
in the newer editions. The
ʽHand-Commentar zum Neuen
Testamentʼ of H. J.
Holtzmann,1
with contributions by R. A.
Lipsius, P. W. Schmiedel and
H. von Soden, is a work
which confines itself almost
entirely to a practical
interpretation of the New
Testament texts and to a
brief angwering of questions
of literary and religious
history by the help of the
most trustworthy
authorities. The five
volumes of Zöckler and
Strackʼs ʽCommentar zu den
heiligen Schriften der Alten
und Neuen Testamenteʼ which
deal with the New Testament,
reached a second edition in
1897; here, too, the editors
were assisted by other
writers—Nösgen, Luthardt,
Schnedermann, Wohlenberg,
Burger and E. Riggenbach,
the value of whose work
varies considerably. But
even if we ignore Nössgenʼs
plaintive contribution, it
is impossible to recommend
this Commentary as a whole,
because the writersʼ
conservative interest too
often stands in the way of a
clear understanding of the
texts. An English parallel
to Meyer is afforded by the
ʽInternational Critical
Commentary, in which the
uniformity of tone and value
has as yet been well
maintained in spite of the
large number of
contributors; but
unfortunately the greater
part of the work has not yet
appeared. C. Weizsäckerʼs
ʽDas Neue Testament
übersetztʼ (of which the 9th
edition appeared in 1899,
Freiburg-i.-Br.) is such a
masterpiece of translation
that-it almost supplies the
place of a commentary to the
attentive reader.]