John 1-12 (Reformation Commentary on Scripture, NT vol. IV | RCS)
Overview
The first 18 verses of the Gospel of John make some of the most profound statements about the character and work of Christ in all of Scripture: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1:1); “all things were made through him” (1:3); “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (1:14).
Reformation commentators ruminated on the meaning and implications of such claims for shedding light on doctrines like the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, and his incarnation, but also for grasping the saving benefits of Christ’s work in justification (for those “who believed in his name”) and new birth (those born of God as his children, 1:12-13).
In this volume, Craig Farmer expertly guides readers through Reformation meditation on these themes and many others as they are unpacked in the first 12 chapters of the Gospel of John, from the Prologue to Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Here you will find a rich mosaic of reflection on the Gospel of John by a variety of significant well-known and lesser-known figures among the Reformed, Lutherans, Radicals, and Roman Catholics. Farmer has done justice to the depth and nuance of the work of these Reformation-era pastors and scholars by drawing from a range of genres—extensive commentary, brief annotations, impassioned sermons, official confessions, and careful doctrinal and practical treatises.
Contemporary scholars will find this volume indispensable for understanding the significance of the “spiritual Gospel” for Reformation theology and practice, and pastors will discover here a consistently fruitful source for preaching, teaching, and discipleship in the “grace and truth” that have come through Jesus Christ (1:17).
- Provides a deeper understanding of the Reformation and the breadth of perspectives represented within it
- Advances Christian scholarship in the fields of historical, biblical, and pastoral studies
- Edited by scholars from around the world known for their command of the history of biblical interpretation in the Reformation era
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- A Guide to Using This Commentary
- General Introduction
- Introduction to John
- Commentary on John
- Map of Europe at the time of the Reformation
- Timeline of the Reformation
- Biographical Sketches of Reformation-Era Figures and Works
- Bibliography
Top Highlights
“But he tests so that the condition of the one being tested might be made known to others” (Page 197)
“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.’” (Page 136)
“for to believe is to live in death and to rejoice in affliction” (Page 176)
“The Jews had ceremonies prescribed by God, and the Samaritans had a worship invented by human beings. To this extent their manner of worship was certainly different. Nevertheless, they were both laboring under one of those two vices: one, they were worshiping God by outward rites of worship; two, they were doing this insincerely.” (Page 136)
“Nowhere in all the gospel stories will you find some child coming to Christ to say, ‘Lord, come down before my parent dies.’” (Page 153)
- Title: John 1–12: New Testament, Volume 4
- Authors: Timothy George, Scott M. Manetsch, Craig Steven Farmer
- Series: Reformation Commentary on Scripture
- Volume: IV
- Publisher: IVP Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2014
- Logos Release Date: 2016
- Pages: 539
- Era: era:reformation
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Bible. N.T. John 1-12 › Commentaries
- ISBNs: 9780830879717, 9780830829675, 0830879714, 0830829679
- Resource ID: LLS:REFORMCOMM04
- Resource Type: Bible Commentary
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-02-09T17:09:13Z
Craig S. Farmer (PhD, Duke University) is professor of history and humanities and Joel O. and Mabel Stephens Chair of the Bible at Milligan College, Tennessee. He is the author of The Gospel of John in the Sixteenth Century: The Johannine Exegesis of Wolfgang Musculus.