Customer Reviews

John (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Andreas Kostenberger has provided us with a genuine treat in his new commentary on the Gospel of John. This commentary is in the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series, which is developing into one of the most useful series of commentaries for those who love God's word.

Like all of the commentaries in this series, Kostenberger's volumn is written from an evangelical standpoint that embraces the Gospel of John as being the authoritative word of God. This work consistently interacts with the Greek text and the majority of major contemporary commentaries on John.

Highlights of this volumn include:

1. It is extremely well written. Even in a series known for its readabilty, Kostenberger stands out as a model of clarity. Rather than simply checking selections, I have read this commentary from cover to cover - and it is a great joy to read.
2. Kostenberger makes outstanding use of footnotes. This feature makes it particularly easy to find both the support for his interpretations as well as dissenting voices. I suspect this feature alone will make Kostenberger's commentary the first one to be pulled off of the shelf.
3. Unlike many commentaries that answer all the questions except the one you are actually asking; this volumn shows exceptional judgment in selecting and addressing questions. Preachers will find this commentary a particulary rich and helpful resource in sermon preparation.

Are there reservations in recommending this commentary? Yes. First, while anyone could benefit from Kostenberger's excellent work - it will be best used by those who have at least one year of Koine Greek. Second, I wish that Kostenberger had been a little more painstaking in making and commenting on his (generally excellent) translation. Two illustrations of this should suffice:

1. Kostenberger translates John 3:19 "This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people preferred darkness to light; for their deeds were evil." The words translated "preferred" are almost universally translated "loved" and "more than" (i.e. "loved darkness more than light"). The word "loved" is identical to the word "loved" in John 3:16 just 3 verses earlier ("God so loved the world"). It is difficult to see why Kostenberger would lessen the force of this statement from "loved darkness" to "preferred darkness" and he offers no explanation in his text.
2. Kostenberger translates John 3:9 "Nicodemus answered and said to him, 'how can these things happen?'" The commentary points out that nearly all translations of this verse (NIV, NASB, NRSV, NKJV, NLT, ESV, TNIV, et. al.) render this verse "How can these things be?" Kostenberger then writes: "However, the translation 'How can these things happen?' is preferrable" without offering any explanation at all as to why it is preferrable or what difference it makes. Perhaps he thinks it is simply obvious, but the fact that it wasn't obvious to any of the translation committees of all the major English translations of the Bible cries out for an explanation/argument.

These are obviously very minor criticisms. This is a wonderful commentary and belongs on the shelf of every student of John's Gospel.

Andreas Kostenberger has provided us with a genuine treat in his new commentary on the Gospel of John. This commentary is in the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series, which is developing into one of the most useful series of commentaries for those who love God's word.

Like all of the commentaries in this series, Kostenberger's volumn is written from an evangelical standpoint that embraces the Gospel of John as being the authoritative word of God. This work consistently interacts with the Greek text and the majority of major contemporary commentaries on John.

Highlights of this volumn include:

1. It is extremely well written. Even in a series known for its readabilty, Kostenberger stands out as a model of clarity. Rather than simply checking selections, I have read this commentary from cover to cover - and it is a great joy to read.
2. Kostenberger makes outstanding use of footnotes. This feature makes it particularly easy to find both the support for his interpretations as well as dissenting voices. I suspect this feature alone will make Kostenberger's commentary the first one to be pulled off of the shelf.
3. Unlike many commentaries that answer all the questions except the one you are actually asking; this volumn shows exceptional judgment in selecting and addressing questions. Preachers will find this commentary a particulary rich and helpful resource in sermon preparation.

Are there reservations in recommending this commentary? Yes. First, while anyone could benefit from Kostenberger's excellent work - it will be best used by those who have at least one year of Koine Greek. Second, I wish that Kostenberger had been a little more painstaking in making and commenting on his (generally excellent) translation. Two illustrations of this should suffice:

1. Kostenberger translates John 3:19 "This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people preferred darkness to light; for their deeds were evil." The words translated "preferred" are almost universally translated "loved" and "more than" (i.e. "loved darkness more than light"). The word "loved" is identical to the word "loved" in John 3:16 just 3 verses earlier ("God so loved the world"). It is difficult to see why Kostenberger would lessen the force of this statement from "loved darkness" to "preferred darkness" and he offers no explanation in his text.
2. Kostenberger translates John 3:9 "Nicodemus answered and said to him, 'how can these things happen?'" The commentary points out that nearly all translations of this verse (NIV, NASB, NRSV, NKJV, NLT, ESV, TNIV, et. al.) render this verse "How can these things be?" Kostenberger then writes: "However, the translation 'How can these things happen?' is preferrable" without offering any explanation at all as to why it is preferrable or what difference it makes. Perhaps he thinks it is simply obvious, but the fact that it wasn't obvious to any of the translation committees of all the major English translations of the Bible cries out for an explanation/argument.

These are obviously very minor criticisms. This is a wonderful commentary and belongs on the shelf of every student of John's Gospel.

I appreciate David's positive review. The purpose of this brief note is to respond to the second of his two criticisms, which is that I do not justify my translation of 3:9 as "How can these things happen?" rather than the more conventional rendering, "How can these things be?"

