DESCRIPTION

The three Epistles of John, according to I. Howard Marshall, are concerned with the fundamentals of Christian belief and life - faith and love. The reader who grasps the message of these short but essential letters will have a sound basis in Christian doctrine. This group of Epistles, says Marshall, is also a good starting point for the study of the Gospel of John. This commentary, then, was written so that students of the Bible might not only master the content of John's Epistles but also better understand Johannine theology as a whole.

The volume includes an "invitation" to general readers and an "introduction" addressed to students and specialists. Another unique feature is a rearrangement of the traditional order of the three letters: 2 John and 3 John are studied before 1 John. This structure assures that the two shorter letters are not relegated to the position of appendices but are treated as important documents of early Christianity in their own right.