The Work
Matthew Henry's Exposition of the Old and New Testaments (its full title) was published in six folio volumes between 1706 and 1714. The first volume (Genesis through Ruth) appeared in 1706; subsequent volumes covered the remainder of the Old Testament and the full New Testament. Henry died in 1714 before completing the work, and the final volume (Romans through Revelation) was completed by thirteen Nonconformist ministers working from Henry's notes. The complete set was first published together in 1710 and subsequently in multiple formats.
The work has never been out of print in over three hundred years. It has been published in full six-volume editions (most recently by Hendrickson Publishers), in condensed single-volume versions (Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary, first condensed by George Burder and J. Hughes in 1834, and the most widely available modern edition), and in numerous digital formats. Spurgeon's classic recommendation - 'Every minister should read Matthew Henry entirely and carefully through at least once' - has been followed by generations of preachers, making it the most-used commentary in the history of English-speaking Protestantism.
Biblical Engagement
Henry's commentary covers every verse of the Protestant Bible from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. Unlike modern critical commentaries, which focus primarily on establishing the original meaning of the text, Henry's commentary is tri-dimensional: it addresses the original meaning, draws moral and doctrinal applications, and makes practical pastoral connections for the reader's personal and communal life.
Genesis 1 is treated with characteristic thoroughness: Henry expounds the six days of creation verse by verse, with rich attention to the theological significance of light, order, and divine approbation ('And God saw that it was good'). His treatment of Genesis 2-3 on the creation of woman and the fall combines careful exegesis with memorable pastoral observations - his comment on Eve's creation from Adam's rib (that woman was 'not made out of his head to top him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved') is among the most quoted passages in any commentary.
The Psalms receive extended treatment, occupying most of Volume 3. Henry's method here is particularly devotional: he provides a brief historical orientation, then expounds the psalm phrase by phrase, drawing out the spiritual states it describes and the doctrines it teaches. Psalm 119, the great meditation on Scripture, receives treatment proportionate to its length, with Henry finding doctrinal, devotional, and practical treasure in each of its 176 verses.
The New Testament commentary is notable for its treatment of the Gospels. Henry's exposition of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is systematic and comprehensive, addressing each beatitude, each antithesis, and each practical instruction. The commentary on John's Gospel is particularly rich: Henry's treatment of the Prologue (John 1:1-18), the I AM sayings, and the Farewell Discourse (John 14-17) shows his deepest theological instincts. His treatment of the crucifixion narratives and the resurrection appearances is both exegetically careful and devotionally profound.
Paul's letters are expounded with Reformed theological thoroughness. Henry's commentary on Romans 3:21-31 (the heart of Paul's justification theology), Galatians 2:20 ('I am crucified with Christ'), Ephesians 1:3-14 (the doctrine of election), and Romans 8:28-39 (the golden chain of salvation) represents the best of English Reformed pastoral theology at the turn of the eighteenth century.
Author & Context
Matthew Henry (1662-1714) was born at Broad Oak Farm, Flintshire, Wales, the son of Philip Henry, a respected Nonconformist minister who had been ejected from his living in the Great Ejection of 1662. He was educated privately, largely by his father, and then studied at an academy at Islington conducted by the Nonconformist divine Thomas Doolittle. He was called to the ministry of a Nonconformist congregation in Chester in 1686 and served there until 1712, when he moved to Hackney, London. He died suddenly in 1714 at age fifty-two.
Henry began the commentary at the age of thirty-one, undertaking the work as a comprehensive guide for his congregation's private and family Bible reading. In the late seventeenth century, the practice of family worship - daily Bible reading, prayer, and instruction in the home - was central to Nonconformist piety. The commentary was designed to support this practice: each section is of manageable length for a family devotional session, and the application sections address practical Christian living in explicitly domestic and social terms.
The intellectual context was the late Puritan tradition. Henry inherited the exegetical rigor of the Westminster Assembly divines (his father Philip Henry had attended the Westminster Assembly as a young man), the Reformed theology of Calvin and the English Calvinist tradition, and the pastoral concern for practical godliness that distinguished the best Puritan preaching. Unlike some later Reformed commentary writers, Henry was never dry or merely academic; his learning was always at the service of edification.
