John (Revised Edition): Tyndale New Testament Commentary

Tyndale New Testament Commentaries #4

by Colin G. Kruse

Among the Gospels, John's is unique. Its structure incorporates long conversations and extended debates, and much of its content is not found elsewhere. Jesus' relationship to the Father and his teaching on the Holy Spirit are given special prominence. Ultimately, faith, believing in Jesus, is at the centre - with signs highlighted to provoke faith and stories of those who responded to Jesus as examples of faith. Colin Kruse shows how the Fourth Gospel weaves its themes of belief and unbelief into its rich Christology.

This exegetical commentary on the Gospel of John is part of the Tyndale New Testament Commentaries series designed to help the reader of the Bible understand what the text says and what it means.

Genres: Reference, Christian, Nonfiction, New Testament, Theology, Scripture

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 18, 2008

About the author

Colin G. Kruse (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is senior lecturer of New Testament at Melbourne School of Theology. In the twenty years following his ordination into the Anglican ministry, Kruse gained practical experience in parishes in Australia and the U.S. along with five years of missionary service as a theological lecturer in Indonesia. Besides journal articles on the New Testament, Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Kruse has authored several books including Paul, the Law and Justification and New Testament Models for Ministry: Jesus and Paul. He has also written the Tyndale New Testament Commentary on 2 Corinthians and the Pillar New Testament Commentary titles The Letters of John and Paul's Letter to the Romans.

Reviews

[Luis Dizon · Rating 5 out of 5]

With so many commentary series that are available today, it is always helpful to have one that is highly readable and easily accessible to a larger readership. One commentary that fits this category quite well would be the commentary on John by Colin G. Kruse for the Tyndale New Testament Commentary series. Kruse provides an approachable introductory level commentary to the Gospel of John that is able to explain the flow of the narrative of the Gospel without losing readers in highly technical discussions on the meaning of the text. This makes the commentary highly suitable for laypersons without theological training as well as for those who are of a more scholarly bent.

Kruse begins the introduction to his commentary by giving a brief one page overview of the contents of the fourth Gospel. He divides the whole Gospel into four basic parts. First, there is the prologue (1:1-18) where Jesus is introduced as the eternally pre-existent Logos, who was with God in the beginning and through Whom all things were created. Here, the identity of Jesus is shown from the beginning so readers are not left wondering Who it is the author is writing about. Second, there is the first half of the Gospel (1:19-12:50), where the author describes Jesus’ work in the world, including the various miraculous signs he performed as well as the discourses wherein He reveals God the Father and offers eternal life to those who would believe in the Son. Third, there is the second half of the Gospel (13:1-20:31). This is the section where the author describes how Jesus concentrates on preparing His disciples for when He is no longer physically present with them, as seen in His upper room discourse and high priestly prayer. This section also includes Jesus’ Passion, which culminates in His death, burial and resurrection. Finally, there is the epilogue (21:1-25), where the author describes one of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances in which Jesus recommissions Peter, predicts the nature of his future death and makes that cryptic statement about the beloved disciple: “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me” (John 21:22).

This aforementioned four-part division of the Gospel serves as the basis for the major divisions in Kruse’s analysis of the Gospel where he divides the whole Gospel into various subheadings, with each one dealing with a particular event or discourse in the Gospel. The subheadings formed by this analysis then form the outline by which the entire commentary is structured.

In addition, Kruse tackles in his introduction to the commentary various issues pertaining to the literary and historical backgrounds of the fourth Gospel. He does not go into too much detail regarding these issues, but provides sufficient information to understand them. The author discusses, for example, the relationship between the Gospel of John and the epistles of John. He states that because of the striking similarity in the language of the Gospel with that of the epistles, “a prima facie case exists for positing the same basic authorship for all four documents.” As for the purpose and readership of the Gospel, Kruse cites as the purpose for the writing of the Gospel the statement in the twentieth chapter of John:

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31).

Aside from this Kruse also lists various possible secondary purposes behind the writing of John. These include supplementing or superseding the Synoptic Gospels, acting as a polemic against the followers of John the Baptist, encouraging members of the “Johannine community” in their struggle with the synagogue, acting as a polemic against the Jews, refuting Gnosticism, dealing with the problem of a delayed parousia, and correcting attitudes towards the sacraments. Most of these secondary purposes appear to be highly unlikely for one reason or another, and it is better to stick to the purpose that the author of the Gospel has explicitly stated, since other explanations are too speculative.

