Gospel according to John and the Johannine Letters

As volume 4 in the New Testament series of the New Collegeville Bible Commentary, this small volume packs a great deal into its concise 142 pages. Displaying the text at the top of each page from the New American Bible translation, Scott Lewis divides the text of the Gospel and Letters of John into major sections and then into smaller units, commenting on the relevant issues along the way. While the book the book is intended for the student rather than the scholar, it nonetheless gets at most of the important interpretive issues, characteristically with sound judgment and helpful insights along the way. In this book we clearly have an accessible and readable piece by someone who has thought long and hard about the important Johannine issues, and the reader is helped by many thoughtful insights along the way. Lewis fittingly introduces his commentary by situating the Johannine writings among the other canonical Gospels, noting primary distinctives. He also comments on the context of the Johannine situation, pointing out that “John reserves his strongest vitriol for fellow Christians who differ with him in matters of theology” (6). These comments are developed further in the rest of the commentary as relevant to particular texts. [Full Review]