The Gospel of John, Volume One

William Barclay

Description

"The Gospel according to Saint John is to many people the most precious book in he Bible," states William Barclay. In order to help uncover the tremendous wealth of this Gospel, Barclay has provided his own unique translation of the text, a detailed commentary, and a comprehensive introduction. This new edition will help bring the book in which "many people find themselves closer to God and to Jesus Christ than in any other book in the world" closer to home and freshly relevant for today's readers. For almost fifty years and for millions of readers, the Daily Study Bible commentaries have been the ideal help for both devotional and serious Bible study. Now, with the release of the New Daily Study Bible, a new generation will appreciate the wisdom of William Barclay. With clarification of less familiar illustrations and inclusion of more contemporary language, the New Daily Study Bible will continue to help individuals and groups discover what the message of the New Testament really means for their lives.
But we have only to read the Fourth Gospel in the most cursory way to see that it is quite different from the other three. It omits so many things that they include. The Fourth Gospel has no account of the birth of Jesus, of his baptism, of his temptations; it tells us nothing of the Last Supper, nothing of Gethsemane and nothing of the ascension. It has no word of the healing of any people possessed by devils and evil spirits. And, perhaps most surprising of all, it has none of the parable stories Jesus told which are such a priceless part of the other three gospels. In these other three gospels, Jesus speaks either in these wonderful stories or in short, epigrammatic, vivid sentences which stick in the memory. But in the Fourth Gospel, the speeches of Jesus are often a whole chapter long and are often involved, argumentative pronouncements quite unlike the pithy, unforgettable sayings of the other three.

Sujets

• Biblical Commentary
• Philosophie et théologie
• New Testament
• Commentary
• Religion
• John

Informations

• Publié par: Presbyterian Publishing Corporation
• Date de parution: 01 novembre 2001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781611640144
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

