Commentary on the Gospel of John (a part of “The New International Commentary on the New Testament”), by Leon Morris (Eerdmans, 1971, 936 pp., $12.50), is reviewed by James M. Boice, pastor, Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
There was a time not very long ago when the names of Dodd, Bernard, Barrett, Hoskins, and Davey were linked to the four most significant commentaries on the Gospel of John in English. No longer. The commentaries that these five great English scholars provided have not declined in value; no recent discoveries have totally overthrown their approaches to the Fourth Gospel. The situation has changed simply by the appearance of several new giants in the Johannine commentary field.
The first of the new challengers was the two-volume commentary on John prepared by Father Raymond E. Brown for the Anchor Bible series. The first volume of that 1,208-page study appeared in 1966, the second in 1970. Earlier this year there appeared the English translation of the monumental and widely influential commentary on John by Rudolf Bultmann, which was first published in German in 1941 (see review in CHRISTIANITY TODAY, July 16, 1971, p. 13). Now, almost on the heels of Bultmann’s work, there comes the larger and equally comprehensive tome by Leon Morris, which may be the best commentary on any book of the Bible by an evangelical in recent decades. It is certainly the largest and most thorough evangelical commentary on the Fourth Gospel.
The dust jacket of this work tells us Morris spent “several years” on this volume. That is an understatement. Actually, Morris has been at work on John’s Gospel for the last ten years, and although the work was not without interruptions, still much of his effort during this time has gone into it. Two years ago a volume of Studies in the Fourth Gospel, a by-product of his work on the commentary, appeared, and before that two other works: The Dead Sea Scrolls and St. John’s Gospel (1960) and The New Testament and the Jewish Lectionaries (1964). In recent years Morris has also written commentaries on Thessalonians, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, The Cross in the New Testament, and other volumes.
In some ways the answers of this principal of Ridley College, Melbourne, to the traditional problems associated with the Fourth Gospel are of less importance than the details of the verse-by-verse commentary. Yet the answers deserve mention also, if only because many will use them to assess the commentary. Morris holds to the traditional Johannine authorship, including the identification of the beloved disciple as the Apostle John. He believes that John wrote the entire Gospel, including the disputed twenty-first chapter. Verse 24 may be an exception. Morris also quite naturally holds to a fairly early dating of the book, though he is not specific. He expresses “an opinion” for a date before A.D. 70 and the fall of Jerusalem, but he does not rule out Albright’s preference for a date in “the late seventies or early eighties.”
An interesting feature of Morris’s commentary is the inclusion of supplemental discussions of important words or issues at strategic points throughout the volume. These are called “Additional Notes” and occur on: the Logos, the world, the Son of Man, truth, believing, the Paraclete, miracles, the Last Supper and the Passover, and the right of the Jews to inflict the death penalty. The section of John dealing with the woman taken in adultery is treated in an appendix to the entire volume.
All the “Additional Notes” are interesting, but I found those on miracles and the dating of the Last Supper and the Passover most stimulating. The section on miracles points out the extraordinary significance of the Johannine “signs.” Morris notes and comments on Jesus’ apparent preference for the word works. The note on the Last Supper and the Passover is an informative discussion of recent evidence bearing on the apparent conflict between the dating of the Last Supper and the crucifixion in John and the Synoptic Gospels. Morris feels that the best explanation is found in the existence of more than one calendar, one of which was followed by Jesus and his followers and the other by the temple authorities.
The best way to measure the value and flavor of this work is to delve into it. On God’s sovereignty and electing grace in John’s Gospel:
People do not come to Christ because it seems to them a good idea. It never does seem a good idea to natural man. Apart from a divine work in their souls … men remain contentedly in their sins. Before men can come to Christ it is necessary that the Father give them to Him [p. 367].
On God’s wrath:
We may not like it but we should not ignore it. John tells us that this wrath “abideth.” We should not expect it to fade away with the passage of time. If a man continues in unbelief and disobedience he can look for nothing other than the persisting wrath of God. This is basic to our understanding of the gospel. Unless we are saved from real peril there is no meaning in salvation [p. 250].
