Volume 3 contains commentary on the second half of John’s Gospel, including the raising of Lazarus, the final days of Jesus’ ministry, and the development of the disciples’ faith. He comments at length on the passion narrative, including Jesus’ arrest, trial, and resurrection.
“. What, then, we ask, is that glory which Jesus had already given to His own?” (Page 217)
“Jesus had acted (ch. 13) and spoken (chs. 14–16); He now used that language which is at the same time action: He prayed. But He not only prayed, He prayed aloud; which proves that while speaking to God, He was also speaking for those around Him. He desired to initiate them into that close communion which He maintained with His Father, and, if possible, to lead them to pray with Him.” (Page 195)
“expression εὑρών, having found, seems at the first glance incompatible” (Page 61)
“ but the leading thought which unifies it is the Father’s work, or, which comes to the same thing, the glory of God.” (Page 195)
“t is not, then, as is so often thought, the union of Christians with each other which is here spoken of” (Page 215)
Godet, in all his commentaries, shows a scholarly breadth of familiarity with the commentators who preceded him. Many of their interpretations are stated and refuted in order to present that which the author feels is the correct interpretation of the passage. One can in reading this work avail himself of a clear summary of the views of many various writers. The author was respected as a theologian, hence his work has depth, and was revered as a Greek scholar and exegete, and thus his work has accuracy.
[Frédéric Louis Godet] has many qualifications for his work. One of the most needful exists in an eminent degree—a hearty sympathy with the book he is expounding. He does not approach it from the outside, but the inside, having a heartfelt experience of the power of the blessedness of its truths.
—Talbot W. Chambers