© The William Barclay Estate, 1975, 2001
Originally published in 1955 as The Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of John, Volume 1 by Saint Andrew Press, 121 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 4YN
Revised and updated by Saint Andrew Press, 2001
Published in the United States by Westminster John Knox Press Louisville, Kentucky
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Westminster John Knox Press, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202-1396.
The Scripture quotations contained herein are from The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 by the division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
Cover design by McColl Productions Ltd., by courtesy of Saint Andrew Press
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
07 08 09 10 — 11 10 9 8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bible. N.T. John. English. Barclay. 2001.
The Gospel of John / William Barclay.— Rev. and updated.
    p. cm. — (The new daily study Bible)
ISBN 978-0-664-22489-9 (v. 1: alk. paper)
1. Bible. N.T. John—Commentaries. I. Barclay, William, 1907-1978. II. Title. III. Series.
BS2613.B37 2001
226.5’077—dc21                                                            2001046840
Published by SAINT ANDREW PRESS 121 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 4YN
© The William Barclay Estate, 1975, 2001
First edition published in 1955 as The Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of John Revised edition published in 1975 This third edition fully revised and updated by Saint Andrew Press and published as The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of John in 2001
The Scripture quotations contained herein are from The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
ISBN 0 7152 0784 9
The right of William Barclay to be identified as author of this work has been asserted according to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
Cover design by McColl Productions Ltd, by courtesy of Saint Andrew Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent.
Typeset by Waverley Typesetters, Galashiels Printed in Great Britain by Creative Print & Design, Wales
CONTENTS
Series Foreword (by Ronnie Barclay)
General Introduction (by William Barclay, 1975)
General Foreword (by John Drane)
Editor’s Preface (by Linda Foster)
Introduction (by John Drane)
Introduction to the Gospel of John
The Word (1:1–18)
The Word Became Flesh
The Eternal Word (1:1–2)
The Creator of All Things (1:3)
Life and Light (1:4)
Life and Light (1:4) (contd)
The Hostile Dark (1:5)
The Witness to Jesus Christ (1:6–8)
The Light of All People (1:9)
Unrecognized (1:10–11)
Unrecognized (1:10–11) (contd)
Children of God (1:12–13)
The Word Became Flesh (1:14)
The Word Became Flesh (1:14) (contd)
The Word Became Flesh (1:14) (contd)
The Inexhaustible Fullness (1:15–17)
The Revelation of God (1:18)
The Witness of John (1:19–28)
The Witness of John (1:19–28) (contd)
The Lamb of God (1:29–31)
The Coming of the Spirit (1:32–4)
The First Disciples (1:35–9)
Sharing the Glory (1:40–2)
The Surrender of Nathanael (143–51)
The New Exhilaration (2:1–11)
The New Exhilaration (2:1–11) (contd)
The New Exhilaration (2:1–11) (contd)
The Anger of Jesus (2:12–16)
The Anger of Jesus (2:12–16) (contd)
The Anger of Jesus (2:12–16) (contd)
The New Temple (2:17–22)
The Searcher of Human Hearts (2:23–5)
The Man Who Came by Night (3:1–6)
The Man Who Came by Night (3:1–6) (contd)
Born Again (3:1–6) (contd)
The Duty to Know and the Right to Speak (3:7–13)
The Uplifted Christ (3:14–15)
The Love of God (3:16)
Love and Judgment (3:17–21)
A Man Without Envy (3:22–30)
The One from Heaven (3:31–6)
Breaking Down the Barriers (4:1–9)
The Living Water (4:10–15)
Facing the Truth (4:15–21)
The True Worship (4:22–6)
Sharing the Wonder (4:27–30)
The Most Satisfying Food (4:31–4)
The Sower, the Harvest and the Reapers (4:35–8)
The Saviour of the World (4:39–42)
The Unanswerable Argument (4:43–5)
A Courtier’s Faith (4:46–54)
Human Helplessness and Christ’s Power (5:1–9)
The Inner Meaning (5:1–9) (contd)
Healing and Hatred (5:10–18)
The Tremendous Claims (5:19–29)
The Father and the Son (5:19–20)
Life, Judgment and Honour (5:21–3)
Acceptance Means Life (5:24)
Death and Life (5:25–9)
The Only True Judgment (5:30)
Witness to Christ (5:31–6)
The Witness of God (5:37–43)
The Ultimate Condemnation (5:44–7)
The Loaves and Fishes (6:1–13)
The Meaning of a Miracle (6:1–13) (contd)
The Response of the Crowd (6:14–15)
A Very Present Help in Time of Trouble (6:16–21)
The Mistaken Search (6:22–7)
The Only True Work (6:28–9)
The Demand for a Sign (6:30–4)
The Bread of Life (6:35–40)
The Failure of the Jews (6:41–51)
His Body and His Blood (6:51–9)
His Body and His Blood (6:51–9) (contd)
The All-Important Spirit (6:59–65)
Attitudes to Christ (6:66–71)
Not Our Time but God’s (7:1–9)
Reactions to Jesus (7:10–13)
Verdicts on Jesus (7:10–13) (contd)
The Ultimate Authority (7:15–18)
A Wise Argument (7:19–24)
The Claim of Christ (7:14, 25–30)
Searching – In Time (7:31–6)
The Fountain of Living Water (7:37–44)
The Fountain of Living Water (7:37–44) (contd)
Unwilling Administration and Timid Defence (7:45–52)
SERIES FOREWORD
(by Ronnie Barclay)
My father always had a great love for the English language and its literature. As a student at the University of Glasgow, he won a prize in the English class – and I have no doubt that he could have become a Professor of English instead of Divinity and Biblical Criticism. In a pre-computer age, he had a mind like a computer that could store vast numbers of quotations, illustrations, anecdotes and allusions; and, more remarkably still, he could retrieve them at will. The editor of this revision has, where necessary, corrected and attributed the vast majority of these quotations with considerable skill and has enhanced our pleasure as we read quotations from Plato to T. S. Eliot.
There is another very welcome improvement in the new text. My mother was one of five sisters, and my grandmother was a commanding figure as the Presbyterian minister’s wife in a small village in Ayrshire in Scotland. She ran that small community very efficiently, and I always felt that my father, surrounded by so many women, was more than somewhat overawed by it all! I am sure that this is the reason why his use of English tended to be dominated by the words ‘man’, ‘men’ and so on, with the result that it sounded very male-orientated. Once again, the editor has very skilfully improved my father’s English and made the text much more readable for all of us by amending the often one-sided language.
It is a well-known fact that William Barclay wrote at breakneck speed and never corrected anything once it was on paper – he took great pride in mentioning this at every possible opportunity! This revision, in removing repetition and correcting the inevitable errors that had slipped through, has produced a text free from all the tell-tale signs of very rapid writing. It is with great pleasure that I commend this revision to readers old and new in the certainty that William Barclay speaks even more clearly to us all with his wonderful appeal in this new version of his much-loved Daily Study Bible.
Ronnie Barclay Bedfordshire 2001
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
(by William Barclay, from the 1975 edition)
The Daily Study Bible series has always had one aim – to convey the results of scholarship to the ordinary reader. A. S. Peake delighted in the saying that he was a ‘theological middle-man’, and I would be happy if the same could be said of me in regard to these volumes. And yet the primary aim of the series has never been academic. It could be summed up in the famous words of Richard of Chichester’s prayer – to enable men and women ‘to know Jesus Christ more clearly, to love him more dearly, and to follow him more nearly’.
It is all of twenty years since the first volume of The Daily Study Bible was published. The series was the brain-child of the late Rev. Andrew McCosh, MA, STM, the then Secretary and Manager of the Committee on Publications of the Church of Scotland, and of the late Rev. R. G. Macdonald, OBE, MA, DD, its Convener.
It is a great joy to me to know that all through the years The Daily Study Bible has been used at home and abroad, by minister, by missionary, by student and by layman, and that it has been translated into many different languages. Now, after so many printings, it has become necessary to renew the printer’s type and the opportunity has been taken to restyle the books, to correct some errors in the text and to remove some references which have become outdated. At the same time, the Biblical quotations within the text have been changed to use the Revised Standard Version, but my own original translation of the New Testament passages has been retained