On faith:
Basically faith is trust. But in our reaction against the view that faith means no more than a firm acceptance of certain intellectual propositions we must not go so far as to say that it is entirely a matter of personal relations. It is impossible to have the kind of faith that John envisages without having a certain high view of Christ. Unless we believe that He is more than man we can never trust Him with that faith that is saving faith [p. 447].
With passages like these set in the midst of a detailed and comprehensive commentary, Morris has produced a study that is somewhat like his own description of the Fourth Gospel: it is “a pool in which a child may wade and an elephant can swim.” It will be useful for the beginner in faith as well as for the mature Christian or biblical scholar.
Not To Be Avoided
The Holiness-Pentecostal Movement in the United States, by Vinson Synan (Eerdmans, 1971, 248 pp., $5.95), is reviewed by Donald W. Dayton, assistant professor of bibliography and research and acquisitions librarian, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky.
Vinson Synan is chairman of the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Emmanuel College, Franklin Springs, Georgia. This book was his 1967 dissertation at the University of Georgia. Comparison with the original reveals only minor changes. Most interesting of these is the addition of “Holiness” to the title to emphasize “the overriding thesis … that the historical and doctrinal lineage of American pentecostalism is to be found in the Wesleyan tradition.” Others have advanced this thesis but have not defended it with such detailed and careful documentation. This work will surely rank with the most important interpretations of the origins of American Pentecostalism.
The author traces the development of Wesleyan theology with its emphasis on sanctification as a second work of grace subsequent to conversion, dwelling in particular upon the advocacy of this doctrine by the American Holiness Movement in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Among the many sects that emerged from this movement at the turn of the century were the various groups named “Church of God” and also the “Fire-Baptized Holiness Church” (which emphasized a third experience beyond sanctification). Charles F. Parham, to whom most students trace twentieth-century Pentecostalism, had some contact with the founder of this last group. Building on this foundation, Synan treats the well-known “Azusa Street revival,” Pentecostalism’s sweeping of Southern holiness churches, and the development of the “Assemblies of God” and the “Jesus Only” movements, as well as other more recent events.
Although Synan claims his book is not an apology, it is difficult not so to understand such statements as “a product of Methodism, the holiness-pentecostal movement traces its lineage through the Wesleys to Anglicanism and from thence to Roman Catholicism.” On one level this may be true, but one may question whether the “second blessing” theology of the American Holiness Movement preserved the nuances of Wesley’s teaching on “Christian Perfection” and also whether the thrust of the American movement is caught in Synan’s emphasis on the occurrence of such “motor phenomena” as the “jerks” and the place of religious emotion in prefiguring the Pentecostal emphasis on physical evidence of Christian experience.
Nevertheless, Synan’s thesis will stand in its broad outline. It is most nearly true of his own denomination, the Pentecostal Holiness Church (the group that Oral Roberts left when he joined United Methodism), and probably more true in the South, where the holiness movement was more radical in nature. No one really interested in understanding the rise of Pentecostalism in this century can avoid this book.
Newly Published
Rouault: A Vision of Suffering and Salvation, by William A. Dyrness (Eerdmans, 235 pp., $8.95). A penetrating analysis (see editorial, page 29).
Survival on the Campus: A Handbook for Christian Students, by William Proctor (Revell, 157 pp., $3.95). An invaluable aid to the beginning college student. From his own difficult experience as a Christian at Harvard, Proctor maps out a strategy for achieving spiritual growth through maximum involvement with non-Christians and their challenges to faith. He presents realistic approaches to problems of intellectual confrontation, drugs, sex, division among campus Christians, and political movements, using compelling illustrations from student’s lives.
A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, edited by William L. Holladay (Eerdmans, 425 pp., $15). A well-done abridgment for seminarians and preachers of the standard Koehler-Baumgartner (which costs more than twice as much).
