Knowing where we stand:
The message of John's epistles
By Peter Barnes. Evangelical Press. 160 pages. £4.95
ISBN 0 85234 414 7
I enjoyed reading this commentary. Peter Barnes has a style that is robust, like so many of his fellow-Australians!
He is acutely aware of the power of these epistles to speak into our day of spiritual and moral decline and is not afraid to ask some very awkward questions. In a church climate today which often seems to ask so little of its members, he sketches out the three main tests for authentic Christianity which John expounds: the doctrinal test, the relationships test and the obedience test. As one would expect, he is very clear on the need for doctrinal purity and on the central claim of these epistles that Christ is the God-man. 'If Christ is not the eternal one made flesh, he is the most audacious deceiver who ever lived.'
