Stop reading commentaries first. Start with the text.

How do you use a Bible commentary?

That order isn't just our opinion. Matthew Boffey, writing for Logos in September 2021, put it plainly: "When you come to a commentary without any of your own thoughts on the text, the commentary will do your thinking for you." Jay Sklar's list of five ways to misuse a commentary (Crossway, December 2018) includes starting with the commentary instead of the Bible, and treating it as if it can't be wrong.

The Bereans in Acts 17:11 are the model most Bible teachers point to: "Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so." They listened carefully, then checked.

The text first, your questions second, the commentary third.

Four kinds of commentary

Commentaries aren't one thing. Pick the kind that fits the question you're asking.

Logos sorts commentaries along similar lines, matching critical commentaries to textual questions, expository ones to interpretive questions, and theological or application commentaries to questions about doctrine and life.

Match the commentary to your question: notes for context, expository for meaning, technical for hard words.

One question, worked through

Here's the method as a conversation, on the question everyone asks about Jonah.

Read until the text answers what it can; then let the commentary answer what the text assumes you already know.

A Thursday night, sketched

This is an illustration, not a testimonial. A small-group leader has Jonah 4 on Sunday. Old habit: open three commentaries and read for an hour. New habit: twelve minutes in the chapter, three questions on an index card, and one commentary for twenty minutes, only on those three. Sunday, the group finds the Exodus 34:6 echo themselves because she asked the right question, not because she lectured it.

The method in three steps

1. Read and observe

   Read the passage twice. Write down who, what, where and any repeated words. Don't interpret yet.

2. Write your questions

   List what you don't understand. Bring specific questions; they tell you where to look in the commentary and keep you from skimming.

3. Consult, then check

   Open one commentary for your questions. For every claim, ask: is this in the text, history, or interpretation? Then go back to the verses.

Observe, ask, consult, check. In that order, every time.

Where Wayfold fits

Wayfold is built around this order. You read the full chapter in the World English Bible first, answer a few questions about what happened, then see the exact words in the chapter that answer each one. Go-deeper notes on history, language and meaning come after, and each one is marked as what the text says, history, interpretation or debated.

Read first

Then trace

One design decision: nothing is generated while you use Wayfold, and every quotation is checked against the bundled Bible text. Sources are named for history and language notes.

Honest limits

• Wayfold is not a commentary. Its notes are short and labeled; it won't replace a full expository or technical commentary on a book.
• Six study books. Ruth and Jonah studies and their printable leader guides are free, along with the full Bible reader, read-aloud and search. Philippians, James, Habakkuk and Philemon come with Premium Lifetime, a one-time purchase with no subscription.
• Labels aren't verdicts. "Interpretation" and "Debated" tell you to check other voices, not which one is right.

Who should pick something else

• If you're preparing a sermon on a book Wayfold doesn't cover, you need a full commentary set and probably original-language tools.
• If you want devotional reading, not study, a daily devotional will suit you better than chapter questions.
• If you mainly need free online commentaries, your church library or a public-domain commentary collection is the place to start.