D. A. Carson

I read this meticulously over three years and loved every single minute of it. Previously, I’ve not been an avid fan of Bible commentaries. You can often find yourself following someone else’s furrow. But after reading Carson’s masterful accompaniment to what is my favourite book of the entire (Protestant) canon of scripture, I’m determined to make it a habit.

I discovered Carson’s work through the excellent Best Commentaries website. If you, like me, are overwhelmed by the choices show more out there, this is a great place to start. You know you’re in for a treat when you see the rating on there: Carson’s commentary gets a solid 100% rating. He comes pretty close with my own rating below.

It’s not hard to see why. The work is a wonderful balance. Alongside technical information that is as deep as the average pulpit scholar needs to go is a wonderful devotional thread that shows that, for Carson, the text isn’t just a text but a gateway to understanding the God he loves.

This is really important. What we don’t want in a commentary is someone simply in love with the text. That the writer understands why John wrote his masterpiece is vitally important to helping you both as a Gospel and commentary reader to grasp the point of it all. As John himself writes:

but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20 v. 31

Carson doesn’t shy away from the difficult questions that John’s gospel throws up. If the beginning of chapter 8 is almost definitely not original, where did it come from and what does it mean for the the rest of the work? Was chapter 21 actually written by John? In fact, was any of it written by the apostle at all?

All these and many more are covered comprehensively by Carson. For each, he provides an overview of the range of scholaraly opinion, insights into the original Greek, historical, cultural and social data and the whole thing is written in a really accessible style that only very occasionally wanders off into areas of scholarship where the layman feels a little lost. It’s a masterpiece that any thinking Christian would do well to have read and keep to hand for years to come. show less

This book was such an utter surprise to me. I picked it up because 1) it was on sale and 2) who doesn't love D.A. Carson? Honestly, my expectations were minimal; the idea of a pastoral biography of a little-known pastor written by his son didn't particularly appeal to me.

Boy, was I wrong!

This book was an orchestra of grace in my heart in a season when I desperately needed it. Tom Carson is a church planter that we never heard of, but one we should know. His story represents untold thousands show more who labor in the vineyard of the Lord season after season with little or no accolades and minimal visible success. Honestly, he is the pastoral "everyman." I think this book ought to be required reading in every seminary; it will crush the romantic and unrealistic notions of rapid church growth and mega-church pastoral appointments that lurk in the corners of every seminarians' heart. Tom Carson was, in a word, faithful. What a joyful and beautiful tribute D.A. Carson offers his father. He manages to avoid hagiography, telling us about his father's struggles and personal dark night of the soul.

Thank you Dr. Carson. Your tribute to your father lifted me in a time when I desperately needed it! show less

This book is a handy summation of the major types of exegetical fallacies. It provides clear definitions and good illustrations, and is especially adept at distinguishing and relating the various "members" of the various families of related fallacies. Carson is clearly an exegete of uncommon skill, especially in his grasp of the general rules of linguistics and logic.

However. I would have to say that I feel generous giving the book a single star because of one single factor: the tone. I've show more read a good many scholars who could have used a lesson or two in humility and gentility, but I've never read another book that could match this for arrogance and condescension. In fact, it's so bad, you expect about halfway through that Carson is going to reveal that the book is a parody of exegetical criticism. You keep waiting for the, "Oh, I'm just kidding! I really do respect the authors I'm critiquing and their works are, overall, extremely valuable." That moment never comes.

And the REAL issue is that the information in the book is truly valuable, well-organized, and easy-to-follow. I'd love to use this text in a hermeneutics class, but since I'm trying to teach students to be lovers of the Word of God and not to be pompous, self-important, condescending jerks, I'll have to look for another text. show less

In this persuasive book, D. A. Carson argues that Western culture as a whole has come to define tolerance quite differently from its original meaning. In the original definition of tolerance, people believed that there was absolute truth that could be known. You would tolerate people whose views were in opposition to your own, and you were free to engage in open, vigorous debate. You could tell someone that he/she was wrong and still treat that person with respect and dignity. The new show more definition of tolerance, strongly influenced by postmodernism, holds that there is no absolute truth and therefore telling a person that he/she is wrong is intolerant. And such "intolerance" should not be tolerated. It should be obvious, but apparently isn't, that the new tolerance is itself intolerant.

The implications for our world are staggering when one considers the rise of the new tolerance and its inherent inconsistencies and contradictions. Carson cites well-documented case after case of the way that the new tolerance suppresses freedom of speech in the name of toleration. College professors have been fired for stating viewpoints that their universities did not agree with. Homeschooling parents have been ordered to stop teaching their children at home because they are passing their beliefs (deemed "intolerant") on to their children. Prison ministries have been sued for partnering with state institutions to reduce recidivism (with excellent results) through Bible study and prayer. In the new tolerance, the only crime is intolerance and therefore intolerance is the only suitable response to those deemed intolerant.

Central to the new tolerance is the assumption that secularism is a neutral position, but nothing could be further from the truth. Secularism by its very nature denies the absolute truth claims of the world's religions—thereby making a claim to absolute truth itself. It's as laughable and ridiculous as that line in George Lucas's latest Star Wars film, "only a Sith deals in absolutes." How the writers failed to see that that statement is, in itself, an absolute is indicative of the utter lack of self-examination and self-awareness displayed by the majority of the new tolerance's proponents.

What is a Christian to do with all this? It looks pretty bleak out there, as secularism and the new definition of tolerance continue to gain ground in our cultural assumptions. I appreciate how Carson wraps up his book with a chapter on where to go from here. Basically, we must continue to point out the inconsistencies, hypocrisy, and moral bankruptcy of the new tolerance. We must evangelize, keeping the gospel central to all we do. We must be tolerant (according to the old definition!) of those with whom we disagree.

And we must prepare to suffer. It won't be a sudden persecution, police rounding up all Christians to be incarcerated or something. Instead, the suffering we face is the encroaching kind. Christians will be fined for speaking truths out of alignment with the culture's dominant belief system of intolerant tolerance. Or we'll be barred from certain professions, or prevented from entering universities, or any number of quiet persecutions that will seem not only necessary, but morally praiseworthy to those who hold to the new tolerance.

This is an eye-opening, much-needed, and somewhat disturbing book. The whole current of Western culture is drifting further and further away from Christianity; I don't know the numbers, but it certainly feels like we're already the minority. The new tolerance is winning. It can be tempting to fear what is coming to us and our children. I'm so thankful that my hope does not lie in the culture coming back to its senses, but in Christ. show less