1, 2, and 3 John by Karen H. Jobes

Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on The New Testament: 1, 2, and 3 John by Karen H. Jobes ISBN-13: 9780310244165 Hardcover: 358 pages Publisher: Zondervan Released: Feb. 11, 2014

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Designed for the pastor and Bible teacher, the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament brings together commentary features rarely gathered in one volume. Written by notable evangelical scholars, each volume treats the literary context and structure of the passage in the original Greek, and each author provides an original translation based on the literary structure. The series consistently provides the main point, an exegetical outline, verse-by-verse commentary, and theology in application in each section of every commentary.

Critical scholarship informs each step but does not dominate the commentary, allowing readers to concentrate on the biblical author's message as it unfolds. While primarily designed for those with a basic knowledge of biblical Greek, all who strive to understand and teach the New Testament will find these books beneficial.

In her commentary on John's letters, Karen H. Jobes approaches the three letters of John as part of the corpus that includes John's gospel. Jobes treats three major themes of the letters under the larger rubric of who has the authority to interpret the true significance of Jesus.


My Review:
1, 2, and 3 John is an in-depth examination of the text of 1, 2, and 3 John. While you will probably get the most out of this commentary if you know some biblical Greek, I could clearly understand the author's points even though I don't know Greek.

The commentary looked at the context, main idea, and overall structure of each section of verses. Then the author examined the text verse by verse. She looked at the original Greek to help clarify the intent and explain the variations found in different English translations. She compared certain words to John's other writing to see how he usually used them or to how other New Testament writers used those words. She also looked at the social context and at speculations about what conflict motivated the writing of these letters.

Each section finished with an Application, which was a summary of what the verses said, what we learned from the text, and why it matters. Zondervan Exegetical Commentaries have consistently helped to clarify my understanding and deepen my engagement with the studied verses. I'd highly recommend this book to individuals who want to take their study of the Bible deeper.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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