3 commentaries under 15. Malachi vs John 1-3. not enough for all 3. Which do I choose?

I'm still in a bad financial pit. Hopefully my family can get out of it next year. I've got 5 bucks on a prepaid and that means i can purchase the Malachi Commentary or the 1-3 John commentary, not both and definitely not all three. Eventually I plan on purchasing Anglican starter and hopefully Orthodox Bronze (it only shows 70 bucks for me for Orthodox bronze) as the former includes IVP Bible Backgrounds and the latter includes 13 different Orhtodox commentaries. (I'm technically "protestant" but I don't have a sect and I have some orthodox sympathies. Anyway, right now there's these commentaries on sale for cheap, but i'm debating on whether I should purchase 1 commentary of none, since I'm not sure what might be available at a deep discount this coming monday. I've been reading Crone's book on government and the Bible, and doing some research on 2nd Peter, as well as the Problem of Evil. Research is both a hobby and a source of conversation for me and my friends who are Christian. bleh. okay well any opinions on the current commentaries available at a deep discount?

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Paul Caneparo

I'm still in a bad financial pit. Hopefully my family can get out of it next year. I've got 5 bucks on a prepaid and that means i can purchase the Malachi Commentary or the 1-3 John commentary, not both and definitely not all three. Eventually I plan on purchasing Anglican starter and hopefully Orthodox Bronze (it only shows 70 bucks for me for Orthodox bronze) as the former includes IVP Bible Backgrounds and the latter includes 13 different Orhtodox commentaries. (I'm technically "protestant" but I don't have a sect and I have some orthodox sympathies. Anyway, right now there's these commentaries on sale for cheap, but i'm debating on whether I should purchase 1 commentary of none, since I'm not sure what might be available at a deep discount this coming monday. I've been reading Crone's book on government and the Bible, and doing some research on 2nd Peter, as well as the Problem of Evil. Research is both a hobby and a source of conversation for me and my friends who are Christian. bleh. okay well any opinions on the current commentaries available at a deep discount?

Looking at the preview function the 1-3 John book is not a commentary as such. The Malachi commentary is a great price by a well-regarded scholar at a price unlikely to be repeated again.

Barnabas

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1076404#Comment_1076404

Thanks.

Mattillo

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1076404#Comment_1076404

Looking at the preview function the 1-3 John book is not a commentary as such. The Malachi commentary is a great price by a well-regarded scholar at a price unlikely to be repeated again.

I agree w/ Paul [which is usually the case ] Malachi and Jeremiah would be my first two choices. 1-3 John looks great to so don't discount it but it is a book on the theology of 1-3 John and not a commentary. The author also wrote the EEC version of 1-3 John and looking at his credentials would be on solid ground but I have not read the book.

Barnabas

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1076419#Comment_1076419

I got the Malachi one. Not enough on my card for Jeremiah .

Mattillo

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1076419#Comment_1076419

Sample:

Special Revelation

Defined

Special revelation is often defined as God’s revelation through Scripture and through His Son, Jesus Christ.5 However, it also includes those agents and acts of God through which He reveals truths concerning Himself and man’s relationship with Him beyond that of general revelation. This would include truths communicated through His prophets, angelic messengers, miraculous interventions, and His own spoken words at times.6 Where general revelation makes men accountable before God, and thus can only bring condemnation, special revelation enables them to respond to God in a salvific manner. It also enables God’s children to know His will in worship and daily living, and thereby to reflect His character as they experience His life. Though references to general revelation are absent from John’s First Epistle, he does address the topic of special revelation.7 For John, God has revealed Himself through His Son, Jesus.

Summary

John’s doctrine of special revelation begins with his own personal contact with Jesus. It includes Jesus’ incarnation and instructions. Christian conduct, as we love one another with God’s love, serves as another form of special revelation in that the world sees God’s loving character through us. Finally, inspired Scripture is provided to us by God through the apostles and writing prophets of the New Testament.

The purpose of special revelation is to guide our living and enable us to avoid sin. Additionally, it has been provided to protect God’s children from false teachers, whom John calls antichrists. Finally, it brings us assurance of our salvation.

Developed

We see this doctrine introduced in the prologue of John’s First Epistle. Though it is not stated directly, it is described. He then develops and illustrates the concept through the remainder of the epistle, as we will see in the verses that follow.

1 John

1:1–3. John received the message of life through his personal contact and relationship with Jesus, who is Eternal Life incarnate and the living Word of Life, sent from God the Father. In this prologue to his epistle, John describes the special revelation he had received from Jesus. This revelation included personal contact, what he had “seen” and “handled,” referring to the physical experience of Christ. It also included direct revelation from Jesus in the form of instruction, what he “heard.” The revelation received was about Jesus as the source of life and about fellowship with God the Father and Jesus, His Son. Thus, John is affirming that what he was about to write to his readers had come to him directly from Jesus and that it involved those things needed to commune with God and other believers.

