The Work
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Holy Bible was published in eight volumes between 1810 and 1826. Covering the entire canonical Bible verse by verse, with philological notes drawing on Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, Syriac, and Aramaic, it runs to approximately three million words - one of the longest commentaries on the Bible ever composed by a single author. It was immediately recognized as a standard reference and remained in active use throughout the nineteenth century. The commentary is now in the public domain and widely available in digital form.
Biblical Engagement
Clarke's commentary is distinguished by three overlapping approaches: Wesleyan theological commitments, extraordinary Oriental scholarship, and concern for practical application.
On Genesis 1:1, his note on the Hebrew bereshit runs to several pages, examining the word in relation to Arabic and Syriac cognates and surveying both Jewish and Christian interpretation. He argues for creatio ex nihilo on exegetical and philosophical grounds, anticipating and answering objections from natural philosophy.
Clarke's treatment of Psalms is particularly valued. His notes on Psalm 119 trace all eight Hebrew synonyms for God's law through their appearances across the Psalter, drawing on his detailed knowledge of Torah, mishpat, choq, edah, piqqud, mitzvah, imrah, and derekh. His note on Psalm 22 integrates the Hebrew text with patristic interpretation before arriving at a Christological reading tied to Matthew 27:46.
Romans 8 receives extensive treatment. Clarke's notes on Romans 8:1-4 engage Paul's Greek vocabulary of katakrima (condemnation), sarx (flesh), and pneuma (spirit) with lexical detail drawn from classical and Hellenistic sources. His treatment of Romans 8:28 is practically oriented, emphasizing the providential governance of God across all circumstances.
On 1 Corinthians 13, Clarke distinguishes agape lexically from philia and eros, traces its usage through the Septuagint, and argues that the KJV rendering "charity" obscures Paul's meaning - a point that was ahead of its time and anticipated the modern consensus that "love" is the correct translation.
Author and Context
Adam Clarke (1762-1832) was born near Moybeg, County Londonderry, Ireland, to a poor farming family. He received only rudimentary formal education before coming under the influence of John Wesley at age seventeen. Wesley recognized his intellectual gifts and sent him to Kingswood School, Bristol. Clarke became one of the most eminent Methodist preachers of his generation, serving three times as President of the Conference.
Clarke was largely self-taught as a scholar. He learned Hebrew by comparing interlinear texts, Greek by systematic study, and eventually acquired reading proficiency in Arabic, Syriac, Coptic, Persian, and several other languages - motivated always by the desire to read the Bible in its original cultural and linguistic context. He collected a library estimated at ten thousand volumes.
The commentary was written over forty years, produced largely in the early morning hours while Clarke continued full responsibilities as a preacher, conference official, and pastor. He wrote the entire work himself, without assistants. His Wesleyan theology shaped the commentary's emphases: he believed in the possibility of entire sanctification, the free offer of the gospel to all people (against strict Calvinism), and the supreme authority of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Critical Reception
The commentary was immediately recognized as the most comprehensive and learned popular commentary in English. It was adopted as a standard reference by Methodist preachers and teachers throughout the nineteenth century and was widely used by Anglicans, Baptists, and other Protestants as well. Charles Spurgeon recommended Clarke alongside Matthew Henry as the two indispensable commentaries for every minister's library.
Later Victorian scholars found his work increasingly superseded by the new biblical criticism emerging from Germany, but Clarke's Oriental learning was genuine and substantial for its time. His limitations were those of a pre-critical autodidact, not of scholarly incompetence.
Theological Significance
Clarke represents the integration of Wesleyan theology and scholarly learning at a moment when evangelical Protestantism was still largely anti-intellectual. His demonstration that rigorous philological engagement with the Hebrew and Greek texts was not only compatible with but required by evangelical commitment to Scripture shaped the Methodist tradition of biblical scholarship for generations.
Legacy
The commentary influenced virtually every major British and American Methodist preacher and biblical teacher of the nineteenth century. The commentary's digital availability through resources like StudyLight and the Christian Classics Ethereal Library has given it new users in the twenty-first century. Within the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition, Clarke's blending of scholarly rigor and devotional warmth remains a model.
Reading Alongside Scripture
Readers will find Clarke's notes on Genesis 1-3, Psalms 22, 51, and 119, Isaiah 53, all four Gospels, Romans 1-8, and 1 Corinthians 12-13 particularly rewarding. His engagement with the Hebrew text of the Psalms and with the Greek vocabulary of Paul's epistles remains genuinely illuminating.
Further Reading
- J. Everett, Life of Adam Clarke (2 vols., 1843) - the standard early biography. - Thomas C. Oden, John Wesley's Teachings (4 vols., 2012-2014) - essential context for the Wesleyan tradition Clarke served. - Timothy Larsen, A People of One Book: The Bible and the Victorians (2011) - situates Clarke in the broader world of Victorian biblical culture.