His Nonconformist status is significant. He could not attend Oxford or Cambridge, hold a position in the established church, or receive the social benefits available to conforming clergy. This marginalization concentrated his energies entirely on pastoral work and biblical exposition, producing a depth of engagement with Scripture that was perhaps possible only to a minister entirely focused on his congregation rather than on academic or ecclesiastical advancement.
Structure and Method
Henry's method is consistent throughout the six volumes. For each section of text he provides: (1) a brief contextual introduction; (2) verse-by-verse exposition, often with careful attention to the original languages (Henry knew Greek and Hebrew well); (3) observations on doctrine and duty drawn from the text; and (4) practical applications to personal, family, and congregational life. The style is flowing, readable English prose, enriched with vivid illustrations, memorable aphorisms, and warm pastoral concern.
The commentary is explicitly anti-critical in method: Henry does not engage with textual criticism or historical-critical questions about sources, dating, or authorship, as these disciplines were in their infancy in his time. His hermeneutical approach is consistently typological and applicatory - he reads the Old Testament through the lens of the New and applies both Testaments directly to the spiritual condition of his readers. This approach has both strengths (it treats the whole Bible as a living unity addressed to contemporary readers) and limitations (it can flatten the historical specificity of particular texts).
Critical Reception
The commentary was immediately and enormously popular. Within decades of its publication it had become the standard devotional commentary in Nonconformist and evangelical households. The eighteenth-century evangelical revival - Whitefield and Wesley both read it avidly - spread it into new social strata. George Whitefield reportedly read through the complete six volumes four times while riding on horseback on his preaching tours. John Wesley abridged it for his Methodist followers. Spurgeon called it 'the most generally useful' of all commentaries and cited it regularly in his sermons.
Academic biblical scholarship has always been somewhat dismissive of Henry's commentary as pre-critical and devotionally rather than exegetically oriented. Modern commentators like R.T. France, Gordon Fee, and D.A. Carson operate in a different scholarly register. But evangelical pastors have consistently maintained that Henry's combination of textual attention, doctrinal substance, and practical application provides what no modern critical commentary provides: an integrated treatment of what the text meant, what it teaches, and how it applies to Christian life.
Theological Significance
Henry's commentary represents the mature expression of English Puritan biblical theology at its most practical and accessible. His theology is consistently Reformed: he affirms divine sovereignty, unconditional election, substitutionary atonement, and the perseverance of the saints. But his Reformed theology is never cold or abstract; it is always warm, pastorally applied, and attentive to the inner life of the believer.
The commentary's most significant theological contribution may be its demonstration that the whole Bible - from the genealogies of Chronicles to the visions of Revelation - is spiritually profitable ('All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,' 2 Timothy 3:16). Henry's willingness to expound every passage, however obscure, with devotional seriousness embodies the Protestant conviction that every word of Scripture is God's word addressed to his people.
Legacy
The commentary's legacy is threefold. First, it shaped the devotional and homiletical practice of generations of Protestant preachers and lay readers. Second, it established the genre of the comprehensive practical commentary - distinguishing the pastoral commentary from both the academic commentary and the purely devotional reflection. Third, it transmitted the Puritan exegetical tradition into the eighteenth-century revival and hence into modern evangelical biblicism.
The digital age has given the commentary new reach. It is freely available online through multiple platforms and is integrated into major Bible software applications. The combination of its extraordinary breadth (covering the entire Bible) and its public domain status has made it one of the most widely accessed commentaries in the world.
Reading Alongside Scripture
To experience Henry at his best, readers should consult his treatment of Genesis 1-3 (creation and fall), Psalm 23 (the Lord is my shepherd), Psalm 119 (the sufficiency of Scripture), John 1:1-18 (the Prologue), Romans 8:28-39 (the golden chain of salvation), and Revelation 21-22 (the new creation). Henry's comment on Genesis 2:23 (Adam's recognition of Eve) is particularly beloved.
Further Reading
- J.B. Williams, Memoirs of the Life, Character and Writings of the Rev. Matthew Henry (1828) - the standard early biography, drawing on primary sources. - J.I. Packer, 'Introduction' to the one-volume edition of Matthew Henry's Commentary (Zondervan, 1999) - a brief but incisive assessment of Henry's significance. - Gerald Hammond and Austin Busch, eds., The English Bible as Literature (2012) - provides the literary context for Henry's work within the tradition of English Bible interpretation.