1:5. John’s message was that which he had “heard from Him.” He follows this with a discussion of the holy nature of God and the place of confession and cleansing in the life of the believer who wishes to have fellowship with God. The message heard from Jesus is revelation about God, what we call special revelation. It teaches specific truths about God that are necessary for us to understand and thereby have a proper relationship with God.

1:8, 10. God’s truth and word are not influencing those believers who deny sin in their lives. This is an allusion to God’s special revelation. It shows that we must respond to what God has revealed if we are to believe the right things about sin and if we are to relate to God in a proper manner. Failing to believe those revealed truths results in self-deception and an inability to relate to God. The nature of a healthy relationship with God is described in this section of the epistle as “walking in the light.” Light, as it is used here, refers to the sphere of God’s moral purity.

2:1. One of the purposes of special revelation is to provide us the knowledge we need in order to avoid sin. We cannot know what is righteous conduct, or sinful, apart from being told by God, who speaks to us through His prophets and apostles.8

2:20–21. Revelation from God to us, the “truth” we need to know, may be described as an “anointing” that we should “abide in” and allow to “abide” in us.9 By this John is saying that we have received instruction, revelation, of God’s will. However, we must consciously act on those truths (abide in the truths) and allow them to influence and guide us (the truths abide in us) in order to avoid the false teachings of the antichrists who were described in the previous paragraphs. Thus we see that special revelation is only effective when its recipients respond to it with obedience. It can only protect us from sin or harm when we allow it to guide us.

2:26–27. The revelation provided by God to us through the Scriptures should be allowed to influence our lives such that we will remain in fellowship with God. John once again describes this revelation as an “anointing from God” that teaches us and is “not a lie.” Though some interpreters would see this as a reference to the Holy Spirit, it is better to see it as referring to the body of instruction John’s readers had received from the beginning of their spiritual journeys. This idea is supported by his words in verse 24 where John defines God’s anointing as that “which you heard from the beginning” and enabled his readers to “abide in the Son and in the Father.”

3:2. We do not know exactly “what we shall be” when Jesus appears. What has been revealed, though, is that “we will be like Him.” Verse 3 indicates that John is referring to our moral state. We will become like Christ morally. We will experience His purity. There will be other changes in our being and nature as well.10 However, we have not been told what they are, and so we await their discovery in eternity. Heaven awaits us and is full of surprises.

4:3. When warning his readers against the Antichrist, John reminds them that they had already received instruction, revelation, about him. This may have been something taught them by John, or may allude to key Old Testament prophetic passages such as Daniel’s reference to the prince to come who will bring an end to sacrifices and make desolate (Dan 9:26–27). He may also be referring to Jesus’ warnings in the Olivet Discourse of the “abomination of desolation” from Daniel’s prophecies (Matt 24:15), or alluding to Paul’s instructions to the Thessalonians about the man of lawlessness (2 Thess 2:1–12).11

4:9–11. Jesus’ appearance as the “only begotten Son” of God who brings us life was a visible expression of God’s love. This is an example of Jesus’ role in special revelation. It also serves as the paradigm of our role in revealing truths about God to the world, truths that cannot be learned from general revelation.

4:12. Although no one has seen God, He has revealed Himself through our love for one another. The truth of God’s loving nature could not be communicated apart from its demonstration through Christ and Christians. Thus we play a part in God’s continuing special revelation to a lost and dying world, laying in spiritual darkness, and needing the light of revelation to find its way to life. We are agents of God’s special revelation. He reveals His love to the world through our loving one another. He communicates the message of salvation through us as we share the gospel with our lost family members, friends, coworkers, and acquaintances.

5:9–12. The central content of God’s special revelation, called here His “witness” and “testimony,” concerns the message of life in His Son. John now reveals the purpose of God’s providing us special revelation. He did it so that we could know the truths about our salvation. One of those truths we are to know is that we possess eternal life. It is not God’s will for any of His children to doubt their possession of life in His Son. And so He provides us assurance through the promise of eternal life for everyone who believes in His Son.12

These verses serve as the climax of this doctrine’s development by John. The most significant special revelation we have is God’s testimony about His Son. Without that we have neither salvation nor assurance. However, because God has revealed these truths, we can know without a doubt that we have life because we have His Son as our Savior.

5:20. At the conclusion of the epistle John reminds us the purpose of God’s special revelation. God has revealed to us propositional truths in order that we might have “an understanding” and so that we may “know Him who is true” (the Father) “in His Son.” The incarnation revealed to us the person and nature of God the Father, thereby enabling us to commune with Him through His Son.