Barclay had a unique gift of the ability to paint verbal portraits of Christ. In this particular text, he slowly reveals a deep understanding of the simplicity as well as the profundity of the Lord's Prayer. So often said, yet so little understood, one can read and reread this text and find the newness and beauty again and again. Special attention should be paid to the chapter..."Thy Will Be Done".

I used this as my study while teaching the Gospel of Luke to a Sunday School Class. This commentary made my lessons fill with great background and history. The outlines are built into the book and ready to use as a template for a lesson. This is one of the best for teaching on a weekly basis or for preaching.

Like pretty much all of Dr. Barclay's books, the Letter to the Hebrews makes the Bible verses that are so difficult to comprehend easy to understand and beautiful. His Bible studies are good whether you're reading the Bible for the first time or whether you're studying it in depth. He gives you a lot of historical background which really helps. I did find the section about priesthood (Hebrews chapter 7) slightly tedious, but that's my only complaint. It's definitely a worth while read.

Barclay's book on The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians is an excellent analysis of these books of the Bible.

Barclay provides an introduction to each book before proceeding to a line-by-line, verse-by-verse discussion of the text and its meaning.

The author has a very good understanding of the history and backround of these books and shows detailed knowledge of the language used by Paul. His commentary sheds light on the reasons for Paul's letters and clearly explains the specific guidance Paul was offering to these followers.

Finally, I liked the quotes and short stories Barclay tossed in with his analysis. It's a good book for Bible study. It's easy to read a little bit each day. It's also easy to spend a great deal of time reflecting on the most meaningful passages.

This book by the late William Barclay is quite infomative...that is until I read the chapter on The Parable of the Good Samaritan: the author made a few unacceptable and baseless assertations. He insisted that the lonely traveller who was robbed was RECKLESS in travelling alone. There is absolutely no basis for making this interpretation. Travelling alone doesn't mean that the person HAS TO BE reckless. This opinion is entirely the author's personal one.
The next part of the parable's interpretation is even more absurd: the author blantantly assume that the Buddha and Prophet Muhammed would not lift a finger to help that robbed traveller had he met them. I wonder where on earth the author got this idea from? Had the author still be alive today, this is what I'll say to him: You don't do Christ any good by slandering the Buddha and Prophet Muhammed.
In conclusion, this book is written by a bigotory 'holier-than-thou' minister.

It is difficult to find the words that adequately convey the power and impact of William Barclay's writings. I believe that he was the finest commentator of the New Testament in the 20th century. This book is one of the crown jewels of his over 70 publications. Barclay's knowledge of the Greek language, the Jewish culture and religion, and the Roman occupation during the New Testament era is phenomenal. Furthermore, he has the unique ability to convey this immense knowledge in a manner which is very easy for any reader to understand. William Barclay has the ability to convey to the reader not only what that passage meant to the people to whom Jesus spoke to 2,000 years ago, but what those passages say to us today. On countless occasions, I have felt that Barclay was speaking to me personally as he discussed the relevance of the passage in his commentary. His insights have brought me to tears at times; he has both challenged and inspired me. William Barclay's writings have truly changed my life. Barclay's clearest message is to convey the unconditional love of Jesus for all people.

The best way to convey the power of Barclay's writing is to convey two examples:

(1) "The basis of God's judgment is our reaction to the needs of others. God will not some day ask us to recite the creed, or put us through an examination in scripture knowledge, or investigate the orthodoxy of our theology. The one question which is basic is: 'What did you do to make life easier for others?' And again, that question is not based on the great contributions to human welfare which the newspapers report and the history books recount, but on our action and interaction upon the people with whom we come into contact every day."

(2) "No one can ever have hurt Jesus so much as Peter did and yet when He rose from the dead Jesus sent a message to Peter to tell him that He still believed in him. The very fact that Jesus believes in us should fill us with a new self respect and a new determination not to fail him...so long as we keep on trying to follow and serve Christ, however inadequately, we are never shut out; but when we refuse to make the effort we can in the end shut ourselves out and pass the final judgment on ourselves."

This book gives a good overview of the life of Paul. It can be appreciated by the lay person, seminary student or religious scholar. It is designed not to be comprehensive, but rather to be an overview. This goal is obtained.

This is helpful and informative, but is not a scholarly work. there are other more scholarly books available. i recommend this for bible study students, but not for theology students. more indepth books are available.