Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary on John by Alfred Plummer

The Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary series was written for students learning Greek in Schools and Colleges in the United Kingdom. I plan to make the rest of the series available as I get access to hard copies. The notes on the Greek text in this volume are by Alfred Plummer. Plummer wrote commentaries on most of the books of the New Testament, including the International Critical Commentaries on Luke and 2 Corinthians. A list of other books by this author hosted on this site can be found here.

My thanks to Book Aid for providing a copy of this public domain title for digitisation. The maps at the end of the commentary are particularly nice.

Alfred Plummer [1841-1926], The Gospel According to John with Maps, Notes and Introduction. Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1913. Hbk. pp.382. [Click to visit the download page for this book]

Table of Contents

• Preface by the General Editor
• On the Greek Text
• Introduction
  1. The Life of S. John
  2. The Authenticity of the Gospel
  3. The Place and Date
  4. The Object and Plan
  5. The Characteristics of the Gospel
  6. Its Relation to the Synoptic Gospels
  7. Its Relation to the First Epistle
  8. The Text of the Gospel
  9. The Literature of the Gospel – Analysis of the Gospel in Detail
• Text and Notes
• Appendices
• Maps

The Life of St John

The life of S. John falls naturally into two divisions, the limits of which correspond to the two main sources of information respecting him. (1) From his birth to the departure from Jerusalem after tho Ascension; the sources for which are contained in N.T. (2) From the departure from Jerusalem to his death; the sources for which are the traditions of the primitive Church. In both cases the notices of S. John are fragmentary, and cannot be woven together into anything like a complete whole without a good deal of conjecture. But the fragments are in the main very harmonious, and contain definite traits and characteristics, enabling us to form a portrait, which though imperfect is unique.

(i) Before the Departure from Jerusalem.

The date of S. John’s birth cannot be determined. He was probably younger than his Master and than the other Apostles. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, who was probably the older of the two. Zebedee was a fisherman of the lake of Galilee, who seems to have lived in or near Bethsaida (i. 44), and was well enough off to have hired servants (Mark i. 20). He appears only once in the Gospel-narrative (Matt. iv. 21, 22; Mark i. 19, 20), but is mentioned frequently as the father of S. James and S. John. Salome (see on xix. 25) was probably the sister of the Virgin, and in that case S. John was our Lord’s first cousin. This relationship harmonizes well with the special intimacy granted to the beloved disciple by his Lord, with the fact of S. James also being among the chosen three, and with the final committal of the Virgin to S. John’s care. Salome was one of those women who followed Christ and ‘ministered to Him of their substance’ (Mark xv. 40; comp. Matt. xxvii. 55 ; Luke viii. 3). This was probably after Zebedee’s death. S. John’s parents, therefore, would seem to have been people of means; and it is likely from xix. 27 that the Apostle himself was fairly well off, a conclusion to which his acquaintance with the high-priest (xviii. 15) also points.

pp.xi-xii