Other issues that are tackled by Kruse in his commentary include the authorship of the Gospel, where he lists the major internal and external evidence for believing that John really did write the fourth Gospel, as well as the dating of the Gospel, where he provides information to corroborate the stand that John wrote his Gospel during the 80s or 90s. Then there are other miscellaneous issues, such as the historical reliability of the Gospel, recent trends in the interpretation of the fourth Gospel (such as the idea that the Gospel of John is derived from a hypothetical “Gospel of Signs”) , and various theological emphases that are present in the Gospel. Overall, the introduction provides a concise way of understanding the basic background behind the Gospel of John.

As for the commentary proper, the explanations for each of the specific verses are fairly straightforward. The author spends usually no more than one or two pages explaining a specific verse or sentence from the fourth Gospel. Occasionally, the author will set aside some space to make an additional note regarding a certain theme or topic that is present in the Gospel (such as the meaning of the phase “born of water and the spirit,” or the theme of judgment). Textual critical issues are addressed on occasion as well, although not in too much detail. He notes, for example, how the story of the women caught in adultery in John 7:53-8:11 is not a part of the original text of the Gospel account, but nevertheless has “all the earmarks of historical veracity.” He then comments on the pericope as though it were an original part of the text of the Gospel.

Also, as Kruse comments on the He avoids going into too many side issues when discussing specific words and phrases in the scriptural text. The more technical aspects of the interpretation of such words and phrases are minimized or avoided so as to make the commentary simpler and more approachable for the average layperson who does not know biblical Greek or precise details behind the cultural and historical backgrounds of the text. Such issues are addressed, but in a way that is easy enough for most individuals to read. This helps to maximize the audience of the commentary and avoid overloading the reader with too much information.

Overall, Kruse’s commentary on the Gospel of John is an excellent introductory level commentary that provides good and reliable information regarding the Gospel while remaining simple enough for the average churchgoer to understand. This is a welcome resource both for laypersons as well as for pastors who need a quick and easy reference guide on how to understand the background and narrative flow of the Gospel account.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just like we’re placing a beloved sports figure, replace a legendary volume in a scholarly Commentary series is no easy task. Needless to say Colin G. Kruse had his work cut out for him to replace R.V. G. Tasker’s commentary on the Gospel of John for the spectacular Tyndale New Testament Commentary series. R.V. G. Tasker was the standard for introductory commentaries for the Gospel of John and Kruse’s commentary replaces a legend with one of equal caliber.

Kruse who has written other commentaries on Johannine books is a distinguished scholar and is no stranger to commentaries in the New Testaments, and his academic credentials shine in this studious commentary. The Tyndale New Testament commentary is a great introduction commentary for pastors and laymen alike and requires no knowledge of the Biblical Greek language. Yet this commentary is part of a growing trend of added girth in the Tyndale New Testament Commentary series. Weighing in at just under 470 pages this commentary is almost the length of a mid-range commentary. Yet the accessibility of this commentary makes it a wonderful introduction to the gospel of John. I own and have read many commentaries on the gospel of John and this new commentary is one of the greatest additions to that lineage. Furthermore this commentary shows great potential in giving phenomenal application combined with superior exegesis.

John, begins with the typical study into the introductory matters of this book of the Bible, yet while introductions are common, is atypical for Kruse is so through with his research and interaction with recent scholarship. In a day where these matters are either glossed over to get to the exegesis of the text or are so cumbersome that they become useless, Kruse found a good balance in being thorough, communicating depth and attention to recent scholarship, without losing the message of the text.

With reference to the commentary sections on John, Kruse, expertly navigates the text showing the original context of passage while applying it directly to the modern day reader. He also uses a pastoral tone in many of his comments yet never sacrifices his scholastic approach. The outlines that he provides are also of great use for a pastor looking to preach though the Gospel of John.

