Customer Reviews

John 1-11 MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Macarthur New Testament Commentary Serie)

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This commentary is great. Just what I have come to expect from John MacArthur. His exposition of the Word of God is straight forward, to the point and explained in an easy to understand manner. I recommend this book, as well as the other commentaries in this series, to all students of the Bible (all Christians)

As a pastor, I have nearly 30 commentaries on the Gospel of John but this is the by far my favorite. It is a great balance of academic scholarship and pastoral application. This is a great commentary for both the scholary study and personal devotional reading. For those of you who have not taken Greek, don't fear: the Greek is transliterated into English so you won't have a problem with pronounciation. For those of you who plan to do academic & scholarly work, this volume is already available as a Logos Libronix download so that you can easily cut & paste with the automatic footnote/endnote feature offered in Libronix.
The only problem with the commentary is that it's companion for the last half of the Gospel of John has not yet been released. When the second volume is released, it will likely be the most useful commentary set on the Gospel of John that is available. I give this my hightest recommendation.

Most commentaries particularly the scholarly ones are written with the Post Graduate in mind and are resourceful in preparing a thesis for a doctorate programme. John MacArthur holds the edification of saints at heart in his commentaries particularly this one. His commentaries simply don't impart knowledge but opens up understanding. Highly recommended for correction and edification.

John Macarthur has once again blessed the world with a comprehensive and meaty study on the Gospel of John. This book is a must-read for all who want to go more indepth on the Gospel of John

The name John MacArthur is practically synonymous with excellence and it seems almost pointless to review his works. Anyone who has heard or read Pastor MacArthur knows that he is no slouch when it comes to the study of the Word of God. Having read over 20 works on the Gospel of John I can now say that I am gaining a grasp on the type of literature that is available on this topic. It basically divides in 2 camps; the liberal interpretation of John and the conservative interpretation of John. After that it is about sizing up the commentaries to see where they fall on the scale.

This one is of course from a conservative evangelical perspective. This is not suggest that it is shallow. On the contrary this book is accessible and yet it contains real substance that one can sink their spiritual teeth into. In one sense it is fairly standard. He is not reinventing the wheel and he does not need to. He is not writing as a Professor who feels the need to find a new angle so he is able to fill a more traditional style of commentary. He offers a strong defense for such issues as the authorship of John, the miracles of Christ, the historicity of this gospel, and the stance that sees John as complementary not contradictory to the synoptics.

The previous things are not something that could not have been studied out any other conservative commentary on John. The strength of this book is its delivery. If you are a preacher or a Sunday School teacher who might be scratching your head about how to approach teaching this dense gospel than this book is for you. Pastor MacArthur is a master expositor. His ability to connect text with modern hearers is inspirational. While it is slightly different than hearing him preach, one can still get the jest of how he opens this book to general audiences who do not have a familiarity with this gospel. He starts each chapter with a "big picture" thought and pulls the reader into the narrative. His divisions help to see how a pro like him divides this gospel for teaching. Pastor MacArthur has my deepest admiration and respect, although I am not a Calvinist or a Cessationist in my theology! Calvinism is not an issue with me but some of his comments about the miracles of Jesus and discounting miracles that Jesus might do in the present seems at times contradictory. He presents this fantastic, magnanimous, staggering view of historical Jesus but then limits his abilities in the present. The Sovereignty of God is not limited to the time of Jesus and the Apostles and to limit the miracles by discounting the possibility of Christ doing them in the present through his church is to limit the Sovereignty of God.

Overall, this is a great first volume. It is something that it is helpful to anyone studying this Gospel and especially for someone who wants to preach it. You will not find a better example of preaching this gospel than with Pastor MacArthur. While my theological differences would likely be a big deal to MacArthur, these differences are not all encompassing to me. He is a man who has a ministry from God that is to be respected and honored and his love for the word oozes onto every page he writes and every sermon he preaches.

I am using this commentary to prepare a Bible study in the Book of John and I absolutely love it. The references to other parts of Scripture are very helpful. MacArthur explains the Bible with the Bible, in other words every verse is linked to other verses in the Bible.
Also, there are several historic references and explanations on what some words mean in Greek and Hebrew. The best thing is that this commentary is very easy to read and understand.
You do not have to be a teacher of the Bible to appreciate and use this commentary. As I said, it is very easy to read and understand.