The Gospel According to St. John

For useful, all-around companions, Andrew T. Lincoln’s contribution to Black’s New Testament Commentary is a welcome resource.

Palmer Theological Seminary Wynnewood, PA 19096 This new commentary on the Fourth Gospel provides both a worthy addition to the respected Black’s New Testament Commentary series and a serious replacement for its widely cited predecessor in that series, by J. N. Sanders and B. A Mastin, still useful but dated (1968). In this work, Lincoln both draws on a wide range of Johannine scholarship and bravely forges new paths at times, respecting consensus but seeking to break new ground. After an extensive introduction of the major issues debated in Johannine studies today, Lincoln’s work turns to commentary on passages followed by theological summary. The work is extremely well-written and readable. No reader of commentaries, even at a lay level, will have trouble understanding the prose. Most of his exegetical and literary judgments are sound and well-researched. At the same time, those expecting thorough scholarly interaction with secondary literature and vast citation of primary sources, as in Lincoln’s masterful two-volume Ephesians commentary or his earlier Paradise Now, Not Yet, will be disappointed; this work belong to a different genre of commentary. The series as a rule seeks to be accessible to students, requiring some limitation of details. The very rare footnotes are reserved for the translation, where they address textual variants and translation issues. [Full Review]