Exploring The Gospel Of John: An Expository Commentary

Exploring The Gospel Of John: An Expository Commentary
by John Phillips
Kregel Publications
PO Box 2607
Grand Rapids, MI 49501
©1989 401pp Hard Cover
Commentaries can be fun and enlightening! Really they can! That’s why people write so many of them. Those of you familiar with the Ironside Expository Commentaries should be in for a thrill with the Phillips Expository Commentaries. John Phillips wrote a series of commentaries on scripture back in the eighties. In the book Exploring the Gospel of John, Phillips tries to explain in depth the most confusing of the four gospels. It is not really confusing but it is a little different so certain “cough” scholars have dedicate their lives to arguing with each other over it. When was John written, who wrote it, what does it mean, and does it contradict the others are all pointless topics that get harped on in seminaries and religion classes the world over!
Dr. Phillips spent his career teaching seminary and writing. Phillips commentary series tries to navigate the sea of arguments over the Bible to come up with a scholarly and adult guide to the books in it. He tries to explain the Gospel of John from a modern perspective for modern readers. Whether this is the right or wrong way to interpret the book is irrelevant. What matters in any commentary is that it explains the topic without either talking down to or insulting the readers. That way the reader is encouraged to reread the original text. If the reader has never discovered the text than a commentary can serve as an introduction to the topic. In this area Phillips has succeeded.