John Through Old Testament Eyes: A Background and Application Commentary

by Karen H. Jobes

A New Testament commentary steeped in the Old TestamentThrough Old Testament Eyesis a new kind of commentary series that illuminates the Old Testament backgrounds, allusions, patterns, and references saturating the New Testament. These links were second nature to the New Testament authors and their audiences, but today’s readers often cannot see them. Bible teachers, preachers, and students committed to understanding Scripture will gain insight through these rich Old Testament connections, which clarify puzzling passages and explain others in fresh ways.In John Through Old Testament Eyes, Karen Jobes reveals how the Old Testament background of the Gospel of John extends far beyond quotes of Old Testament scripture or mention of Old Testament characters. Jobes discusses the history, rituals, images, metaphors, and symbols from the Old Testament that give meaning to John’s teaching about Jesus—his nature and identity, his message and mission—and about those who believe in him.Avoiding overly technical discussions and interpretive debates to concentrate on Old Testament influences, volumes in the Though Old Testament Eyes series combine rigorous, focused New Testament scholarship with deep respect for the entire biblical text.

Genres: Christian, Faith

536 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 27, 2021

About the author

Karen H. Jobes (PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary) is Gerald F. Hawthorne Professor of New Testament Greek and Exegesis at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

Reviews

[Stephen Sorensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This commentary is a great start for compiling OT references in the Fourth Gospel but the author misses a large portion of material but ignoring the topic of deception. Deception plays major major roles in the OT and the NT, but OT scholarship has been doing great work for decades now on this topic while NT scholars have been lagging behind. The integration of OT scholarship into this commentary would increase it's value exponentially.

Williams, Nicholas, Newkirk, Anderson, etc... are all good scholars to start with for portrayals of deception in the OT.

Hopefully there will be another edition that includes better focus on this core piece of the puzzle, deception.

[Peter Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Through Old Testament Eyes (A Background and Application Commentary) by Karen H. Jobes is one of the first releases in this new series of commentaries that seek to work from the fact that the Bible of the New Testament authors was the Old Testament, and, as they write, the write with the Old Testament Scripture, history, and symbols of the Old Testament. Thus, it is difficult to understand the New Testament fully without seeing it “through Old Testament Eyes.”

As Saint Augustine writes, “The new is in the old concealed; the old is in the new revealed.”

As commentaries do, this commentary goes through the text of the Gospel and explains it – though not every verse. The original languages are used sparsely, so this is not a barrier to ministers or teachers using this commentary.

In addition to the running commentary, there are shaded blocks of several types: “what the structure means,” “through Old Testament Eyes,” and “going deeper.” The first looks at significant structural issues that make a difference in interpreting the text, the second shows the connection of the texts between the testaments, and the third explores the issue or term in the text and invites personal reflection on what this means practically.

The commentary ends with a list of abbreviations, pagination of the three types of shaded blocks (as above), a selected bibliography, endnotes, and a Scripture index.

This commentary, and the others in the series should prove very useful for preachers and teachers to help them understand the fulness of the text better – especially as the two testaments relate to each other.

[This review appears on my blog, Amazon.com, Kregel.com, and Goodreads.com.]

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic commentary on John that pulls out Old Testament references, symbols, and motifs as well as putting the book into historical context (second temple Judaism, written originally to the early church as the apostles were dwindling). Insightful and thorough and also just full of whammy matter-of-fact theological truths.

[Nathaniel Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read Karen Jobes, I close the book with a deeper understanding of the Scriptures and deeper affections for the Lord. This book is no exception. It is yet another example of a rigorous, evangelical scholarship that is a help to the church.