In recommending, John, to others I would whole heartily recommend this commentary to students of scripture, with one caveat. By this I mean I recommend this work to Pastors, Bible Teachers, Bible College Students, and to a limited extent educated Laymen looking to teach a Sunday school class, there is enough scholarly weight to this work to understand a particular issue in the text while giving aid to pastors in preaching the text. There are many commentaries about the Gospel of John available at this moment but, Kruse, of the TNTC series is a giant leap above the rest.

This book was provided to me free of charge from IVP Academic in exchange for an unbiased, honest review.

[Jimmy Reagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Colin Kruse has revised his popular commentary in the beloved Tyndale New Testament Commentary (TNTC) series to extend its life for another generation. It was one of the last releases in the older set and has proven to be one of the most popular. I’ve never seen anything but positive reviews for the older edition. While we could not call this a major revision, the series editors were wise to secure Mr. Kruse for this revised edition. Aimed at pastors and Bible students, this book strikes a great balance between scholarly information and helpful exegesis and exposition.

This volume continues to have a major Introduction for a mid-level series. Some sections are little revised while others have additional paragraphs that brings the discussion up-to-date. The author’s love of the Gospel of John is clearly displayed from the earliest pages. He begins by explaining the significance of John’s Gospel followed by an overview, a brief discussion of distinctive features, and a scenario for both the Gospel of John and the Epistles of John. Next, he briefly addresses sources.

He explains John’s purpose as well as the likely readership. He’s very favorable to the Apostle John being the author and examines both external and internal evidence. He summarizes reasons found in the scholarly world for the frequent rejection of John’s authorship before concluding with his comfort in seeing John as the author. From there he goes into the date and place of writing and speaks favorably of the historical reliability of John’s Gospel.

One of the most enhanced sections is entitled “recent trends in the interpretation of the gospel of John”. As before, he discusses it as a Gospel of signs, a two-level drama, and explains the narrative criticism scholars see in John. He adds, though, discussion of structural exegesis, reader-response approaches, feminist approaches, and postcolonial approaches. There’s a great section on the theology of the Gospel of John covering all the important elements that are even found in larger exegetical works. He ends the Introduction with a brief discussion of the structure of the Gospel of John.

The commentary itself is also unchanged in places while others receive substantial upgrading. I don’t know how you couldn’t rank it as one of the very best of the mid-level commentaries on the Gospel of John. Factor in its economical price, and this is a volume pastors and Bible students must consider.



I received this book free from the publisher. 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.

[Joe Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with virtually all the Tyndale Commentaries, this volume begins with a solid set of introductory articles. Topics like purpose and structure, authorship and date are well covered.
Where the commentaries vary more is in the actually commentary. Here there is much to recommend as Dr. Kruse has valuable insights while staying solidly inside Christian doctrine. On the negative, there is a fair amount of repetition even in verses that are close to each other and some of the commentary is rather mundane. A bit more editing might have been in order.
There are a few differences with the other volumes in the series. While generally the commentaries cover both a pericope and a paragraph, here there is more a phrase by phrase explanation. Also this volume contains the actual Scripture along with the commentary.
In reading the four volumes covering the Gospels in the Tyndale series, all are solid and worth reading but it is the RT France volume that stands as the towering work.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did I really enjoy it because it was a great commentary or because it was a commentary on John's Gospel? I'm not sure, but I had a great time.

I picked this commentary for its relative brevity - I didn't fancy a 1,000-page tome for bedtime reading. This commentary regularly quotes the other, bigger, "classic" commentaries without leaning too heavily on them. If I was trying to be a serious, impressive New Testament scholar I would have felt like I was cheating. But I'm not - I'm just some guy who wants to have a good time - and to that end reading a few quotes from the classic commentaries was good enough for me.

[Vanjr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent volume in this new excellent revised series. Highly recommend.

[Joshua Reitano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typical solid brief Tyndale New Testament Commentary by a capable Australian scholar.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good helpful commentary that is easy to read, gets into some of the nitty-gritty of the technical side of things, whilst still being accessible to the non-scholar reader.

[Neville · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read, into the arms of our God Jesus Christ

[John Brackbill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief but surprisingly thorough. He has a way of stating an interpretation that several other commentaries take as well, but doing so in a crystal clear way. I only grew in my appreciation for this commentary as I want further and further through the gospel of John.