Charles Swindoll, Insights on John (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010). $25.99, 364 pages.

Charles Swindoll is a master expository preacher. Over the next ten years, he plans to publish Swindoll’s New Testament Insights, a multi-volume commentary on all the books of the New Testament. To date, he has published volumes on Romans and John. These volumes are not technical commentaries. Rather, they are what I would classify as expository or devotional commentaries, written by preachers for parishioners.

This does not mean, of course, that they are unintelligent. Reading through the footnotes of Insights on John, it is clear that Swindoll has read older and newer technical commentaries on the Gospel, as well consulted the relevant reference materials. Swindoll has a good grasp on the overarching structure of John’s Gospel, distinguishing—as scholars are wont to do—between the books of signs (chapters 1–12) and the book of discourses (chapters 13–22). On the text-critical issue of John 7:53-8:11, Swindoll concludes that the story of the woman caught in adultery was not part of the original text. Swindoll assumes rather than argues for Johannine authorship. These things show that Swindoll situates himself within the mainstream of conservative biblical scholarship on John’s Gospel.

Nevertheless, Swindoll’s interest is not academic. It is pastoral. He wants to form Christians. This is where Insights on John is most helpful. Each section concludes with a brief “Application” section. There are also “Notes from My Journal” sprinkled throughout the book, which bring John’s message to bear on personal anecdotes.

These volumes will be useful to parishioners, Bible study groups, Bible study teachers, and—of course—pastors. Pastors should read Swindoll after they have done all the technical preparation for their sermons, lest they end up simply preaching Swindoll’s “Application” sections, which can be quite good.

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