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The Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament (EGGNT) closes the gap between the Greek text and the available lexical and grammatical tools, providing all the necessary information for greater understanding of the text. The series makes interpreting any given New Testament book easier, especially for those who are hard pressed for time but want to preach or teach with accuracy and authority. Each volume begins with a brief introduction to the particular New Testament book, a basic outline, and a list of recommended commentaries. The body is devoted to paragraph-by-paragraph exegesis of the Greek text and includes homiletical helps and suggestions for further study. A comprehensive exegetical outline of the New Testament book completes each EGGNT volume.
- GenresNew Testament
366 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 15, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 13, 2021
I love these exegetical guides. I found the one for Ephesians (which I went through last year) to be a bit stronger and more detailed. But that may be primarily due to space constraints and John being a longer book.
June 16, 2017
As a minister of the Gospel am always on the lookout for new aids in the study of biblical original languages. Yet also as a student of Biblical Greek, of which this mastery did not come easy, I look for different aids which help with any weakness I have in this area, The Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament: John is one of those resources, which combine scholarly work and superior lexical mastery. Most of lexical aids are in the form of reference materials, such as grammar books. The Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament series is a lexical aid and exegetical Biblical Greek commentary. The newest work in the fantastic series is John by Muray J. Harris, and edited by series editor Andres J. Köstenberger and Robert W. Yarborough and exceeds any weary preconceptions.
Needless to say, a person must have a through knowledge of Biblical Greek to use this work. And if you do you will not be disappointed this exegetical guide is an invaluable resource for those who want to dig deeper into the text and shine light into difficult to translate passages. Going deeper into the work itself, John begins with the traditional introductory matters. This might be the only weakness of this aid, and the reason is that it is only a few pages in length, which could be expanded upon further. Yet with these matters not being of primary importance in a lexical aid with some added commentary, a few pages are all that is needed.
One of the greatest strengths is also found in the introduction section. Thompson has a small section that details what he perceives are the greatest and most helpful commentaries on the gospel of John, I have found this an invaluable tool in collecting commentaries to preaching through this Gospel. After seeing the scholarly work which Thompson put into this exegetical guide these recommendations are worth the cost of the guide itself.
This aid to John is truly unique in its approach; each verse is broken down with each Greek word being expertly dissected with a small argument about syntax and commentary. At the end of each narrative section Harris gives homiletical suggestions which are wonderful plan to outline a preaching series for a pastor. I look forward to the new installments in this recently begun series. In the end I fully recommend this work to any pastors who know their Biblical Greek and want to use it in their sermons.
This book was provided to me free of charge from B & H Academic Publishing in exchange for an unbiased, honest review.
Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament: John
© 2015 by Murray J. Harris
Publisher: B & H Academic Publishing
Page Count: 400 Pages
ISBN: 978-1433676871
Needless to say, a person must have a through knowledge of Biblical Greek to use this work. And if you do you will not be disappointed this exegetical guide is an invaluable resource for those who want to dig deeper into the text and shine light into difficult to translate passages. Going deeper into the work itself, John begins with the traditional introductory matters. This might be the only weakness of this aid, and the reason is that it is only a few pages in length, which could be expanded upon further. Yet with these matters not being of primary importance in a lexical aid with some added commentary, a few pages are all that is needed.
One of the greatest strengths is also found in the introduction section. Thompson has a small section that details what he perceives are the greatest and most helpful commentaries on the gospel of John, I have found this an invaluable tool in collecting commentaries to preaching through this Gospel. After seeing the scholarly work which Thompson put into this exegetical guide these recommendations are worth the cost of the guide itself.
This aid to John is truly unique in its approach; each verse is broken down with each Greek word being expertly dissected with a small argument about syntax and commentary. At the end of each narrative section Harris gives homiletical suggestions which are wonderful plan to outline a preaching series for a pastor. I look forward to the new installments in this recently begun series. In the end I fully recommend this work to any pastors who know their Biblical Greek and want to use it in their sermons.
This book was provided to me free of charge from B & H Academic Publishing in exchange for an unbiased, honest review.
Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament: John
© 2015 by Murray J. Harris
Publisher: B & H Academic Publishing
Page Count: 400 Pages
ISBN: 978-1433676871
February 21, 2021
Having spent six months with this book, I feel that Murray Harris is a friend and good guide. The style is very compressed and concise but one learns! At difficult points he sketches out various options and highlights his choice. Although an academic book, it is written for preachers and includes homiletical suggestions (although they are skeletal), and Harris is not afraid to let his faith be evident in his comments. I will miss him.
April 10, 2024
This is an EXCELLENT series focused more on greek grammar than interpretation. I found the one on Ephesians to be the strongest. This one on John is good as well.
