Before reading my about page, I invite you to first watch this video by Dr. Monte Shanks of the Ask a Bible Prof, YouTube channel. In it he discusses how to select a good Bible Commentary and what to watch out for. (Note to the reader; this Bible commentary written by Gary Eugene Howell is free on this website.)

About Gary Eugene Howell

Full disclosures:

Beliefs:

Gary Eugene Howell believes that Jesus Christ is the son of God. He, as a sinless perfect sacrifice, was crucified on a cross, buried, and three days later rose from the dead. Afterward, he ascended into heaven at which time the Holy Spirit was poured out upon those who believe.

It is also Gary’s belief that salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ and that there is no other path by which people can enter into the kingdom of heaven. Those who fail to put their faith in Jesus Christ prior to their natural death will be separated from God for eternity in a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Credentials:

Gary is not a pastor, theologian, or seminary graduate. He holds no formal degrees in any biblical study. Rather, he is simply a follower of Jesus Christ who has spent nearly 30 years reading, studying, and seeking to live by God’s Word. His approach to this commentary is not rooted in academic credentials but in a deep love for Scripture and a desire to encourage others to engage with the Bible for themselves through the assistance of the Holy Spirit.

While Gary does not claim to have all the answers, his hope is that this work will serve as a helpful resource for those who, like the Bereans (Acts 17:11), desire to examine the Scriptures daily and grow in their understanding of God’s truth.

As with all things, Gary encourages you to test what is written herein against the Word of God and seek the Lord’s wisdom above all.

Testimony:

Gary’s first interaction with Christianity was in the 2nd grade when he snuck his mother’s bible and hid in the closet to read Genesis Chapter one. At the time he thought he was doing something he wasn’t supposed to.

Unfortunately, however, it wouldn’t be until his mid-twenties before he once again picked up a Bible to read it for himself.

In high school, every Sunday, Gary’s parents would drive him 15 minutes across town and drop him off at the church attended by his high school friends. His parents would then turn around and go back home. An hour and a half later, they would drive all the way back to pick him up. Gary never knew why his parents didn’t go to church. Despite being on time and in the parking lot of the church, they would merely drop him off and leave.

When Gary was 25 years old, he met a co-worker who identified himself as a pastor. Finding that peculiar, Gary would ask him, on a daily basis, questions about his religious beliefs. However, the man seldom answered Gary’s questions with words. Instead, he would pull a small Bible from his shirt pocket, spend 5 or 6 seconds thumbing through it and would then hand it to Gary and say “Read that right there”. When Gary would read what he was pointing to, it would turn out on every occasion to be addressing the very question that Gary had just asked.

After many months of these interactions, Gary came to realize for the first time that all of Christianity is based solely upon the Bible. Christianity has no other book. Therefore, Gary reasoned, if he was going to call himself a Christian, as he had been doing his whole life, he ought to base his beliefs upon what’s written in the Bible.

Between ages 25 and 35 Gary would read from the Bible sporadically and intermittently. However, in 2006 he joined a young adults ministry in Melbourne Florida at which he met people his own age who were not only on fire for Jesus, but were abounding in spiritual wisdom and were able to effectively articulate that wisdom to Gary. It was through the inspiration of those relationships that Gary gained the desire to truly engage with the Christian faith and make his relationship with Jesus a regular and consistent aspect of his daily life.

Gary met his wife at that same young adult ministry in Florida. They were married in 2010.