The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary (Volume 1, Introduction: Christ and the Psalms)
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
Stand-Alone Commentary from Christopher Ash Sets Out a Deeply Christian Study of the Psalms
While reading Psalms, it is common for commentaries to focus on Old Testament meaning, without connecting it deeply to Christ’s fulfillment in the New Testament. By studying Scripture this way, believers miss out on the fullness of God’s word. The key to experiencing authentically Christian worship is learning a Christ-focused approach to praying and singing the Psalms.
In this in-depth, 4-volume commentary, Christopher Ash provides a thorough treatment of all 150 Psalms, examining each psalm’s significance to David and the other psalmists, to Jesus during his earthly ministry, and to the church of Christ in every age. The first volume in the set is a detailed handbook that explains how to interpret the Psalms with Christ at the center. The remaining 3 volumes cover each psalm in depth, with introductory quotations, a deep analysis of the text’s structure and vocabulary, and a closing reflection and response. Ash also includes selected quotations from older readings of the Psalms, including patristic, medieval, Reformation, and post-Reformation scholars. Perfect for pastors, Bible teachers, and students, this commentary helps readers sing and pray the Psalms with Christ in view.
Stand-Alone Commentary: Ash’s research also builds on other commentaries for a comprehensive, thorough resource on the Psalms
Applicable and Heartfelt: Explains how a Christ-centered approach to reading the Psalms influences doctrines of prayer, prophecy, the Trinity, ecclesiology, and more
Ideal for Pastors and Serious Students of Scripture: Written for Bible teachers, Sunday school and youth leaders, and small-group leaders
- Builds on other commentaries for a comprehensive, thorough resource on the Psalms
- Explores how to interpret the Psalms with Christ at the center
- Explains how a Christ-centered approach to reading the Psalms influences doctrines of prayer, prophecy, the Trinity, ecclesiology, and more
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Overview
- Conventions
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: Christ and the Psalms
- Introduction: Why Bother with the Psalms?
- Chapter 1: From the Psalms to Christ: How the Psalter Cries Out for Future Completion
- Chapter 2: From Christ to the Psalms—I Method
- Chapter 3: From Christ to the Psalms—II Results
- Chapter 4: Interpretation and Worship: Some Principles for Reading the Psalms
- Chapter 5: Prophecy: Speaking by the Spirit of Christ
- Chapter 6: Prayer and Praise: Approaching the Father through Christ and by the Spirit
- Chapter 7: Incarnation and Christology: The Emotions of Jesus in His Human Nature
- Chapter 8: Righteousness: Who Are the Righteous in the Psalms?
- Chapter 9: Repentance: Can Jesus Christ Pray Prayers of Penitence?
- Chapter 10: “Imprecation”: Can Jesus Christ Pray “Imprecatory” Prayers?
- Chapter 11: The Place of Christian History in Interpretation: Reading the Bible with the Church
- Chapter 12: Introduction to the Psalms in Christian History: Some Preliminary Observations
- Chapter 13: The Psalms in the Patristic Period: Discerning the Whole Christ in the Psalter
- Chapter 14: The Psalms in the Medieval Age: Understanding the Fourfold Sense of Scripture
- Chapter 15: The Psalms in the Renaissance and Reformation Periods: Christ-Centered Interpretation through a Humanistic Lens
- Chapter 16: Some Trends from the Reformation to the Present Day: The Resilience of Christ-Centered Readings despite the Rise of Skepticism
- Conclusion: Christian Singing of the Psalms
- Appendix 1: The Content, Status, Origin, and Significance of the Superscriptions
- Appendix 2: Psalms Quotations and Echoes in the New Testament
- Appendix 3: Psalms Quotations and Echoes in New Testament Order
- Appendix 4: Notes on Selected Writers Quoted
- Full Bibliography
- Subject Index
- Name Index
- Scripture Index
Part 1: Christ and the Psalms
Part 2: Doctrine and the Psalms
Part 3: Christian History and the Psalms
These wonderful volumes on the Psalms place the whole church of Christ in their author’s debt. To have carried to completion the vision of such a project is a breathtaking accomplishment. And to have done it with the author’s characteristically loving and careful approach to the text of Scripture, coupled with richness of exposition, humility of spirit, and wise personal and pastoral application, stimulates our admiration and gratitude. In an era when the evangelical church in the West has, by and large, turned its back on the wisdom of two millennia of Christian praise dominated by the Psalms, these four magnificent volumes provide both the equipment and the inspiration needed to discover what our Lord and Savior himself experienced. They deserve to become—indeed, are surely destined to be—the go-to resource for multitudes of preachers, teachers, and students for decades to come. We are richer because of their publication.
—Sinclair B. Ferguson, Chancellor’s Professor of Systematic Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary; Teaching Fellow, Ligonier Ministries
Since the Enlightenment, it has become fashionable to hypercontextualize the Psalms, thereby repudiating eighteen centuries of Christ-centered preaching, teaching, and scholarship. In this magisterial commentary, Christopher Ash returns to the old paths by displaying Christ and his glory in all 150 psalms. The Reformers and the Puritans would have loved this warm, devotional, and accessible work, for herein Ash provides the kind of experiential, practical, and Christ-saturated exegesis that they so dearly treasured. With careful historical-theological reflection and a tender pastoral heart, Ash guides the people of God as they seek to better read, sing, meditate on, study, and preach the Psalms. This commentary will no doubt become a staple in the pastor’s library for many years to come.
—Joel R. Beeke, Chancellor and Professor of Homiletics and Systematic Theology, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary
Modern readers often gravitate toward the Psalms because in them they see a mirror for themselves and their own emotions. This is not wrong, but as Christopher Ash reminds us, it is insufficient. The writers of the New Testament and many throughout church history read the Psalms because in them they found Christ. Ash provides a comprehensive help to the church to read the Psalms afresh from that Christ-centered perspective, in a way that not only exercises our minds but feeds our souls.
—Iain M. Duguid, Professor of Old Testament, Westminster Theological Seminary