October 16, 2015
Murray J. Harris is professor emeritus of New Testament exegesis and theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and formerly served as warden of Tyndale House at Cambridge University in England. Harris has a Ph.D. from the University of Manchester, where he studied under F. F. Bruce, and is the author of numerous books, including, Jesus as God: The New Testament Use of Theos in Reference to Jesus, Slave of Christ: A New Testament Metaphor for Total Devotion to Christ, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians from the acclaimed New International Greek Testament Commentary series (NIGTC), Colossians and Philemon in the growing Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament series (EGGNT), and many more. Most recently, Harris has released his second contributing volume to the EGGNT series, a volume on the Fourth Gospel that certain to make its residence on the bookshelves of many.
The Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament series was birthed out of a desire to function as a type of middle-ground resource that seeks to narrow the gap between the text of the Greek New Testament (UBS5) and the available lexical and grammatical tool being used by pastors and teachers today. In this present volume, Harris has delivered a goldmine of exegetical wisdom and theological insight into one of the most important New Testament books. The book begins with a very brief introduction focused on authorship, purpose, audience, setting, and date, as well as an extremely helpful and necessary section of John’s style of Greek and the overall structure of the book. The introduction concludes with a short discussion surrounding the pros and cons of five recommended commentaries and additional resources. This section is useful for the detailed reader as these resources become imperative in further investigating the exegesis that follows. However, if you are looking for an up-to-date bibliography on the Fourth Gospel this is not going to be a helpful section. Still, the abbreviations section just prior to the introduction does provide a wealth of resources mentioned throughout the book that may be of use.
As the reader enters into the commentary of the gospel, Harris has skillfully utilized a similar format and layout as the other volumes in the EGGNT series. Some accommodations have been made given the nature of the gospels themselves, as opposed to that of epistles. For example, the reader is not going to find as much sentence diagraming in this volume as the others, and the layout centers primarily around the verse level as opposed to the clause level in the other volumes. Personally, I found this to be somewhat of a disappointment because of the helpfulness of the clause level interaction for the task of exegesis. But, then again, this is primarily helpful because the other volumes are structured around the epistolary genre and not gospel narrative. Nevertheless, I think the reader will find that the verse-by-verse discussion is executed extremely well, and Harris, as anticipated, is successful in guiding the reader through the gospel of John with a fine tooth comb. Finally, after each section of the text is thoroughly examined, Harris has provided the reader with a “For Further Study” section, as well as “Homiletical Suggestions” that aid the pastor or teacher in constructing a communicational roadmap based on the previous sections.
As each volume of the EGGNT series is released the bar of exegetical example is visibly raised. Murray J. Harris has demonstrated what it looks like to provide faithful text-centered exegesis, and to do so with communication to the people of God as the primary goal. Harris has provided the reader with a detailed analysis of the lexical and grammatical style and structure of the Fourth Gospel, and he has done so in a clear and understandable way. Not only is this the best volume in the EGGNT series, but this is likely the best resource available on the market for those looking to walk through the Greek text of the Fourth Gospel. If you are a pastor, teacher, or learned laymen this resource will prove itself invaluable to your library. If you are a professor and looking for a faithful guide to send home with your students, who else would you rather have by their side than Murray J. Harris? For these reasons and many, I couldn’t recommend this resource more!
I received an advance review copy of this book in exchange for and honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
The Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament series was birthed out of a desire to function as a type of middle-ground resource that seeks to narrow the gap between the text of the Greek New Testament (UBS5) and the available lexical and grammatical tool being used by pastors and teachers today. In this present volume, Harris has delivered a goldmine of exegetical wisdom and theological insight into one of the most important New Testament books. The book begins with a very brief introduction focused on authorship, purpose, audience, setting, and date, as well as an extremely helpful and necessary section of John’s style of Greek and the overall structure of the book. The introduction concludes with a short discussion surrounding the pros and cons of five recommended commentaries and additional resources. This section is useful for the detailed reader as these resources become imperative in further investigating the exegesis that follows. However, if you are looking for an up-to-date bibliography on the Fourth Gospel this is not going to be a helpful section. Still, the abbreviations section just prior to the introduction does provide a wealth of resources mentioned throughout the book that may be of use.
As the reader enters into the commentary of the gospel, Harris has skillfully utilized a similar format and layout as the other volumes in the EGGNT series. Some accommodations have been made given the nature of the gospels themselves, as opposed to that of epistles. For example, the reader is not going to find as much sentence diagraming in this volume as the others, and the layout centers primarily around the verse level as opposed to the clause level in the other volumes. Personally, I found this to be somewhat of a disappointment because of the helpfulness of the clause level interaction for the task of exegesis. But, then again, this is primarily helpful because the other volumes are structured around the epistolary genre and not gospel narrative. Nevertheless, I think the reader will find that the verse-by-verse discussion is executed extremely well, and Harris, as anticipated, is successful in guiding the reader through the gospel of John with a fine tooth comb. Finally, after each section of the text is thoroughly examined, Harris has provided the reader with a “For Further Study” section, as well as “Homiletical Suggestions” that aid the pastor or teacher in constructing a communicational roadmap based on the previous sections.
