In her commentary on John’s letters, Karen H. Jobes writes to bridge the distance between academic biblical studies and pastors, students, and laypeople who are looking for an in-depth treatment of the issues raised by these New Testament books. She approaches the three letters of John as part of the corpus that includes John’s gospel, while rejecting an elaborate redactional history of that gospel that implicates the letters. Jobes treats three major themes of the letters under the larger rubric of who has the authority to interpret the true significance of Jesus, an issue that is pressing in our religiously pluralistic society today with its many voices claiming truth about God.

Designed for the pastor and Bible teacher, the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament brings together commentary features rarely gathered in one volume. Written by notable evangelical scholars, each volume treats the literary context and structure of the passage in the original Greek, and each author provides an original translation based on the literary structure. Critical scholarship informs each step but does not dominate the commentary, allowing readers to concentrate on the biblical author’s message as it unfolds.

While primarily designed for those with a basic knowledge of biblical Greek, all who strive to understand and teach the New Testament will find these books beneficial. The Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series will cover the entire New Testament in twenty volumes; Clinton E. Arnold serves as general editor.