Abbott's New Testament Commentary

Jacob Abbott (1803–1879) and his younger brother John Stevens Cabot Abbott (1805–1877) were Congregational ministers from Maine, both trained at Bowdoin College and Andover Theological Seminary, and both widely read authors in their day. Jacob wrote the Rollo books for children; John wrote popular histories. They knew how to explain things to ordinary readers, and their New Testament notes have that character.

The Explanatory Notes on the New Testament were published in 1878 as part of the Illustrated New Testament. The notes are short. The Abbotts do not attempt a full exposition of every verse; they define a word, untangle a hard phrase, or point out a connection, and move on. Each book opens with a brief account of its author and setting. Two typical entries:

Mt 5:3. Blessed; happy, highly favored—Poor in spirit; those who are humble; lowly in mind; conscious of ignorance and unworthiness.

Ro 8:28. The called according to his purpose. The doctrine of the passage introduced by this expression, and extending to Ro 8:32, seems plainly to be this,—that the redemption of the sinner is not a work which he performs upon himself, but one which God performs upon him,—being commenced and continued through its several successive steps, by divine power; and that, where it is once begun, it will be carried forward to its final consummation.

The SwordSearcher module covers all twenty-seven books of the New Testament in about 3,300 entries; not every verse has a note. Because the notes are brief, this is a good commentary to keep open in a tab while reading. It answers the quick "what does that mean?" questions without burying the text. For a fuller treatment of the same passage, Barnes and The People's New Testament were also written for the general reader.