Mission Accomplished

By Robert E. Picirilli

The twelfth and final volume of The Randall House Bible Commentary (RHBC) just rolled off the press with the completion of Luke (pictured above). Publication of the set began over three decades ago.
I remember well the day Roger Reeds (executive director) and Harrold Harrison (chief of publications) asked me to Randall House to talk about a new project. My jaw dropped—if not literally, at least in my mind—when they told me they wanted to publish a set of Bible commentaries!

Some years later, a college president within the Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges paid us a compliment. He had a radio ministry teaching the Bible. As he started lessons on a certain book, he selected several commentaries for study; one was our volume. That volume, he said, gave him the most help in determining what the text means. My eyes lit up.

That’s precisely why we produced these commentaries. The goal from the beginning was to provide our people, especially pastors and Sunday School teachers, a reliable resource for understanding the Bible. As I said in the preface to the first volume, the intention was to steer a course between the highly technical and the merely devotional. We did not purpose to blaze new trails in biblical interpretation and criticism. We believe the Bible is God’s Word, and our responsibility (and the reader’s responsibility) is to determine what God has said and how to apply that to life. This is the reason the commentaries include not only explanation of the text but summaries and suggestions for teaching and preaching.

The RHBC volumes offer scholarly work in user-friendly language. Harrold Harrison came up with the original idea, but the project later morphed into what we have today. The original concept called for a limited number of volumes—perhaps four or five volumes on each of the two testaments—and would cover the entire Bible. Neither Harrold nor Roger stated a hard and fast timetable, but we never thought the project would take so long to complete.

The commentary project proved to be bigger than any other Free Will Baptist publication ever! I was both excited and pessimistic. I wasn’t sure we could swing it. We simply didn’t have, at that time, as I could evaluate, enough people among us with both the education and the experience to qualify them to write commentaries on the Bible. Only a handful of Free Will Baptists held academic doctorates in biblical studies. To top it off, Roger and Harrold asked me to be the general editor, with Harrold as associate editor. I think I let the opportunity—I’ve always been a sucker for a challenge—overwhelm my better judgment.

The plan was for the first volume to include Romans and Corinthians. Leroy Forlines was asked to write Romans, and I would tackle the Corinthians. We began to write. Changes in the plan soon developed. We would publish these books in two volumes rather than one. I don’t remember why: perhaps it had something to do with the production and sales of the oversize volumes we first had in mind.

Meanwhile, Roger, Harrold, and I consulted together to line up writers for other parts of the New Testament. That's when the enormity of our task began to sink in, and our outlook became more realistic.

Qualifications for writers included an advanced degree in biblical studies (including biblical languages) and enough experience in preaching or teaching and writing to demonstrate the ability needed. We soon became aware such persons are easier to envision than to employ. Some qualified people turned us down. Others accepted an assignment and produced nothing, or started and got derailed. Some turned in unusable material. Others took much longer than allowed in their contract. Some volumes required reassignment to other writers, and some of them were re-assigned yet again.

At any rate, we were on our way. As each manuscript was turned in, Harrold edited and then, using his marked copy and the writer’s electronic original, I would edit. Randall House conducted final edits and published. In 1987, the first two volumes were published. The final volume has been completed in 2019. The work started under Roger Reeds, continued under Alton Loveless, and reached completion under Ron Hunter. The following list shows the chronology of the 12 volumes:

• 1987 – Romans
  

• 1987 – 1 & 2 Corinthians
  

• 1988 – Galatians through Colossians
  

• 1989 – John
  

• 1990 – 1 Thessalonians through Philemon
  

• 1992 – James, 1 & 2 Peter, Jude
  

• 2003 – Mark
  

• 2005 – Hebrews
  

• 2010 – 1, 2 & 3 John, Revelation
  

• 2015 – Matthew
  

• 2018 – Acts
  

• 2019 – Luke
  

We don’t have plans to tackle the Old Testament. After all, we took longer on the New Testament than the original authors took to compose it! Still, we’re encouraged to see an increasing number of men and women in our denomination pursuing advanced biblical studies. This will increase our potential in the days ahead.

Now that the set is complete, we rejoice that it honors God’s revelation of Himself. The Randall House Bible Commentary provides a legacy resource for the library of anyone who studies, teaches, or preaches the Bible, one that is reliable and practical and represents our unique Arminian perspective.

About the Writer: Dr. Robert E. Picirilli is professor emeritus of New Testament and Philosophy at Welch College. He is author of Discipleship: The Expression of Saving Faith; Grace, Faith, Free Will; Free Will Revisited; and numerous other works and journal articles.