In short, David's criticism is not valid. It is true that I do not include an explicit rationale. I do, however, refer the reader to the commentaries by Barrett and Carson, implying that I concur with their rationale. All the reader has to do, therefore, is to go to one of these commentaries to find out why I favor this particular rendering.

I realize that sending the reader to another commentary is not ideal, but at times it was necessary to use this kind of shorthand in light of space constraints. In any case, the reader who wants to know why I chose this particular rendering can find out why by consulting Barrett and/or Carson. I hope this helps.

I'm preaching through the Gospel of John, and have found that on the chapters so far, D.A. Carson's pillar is much fuller. He goes into a lot more detail.

Hope this helps :)

As a pastor working through John with our congregation, I find Andreas Kostenberger's volume an exceptionally rich work and valuable resource. There is sufficient detail for me to study beyond the scope of my sermon. This particular work has been one of my main 'go to' resources each week.

The strengths of this resource have been well-documented by other reviewers here, so I won't repeat the same.

During my study, there have been only two somewhat minor complaints...more like frustrations, really. The first is the occasional obscure English word used by the author to describe something. Realizing that Kostenberger is an academic, I can understand the propensity to do this. I'd just rather spend my time looking up Greek words rather than English words.

Secondly, there is a tendency for the author to overly send the reader to other resources for clarification. While I realize that one resource, no matter how well-written, can be complete in and of itself. Yet the continuity of thought and reading is repeatedly interrupted with a reference to another work for clarification. Sometimes it's the author's other works, and sometimes other commentaries. I'd like to be able to spend more than just a few minutes in this one volume without feeling like I need to refer to 3 or 4 other works to understand what was just written.

That said, I still rate this work with 4 stars. It's a very worthwhile addition to any pastor's library.

Kostenberger is one of the premier Evangelical scholars today on the gospel of John. I would say if you purchase only one exegetical commentary on John, this "may" be the best one to get because it summarizes the best of what has previously been accomplished in conservative commentaries on John. Having said that, this is also its weakness. I am surprised that Kostenberger's extensive work on John's gospel has not generated much in the way of fresh (or better yet refreshingly different) perspectives on the gospel. By this, I don't mean novel interpretations. By way of comparison, both Morris and Carson have very different perspectives and emphases on John's gospel that are equally very helpful. If you have those 2 commentaries, Kostenberger adds very little that is new and would not be worth the extra purchase. Also, I was hoping for a little more depth on certain passages that he seemed to gloss over or rush through.

Furthermore, there is a slightly disturbing aspect to Kostenberger that I should point out. I have found that he parrot's Carson's comments almost to the point of repeating him verbatim at times. I realize plagiarism is a serious charge and it seems like an editor should have picked up on this. In either case, I have used these commentaries side by side for nearly 4 years now (preaching through the gospel) and I have found this to be consistently the case, passage after passage. In some ways, that is a compliment to Carson, because his commentary is still the most insightful of all Evangelical commentaries on John.

Having said all that, Kostenberger is still a very good overall commentary. It is clear, to the point, faithful to the text and conservative in its interpretations. In addition to Morris and Carson (the best), I would also recommend Keener's 2 volume set. He offers good insight into historical background issues that the others do not and it is not as ponderous as some have claimed it to be.

I have studied this book for period of time. It provides precise but extensive interpretations for one of the most theological books of the Bible. The footnotes are especially helpful for further research. In a sense, I would like to see more discussion on certain sections. However, it is sometimes limited by the publisher. As a whole, the section summary is helpful. Summary on alternative views of different scholars are valuable. If there is a second edition, I prefer the author to add excursus on specific issues in the Gospel of John.

I highly recommend this book for seminary students, Bible teachers, pastors, and scholars. It would be a resourceful for the ministry of the word.

The streghts of the Baker series shine through: an outlined pericope by pericope approach, great aesthetics in the layout, an evangelical high view of scripture maintained while not being afraid to include or engage scholarship more critical, and plenty of space given to the authors to say what needs to be said (this one is right at 700 pages). All of these make it a great modern edition for a pastor's shelf.

What prevents a higher individual rating is that the questions the commentary tried to answer at times seem obscured - it can tilt too much to the exegetical and away from the commentary. Roughly 1/3rd of every page is footnotes that do a magnificent job of tracing the scholastic argument, but sometimes at the expense of the author's own comments and interpretation. It is a great exegetical work establishing the text in its own context and within the scholarship. It tends at times to lack a voice of its own.

A. Kostenberger's commentary on the fourth gospel is a gem. It is far better than D. A. Carson's or G. Beasley-Murray's. Kostenberger is respected conservative scholar with a pastor heart. The author really shows the true meaning of the fourth gospel, interacts with the most modern studies on John and gives his well balanced opinion on controversial issues. If you want to have the best now available commentary on John, buy it, it is worthy for you money.

A fine book but sometimes too short in many places. I hope it would be expanded to more than 1000 pages in total to cover more details. A good commentary on John should not be less than 1200 pages. But in any way, I am really satisfied with it.