When a new ship is launched, it will undergo sea trials before taking on any passengers. But at the time of launch, the ship is essentially finished. It has a hull, an engine, and a propeller. It’s a proper working ship.
In contrast, the Grace Commentary looked nothing like a completed ship when it was launched five years ago this week. It was more like that raft Tom Hanks made in the movie Cast Away. It was little more than bits and bobs held together with hope and happy thoughts.
On the day it went live, the commentary had few entries, but it had a style, a structure and the promise of more. Five years later and the commentary is starting to look more shipshape.
To mark the 5th anniversary milestone, I thought you might like a brief progress report.
How far have we come?
In five years, we have uploaded 10,000+ entries covering about half of the New Testament. We have completed thirteen New Testament epistles and these have been published in eight books.
We have also finished uploading content for all the parables Jesus told. All forty of them.
My best guess is that there are now close to a million words in the commentary, which means I’m writing the equivalent of two novels a year. If you were to print the commentary on thin paper, it would be considerably thicker than your family Bible.
Who reads the Grace Commentary?
A glance at my WordPress dashboard tells me the commentary has readers in 208 countries. That’s quite a reach. Half of our readers live in the USA. Another third live in the Philippines, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and India, and then there’s a long tail of other countries. I like to think of the commentary as a bag of grace seeds being sown far and wide.
Pleasingly, the commentary is read in many countries where English is not the native language (e.g., Japan, China, Pakistan). However, there is plenty of room to grow. Countries where we have no readers (yet) include Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, and Sudan.
What are readers saying?
“The Grace Commentary is my daily study guide. It has helped me to see grace on every page of the Bible.” – M. Chongo, Zambia
“After 33 years of walking in a classic evangelical environment, four years ago I had a fresh encounter with ‘la grazia,’ and while searching for new material, I came across your commentary on grace. May God continue to bless you.” – Pastor T. Ciccaglione, Italy
“Hi Paul, I just wanted to say thank you for making this free resource. I get very nervous when reading the Bible. I was traumatised as a child. You could say I had the hell scared out of me. Reading the Bible was never fun but was something of a chore, I was later diagnosed with religious OCD. (That is the damage of mixing law and grace.) I say all that to say thank you for making time to write this beautiful resource. I feel peaceful when reading the Grace Commentary. I want to share this commentary with all my friends who have been damaged.” – S. Reed, UK
“Wow, Paul, just wow! Every entry in the Grace Commentary is a chain-breaker, a freedom-maker! Be encouraged. This is a first! You are blazing a trail.” – M. Miller, USA
Where to from here?
Going forward, my aim is to complete the eight remaining New Testament epistles (see pic). In other words, I have quite a few more “novels” to write. Then I need to complete the rest of the Gospels and Acts. Phew!
Why are we even doing this?
I never wanted to write a Bible commentary. For years, readers had been asking me to consider it, but I always said no. Then, right before Covid struck, I had a change of heart. It was like a switch had been thrown. God gave me new desires and a vision and I could see the whole thing laid out before me.
At the time, I didn’t know if I would ever complete the commentary – it was such a big job. But I had to at least make start. Five years later, here we are. It is a thrill to see how God is using this tool to strengthen his church and proclaim his message of radical love and grace.
If you were one of those readers who encouraged me in the beginning, thank you for believing in me and being obedient to the Lord. And if you are one of those who support the work financially, thank you for giving this project wings.
Grace and peace,
Paul
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