As each volume of the EGGNT series is released the bar of exegetical example is visibly raised. Murray J. Harris has demonstrated what it looks like to provide faithful text-centered exegesis, and to do so with communication to the people of God as the primary goal. Harris has provided the reader with a detailed analysis of the lexical and grammatical style and structure of the Fourth Gospel, and he has done so in a clear and understandable way. Not only is this the best volume in the EGGNT series, but this is likely the best resource available on the market for those looking to walk through the Greek text of the Fourth Gospel. If you are a pastor, teacher, or learned laymen this resource will prove itself invaluable to your library. If you are a professor and looking for a faithful guide to send home with your students, who else would you rather have by their side than Murray J. Harris? For these reasons and many, I couldn’t recommend this resource more!
I received an advance review copy of this book in exchange for and honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
January 18, 2016
There are times when I enjoy sliding into the “nerdy” side of bible study and when those times come, it is always helpful to have on hand something to assist that journey. Moreover, studying word meanings as they are defined in the original language is somewhat of a pet peeve of mine. While I am no Greek scholar, I do appreciate and understand the necessity of engaging the original languages when at all possible. Murray Harris has provided such a tool in his Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament: John edited by Andreas Kostenberger and Robert Yarbrough.
What is quickly apparent in this book is the magnitude of scholarly insight that is brought to bear by the author. That is of course understandable given he is after all the professor emeritus of New Testament exegesis and theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Credentials aside, Harris provides his years of experience to the task of walking the reader through the gospel of John, along the way investigating all the relevant terms, concepts, and principles, paying careful attention again to word meanings as they are understood from the Greek text.
There is much to enjoy about this book outside of the excellent exegesis. As with any valuable commentary, Harris begins by discussing important background issues such as authorship, audience, setting, date of writing, genre, how John relates to the Synoptic Gospels, the style of Greek used by John, and the overall structure of the gospel. All this serves as an essential foundation for understanding the overall thrust and message of John’s Gospel.
When it comes to the analysis and commentary section, as noted previously, it is top notch. For instance, Harris expertly outlines what the term Logos means, investigating the variety of possible meanings while noting the correct meaning of the term. Following his outstanding exegesis, the conclusion of each section contains a rather large bibliography that is divided into suggestions for each verse or periscope. I always appreciate suggestions for further reading, especially when they are so focused and divided out by sections of Scripture. Furthermore, for pastors, Sunday School instructors, and even small group leaders, Harris provides homiletical suggestions. Now mind you the typical church audience might not be ready and able to handle an in-depth discussion of the Greek, but having a proper understanding of the text based on correct engagement of the terms will assuredly provide the instructor of God’s Word with powerful tools for instruction of the body of Christ.
This is a commentary I highly recommend. It will be quite useful for seminary and bible college students, pastors, and yes even the laymen. It is scholarly yet still accessible for those willing to take the time to diligently study. One needs not be a master of Greek to find this commentary useful. You just need the desire to study and that desire should be inherent in the bible study habits of all believers. Using this commentary will go a long way towards a deeper understanding of the Gospel of John.
I received this book for free from B&H Academic and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
What is quickly apparent in this book is the magnitude of scholarly insight that is brought to bear by the author. That is of course understandable given he is after all the professor emeritus of New Testament exegesis and theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Credentials aside, Harris provides his years of experience to the task of walking the reader through the gospel of John, along the way investigating all the relevant terms, concepts, and principles, paying careful attention again to word meanings as they are understood from the Greek text.
There is much to enjoy about this book outside of the excellent exegesis. As with any valuable commentary, Harris begins by discussing important background issues such as authorship, audience, setting, date of writing, genre, how John relates to the Synoptic Gospels, the style of Greek used by John, and the overall structure of the gospel. All this serves as an essential foundation for understanding the overall thrust and message of John’s Gospel.
When it comes to the analysis and commentary section, as noted previously, it is top notch. For instance, Harris expertly outlines what the term Logos means, investigating the variety of possible meanings while noting the correct meaning of the term. Following his outstanding exegesis, the conclusion of each section contains a rather large bibliography that is divided into suggestions for each verse or periscope. I always appreciate suggestions for further reading, especially when they are so focused and divided out by sections of Scripture. Furthermore, for pastors, Sunday School instructors, and even small group leaders, Harris provides homiletical suggestions. Now mind you the typical church audience might not be ready and able to handle an in-depth discussion of the Greek, but having a proper understanding of the text based on correct engagement of the terms will assuredly provide the instructor of God’s Word with powerful tools for instruction of the body of Christ.
This is a commentary I highly recommend. It will be quite useful for seminary and bible college students, pastors, and yes even the laymen. It is scholarly yet still accessible for those willing to take the time to diligently study. One needs not be a master of Greek to find this commentary useful. You just need the desire to study and that desire should be inherent in the bible study habits of all believers. Using this commentary will go a long way towards a deeper understanding of the Gospel of John.
I received this book for free from B&H Academic and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews