Thursday, August 12, 2021

Review: John Through Old Testament Eyes

 

          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.]

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