Review: The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary By Christopher Ash—Part 1: Intro Volume

Good commentaries that are useful for preaching are hard to find. Rarely do commentators manage to blend exegesis, theology, and pastoral significance together very well. When it comes to the Psalms, several good commentaries exist that address strictly exegetical issues, dealing with structure, philology, and poetics. As I have preached through the Psalms, however, I often find a large gap between the content of commentaries and profitable sermon material.

Enter Christopher Ash’s four-volume commentary, and everything seems to change. This work is certainly attuned to biblical studies and those issues that must belong in a commentary. Ash even shows himself to be deft in the theological issues that are so often lacking in modern commentaries. This project is a game changer for what commentary on the Psalter will likely be your first port of call as you study the Psalms. We might hope that it helps change the direction of commentaries overall as well.

This review will tackle Ash’s commentary in two articles. This four-volume set is sprawling in its scope, but two features stand out for independent consideration. The first volume is entirely devoted to introductory issues. The second through fourth volumes contain the commentary properly speaking. This article considers the content of volume one.

This introductory volume could in many ways have turned into a standalone book about the Psalms. Thankfully, Ash has wed its contents to the rest of his commentary, ably setting up the rest of his set. Other commentary introductions often circle around the same grammatical-historical issues, rarely providing much by way of equipping the reader for greater study of the biblical books they cover. This volume provides a hermeneutical and theological synthesis that is truly rewarding and helps us as we enter into deeper study of the Psalter. You will want to read this volume in full rather than just skipping straight to the commentary. It is certainly worthwhile and should prove to be a milestone in Psalms research. The rest of this article considers three aspects of this volume.

Theological Hermeneutics

The first section of this volume lays out hermeneutical foundations for the rest of the commentary. Two driving factors stand under these principles. Ash outlines the first one like this: “If we do not reach the place where we can sing, pray, hear, and praise with the Psalter, all the hermeneutics in the world will have achieved nothing of value” (1:xxv). In other words, the Psalms are supposed to have spiritual value for Christians in our worship and life. If we use interpretive methods that leave the Psalms in ancient Israel, then we have failed to understand the text as God inspired it. God has given this book for his church throughout the ages. This interpretive factor gives fresh life to Ash’s approach to the Psalms.

Second, Ash writes, “In my understanding, the person of Christ is central to the meaning of every psalm, which cannot rightly be understood apart from him” (1:xxv). Ash, therefore, recognizes the Psalter not just as Scripture for God’s people, but specifically as Christian Scripture. Whereas other commentaries investigate the text in terms of grammatical-historical considerations and then might see some tangential or accidental connection to Christ, Ash interprets the text on the premise that Christ is the reason God inspired these songs. This approach fuses enriched energy into this study of the Psalms to bring them to life for God’s people as we hope to know our Savior better.

The first chapter is one of the more excellent treatments of how the Psalter fits into the biblical canon and how its place shapes why we should value it. The exploration of the New Testament invocation to “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” is balanced, in depth, and thought provoking. Ash defends the view that these categories refer to types of Psalms—although he does not comment on what that might entail for the validity of including uninspired songs in our worship. He also goes beyond the raw data on this issue to show how, in the context of Ephesians 5:18–20 and Colossians 3:16–17, singing songs from the Psalter makes vital spiritual contribution to the life of the church and those who are participating in her worship. In other words, he goes beyond showing that we are supposed to sing from the Psalter to explain why it is also good for us.

Three further chapters outline the foundations of seeing Christ in the Psalms and understanding them to be about him. The helpfulness of these interpretive principles is in the big picture categories Ash provides, along with enough nuance to help us put the principles into practice. Without losing focus on Christ as the big picture, he explains various ways in which we might see him in different psalms. Some psalms may be directly about the king or the Messiah, which then have their fulfillment in Christ. Other Psalms might be spoken by Christ to God the Father, as prayers from the Messiah. And again, other Psalms might be spoken by Christ to his church. These examples provide just a sampling of how Ash guides us past vague notions of Christ in the Psalms to take hold of that truth in particular instances. The fuller explanation of these hermeneutical principles is worth reading in full.

Doctrinal Sophistication

The middle section of this volume tackles various doctrinal topics that arise from studying the Psalms. He works through how the practice of interpretation fits within our use of the psalms in worship, how they are prophetic, and how they fit together with prayer. Then several chapters address more focused theological issues. One of the standout chapters here was the discussion of how the Psalms as Christ-centered songs cohere with classical theism’s affirmation that God is impassible. Appealing to classical two-nature Christology, Ash walks through this issue in helpful ways. The whole section brings doctrinal depth to the study of the Psalms to show why so many theologians of ages past have found the Psalter so rich in theological material.

The chapter to spotlight as a standout contribution is the one on righteousness. So many commentators avoid the true complication of this issue by equivocating on what God’s standard of righteousness truly is. Within the Reformed framework, however, we are all going to be hesitant to appeal to our own righteousness or to consider ourselves as truly righteous against those who are wicked. Ash does not punt on this issue but embraces the full complexity while also navigating through it with clarity and helpful insight, arriving at better interpretive criteria as we work through the Psalms.

Ash recognizes that we cannot simply ascribe without qualification every appeal to righteousness to imputed righteousness. He does bring that theological distinction from Protestant soteriology into the picture though. The Psalms, he says, can be refracted onto the experience of believers as we have our new status and experience in Christ. Through multiple layers and various aspects of nuance, he gives a good taxonomy for understanding and applying the differing uses of righteousness throughout the Psalter. This chapter alone puts on full display Ash’s pedigree as an exegete who also understands how to do good, sound theology.

Survey Resources

The final part of the book outlines the history of interpretation of the Psalter from the ancient period to the modern day. Ash admits that this survey necessarily touches only the surface of this history. Still, it provides excellent snapshots of major contributions in each period. The big takeaway is to see how the church read the Psalms theologically for so many centuries, until the Enlightenment tried to evacuate theological richness in favor of only grammatical-historical exegesis. Some of Ash’s insights about modern interpretation of the Psalms will give perspective on why commentators take the approach they do, even when writing from a conservative viewpoint, and why that approach so often produces unsatisfying commentaries.

The last main blessing of this volume to highlight is actually the appendices that correlate the New Testament use of the Psalms, which is presented from both sides. One appendix takes the Psalms as the starting point and then shows where specific uses appear in the New Testament. The next appendix takes the New Testament as the starting point, mapping how books include reference to Psalms. These appendices alone are going to be worth the price of this book for preachers. This resource is an absolute goldmine. Instead of having to dig through pages of commentary to find possible arguments for New Testament connections to the Psalms, Ash has provided the needed guide to help us get right to the meat. Pastors who have these redemptive-historical connections on the front of their minds in preparing their sermons will rejoice to have this material on hand.

©Harrison Perkins. All Rights Reserved.

Ash, Christopher, The Psalms: A Christ-centered Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024).

You can find part 2 here.


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2 comments

  1. Thanks for the review! If you were teaching your church on a survey of Scripture, would you recommend this set as the go-to for your teaching elders to use, or would you first consult another commentary?

    • That’s sort of complicated because there is a lot of material in 4 volumes on the Psalms to condense for survey use. I have certainly recommended it to an elder when he was preparing to exhort from a psalm. The intro volume would have great stuff to use for a survey lesson.

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