The Returns of Love: Letters of a Christian Homosexual, by Alex Davidson (Inter-Varsity, 93 pp., $1.50 pb), and Forbidden Love: A Homosexual Looks for Understanding and Help, by John Drakeford (Word, 149 pp., $4.95). Homosexuals are real people for whom Christ died, but one would never guess that from the lack of attention to them and their problems in evangelical literature. A warm welcome therefore to these two ground-breaking, helpful introductions.
It Is Written, by Jacob A. O. Preus, and The Apostolic Scriptures, by David P. Scaer (Concordia, 74 and 68 pp., $1.75 each pb). Defenses of evangelical views of the Bible based on Christ’s attitude and his delegation of authority to the apostles.
Trinity Studies: Volume I, No. 1 (2045 Half Day Road, Deerfield, Ill. 60015, 62 pp., $1.75 pb). A journal launched at Trinity with a report on an imaginary Vatican III by one of the professors, and studies of Rauschenbusch, Bultmann, and the destiny of those who do not hear the Gospel by three of the students. The goal is twice-yearly publication.
Commentary on the Old Testament, by C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch (10 volumes, Eerdmans, $69.50). Long a standard set for Bible students with some knowledge of Hebrew. This nineteenth-century evangelical classic was formerly bound in twenty-five volumes and sold at a higher price.
Experiential Religion, by Richard R. Niebuhr (Harper & Row, 143 pp., $5.95). A very scholarly and dispassionate analysis of religious psychology, less concerned with what evangelicals think of as Christian experience than one might expect.
Vox Evangelica: Volume VII, edited by Donald Guthrie (London Bible College [Green Lane, Northwood, Middlesex, England], 87 pp., $2 pb). Essays on Paul by F. F. Bruce, immortality by H. D. McDonald, John by D. R. Carnegie, and theological education by H. H. Rowdon.
Understanding Speaking in Tongues, by Watson Mills (Eerdmans, 88 pp., $1.95 paperback), and New Testament Teaching on Tongues, by Merrill F. Unger (Kregel, 175 pp., $1.75 pb). Two who don’t speak in tongues look primarily at what Acts and First Corinthians have to say. Unger takes a harsh approach, acceptable only to those who agree with him in advance. Mills is appropriate for those who have had favorable encounters with Pentecostalism but want to see how others understand the relevant Scriptures.
The Jesus Freaks, by Jess Moody (Word, 127 pp., $3.95 and $.95). Not at all what you might think. Rather than being only about the movements of youth recently converted to Christ, it is a potpourri of testimonies to all kinds of “spiritual” experiences and outlooks. Fully one-third of the book is a list of addresses of so-called Liberated Churches, almost all of which are basically humanistic.
Christianity and the Class Struggle, by Harold O. J. Brown (Zondervan, 223 pp., $1.25 pb). A study of some of the divisions in society—economic, racial, generational—with a call for a distinctively Christian response. Slightly revised, soft-cover reissue of a 1970 publication.
Servants of Christ, edited by Donald G. Bloesch (Bethany Fellowship, 181 pp., paperback, $1.95). An inside look at the important ministry of the deaconess, its origin, present status, and future. While concentrating on the diaconate within the Lutheran church, the editor has included an essay on the deaconess in the Anglican communion as well as an evaluative essay by a Roman Catholic sister.
The Justification of the Law, by Clarence Morris (University of Pennsylvania, 214 pp., $12.50). A careful treatment of the philosophy of law in society. Pays some attention to natural law but none to prescriptive revealed law.
Grace and Freedom, by Bernard Lonergan (Herder and Herder, 187 pp., $9.75). The sudden popularity of Bernard Lonergan motivated the 1971 publication of his earliest, altogether classic work on the thought of Thomas Aquinas. It not only furnishes a good analysis of Thomas’s views but also reminds the reader of what Roman Catholic theology stood for until recently.
