THE COLLECTED WRITINGS OF

W.E.VINE

with Introduction by

F.F. BRUCE

THOMAS NELSON PUBLISHERS

Nashville ◆ Atlanta ◆ London ◆ Vancouver

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.

Copyright 1996. W.E. Vine Copyright Ltd. of Bath, England.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Vine, W.E. (William Edwy), 1873–1949.

[Selections. 1996]

Collected writings of W.E. Vine.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-7852-1159-4 (5-volume set)

1. Bible—Criticism, Interpretation, etc. 2. Theology.

I. Title.

BS511.2.V55 1996

220.6—dc20

◆ PUBLISHER’S PREFACE ◆

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“Qualified in Many Fields, Narrow in None”

Undoubtedly William Edwy Vine was qualified in many fields. As well as being a theologian and a man of outstanding academic intellect, he had a heart for all humanity that made him a master of communication.

Born in 1873, at the time when C. H. Spurgeon, D. L. Moody and F. B. Meyer were enjoying popularity on both sides of the Atlantic, Vine was brought up in a boarding school owned by and governed by his father as its headmaster. This factor was a major contribution to his interest in teaching. At the age of 17 he was a teacher at his father’s school while attending the University College of Wales in preparation for his eventual London University degree, an M.A. in classics.

At the age of twenty-six he spent an Easter vacation at the home of a godly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Baxendale, where he met their daughter Phoebe; a few years later, they married. It was a marriage made in Heaven. They had five children: Helen, Christine, Edward (O.B.E.), Winifred, and Jeanette. During the time of their engagement, Vine’s reputation as a clear Bible expositor was growing. It was not long before he accepted the joint headmastership of the school with his father. In 1904, after his father died, his brother Theodore then became joint headmaster with him.

It was during this time, in conjunction with Mr. C. F. Hogg, that he produced three classic works which are contained in this collection: Commentaries on 1 and 2 Thessalonians, followed by Galatians. These master works display the full scope of Vine’s scholarship.

While Vine was teaching in the school, preparing for his M.A. and writing in-depth commentaries, he also developed a lifetime habit of teaching classes in New Testament Greek grammar. This laid the foundation for his all-time classic work, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, and later, An Expository Dictionary of Old Testament Words. His Dictionaries are classics—copies are in excess of three million worldwide. They are available today in the best-selling Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (published in a separate volume by Thomas Nelson Publishers)—proof that his scholarship and clarity of expression is as relevant as when first published.

“One who, in his less humble ...